We kinda got the message to get-going after being kicked out of our Marathon marina a day early, as anyone with a short-term rental (including boats at marinas) was given 24 hours to get out.

If looking to shelter in place, this could work – we passed JK Rowling’s yacht in Miami which happens to be for sale! She bought this beauty from Johnny Depp but apparently has buyers remorse??

It seemed like just yesterday we had cruised thru Miami on our way south to then head around up to the Florida west coast – how everything has changed in only a week.

Passing thru Miami, there were cruise ships scattered everywhere. All of the piers were full & others were just anchored off South Beach with nowhere to go.

First the Keys, then Miami-Dade County somewhat shutting down behind us as we head north with various restrictions.  On Sunday we saw thousands of small boats on the water. It was crazy at times with 30+ boats approaching us while 30+ boats were passing us on the somewhat narrow ICW channel.  It was a beautiful, sunny day in the 80’s & was a great way for people & families to get away for a few hours.

Proper social distancing on a sandbar

Although the vast majority were off having fun on their own, we saw several sandbars crowded with 40 – 50 boats & people crowded together partying violating the county regulations & common sense.  This was even after the county had closed down the public launching ramps were supposedly patrolling looking for large groups.

We made a quick pit stop in Vero Beach & rented a car so we could go to our storage unit to exchange winter items (like our mini Christmas tree) & pickup important stuff (like our oil change pump). We attempted to make some curbside pickups, but grocery shopping was fairly scary with almost no precautions in very crowded conditions.

Down here in the south, county governments pretty much run things so we’re running into different COVID-19 regulations as we travel north thru Florida & now in Georgia.  Some marinas are shut down, some are not allowing new transient boats in & some are open with special precautions.  While we mostly anchor out, we do have to stop every week or so for fuel & groceries.  We had been doing 80 – 110 mile days in order to at-least get out of Florida, but will now slow down as the temps have gone from the 80’s daytime to now 50’s nighttime in Georgia.

Our next marina stop will be in Beaufort, North Carolina.  That particular county is allowing us in, but won’t allow us to step off the marina property.  This would usually make it difficult to obtain groceries, but being North Carolina, they have us covered.  Just tell them the groceries and/or take-out food you want & they’ll go out & bring everything to your boat. Now, that’s southern hospitality!

Be safe everyone!