Held up in Fort Lauderdale

Nasty weather has prevented us from leaving Fort Lauderdale but we're o.k. with that. We have found a nice protected anchorage (surrounded by multimillion dollar homes and mega yachts) to hold up in and we feel safe and sound.

It poured in rain today but it is still nice and warm so, like true cruisers, we grabbed a bar of soap and shampoo and took our showers on deck. It seemed like a good idea at the time but after I wondered what our millionaire neighbors thought of that.......There goes the neighborhood!

Photo:

1. I couldn't download the video of the "Dolphin Encounter" but was able to capture this frame.
2. One of many beautiful homes here in Fort Lauderdale

Dolphin Encounter

We sailed from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale today but before we did Harley and I took a little trip down memory lane. West Palm Beach is where we spent our honeymoon almost 30 years ago and it was very cool to be back.

"This is where we turtled the Hobie Cat", I said.

"There's the marina we stayed at."' commented Harley.

"Remember going under this bridge in the Tartan when we went out for a night sail?", I recalled.

It was a perfect day. The sun was shining bright, the sea was gentle, and the breeze was lovely and warm, but the highlight for sure was an awsome dolphin encounter. When I get a better internet connection I will download the video.

Velcro Beach

After seven days, a lot of shopping, and many no-see-um bites we ripped ourselves away from Velcro, I mean Vero Beach. The rental car was returned by 10:00 after a quick trip to the beach just to say we saw it. We plan to only travel fifteen miles to Fort Pierce today. Perhaps we will head offshore from there. We’ll see.

Oh, and by the way, it’s hot, hot, hot, here.

Pictures:
1. Vero Beach mooring field at dawn today
2. Vero Beach

Provisioning

Hoping to learn from the experience of others when we started planning this trip 4 years ago, we talked to many people who have already done this……however, nothing prepared us for the daunting task of provisioning for the Bahamas.

Yes, we were warned that we would need to bring as much food as we possibly could for the four to five months we will be away. The towns are spread far apart in the southern Bahamas and we could go weeks between provisioning stops. Also, we were told what stores we do come across will have little to choose from and be very expensive. But planning, preparing lockers, and organizing what little space we have on board was totally exhausting. Then trying to decide what we need, making lists, shopping, and stowing drained us of what little energy we had left. If we don’t have everything we need now that’s just too flipp’n bad.

Believe it or not, we bought enough food and paper products to fill four large grocery carts. Even more surprising is the fact that we were able to fit it all on the boat. The biggest challenge was making sure everything was sealed tightly as moisture is a big problem on any boat. It’s a good thing that they make zip lock bags in all sizes. With how many I have bought, I now feel I should own stocks in the company.

Well, it's all done now and are now ready to start heading south and eventually (hopefully before Christmas) head over to the Bahamas.

Vero |Beach

They call Vero Beach, "Velcro Beach" because they say once you arrive you don’t want to leave.

It appears that there is an imaginary line that crosses Florida and once you are south of it the weather improves dramatically. Seemingly, Vero Beach is south of this line, which could be why nobody wants to leave. It feels so good to have the weather we’ve travelled so far to get to.

Our jaunt down from Daytona was pretty much uneventful. We anchored in Titusville (near Cape Canaveral) for a night, which was nothing special but it didn’t matter as we were not planning on staying anyway. We arrived in Vero today at 4:30 and I think we might just stay for a day or two. Why should we be different?

Pictures:

Seems like some people have found paradise on the I.C.W.

St. Augustine to Daytona

St. Augustine is a place, in my opinion, that everyone should visit at least once in a lifetime. Being a town rich in history, it has it's own special charm, and there is so much to do and see. For me, I wish I had gone on a guided tour but, never mind, it was cool just to walk through and imagine what it must have been like in days gone by.

Today we left St. Augustine and made the 53 mile trip to Daytona along the I.C.W. We knew when we left that we would be arriving in the dark (since we didn't leave until 11:00am) but we decided to go for it anyway. I have to say, arriving in an unfamiliar anchorage in the dark is not something I would recommend, however, here we are and all is well.



Pictured above:
1. Scenery along I.C.W.
2. Flipper giving us the hairy eyeball.
3. Arriving at dusk...two more bridges to go.

Picture perfect.

With the sun setting and dolphins jumping in our bow we arrived in St. Augustine, Florida. It was picture perfect.

Woke up yesterday to a bright day and the sun seemed to warm us from the inside out. Now that's more like it. We plan on spending a few days here as there is so much to see and do.

Pictured above:
1. Arriving in St. Augustine at sunset.
2. St. Augustine City Hall