Christmas in Miami

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

Well the wind gods have not been smiling down on us as we remain here in Miami Beach and not looking like we will cross until Sunday or Monday.
Can't really complain, it's a fabulous spot to hang out. Very warm and sunny. A short dingy ride into town, all amenities at our fingertips plus beautiful beaches with fabulous shops and restaurants. A very vibrant and active community, tons of fun!
We have been here over a week now at anchor. We are having to run our engine for an hour a day to keep up on the demands. I have turned our fridge into a freezer and it is running a lot more than we had expected. Movie night, most  nights, also is proving to put a strain on our batteries but we are managing. For the second time since we have been here Al's made a very short dingy ride over to fill up our water jugs to replenish our tank.
From our anchorage we can see all the cruise ships docked in Government Cut and were able to catch the fireworks for one of them setting sail the other night. One day there were 7 total at dock, we were told that each ship can turn around a sailing in one day from when the passengers disembark from one cruising, clean restock and load the next sailing passengers then leave that night- talk about efficient!!

Miami sky line from our boat

We enjoyed a fabulous cocktail party for Christmas Eve aboard Amarone (Claude and Bruce) also from Toronto joined by 2 other boats. Al and I spent a quiet morning after opening Santa's gift - a Bahamian Spear Gun for fishing - my name was on it but I think I'll leave the hunting up to Al and I'll just be in charge of cooking it! After a breakfast of Eggs Benedict Al and I took a long walk into Miami and then took a ride on their free rail system (like the Sky Train in Vancouver) to get a birds eye view of the city then made the long walk back to the boat. Christmas day meal, this time aboard Harmonium. We were handed a most delicious Pain Killer upon boarding to start the celebrations, Phil made a delicious Paella (pressure cooker!) and I brought Key Lime Pie. An absolutely wonderful night, again feeling blessed to have made such a great connection  with such awesome people - no money was exchanged for me to write that! Unfortunately Krista's sister Lisa was very under the weather and spent the day in bed missing out on the festivities. She was greatly missed, but I hear she is feeling better.

The sky opened up on us yesterday dumping record amounts of rain across Miami. I thought I could just pop into the store between downpours, a mistake, I looked like I had just got out of the pool by the time I returned to the boat.

  

We are finally going to move this morning over to No Name Harbour setting up for a potential departure on Sunday. Looking forward to a change in scenery. We will stop for fuel, pump out and fill our tanks with water on the way over.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and all the best for 2014!!

Hanging in Ft. Lauderdale

So close yet so far away...
It's looking like we will head to Miami in the morning - Biscayne Bay - drop the hook and wait for the next weather window for a good crossing over to Nassau in the BAHAMAS. Really hope to be there for Christmas but we have been warned that sometimes those windows don't come when you want them to. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed!
Can't believe it's almost Christmas. Lots of holiday cheer all around us.  Lit up palm trees are taking the place of our pines, Santa and reindeer make appearances down here too.

We spent a few days in Boca Rotan, Fl. at a great anchorage. Lots going on all around us, a big spot for the locals to come and hang out on weekends. We swam a lot, had the paddle board out and managed to just relax for a couple of days. Spent some time on their beaches, lots and lots of people, lazing around, surfing and skim boarding and a multitude of other water sports. Met up with some fellow boaters we haven't seen for a long time and met a couple of new ones. 

Saturday night we sat on Harmonium eating yet another fabulous meal and catching our first Christmas boat parade complete with fire works being set off in multiple sites along the route. Just beautiful. 

Traveling the ICW has had it's challenges as we headed south from Lake Worth, mainly speaking of bridges.  There are so many of them, I will actually have to go back and re count, but I think something like 24-26. Few are on request but the majority are on a schedule and these schedules didn't seem to correspond to any  of the books we were following! Hurry up and wait seemed to be the pattern of the day.  Ultimately we got in the habit (between ourselves and Harmonium) to call ahead to each bridge and confirm openings, worked great!

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY is what we are seeing a lot of these days. The concentration of SPECTACULAR homes and massive yachts is mind boggling, what recession?

Due to another Christmas boat parade (full marinas for floats etc.) are plans changed from our original destination in Ft. Lauderdale. We were redirected to a City Marina, Cooleys, up the New River in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. We had to anchor just before the first bridge to go up as it is important to hit the timing for slack tide to transit this waterway. A hair raising adventure as we poked our way through the "wiggles" never knowing what we were going to meet heading in the opposite direction through this very narrow River. At one point we had a large tour boat come up fast behind us and they radioed us to "pull over a bit" and let them by. Al and I looked at each other, where are we suppose to go?? The captain gave us directions and all was well. Our next corner we ended up tying up to a dock as we waited for the train to pass by. Lots of fun and the River was so beautiful as we head into the heart of the city we are so thrilled to have experienced it.

The week has been great here, Great city. We rented a car and have now completed our provisioning for the Bahamas. It has been very overwhelming to me, trying to buy supplies and food for such an extended period of time and then finding places of it all on board. Task complets, and the boat only has a slight tilt to port.  Hopefully when we fill the fuel tank we'll sit a little flatter. Most importantly, I found a space to stow all 20 bags of wine!

Yesterday we headed over to Naples to visit our most amazing past neighbours from Brighton who winter down hear. Had an awesome visit, as always, and managed to see our first alligator while crossing I-75, very exciting. 

Tonight we are off to watch the parade with a number of other boaters here at the marina then an early departure down the New River tomorrow. We are going to take the outside pass down to Miami for a little sail shake out before crossing to Golf Stream, should be fun.

See you all again once we're in Miami, take care. xo

  

Warming up!

Even though one of our coldest days yet was when we were actually over the Florida border we are finally living the life of beautiful warm weather, sun and palm trees!

Trying to warm up using the engine room as a heater

Yes, toque weather

We are anchored in a great little spot in Ft. Pierce Florida called Faber Cove. A short dingy ride to shore where we have access to laundry mat, groceries, hardware store and a short walk to the beach.

Our trip heading down from Savannah has been uneventful really. The Georgia coast was much less intimidating than we had been reading about. We really enjoyed the trip and are glad we chose to do the inside (ICW) at least this one time. We did encounter very strong winds, rain, sunshine, extreme cold and beautiful warm days. A real mixed bag which can mess with you emotionally as well as effect our productivity, I know, I shouldn't be complaining but human nature is taking over.


We have visited some amazing places. Cumberland Island National Park being by far one of our highlights of this trip. Managed to catch a few days of lovely weather before it was to turn nasty again.  Anchored with great protection and was able to explore the island. Incredible beaches, sand dunes, forest, feral horses and history. We missed out on seeing any armadillos that are also said to be roaming the island.  A definite must stop if passing by.

Cumberland Island

Feeling like kids!

Cumberland Island anchorage

Trying hard to save some money by sticking to anchorages but with some expected very high winds and needing to get some laundry done we chose to make our way into a marina at Amelia Island just outside Fernandina Beach. We spent 2 nights utilising the courtesy vehicle to check out town and get caught up on laundry, groceries etc. The wind had not totally let up when we were heading out, the anticipation of us getting out of our very tight dock space was VERY stressful for me. Certainly being at anchor has its clear advantages.  We called the marina and had them send down a couple of guys to assist us and it couldn't have gone smoother! Awesome job guys - Al and I did a pretty good job also.

A couple of nights at a free dock - Jacksonville Florida. Again waiting out a storm that was suppose to be coming through. 

Jim King Park

Mooring - St. Augustine. Fabulous place. Different than anything we have seen yet. Oldest city in America. Spanish settled for over 300 years (??) Spent American Thanksgiving here. Wonderful light show throughout old town as we took a little trolley tour at night. 

Another moment to reflect on what we are thankful for. Our family being absolutely at the top of the list, our friends, old and new, being in good health and the fact that we are able to be out here fulfilling our dream.

Speaking of new friends. We are having such a blast with our "boat buddies" Krista and Phil aboard Harmonium, that crazy couple from Toronto. Thank you to Krista for her impeccable research and planning (your worrying does pay off!) and to Phil for his second to none music collection and sound system. 

St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine mooring field

oldest street in America

trolley ride - running on a sugar cookie and apple cider high

Anchorages - Daytona Beach, Titusville and Rocky Point. 

windy night in Daytona 

Titusville - look closely to left you can just make out Cape Canaveral 

morning at Rocky Point

Fuelled up and filled up with water in Vero Beach then made our way here to Ft. Pierce. 

Krista and I managed to do laundry and grocery shop and be back at the boat by noon yesterday. Al was finishing up on some work (AIS finally working) then off for a walk to the beach. 

Faber Cove

Ft. Pierce Inlet

South Beach, Ft. Pierce

Happy hour was aboard Serenada, Diana and Gil's 32' Ontario from Orilla. Joined by Krista and Phil who were thrilled to be aboard as there previous boat was the exact boat of an early year. While sharing some awesome food and cocktails we had the extreme pleasure of catching the rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. It had been postponed so many times I had totally forgot about it. What a great night.

 Rocket launch

Weather has been perfect so we decided to stay another day here and continue to catch up on jobs as well as soak up some sun. 

Heading for Ft. Lauderdale for a few days then down to Biscayne Bay (Miami) to wait for a good weather window to make our crossing.

(We are so very excited to find out Paige is coming to join us in the Bahamas in January. She has a real keeper for a boyfriend who has given her an early Christmas gift!! We love you Blake.)

Talk to you all again soon, Lots of love from sunny Florida.