The bridges were on our side today and we made every one of them right on time, all but the last one before the Port Everglades Inlet and we decided we needed to stop to take on fuel before heading out in the ocean anyway. We made a quick stop at the Ft. Lauderdale Marina and were on our way in 22 minutes and made the next opening which was at 11:00 am. That put us out in the Atlantic before noon.
We hadn't had any wind to speak of during out trip down the canals from Boca to Ft. Lauderdale, but as soon as we had made our way all the way out the inlet and were heading due south the wind piped up and made it advantageous to roll out the jib. There was a bit of a roll, but nothing like what we had experienced on our first trip outside. The trip down the coast was about 18 miles and we made it to the sea buoy off Government Cut in Miami around 2:00 pm. The trip in was pretty tame as we had both the tide and wind coming in with us. We were restricted from using the Government Channel for security (there were 4 cruise ships in port), so we took the southern channel (south of Dodge Island) and rejoined the ICW at mile marker 1090 before heading through the Rickenbacker Causeway bridge to our anchorage just east of the bridge off the long beach that sports swimming areas and catamaran and windsurfer rentals. There was no business today, Floridians don't like it cold!
After dropping the hook, Dan and I put the dinghy in and made a cocktail visit to all our travel companions. We wanted to see how they had enjoyed trip 3 out on the big blue O and to let them know that we would be heading out at 8:00 am to start down the Hawk Channel on the east side of the Florida Keys. Our destination tomorrow is Key Largo, to our favorite marina there, Marina del Mar. Candy, the dockmaster is still there and has slips for all of us! ~~~_/)~~~M&D
I started out this morning snapping oh so many extravagant mansions but decided it was ridiculous, so I concentrated on mostly sculptures. I liked the whimsical dolphins, the pair of statues reminded me of a pair of miniature statues that are a family tradition for Thanksgiving "grabs", and having seen the original of the Winged Victory I was a bit put out by her gaudy gilding, but enjoyed all the finery we passed on the way south.
As you can see, the trip out in the ocean wasn't a tough one, we were never more than a half mile from shore with skyscrapers peppering the shore all the way.
The entry into Miami certainly gave us the feel that we had arrived in South Florida. So many tall buildings and lots of activity. The lower right shows the Rickenbacker Causeway off to the south, our final destination today.
We passed these two "49ers" and the lateen rigged catamaran as we went under the Rickenbacker Causeway Bridge. These two board paddlers passed us just as we anchored. The sunset was beautiful both astern and looking out at the skyline.
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