Friday, July 31, 2009

Halfway!

Brad left us on Tuesday. We will really miss him. He was great to have around fixing things and good company.

Wednesday we got up early and took off. We were underway by 6:30 and sailed the 50 nautical miles to Key Largo. Too bad Brad missed this part. We had all the sails up and were going 6 to 7 knots most of the time.

At Key Largo, Glen put on an amazing display of boat handling trying to back into a slip. In the end, we tied up alongside a seawall in the Key Largo Marine Boatyard. Not many people witnessed the attempt or they were too polite to say anything. Gary made the mistake of coming down from the canvas for a walk and Pam and Glen ushered him off the boat. He stared at us from the dock for a couple of hours but the next day - no Gary. We miss him... but just like we got over Brad, we'll get over Gary.

Sailed (and motor sailed) another 50 nm to Miami. All along the way we listened to the Coast Guard helping people who lost lobster divers in the water. How can you lose a diver? After a time they all seemed to get found. The Coast Guard must love lobster season! Spent Thursday in a so-so marina in Miami. Could have been terrific but was a bit run down and lots of seedy characters around. Glen fit right in!

Leaving Miami
Leaving Miami

We've done 100 nm in the past 2 days and used the motor less than 20% of that time.

It is 20 nm to Fort Lauderdale and 50 from there to Palm Beach. We thought about doing the 70 and then decided to take it easy so we slept in a bit and didn't get going until 10:30. Too bad. We caught the edge of the Gulf Stream and at one point we were doing over 10 knots. We could easily have done the 70 had we left earlier.

Our preferred route is outside but we could choose to take the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) The problem is that there are only a few places where you can cut between the two. If we get weather when we are out on the ocean we are stuck with it.

Fort Lauderdale is halfway from Bradenton to St. Mary's, Georgia - our destination. Champagne tonight?

2 comments:

  1. Hey there Jolly Rogers!!
    We loved the youtube video...mucho cool!! great to see all the adventures. The storm looked pretty scary...I didn't think you were going to make it under the bridge..optical illusion!! We are having a good summer. Just back from Bimpy's..big crowd of 50+. Baby Thomas came as well...first big adventure. He is pretty darn cute, say his very unbiased Oma and Opa!!
    We have had an unbelievable heat wave which has finally disipated. There are about 700 forest fires burning so we need the rain and cooler weather.
    Your boat is just awesome!! Love the room in the pulpit. It looks very comfortable. Happy sailing. Keep in touch!
    cheers
    Scott and Tina

    ReplyDelete
  2. Liked your blog a lot!
    We will keep checking it for future entries.
    Pat & Ray (MV Reflection)

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