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!

We had the best weather ever this year for our 1,100 mile trip south & the first year in 13 we never had to keep watch on any developing east coast tropical storm or hurricane.  While we certainly don’t want to tempt fate, the “experts” seem to be wrong more than right, so we didn’t get too concerned when hearing “the most dangerous hurricane season in years”.  Growing up in Connecticut, when they predicted a severe, extra snowy winter, it was usually the mildest.  Ironically, it seemed the experts were wrong 2/3 of the time, while The Old Farmer’s Almanac was right 2/3 of the time!

Once into Florida, you can view one or more rocket launches most weeks thanks to SpaceX

Dolphins are almost a daily sight – while they usually ignore us, often will chase us or lead us from our bows looking up as to say, “Go faster, go faster!”

The Brightline trains have begun running from Miami to Orlando, expanding later on to Tampa. While everyone talks the future of high-speed trains, Brightline got it done in record time & with little Federal funds. Yet for locals, the trains are noisy & deadly with several deaths per month. It’s taking time for some to realize these are NOT the usual slow, lumbering 100+ car freight trains taking 10 minutes to go by.  Fools are used to cutting around the down gates to beat the freight trains. Don’t try that with these – even when going (only) 80 MPH, they come & go in only a few seconds. But boy, those train horns are LOUD, so they have my sympathy there.

The Vero Beach area used to be mostly grapefruit groves (famous Indian River grapefruit). In between housing developments & stores, you’ll still see the occasional processing citrus operation.

Had a fun dinner at the Vero Beach Yacht Club with cruiser friends Tim & Ellen. It’s (partially) our fault they bought a PDQ powercat to go cruising, but they are lovin’ it!

While I usually clean our boat’s bottom & change the zincs myself in the Bahamas, not so much in the States – especially as this boat’s propeller zincs require removing & re-installing a prop nut, something I can’t do holding my breath.  Even the diver took almost an hour to replace both so installing a different style is on our list for our next haul-out.

Other projects included upgrading our anchor light to a brighter, LED model.

Before / After – A boat project such as this (replacing a broken water manifold supplying water in one hull) SHOULD have taken about 2 hours … but in boat-hours took 2 weeks. It didn’t help that the manufacturer no longer makes the same manifold & that our PEX-type tubing is 15mm – quite unusual, but that’s how it goes with boat repairs.

We had some beautiful sunsets anchored off in-between our marina stays.

HEY, we’ve been kicked out of better places than this!

Our very protected anchorage for this week of windy weather is 40 miles south of Vero Beach in Port St. Lucie. This anchorage is hardly used as it’s out-of-the-way with only 5′ – 6′ of depth.

To top off our protected anchorage, this little park is a scenic mile or so dinghy ride. Right across the street is a Post Office (for Lori’s Etsy shipments) & next to that is a Publix grocery store. For cruisers, this is A++!

After weeks of rushing around getting ready to cross to the Bahamas, time has now come to a standstill.  While we’re all ready to cross, our perfect weather has come to an end.  Our nearly perfect record of never having a bad crossing nor having to wait more than a few days may be coming to an end…

Strong cold front, after cold front are marching along with some massive wind & wave numbers.  For example, later this week the wind may hit 50 knots with offshore seas forecasted to be 12′ – 17′, occasionally 22′! Last week we rejected a borderline window of 2′ – 4′ seas with occasional 6′ (but with 16 – 18 knots on the nose, would not have been very pleasant).

So, crossing by Christmas?  Who knows?  We’ll get there when we get there!