We spent eight days at Dinner Key in Coconut Grove, Miami - four days on a mooring off Dinner Key and four days at a dock at the marina. We explored the area on foot and by bus and train. We wandered in Barnacle Park, the former home of boat designer Ralph Munroe in the 1880s, when this area was an exotic jungle of lush tropical vegetation only accessible by boat. Remnants of the once vast "Miami Hammock" still survive in this park, brave holdouts against the concrete and glass towers that, in just over a century, have taken over from the stately tropical hardwoods.
We had an enjoyable dinner aboard with Sue, my Isle of Wight school friend from Sandown Grammar School days. It's always fun to talk about 'old days and old friends'! It's hard to break with those strong emotional ties to 'The Island' - not that we would want to!
The weather which, for the first week of out return to Florida, had been perfect, had deteriorated dramatically and we knew that, if we were to make it up the coast to Fort Lauderdale any time in the next week, we had a 'weather window' of one day! The wind had been blowing 20 - 25 knots from the east for a few days and the waves in the Atlantic had built to 10 - 12 feet during the week, but there was to be a small lull of two days. We allowed one day for the waves to go down, and set off on Saturday 17 April. (The reason for choosing the open Atlantic waters over protected Intra-Coastal Waterway is the 'Julia Tuttle' bridge just north of Miami, which is only 55 feet high. Our mast measures 59 feet!) So, after a fast but bumpy sail of 6 hours, we pulled into Fort Lauderdale harbour, relieved that the six cruise ships, including the vast 'Oasis of the Seas', were not yet on the move! We made our way around to Lake Sylvia, a small 'oasis' of a lake in the midst of beautiful homes, dropped anchor beside a mock Italian palazzo, and enjoyed a splendid sunset, a breathtaking view of the departing cruise liners, and a peaceful night.
We knew that the weather was about to deteriorate rapidly the next day, but we wanted to see Fraser and Edi, our Canadian friends from Lighthouse Point, before we disappeared north. So we arranged to meet them for lunch at the 'Southport Raw Bar' - a favourite restaurant on the water, which involves a dinghy ride under a VERY low road bridge (as in flattening yourself on the dinghy's floor, and keeping your fingers crossed that you still have a head on your shoulders at the other side!). We had a lovely lunch despite the rain which had now started bucketing down, and we made it back to the boat, wet but in good spirits. That night our little 'sheltered' lake became a wild and wave-swept pool! Not too much sleep for me, but luckily our anchor, and everyone else's, held. By the next morning everything had calmed down and just about dried out, including us, and we relaxed and enjoyed our lovely 'oasis' for one more day.
On Tuesday 20 April, a red-letter day for us as it is our daughter, Charlotte's, birthday, we set off for Lake Worth - Palm Beach. There are 18 lift-bridges to negotiate on this fifty mile stretch of the ICW, and each bridge has set openings or is 'on demand'. Either way, there is a protocol for getting through them: Each boat calls on VHF channel 09 to the bridgekeeper and requests an opening. Once passed through the bridge each boat then thanks the bridgekeeper, and wishes him or her a 'nice day'! If there is an errant boat that joins a line of boats, but hasn't bothered to call, then that boat gets its knuckles rapped! Sometimes, because of the set bridge opening times, it's a race to get to the next one. Missing a bridge opening can mean an extra half hour spent hanging around in the narrow channel contending with strong currents, fluky winds and other boats! Ten and a half hours later we made it to our anchorage at the north end of Lake Worth, where we spent two relaxing nights.
Thursday was such a perfect day that, instead of travelling straight to our planned destination of Stuart, we decided to anchor in a small inlet off the ICW known as 'Peck Lake'. We had been here before and enjoyed the lovely Atlantic beach which is a short dinghy ride and walk across the barrier island.
But Peck Lake is shallow and this is where, for the first time in the whole trip, we went aground! A large trawler was anchored in the narrow channel, but we thought we could get around it and still stay afloat! Not so! Bill jumped in the dinghy and took the anchor to kedge us off, but luckily this wasn't needed, as just as that moment a large power boat roared up the nearby ICW channel and rocked us free! It was interesting to see the difference just a few feet made - from a depth of 3 feet we were now in 14 feet! So, we tentatively carried on into the anchorage, this time edging very close to the errant trawler. A peaceful night was had by all!
Now we are almost back to the beginning of our tale. We are in Stuart, just three hours by boat south of our final destination of Fort Pierce.The sun is shining and the temperature is 85F, and we are bobbing around on a mooring at the lovely Sunset Bay Marina about six miles west off the Intra-coastal waterway (ICW), up the St. Lucie River.
The Marina at Sunset Bay hasn't been open for a year yet but it's already full, with a 90 boat waiting list. The moorings are mostly full too, and it's easy to see why. This marina has everything a sailor could want - great facilities, friendly staff, a wonderful west facing location, a boardwalk around the bay, and a five minute walk to a quaint little town full of shops to potter in, and restaurants of all kinds to enjoy. But the best thing of all at the marina is the 'Sailors' Return' - a restaurant on the water that, on Friday and Saturday evening, was packed with anybody who could afford the price of a martini (very reasonable)! The mix of young and old, city slicker and crusty sailor, makes for wonderful people watching. We spent a lovely evening here on Friday with Fruji and John Bull, joint grandparents with 'our boys' in Toronto. Fruji and John have a winter home nearby, and we have been invited there for dinner on Sunday evening.
Life is good here...so we have decided not to rush up to Fort Pierce after all! We'll give ourselves a few more days before we begin moving north again, and preparing for the serious business of 'returning to base' in Ontario.
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