As we had a week or two or three to await a good weather window to cross to the Bahamas, we decided to continue further south to Miami.  While most boats cross from there (or West Palm Beach), we usually simply cross from Fort Pierce (further north).  It’s not the greatest angle to cross the Gulf Stream (which pulls you north, so going due east, you fight it a bit across, rather than riding it diagonally up).  Before our first crossing in 2011, I read so much about the dangers of not “riding it up”, that we left from the Florida Keys to insure a proper angle!  Some older books even described boats being swept so far north while crossing the Gulf Stream that they had to backtrack many miles south as they missed the Bahamas completely!  Later I realized that they were talking about older sailboats sailing slowly and/or motoring with a tiny engine.  Now adays, it seems the majority of sailboats just want to get across in comfort, so they motor (with their now large engines) or motor sail at 7 – 8 knots & the heck with sailing – there’s lots of great sailing to come once in the Bahamas.  We cruise at 8 – 14 knots, so the strength of the Gulf Stream is of even less concern.

Stuart to Miami on the ICW (it was pretty rough offshore) isn’t our favorite trip – not because of the 100-mile distance, but because of the many bridges & congested areas of West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale & Miami.  There are over 30 opening bridges, but fortunately with our low boat height (one bridge tender called us “flat-top”) we only need openings for about 10.  Unfortunately they only open every half-hour, so if your timing is bad, you have to motor in place for 25 minutes waiting. Our travel days were cloudy weekdays, so that reduced the number crazy local boaters.  Miami is the worst, with the addition of all of the tour, police & vessels of every description.

On the other hand, there is lots of see. Much of Fort Lauderdale is like this for miles. Corner properties are especially desired, as we saw over a dozen corner properties being demolished & re-built to twice their size & luxury.

Once past Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) the view changes to cargo, container & cruise ships.

Speaking of cruise ships, these are just some of the cruise ships lined awaiting passengers in Miami.

The Miami skyline on a partly cloudy day.

Once in Miami, the weekend was approaching, which means finding not only a calm anchorage, but one which won’t be (too) Miami crazy, with local boaters, party boats & very loud music.  On a previous trip we had discovered “Hurricane Harbour” which is protected with room for about a dozen boats surrounded by multi-million dollar homes.  A Miami police boat cruises through regularly, which keeps the partying down to a reasonable level.

Hurricane Harbour is also conveniently located just “around the corner” from the mighty Atlantic Ocean so it’s an easy departure point for our crossing in a few days … we hope … on Wednesday. Finally, after 3 weeks we’re getting what we’ve been waiting for – a stalled cold front.  This should give us 24 – 36 hours of west-ish winds under 12 knots, for (hopefully) a nice crossing of 130-miles to the Berry Islands in the Bahamas where we can clear Customs.  Much closer is the island of Bimini, but we prefer to go further as guess what … after a stalled cold front comes … the cold front, usually with several days of strong north winds.

Wishing everyone a great holiday & an even better New Year!