Day 135 - Ship Shipping Ships — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 68, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $90,daily high temperature 80*f

We spent Wednesday night at the Anchorage Marina in Key Largo. Anchorage is a time share resort that also has a few boat slips. We had intended to stay across the inlet at Gilbert’s Marina but they would not return our phone calls. Gilbert’s has a tiki bar and restaurant. Anchorage has grills for public use. We grilled hamburgers that ended up being the size of a White Castle slider. Small but tasty.

Docking had its moments. The wind was blowing 20 mph on the beam. I was trying to pull onto the face dock but could not get the boat to move over. The wind was too strong for the bow thruster or so I thought. In reality I was fighting an outbound current as well as the wind. I should have turned around and docked into the current. Something to consider for next time. Currents, we don’t have no stink’n currents on Lake Michigan. It is good to learn this where the tides are 1 foot.

The real learning came after we were safely tied up. A couple in a brand new 56′ Meridian tried to dock and were spinning like a top in the wind and current in the channel next to us. That’s when I realized the current was impacting them. They finally got tied up with the help of Dale and I and another Good Samaritan. The marina has no staff. Three of us were pulling on lines to keep them from hitting the boat in the next slip. The wife was wearing a money belt and reached in and pulled out two five dollar bills to reward Dale and I for our heroic efforts. We said no thank you to the cash but suggested she could invite us for docktails. That never happened.

On Thursday we will continue our trek north to Biscayne Bay. We spoke with a boater next to us that learned the hard way that you need to book slips in the Keys a year in advance. He cruised down from Virginia but is considering heading back north. He cannot find a marina in the Keys with a monthly slip available and he is is not willing to anchor out for an extended period of time.

Our cruise from Key Largo to Ft Lauderdale went well. We ran the boat at 25 mph for two hours and everything was fine. We saw a trawler high and dry as we cruised by. The owners were there so it must have been a recent grounding. They were really far out of the narrow channel. This was in Card Sound just south of Biscayne Bay. Very sad to see. I can only guess they set their auto pilot and went below.

Our first view of the Miami skyline was a beautiful sight as we cruised up Biscayne Bay.

We saw a ship shipping ships at the Ft Lauderdale container terminal.

A northeast storm is forecast for Thursday night and Friday. We are staying at the Lauderdale Yacht Club for two days. On Saturday we will cruise up the New River to the Marina Bay Marina. Staying put on Friday and not battling 25 mph northeast winds is our plan. The forecast for Saturday is more benign.

Upon arrival at the Lauderdale Yacht Club we called to get help on the dock but no one came. Dale docked the boat like a boss by backing up against the wind and current. The boat next to us arrived just after we were tied up and it took us half an hour to get them tied up and not crash into us.

Our friends from Lake Bluff, Don and Beth Kress, who moved to Miami 17 years ago met us on the boat tonight. They live in Coral Gables which is south of Miami so they unfortunately had to fight a bit of rush hour traffic to reach us.

The yacht club restaurant was closed for an art auction so we asked the Dockmaster Brandon for a restaurant recommendation. He suggested the Bimini Boat Yard. That restaurant catered to the beautiful people of Ft Lauderdale. The crowd was in their twenties and dressed for the academy awards with music blasting loud enough to wake the dead. My boat shoes and yacht club logo shirt were not a good fit and the wait for a table was at least an hour. Next door was an Italian restaurant called Bravo that was full of people that looked like us and had no waiting to be seated. It was an excellent meal.

Bonus photo

Chef (Carl) Wooden – quote of the day

“The sea is emotion incarnate. It loves, hates, and weeps. It defies all attempts to capture it with words and rejects all shackles. No matter what you say about it, there is always that which you can’t.” Christopher Paolini

Christopher Paolini was born on November 17, 1983 in Southern California. He has lived most of his life in Paradise Valley, Montana with his parents and younger sister, Angela. The tall, jagged Beartooth Mountains rise on one side of Paradise Valley. Snowcapped most of the year, they inspired the fantastic scenery in his book the Inheritance Cycle.