Sunset in the Keys!

Day 32! This morning we woke early as usual and started our day's journey. With many bridge openings a head of us we wanted to get an early start.

Fort Lauderdale can be a very busy place with boat traffic. The go fast boat traffic, small run a bouts. The ICW is very narrow though here with concrete walls on both sides. This helps the residents with erosion of their property but gives reverb of the wakes. Instead of dealing with one set of wakes from each boat you have many to deal with as it hits the walls and comes back to wake you again. We were thankful that it not only was a weekday but that the weather wasn't inviting for boating, so boat traffic was low.

When we arrived at Port Everglades, the inlet in Fort Lauderdale, one look out the channel and we could see the waves were more than we wanted to deal with. A small craft warning had been posted for the day. It doesn't matter how big you think your boat is, you know it will be uncomfortable when they say small craft warning. The waves are usually one to two feet bigger than they predict on a normal day. We stayed on the inside to get to Miami. Something we have never done in the past. We have gone as far as Haulover Beach but returned to Fort Lauderdale and out the inlet to get to Miami. Miami has a bridge that has only 56 feet of clearance, we need 57 and low tide will give us what we need.

The picture shows some of the large freighter traffic at Port Everglades. This is also a terminal for large cruise ships, which there were not many of at port.















We were waiting for a scheduled opening of this bridge when a Coast Guard Cutter requested an opening. This meant we would get an early opening but buy the time the bridge opened and we waited for the cutter to transit we went thought bridge at our normal time. It was neat to see him up close non the less.















After our transiting this part of the ICW and the bridge in question we got to see this view of downtown Miami and the Miami River. We hadn't seen this view before. Even though I'm not fond of high rises it still was a neat sight.
















This is a shot of the Miami skyline as we left the fair city to get to our anchorage for the night.

Day 33! After a less than restful nights sleep, we work early and began our day. The winds were strong last night and the reverb from shore kept slapping the stern of our boat and bouncing us around. Not to mention the noise. We have been spoiled this trip, just about every night the wind would die and the water would settle to glass, giving us a calm night. Last night that changed and I think we are also starting to get tired and need a break from travel.

Fortunately today we were able to sail without the engine most of the day. The quiet of sailing helped to make up for the noise of last night. A sailboat, finally we became. After being virtually a power boat for a month now we were enjoying our day on the water. We had anywhere from 12 to 20 knots of wind and were on a down wind run all day. We were even wing to wing for one of the stretches. Biscayne Bay is one of our favorite places to be on the water. Even when it is rough on the ocean a sailor can enjoy a good sail on the bay.

The winds are still bowing tonight but we have managed some protection in Tarpon Basin. We are the only boat at anchor here tonight. The last time we anchored here to escape a storm there were several of us. The sunset in the picture was what we were treated to tonight here at anchor.

Tomorrow we will be in Marathon after a long day of travel. We are hoping for some sailing again tomorrow and a good nights rest tonight.