1/15/14
Miami Beach FL
Posted by Bill

I forgot to tell you about a little incident with the dinghy the other day. First the background…the Coast Guard rules designate that for a dinghy our size, you need an all-around white light when the dinghy is underway in darkness or low visibility. In my captains license school, they told us about using a flashlight with a dixie cup on top, and that is what we did up until this last year. We figured we were using the dinghy a lot more while cruising, so we needed an official light, and bought one at the Annapolis boat show in October. The light is like a hockey puck with a magnet on the bottom and LED lights all around. We also bought a base that has a suction cup to attach to the dinghy motor and a magnet on the top to grab the puck. It is a great design, but it cost over $100, which is a lot to me for a damn LED light and base, especially when you look at the price of a flashlight and a dixie cup. So we buy this thing and have been using it when we run around at night. The other day when we went to a movie and dinner, we needed it to get back to the boat in the dark. When we boarded the dinghy, there was a guy with his son standing at the area where we tie up, and his young son was getting a kick out of watching us go through our boarding and launching routine in this little boat. I stuck the base on the dinghy motor and gave it a tug to make sure it was secure, put the light on top, Tricia jumped in the dinghy and we started to motor away. We went about 3 yards and the light and base fall off into the water! The water there was pretty clear and we could see the light at the bottom. It looked like it was 1 foot deep but neither of us could reach it. Now, the guy watching us is cracking up, as it probably looked like an Abbot and Costello routine as we tried to grab the light to no avail. Tricia jumps in the water, dives down and gets the light. Every time she tries to get back in the dinghy, her shorts begin to pull down and she has to abort. We have both lost weight since we left on our cruise and our cloths don’t quite fit too well…lol. This goes on for several attempts until she finally makes it into the dinghy, and the great light rescue is a success!!! Let me tell you…she is a gem…there aren’t a lot of wives that would be doing this.

Here is our precious light:

Although traumatized, it has made a full recovery and still lights up.

We also had a pretty cool sunset tonight:

1/14/15
Miami Beach FL
Posted by Bill

OK. So the last few days have not been anything but our normal routine…not blog worthy to me…but several people, who shall go unnamed, still want blog. Still in Miami Beach, still highs in the low 80s, still lows in the low 70s, but it did rain like a mother yesterday. We collected about 10 gallons of rainwater and we used it to do some laundry with the plunger we bought at the Annapolis boat show. It works pretty damn good with a 5 gallon bucket and a couple of hard ciders. We have also used it to flush the toilets, as we have never used salt water with our aluminum holding tank. Lastly, I have used it to shave and wash my hair. At anchor we need to conserve the water in our fresh water tanks, so the rain helped out. We also got a rainbow:

These are the things that fill our day. In fact, we have settled into a routine at anchor. It usually goes like this: Up at dawn, make coffee, pour Tricia some juice, start the boat engine to repower the batteries, sit in the cockpit and check the weather on 3 different sites, check email, relax drinking coffee, check the stock market futures, check the weather again, shower, eat breakfast, get the dinghy ready to go ashore, go ashore – usually get some groceries because you have to get them in small enough quantities that you can carry them back to the dinghy, get gas for the generator and dinghy about every other day, do some kind of productive boat maintenance, maybe take a swim, explore some area that you haven’t yet, get ready for sundowners, drink and watch the sun go down, make and eat dinner, run the generator to repower the batteries and all of our electronic crap, go to bed.

Today on the way to get groceries, we saw a boat dragging anchor across the anchorage near the police station, close to where we tie up for going ashore.

It was eventually going to hit several boats in it’s path, so we turned the dinghy towards it and knocked on the hull…no one home. I diverted to the dock next to the police station and alerted the nice officer about the situation. He said “There is nothing we or you can do. If you board that boat, you are liable for what happens to it, so good deeds in this situation could lead to a real bad situation for you or me. Most of the boats in this anchorage live aboard all year long and will do something at the last minute if there is going to be a collision.” Alllrighty then…I hope our boat never drags while we are away from it. On our way back through, we did see that it was anchored securely and there was a dinghy at the boat, so all ended well.

After an early afternoon snack (and beverage), we decided to explore the canal that we found at the north-eastern corner of our cove. It looked like it went back to some other waterways and we figured we could maybe find something new to tie up to and explore. It was pretty much a dud.

It had some homes with interesting lawn ornaments:


And a couple of cool birds:

But, it pretty much took us in a big circle with nothing of much interest. That led us into sundowners. There were clouds over the western horizon, so we don’t even have a cool sunset to share tonight.

I also thought I would share some pictures of our neighbors here in this anchorage. A quick look on Zillow showed these homes ranged from 5 to 30 million dollars. And that is without the boats behind them. Here are some on the south side of us:






This is the northern bridge that leads into Sunset Lake. We are about 400 yards north of it:

Then we have Mt Siani medical facilities to the north of us:

Here is a pic of the step I built. We have been using it and it seems to work very well. I covered it with fire hose:

Lastly, we are still celebrating the Buckeye victory over the Ducks! What a story their season has been, and we are Buckeye proud. Here are a few different pics of Island Bound with the OSU flag flying:

Based on the weather, it looks like we will be moving on in a few more days, and heading further south in to Biscayne Bay. From here we will stage to go to the Keys when the right weather window presents itself. As much as I like it here, I am ready for some new territory to explore. It will likely be Coconut Grove on the south side of Miami.

Keep warm up there in Ohio!

1/10/15
Miami Beach FL
Posted by Bill

First, happy birthday to our grandson Oskar! He is 2 today and it is a major bummer that we are not there with him to celebrate. At least we got to FaceTime with him.

The last couple of days were somewhat uneventful. Yesterday, we swam in the bay again and cleaned the waterline of the boat. It gets fuzzy when you sit for awhile, but a gentle scrub takes it off. Then we went ashore for another dose of South Beach. This time we walked down Lincoln Road to the beach. Lincoln is pedestrian only for about 7 blocks and there are all kinds of street side restaurants and shopping options. Not the best, but here is a picture of one section:

Then we walked all the way down South Beach again, got parched in the heat, and decided to go for some beverages. We walked a few blocks off of Ocean Drive because we wanted to find some place that was more reasonably priced, stopped in a CVS and asked a woman selling tours where the best happy hour was. Her face lit up and she said “Oh, not here…go up 5 blocks and go left to the Miami Beach Marina. There is a bar called Monty’s that is right on the water. They have good drinks, good food and good prices!” So we did. It was a great spot, and we found out that we could dinghy to the marina and could dock the dinghy there for no charge if we bought something at the bar or restaurant. It is around 2 miles to dinghy, but if the bay isn’t rough it would be a good place to land to go to South Beach. We then walked back to where the dinghy was tied up and went to a restaurant called Burger and Beer Joint. Good food!

Monty’s:

Today, we hung out on the boat for the most part and did some reading. I also did some more work on the newest project…a boarding step for boarding the boat at the side gates. When at anchor, we usually board the dinghy or board the boat from the stern ladder (back of the boat). Our friends on Simple Life had a ladder that they lower at the boarding gate at the side of the boat. The boarding gates are used when at a dock usually. We liked their set up because it was easier that using the stern ladder. Then we met some folks on Rejoice that had a wooden step they hung from the boarding gate, so I took some notes and bought the materials I didn’t already have, and started making it. I’ll take a pic when it is done. We will try it for a bit before the last step of putting varnish on it.

Right now we are waiting on the weather. We think we are going to skip the Bahamas this year as we are hearing that the weather hasn’t been the best so far this season. We are going to target the Florida Keys for February, and then maybe head up the west coast of Florida and hit the Dry Tortugas either on the way up or on the way back. Looks like we will be here for another week. As always, this could change, but we will keep you all posted.

1/7/15
Miami Beach FL
Posted by Bill

Last night the low was in the lower 70s and when the sun comes up it gets warm pretty fast. Around 10 AM I needed to take a swim in Biscayne Bay. The water temp is in the mid seventies and it kind of grabs you when you first get in, but also was very refreshing. Afterwards, a fresh water rinse and a shower in the cockpit. When at anchor, we have to shower in the boat (which actually has 2 bathrooms with showerheads), or if it is warm enough we have a fresh water hose in the cockpit that can be used as a make-shift shower. It is preferable to shower in the cockpit. There is no separate shower in the bathrooms (called heads), and although a shower curtain is used to protect the other components of the bathroom, it kind of makes a mess. The water drains in to a separate sump in the bilge and is pumped out. The sump pump filter has to be maintained which is a pain in the ass, and if any water sits in the sump for a longer period of time, you start to get odors. All of that adds up to – shower in the cockpit when you can.

Then we took the dinghy ashore to explore the area closer to where we tie up in Collins Canal. We had to pick up our mail, which we haven’t gotten for over 2 months, and we needed gas for the dinghy and generator. We found a gas station, 2 liquor stores, the post office, a hardware store, a Fresh Market and another Publix grocery store, all with a 10 minute walk…jackpot!!! We also found a location to tie up that didn’t require circus feats to board the dinghy.

Back at the boat, we went through our mail. First, thanks to all of the folks that sent Christmas Cards. We really enjoyed looking at the pictures. We also had a couple of Christmas presents…thanks kids! There was a lot of mail to go through. Administrative type work, especially paperwork, is not easy on the boat. There is not a lot of storage for paperwork and the humidity is not favorable. Plus, who wants to deal with administrative crap when you can go to the beach, or swim, or dinghy around…no one. But we were rewarded with a visit from a large pod of dolphins in our cove. Tricia says “look, the Miami dolphins”…lol. She took over 100 pictures and here are a few of the better ones:




They were very playful, jumping out of the water, and the water here is pretty clear so you could see them well. They swam around the boats in the cove for 40 minutes or so and then left. That led up to charging the batteries while having sundowners (a daily routine, if you haven’t figured that out yet).

Tricia cooked a fabulous dinner while I prepared for the big blow that is coming tonight through tomorrow night. Winds are predicted to be 15-20 knots with gusts to 30 knots. 30 knots is just under 35 MPH, so you have to make sure you have enough scope on your anchor (scope is the amount of chain or rope you put out to get an optimum angle of pull on the anchor). When we first anchored I had 30 feet of chain out, so I let out another 60 feet, reset the anchor snubber and chain stopper. We usually try to get a mooring ball or a dock/slip for wind like this because I don’t sleep at all when the wind is howling, always checking to make sure we are not dragging anchor. Plus there are accounts of other people’s boats dragging into you, and we don’t want to deal with any of that crap. Bad thing is…most of the marinas and mooring fields are full in the Miami area. We have heard that the weather has been pretty rough in the Bahamas this season and lots of people are waiting for it to improve before they leave Miami, so the only places to get a slip are $4-7 per foot! For that price, I’ll forgo a night’s sleep and take anchor watch. I’d rather be at anchor anyway, and we really love this anchorage.

Some sunset pics from tonight, and I got a better shot of the skyline at night:

1/6/14
Miami Beach FL
Posted by Bill

After doing some work on the boat, we took the dinghy up Collins Canal, a very narrow waterway that runs along side of Dade Blvd, which leads to Miami Beach. There are several places to tie up your dinghy, none of which are really good options. One popular one is a sloping concrete wall where you can tie up the the guardrail. The one we chose was right across the street from a Publix supermarket. It was a small platform that was around 4 feet up from the water level at 3/4 tide. It was not easy getting up on it, but we managed. It took about 30 minutes to walk to the beach, which was between Miami Beach and South Beach. From there we walked south along the beach until Ocean Drive and South Beach started, and then we walked Ocean Drive. It was block after block of places to eat, with seating on the sidewalk like this:


All of the restaurants had someone trying to get you to eat at their place, most of them touting discounts or drink specials, none that were actually real deals.

It was really hot in the sun so we stopped and had an appetizer and adult beverage. When we decided to walk back, we were at the southern end of South Beach and it took us over an hour to get back to Publix. We got some groceries and headed home, just in time for sundowners! When we got back to the dinghy, it was close to low tide and the water level was another 2 feet from the dock. It took circus level acrobatics to get into the dinghy, but no one was harmed…and we didn’t have a safety net!

The people watching on South Beach was incredible. There is a whole different level of crazy here. I guess I have mellowed quite a bit, because, although it was fun to see South Beach, I was much happier sitting on my boat with a 360 degree water view, drinking my own liquor!

It is hard to capture the night time views, but here is the best I could do…Miami at night from our anchorage:

1/5/14
North Sunset Islands Cove, Miami Beach FL
Position: 25 48.493N, 080 08.539W
Posted by Bill

Our last two days in Fort Lauderdale were pretty fun. There was the Arts Festival one day, and First Sunday Jazz the next. Both were only blocks away from our dock. The Jazz Band was a full orchestra and they were phenomenal, but the people watching was the best…OMG…there was every definition of weird walking around. Jimmy Buffett’s song, Fruitcakes, kept running through my mind. I can see where he gets his inspiration. We also took a dinghy ride further up the New River. It is mostly residential until you get to the mega-yacht facilities. Now we know why there were so many mega-yachts being towed up the river, as this is where they work on them. It was impressive. It was really nice to stay put for a few days and explore Fort Lauderdale, and Cooleys Landing was a perfect location.

Time to head to Miami. The coastal Atlantic Ocean marine forecast was for light winds out of the east and moving to the northeast in the afternoon. Waves 2-3 feet. No rain, 86 degrees. We prepared to sail before we left the dock. I think I mentioned that the current in the New River was pretty wicked at times and that you need to leave Cooleys Landing at slack tide (when the water stops moving as it prepares to reverse, for you land lubbers…lol), and I calculated slack tide to be around 9:30, so we left at 9:35. We were docked right next to a bridge, so I didn’t have any room for error, and we got out ok even though the tide was still flooding a tiny bit. We made it through the bridges and past a large ship in tow, and timed the 17th Street bridge near the ocean inlet perfectly. (I’ll do a special post about what we learned for navigating the New River. Hopefully it will help someone who is going there.)

The marine forecast was pretty close this time except the winds were out of the southeast, just enough in our nose that we couldn’t really sail, but we could use the main sail to steady the boat motion through the swell. The waves were a little rough but once you got used to the motion it was fine. Shortly after we passed Hollywood Beach the water turned a clear teal color. It is beautiful. It ended up being a great passage until we got to the inlet at Miami, Government Cut. The tide was coming out and it made the inlet really wild, but fortunately the wind was pretty much at our back so we had a following sea for the most part. With much concentration, I was able to keep the boat from rolling or getting pushed all over the place, and after we got past the rock jetties it got progressively better.

Government Cut is where all of the cruise ships dock in Miami, and for security reasons, the coast guard will shut it down sometimes. They are supposed to announce the shut downs on the marine radio so you know, and when it is closed you can take Fishermans Channel which parallels the cut, forking off just inside the inlet. We go cruising on down Government Cut, and I just said to Tricia “I can’t believe how few boats are in this channel…I mean for Miami…”, and I hear on the marine radio, “sailboat traveling west bound in the cut…the cut is closed…turn your vessel around immediately!” By the tone, you could tell they weren’t messing around, but I half wanted to see how many gun boats they sent after us if we kept going. Instead I turned and headed back to the entrance of Fishermans. That cost us about an hour.

We worked our way through the Venetian Causeway bridge and along the northern side of the Venetian Causeway, lined with mega-homes on the water, then up the Sunset Islands to a channel that takes you back into a lagoon called Sunset Lake. It is pretty small and lined with mega-homes owned by famous people and lucky sperm club members, who don’t like their view spoiled by cheap vagabond cruisers like us. They have reportedly gotten pretty nasty with cruisers, even to the point of shooting the boats with paintball guns, so we were a little leery of anchoring there, but it was very protected and beautiful. We tried to anchor several times but couldn’t get the anchor to set, so we went back out and up to the cove to the north of the Sunset Islands. There were 6 other boats and lots of room so you could anchor out of range of paintball weapons. There is a beautiful view of the Miami skyline, especially at night. The only negative is the 6 lane road beside us that is the main connection between Miami Beach and the mainland. There is some traffic noise, but nothing we can’t deal with.
We will probably be here for a couple of days until we find a mooring or dock for the front coming through Thursday. It is supposed to pack 30 knot winds.

Here is a cruise ship that we passed going out of Fort Lauderdale. Jim/Linda, we thought this might be yours:

Captain Bill at the helm. See the water color:

We stayed about a mile off shore with the shoreline looking pretty much like this the whole way:

Coming in the inlet at Miami. Miami Beach on the right, downtown Miami in the background:

Cruiseship row along Government Cut:

In Fishermans Channel we passed many container ships and working docks:


Coming in to downtown:



Passing cruise ship row on the west end:

Tricia got to see the reverse view of the Marriott she stayed at one time:

Sunset at our anchorage:

1/2/14
Cooleys Landing, Ft Lauderdale FL
Posted by Bill

Well…I finally got the blog up to date…even the map of where we have been.

Today we went on another dinghy ride down the New River. We wanted to check out Lake Sylvia for future anchoring knowledge. It is one of the most popular places to anchor here, and it was really pretty. Lots of really expensive homes line the banks and you have to dinghy through the canals to a restaurant to go ashore. It just so happens to be our favorite place to go in Ft Lauderdale, Southport Raw Bar, so we have no issues going there. We wanted to visit with Joe and Michele on Simple Life and they were anchored in Lake Sylvia, so we had a multipurpose reason to go there. Joe and Michele were not home, so we went over to the Raw Bar. We figured we would go ashore and check out the shopping options there and then have an early dinner before heading home. Guess who greeted us at the dock when we arrived…Joe and Michele! They were just starting to have a late lunch and they asked us to join them. We gladly did! Steamed shrimp, adult beverages, and great conversation made for a fine afternoon.

Afterwards, we hit the hardware store and the dollar store, and then headed home. We had the boat closed up in case we got a stray shower like yesterday and it was really stuffy. The temperatures have been 10 degrees higher than average this week. Normal highs are in the mid-seventies and lows in the mid-sixties, and it is supposed to go back to normal at the end of next week.

In our original plan, we were only going to stay a couple of days, but it has been fun to have some time to explore. There is a lot to see in Ft Lauderdale. Tomorrow there is an arts festival a few blocks away and we plan to check that out. Maybe a dinghy ride further up the New River as well. We haven’t checked out anything further upstream yet.

1/2/15
Cooleys Landing, Ft Lauderdale FL
Posted by Bill

New Years day was a pretty unique one for us this year. Usually, we would be sitting inside the house watching football, trying to stay warm, and Tricia would be cooking something fantastic all day. Today, we dinghied down the New River to the Las Olas Marina which is a sister marina to Cooleys Landing where we are staying. The sister relationship allowed us to use the dinghy dock at Las Olas with no charge, and it is a block from the beach. We walked the beach for a bit. It was really crowded!

It was cool by the water but it was hot and humid…almost too hot. There were scattered showers threatening so we walked the main drag parallel to the beach and looked for a place to get an adult beverage and watch some football, and we ducked into Dirty Blondes just as a brief downpour moved in. It was funny to watch everyone outside freak out and run every which way like Godzilla was coming or something! We sat nice and dry.

On previous vacations here and in Miami, I have always loved the clarity of the water and the different colors in this part of Florida.

Also, the Gulf Stream is very close to shore and the water temp was in the upper 70s. That doesn’t suck.

We were really low on gas for the dinghy, so we figured we better get back to the dinghy and get some gas at the Bahia Mar Marina, one of the only ones close by that has a fuel dock. We get to the fuel dock and they had just closed early, and wouldn’t sell us any gas. I told them I didn’t know if we could make it back up the New River and would appreciate an exception. Holding out his bag of Cheetos, the guy says “I can offer you some Cheetos.” Nice dude…if you were driving a boat with that helpful attitude, you would be getting an award…you got it – Ass Captain.

We decided to see how far we got with the gas we had, and made it back to the boat with a little to spare.

The dock here has cable TV, but the connector at the pedestal was a male, so we needed a female to female connector to attach our cable. In anticipation of watching the OSU/Alabama game, we had been looking for a store that sells them in walking proximity. No such luck, so when we got back to the boat, I tried to jumper the two cables with alligator clip jumper wires…not happening. Then we turned to watching online on our laptop. After an hour of screwing around we called one of the kids for help. They, and their friends that they were watching football with, got us hooked up and we watched the second half of the Rose Bowl, followed by the Sugar Bowl. Tricia cooked steak, green beans and hash brown potatoes…man it was good! Last time we were at Costco, we bought a 12 pack of dehydrated hash browns to try out. You add boiling water, let them hydrate, and then Tricia cooks them with onions and cheese. They are fantastic! We will need to get to Costco to stock up on more of those. And how about those Buckeyes! Great game, and even better ending. Thanks to our kids and their friends for helping us watch the game at home instead of a bar!