2-13-16 It doesn’t take too long for me to remember that cruisers (especially sailors) in general are a hardy group of people. This is true and probably always has been. Karen and I somewhat reluctantly left West Palm Beach for Miami Saturday morning. I say reluctantly because we met some great people in West Palm, specifically the Aussie’s Geoff, Jenny and their grandson Ronan, Bob and Maureen from the garden state. We had Mango all prepped for the 75 miles run down the coast and we said our goodbyes. The weather we’d been waiting for appears to be here and at 3 AM we should have a broad reach to a run down the coast.
3 in the morning came fast and we pulled up anchor and sped out of Lake Worth channel with the help of a lowering tide. We raised the sails and set them for the expected brand reach and were making 4.5 to 5.5 knots. The wind at this point was a bit lighter than predicted, I was thinking spinnaker but Karen asked that we not fly it until the sun came up and gave us more visibility. Of course she’s right. The sun came over the distant clouds on the horizon and we were still making the same speeds as earlier enjoying ourselves but wanting to make the anchorage before dark. So up goes the spinnaker and we are moving really well just needing to keep a keen eye on the leading of the sail so as not to have the sail fold on itself. We were cruising along very comfortably when the wind started to pipe up. I mentioned to Karen that I was thinking to dousing the sail and unfurling the jib, probably a good idea. Well, not 5 minutes after my comment we got caught in a gust that literally buried the port rail in the water. I let Mango round up due to my not wanting to run into a group of fishing boats a bit downwind. Karen took over the helm and started releasing the spinnaker sheet while I pulled the sock down. Our emergency exercise in dousing the sail went pretty well, the only casualty is a slight tear in some of the nylon about the clew. I will take it to a sailmaker and have a reinforcing patch sewn on when we get to Marathon. The remainder of the trip to Miami was uneventful and the wind fell off about an hour and a half north so the motor went on and we motor sailed to Government Cut (Miami entrance).
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| Pre Sunrise heading south |
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| Sun moves fast early in the morning |
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| Beautiful |
Nearing Government Cut you can feel the action starting to build, more boats, more helicopters, more planes and a lot more idiots. I was getting tired, but I say idiots feeling pretty confident because so much of the radio traffic was boaters yelling profanities at other boaters for their lack of seamanship and their lack of self control on their boats throttles. We no more than entered the cut (against the tide of course) and two 65 foot boats flew out the channel shooting rooster tails and leaving 3 to 4 foot waves in the wake. That was just the start, jet ski’s zooming back and forth, fisherman trying to stay in one place while not being run over. More large mega yachts moved by the slow moving Mango and left us bouncing in their wakes. There are certainly more good boater’s out here than bad but the bad ones are really awful. I did get to see one good boater that brought back memories of Chevy Chase in the movie Vacation, a very tan blonde woman in a very small bikini powered by Mango in her 35 foot shiny fishing boat, I think she winked at me but I’m not sure because I was looking at her fishing poles. For the most part the old saying is correct “More money than brains”. The one thing that happened that did slow everything down was the departing of a Celebrity cruise ship. Seemed like the idiots disappeared for a bit as Mango and crew clawed our way against the tide past the huge ship with its waving passengers. Karen taking pictures of the cruise ship as its passengers took pictures of us.
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| Miami Skyline |
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| Enjoying ourselves |
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| One of many wakes. This guy passed fairly slow. |
Cruise ship passed us by and out comes the screaming boats and 2 car ferries just as we need to turn into another channel. This would not usually be an issue, but Mango moving against the tide was only making 3 to 3.5 knots, far too slow for almost anyone else on a warm Saturday afternoon in the city of Miami. We made and shorty thereafter lazed our way into a nice quiet anchorage of Fisher Island, laid the anchor and each had a beer. It’s hard to believe how close this anchorage is to all the craziness but then how quiet it is. We did see the occasional just ski and fishing boat but nothing bad, probably because of the shallow water around us. We watched the sun go down and our only neighbor was a 30 foot boat with some guys fishing and the million dollar homes across the channel. We watched the sun down while eating dinner. After that, 3 in the morning caught up with us and we were both sleeping soundly, that is until 10:30 when I could feel and hear the booms of something blowing up. I looked over at Karen and she was still sleeping, I woke her and we looked out to see our boat neighbor was not a fishing boat but a fireworks boat sending a beautiful display into the sky for the home owners across the channel. It probably would have been one of the best shows I’ve ever seen if I wasn't so tired.
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| Cruise ship demands everyone slow down. |
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| Up close and personal |
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| Port of Miami |
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| Cars off loaded and ready for dealers |
Morning came and Karen called Dinner Key Marina to see if they had any room and we were in luck, we were assigned mooring ball #152. We meandered our way over the 5 miles and winds picked up out of the East on our beam rocking Mango most of the way. Into the mooring field we went and grabbed our ball with little issue in the building wind and waves. We ate breakfast and went in to pay and see the facilities. Nice new building and the Coconut Grove Art Fair is happening this weekend. They tell us the fair is one of the largest of its type in the country and it is big, I don’t know how many blocks of the streets were closed down but it was something. Lots and lots of people, Karen told me that all of the woman’s voices reminded her of Gloria Estefan or Gloria on Modern Family. I actually thought much of the conversation reminded me of being in the downtown Elgin’s Butera Foods, all Spanish language. Hey we’re in Miami its what I expect.
This Dinner Key Mooring field is really something, completely open to waves from the South and east. Of course you know where the winds are blowing from. As I write this Karen tells me the forecast was for 15 knots out of the East but it’s currently blowing 24 knots. It will be interesting if Karen will be able to sleep in the front berth with me tonight. Taking the dinghy into the marina requires wearing foulies if you want to stay dry, but that’s part of the life. Like I said “Cruiser’s are hardy bunch of people”.
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| I saw this and thought of Nick P. Had to post |
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| Karen's Valentine's gift |
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| Trust us, rougher than it looks. |
2-15-16 Last night and today the wind did nothing but blow from the East causing the waves to build up on Biscayne Bay just of land on in our mooring field. The wind came through consistently at 20 to 25 knots with occasional rain holding everyone in the mooring field hostage. Of course the winds by itself is not bad but the waves were causing all boats here to hobby horse making it near impossible for anyone to depart for the dinghies. I witnessed neighbors trying to do something with their wind generator, watched others try to wrestle tethered dinghies onto their davits. With the waves coming through any tethered dinghy was having its bridals and grommets tested. Winds should be less tomorrow and we hope to make it into town to stretch our legs and run some errands. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.
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| Storm moving into the mooring field. |
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Lots of rain and wind but very little waves. Actually collected water for
the tank. |
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