Light Rain in the Morning then off Across the Great Bahama Bank - Monday Feb. 28th

Yes, it rained our first day in the Bahamas. However the showers were light and the air was warm so it didn't dampen our spirits as we walked about a mile in the rain to the Internet Store that opened at 9 am. Harry wanted to buy a SIM card so that we could use the internet while in the Bahamas and then we would be set to continue on our journey.  However, we were soon reminded that we weren't in the states any more and we need to modify our expectations as when we arrived at the internet store, we were told to return 20-30 minutes later as the lone sales person needed to take care of some other business.  When we returned to the store, we were told to wait a little longer but would be first to be served as two other cruisers had arrived who were also looking to buy a SIM card. Finally, with SIM card in hand, we returned to Juno and said good-by to JR at the marina, casting off our dock lines around 11:00 am.

The rain had stopped but winds were light (only about 7 knots out of the east), so we motored north and east across the shallow Bahama Bank. The "bank" as it is called, consists of about 90 miles in which the ocean is approximately 15 feet deep. The bottom is visible and it is white sand, and no land is in sight in any direction.  Being so large, we chose to drop our anchor around 8:30 pm to get some sleep on the quiet bank until the arrival of the NW winds which were forecast to blow 10-15 knots and would make sleep nearly impossible. With warm weather, Sarah took advantage of sleeping outside in the cockpit where the stars in the universe put on a incredible display.

The "Stop & Shop" was closed on Sunday. :(

Bahamian street art worthy of Wynwood in Miami

Our Fourth Attempt to Cross the Gulf Stream Proves Successful! - Sunday Feb 27th

 
Our alarm went off at 4:30 am so that we could be up and ready to leave by 5:00 am.  With only 10 knots of wind from the SE forecast to die around noon, we expected to motor the entire 50 miles so we didn't raise any sails. As we hauled anchor, we noticed two other sailboats departing on the same schedule as - Windwatcher and Story Teller. It was very dark when we left but by 6 am, there was a bit of light on the horizon. As we rounded Key Biscayne light, the  6 knots of speed we were traveling proved to be rather uncomfortable with seas coming from every direction so we slowed to 5 knots, steering a compass heading of 120 degrees (SE) to make 90 degrees (E) over ground. We saw about 3 knots of Gulf Stream current moving us northward. The water in the Gulf Stream is a nice deep blue and remains such until 1/2 a mile from Bimini when the Bahama Bank rises up from the deep ocean and the water turns turquoise and tan over sand banks.We stayed at Blue Water Marina, but this year, we noticed the marina was only half full - quite a contrast as compared to the last time we stopped here, perhaps due to it being later in the season and/or covid. While Harry cleared through customs and immigration, Sarah stayed aboard Juno which flew the yellow quarantine flag until the immigration process was complete. We toasted our arrival in the Bahamas with a bottle of champagne. No impromptu cruiser parties ashore tonight, only the local bar truck which was playing music as we fell asleep around 9 pm.

 

Finally!

 

Long time Dock Master "JR" coaches us through getting onto the dock

 

Harry raises the Bahamian courtesy flag indicating we are cleared immigration

Stretching our legs on our first Bahamian beach of 2022

Covid Negative at Last & Final Preparations Before Departure - Saturday Feb. 26th

Scheduled for the only type of covid test (rapid PCR) administered by the city at 9:00 am, we walked to the town green, got tested, then headed to Flour and Weirdos for coffee and baked treats before a stop in the B.Care hair salon for haircuts at 10:30 for both of us (long hair interferes with snorkeling). Right next door, was a Winn Dixie market for our final chance to stock our fridge/freezer.  Harry completed the Bahamas travel visa and health visa with our negative covid results for the both of us (finally!!) while I shopped and then we called FreeBee for a lift back to the dinghy.  Who should appear but José - for the third time.  Our trip took longer than expected as as traffic was backed up for 1/4 mile getting in to the Bill Braggs State Park giving us a chance to hear more about José and his life. With temperatures in the low 80's we put the groceries away as soon as possible and then as the winds were very light out of the NE, we motored NE about 5 miles to Key Biscayne Marina to top of the diesel and water tanks as No Name has no services for cruisers. As we rounded the point leaving No Name, we came upon 60 small motor boats anchored on a sand bar with many people standing in the water keeping hydrated on a hot day. After gassing up, we sailed slowly back past No Name to the lighthouse at the tip of Key Biscayne and finally returned to No Name for the night.  Enjoyed a fresh piece of grouper on the grill and made Juno ready  (putting the dinghy on Juno's deck) for a very early departure tomorrow morning to the Bahamas. Forecast is for winds to be about 10 knots from the SE.

Freshly coiffed and ready to go

Awesome FreeBee driver and Key Biscayne Ambassador, José

 

Elliot Key Park Ranger's HQ to Key Biscayne/ No Name Harbor - Fri. Feb. 25

If any of you who are reading this blog are into camping, check out Elliot Key. Today we went ashore to the Park Ranger's HQ. There they had nice bathrooms, showers, and fresh water,  dockage for about 30 boats, and need we say, mosquitoes.  While ashore, we saw only one other person who was camping on another nearby island, but we did manage to walk/run to the eastern shore of the key to see breaking waves as the wind was blowing about 15 out of the east. No beach to speak of here, but we managed to get some fresh water before hauling anchor and sailing north back to Key Biscayne/ No Name Harbor as the latest forecast looks like Sunday Feb 27th  or Monday 28th to be favorable for a crossing and thus we need to get a covid test tomorrow (Saturday).

The ocean side of Elliott

 

Defeated by Mosquitoes on Elliot Key - Thurs. Feb. 24th

After doing some laundry by hand and hanging it in the plentiful sunshine to dry, we packed a picnic lunch with the intent on walking across Elliot Key to the ocean side.  We put on bug spray but by the time we were in the middle of the island (about 5 minutes walking), we got attacked by mosquitos so decided to abort plans and return to the sunny beach. We hung out at the beach, enjoyed a picnic lunch, swam and then returned to Juno. We had read that there is fresh water at the park ranger's HQ about a mile south so we decided to reposition Juno before dusk so as to be closer to the park HQs for an excursion ashore tomorrow for fresh water.  

Laundry drying on Juno

A walk in the woods turns to running from mosquitos

Sail to Elliot Key & Doctor Levinson to the Rescue - Wed. Feb. 23rd

We'd read that about 12 miles south of Key Biscayne lies Elliot Key managed by the National Park Service. Nothing is there but a few campsites and supposedly some snorkeling so we raised both sails and had a nice 2 hour sail to the north anchorage of Elliot Key dropping anchor about 1/2 mile off the University Dock in about 8 feet of water.  They advised swimming the anchor to make sure it is buried well in the sand as there is a lot of rock below some sands.  Sarah volunteered to jump in the crystal clear water with mask and snorkel. While the anchor was set well enough, upon getting out of the water, Sarah felt a tingling at her knee, only to discover a Portuguese Man-o-War tentacle extending from her knee to the animal 10 feet downwind explaining the stinging sensation. Dr. Levinson astutely advised a paste of baking soda and salt water be applied, followed by a scraping of the skin to remove the venomous cysts. Fortunately for Sarah the jellyfish was small and so the sting was about as annoying as a bee sting and we were able to enjoy a nice beach and snorkel on Elliot Key before some mojitos on Juno. We were so glad we came to Elliot Key as it felt like the Bahamas - uninhabited key, clear water, very few other boats nearby, and a night sky filled with stars.

 

Sarah patiently awaits as Harry consults on the onboard medical advice

 

 

Beautiful Elliott Key

Rapid Antigen Testing, Crandon Tennis, Dinner Out - Tues. Feb. 22nd

Even though a Bahamas crossing wasn't foreseen in the next three days, today Sarah took advantage of the one day of the week that the local CVS does rapid antigen testing putting to rest any doubts about the last antigen test result. With a second negative antigen test, we were feeling better and called for a FreeBee ride to the Crandon Tennis center run by the city to play some tennis.  José picked us up in a large golf cart and told us that he used to work at the tennis center that once was the site of the Virginia Slims Tennis tournament.  Suffice to say, the facilities were very good and we played tennis for an hour passing up the opportunity to rent the center court surrounded by stadium seating. We'll do that next time. On our way back, we found an pretty authentic Spanish restaurant called Kebo where we stopped for dinner before making a last call to the FreeBee to take us the 3 miles back to our dinghy. José picked us up again.

 

Sarah anxiously retrieves her test results between games

Key Biscayne is a miracle in conservation, but just barely. Though the middle third is classic Florida development where the Village of Key Biscayne is located, the northern third is mostly Crandon Park which includes the tennis center, a beach, golf course, marina and beach, while the southern third is the Bill Baggs State Park. Had it not been for foresight and determination the entire key would look like the Village of Key Biscayne. To their credit the village has many public facilities and lovely plantings around the main public thoroughfare.

3:00 AM Wake Up Call. Time to Move On to Key Biscayne - Monday Feb. 21st

 
We couldn't believe it. This morning, at 3:00 am, someone was blaring Latin pop music at such a volume it woke us and others up. We listened to it for 20 minutes or so hoping it would stop but it wasn't until another cruiser blared his boat horn that it finally stopped and we all could get back to sleep. We finally got our blog posted today while we had some internet and perhaps because of our bad experience last night, we decided to move about 6 miles south to Key Biscayne. We motored out the channel where about five cruise ships were on anchor and out of the harbor, unfurled just the jib, and sailed out and around to the southern end of Key Biscayne, dropping an anchor off of Bill Braggs State Park/No Name Harbor. This location was much more popular with transient boaters than Miami Beach as we found ourselves in the company of about 25-30 other boats, looking out across Biscayne Bay and to Stiltsville (the remains of several homes built on stilts over the ocean). We went ashore around 4 pm tieing up the dinghy at the Boater's Grille Restaurant and got the low down on the free shuttle service (FreeBee) that transports visitors around Key Biscayne for free.

Dinghy dock at No Name Harbor, Bill Braggs State Park

 

 

Ocean beach at Bill Braggs State Park, Key Biscayne

Helping a stranded dinghy - Sunday Feb. 20th.

We were settling in pretty comfortably to our nice little anchorage off Miami Beach so we were not in a hurry to move just yet to Key Biscayne. We spent the day catching up on our long overdue blog and made a trip to Publix Supermarket that is in an art deco building for some supplies including a tub of Talenti gelato which we had to eat before it all melted. As we were enjoying dinner at dusk in the cockpit, Sarah noticed a dinghy in the dark without any lights, abruptly stop. Harry called out to the driver who yelled he'd run out of gas.  Harry waved him to come over and Diego with one oar managed to come alongside Juno. Uncertain of Diego's intent, Sarah was ready with cell phone in hand to call 911. Fortunately all that was needed was a little gas and Diego disappeared into the darkness.

Art deco Publix Market

Wynwood and The Miami Design District - Saturday Feb. 19th

We had not yet been to any of Miami proper so we chose an outing to visit the Wynwood Wall Museum and then the Design District.  The Wynwood Wall is an outdoor art museum for street artists in which about 24 walls have been beautifully painted by street artists. We ate our picnic lunch while visiting the open air art museum and then continued on foot to the Design District a few blocks away where we were rewarded with an outdoor display of high end race cars - Porsches, Lambourghinis, Mazzarattis... The design district also had many high end shops for those who could afford such luxuries. Our return experience via public transportation was less than optimal as the boat show was in full swing, causing the normal bus route to alter its' route. After an hour of waiting for a bus that was never coming, we decided to walk the nearly 3 miles from Miami to Miami Beach where we found our dinghy at the police boat ramp right where we'd left it 7 hours earlier.

An example of street art in Wynwood outside the museum

A huge monkey made out of resued plastic trash at the museum

 

Sarah picks out a Ferrari for her next birthday

Miami Beach! Friday Feb. 18th

The weather was perfect for a day at the beach so we did just that. Packed a picnic lunch and walked past the art deco district admiring the beautifully restored hotels along Ocean Blvd. then crossed the street to Miami Beach which went on for miles and probably 100 yards deep.  We took in some people watching, went for refreshing swim in the ocean, and enjoyed our lunch.  A very aggressive seagull swooped down and grabbed a part of Sarah's sandwich while she was holding it.  After soaking up the sun for a couple of hours we wandered back towards the dinghy and came upon the Plymouth Hotel, an art deco hotel designed by a Croation air pilot. We stopped there for a drink and a late afternoon snack at their poolside restaurant before continuing back to the dinghy and Juno.

 

A local resident waits for another go at our lunch

Thousands of people enjoying Miami Beach

Flagler Memorial Beach - Thurs. Feb. 17th

Morale was low as Sarah felt she'd yet again caused a ripple in our plans. We spent most of the day on Juno with a small excursion via the dinghy to Flagler Island, a few hundred yards off our stern that is about the only place, save for the police dock, where transients could land a dinghy in all of Miami Beach. Nothing much to be said about Flagler Island other than you can walk the circumference in about 5 minutes. Later that night, with some encouragement from Harry, we shifted our focus from lamenting lost time in the Bahamas to one in which we could enjoy our current location a bit more.

 

Flagler Memorial Island, a popular day trip for Miami boaters

 

Boat stuff and more Covid tests - Wed Feb 16th

We woke to a day with the winds still breezy. Beyond getting a few things done aboard Juno, the highlight of our day was our Covid test (rapid PCR) around 1 pm before returning to the boat to await the results and not feeling very optimistic. We used the afternoon to search the web a little harder and found a clinic administering rapid antigen tests close by, so by 4:00 pm, Sarah set off for her second Covid test of the day. Results of both covid tests came in around dinner:  PCR test negative for Harry but still positive for Sarah. However, the antigen test for Sarah was negative.  This put us in a bit of a dilemma as Sarah didn't have utmost confidence that the rapid antigen test had been administered correctly, together with not wanting to be forced to quarantine on our boat once arriving in the Bahamas, we decided it best to forgo hopes of crossing to the Bahamas this week and would wait for another weather opportunity and hopefully another negative Covid test result in which we had good confidence for Sarah.

Wandering the city of Miami Beach - Tues.Feb 15th

Today was a little cool and breezy so we chose to visit the Holocaust Memorial and a very nice botanical garden in Miami Beach adjacent to the convention center which was gearing up to host the boat show later this same week. At the botanical gardens, we saw a banana palm with bananas and its most unique flower shaped like a mango, as well as a Cuban Petticoat Palm that was true to its name. 

 

A very moving sculpture a The Holocaust Memorial

Petticoat Palm

Banana plant

Prospects of a Gulf Stream Crossing and Miami Beach Feb 14

Now that we made it about as far south as we had wanted to stage for a crossing of the Gulf Stream, we started looking for weather windows appropriate to do so (winds out of any direction but north or east, and preferably light), and we saw a potential on Friday Feb. 18th. However one thing essential to do first is to schedule and obtain a negative Covid test within 72 hrs of arriving in the Bahamas. For us, this would mean Wed. Feb 15th and giving us almost a week to enjoy Miami Beach before we could leave the US with the right weather.  We spent several hours trying to find a rapid antigen test location with much difficulty because the city had closed down all of these and was only doing rapid PCR tests - the test we feared might still return a positive result for Sarah. Defeated, we scheduled our rapid PCR tests for the 15th, hoping for the best and repositioned Juno to a new anchorage between Flagler Key, Belle Key and Miami Beach as we realized we were in a “no overnight anchorage” location. After moving we went ashore and walked around Miami Beach, doing a little shopping in a retail section of town.

 

Former Art Deco Lincoln Theater now H&M

 

 

Bahamas Bound? Not Yet. Radar Woes, Covid, and Miami: Feb 4 - Feb 13

 Looking at the weather forecast, we saw conditions favorable to cross to the Bahamas from Miami/Key Biscayne three days out. We used Friday Feb 4th to restock the fridge and to make a last trip to West Marine for boat supplies. To get to Miami, we would need to leave the Lake Worth anchorage at 2AM Saturday Feb 5th, motor out the Lake Worth Inlet six miles to the south of us, then sail or motor the remaining 70 miles to Miami/Key Biscayne..

Thus we slept until 1:00 AM Saturday morning, got the engine and GPS chartplotter fired up, and hauled up the anchor. We also turned on the radar to give us additional visibility of obstacles in the dark as we made our way down the ICW to the Lake Worth Inlet.  Sarah, with the keener eyesight, kept a lookout ahead while Harry drove. About 20 minutes in to the trip Harry glanced again at the radar display and it was flashing "Antenna not rotating". Oh no!  The radar had worked fine 20 minute ago and we had also tested it in Titusville before leaving.  We slowed down and and discussed options. We might not need radar getting to Miami as it was a clear night and we also have AIS which lets us see other boats that also have AIS and this includes all commercial vessels. However we weren't as confident that our anchorage in Key Biscayne would provide as easy access to supplies needed for repairs as we had in Lake Worth. So with much disappointment, we returned the few miles north to the same spot we had been anchored in Lake Worth and climbed back into bed and would deal with the radar in the morning.

In the morning, we took the radar down (a complex task in itself as it sits about 9 feet above our heads on a stainless steel pole) and opened up the radar where we discovered that the motor was stuck. A gentle push and it started rotating properly albeit with a light rubbing sound once each rotation. After that it would start and stop every time but with a bit of hesitation and the regular rubbing sound. Options 1) order a new motor though the process of replacing it meant a lot of disassembly 2) order a used unit of the same type off of EBay, or 3) upgrade all the electronics.  Option #3 sounded appealing but also the most expensive and time consuming. Option #2 seemed like the safest and quickest option so we proceeded with that choice and found our “new” used radar in our hands by Tuesday Feb 8th. Once in our hands, we swapped out our old  radar for the “new” one and it worked. We thought we were good to go but would first have to look for the next weather window for a crossing since we had now missed the last one. 

Looking at the weather for the next few days, we saw a good opportunity for another crossing Friday Feb 11th. This time, we planned to leave from Fort Lauderdale instead of going all the way to Miami. That route would put us against the Gulf Stream (flowing north at 2.5 knots) but would save us from going all the way to Miami. So we went to get our Covid rapid tests on Wednesday Feb 9th as these are needed for entry and must be done within 72 hrs of arriving in the Bahamas.  However, when We got our text messages with the covid results. Harry was negative but Sarah was positive!?! This was quite a surprise as the week prior, Sarah’s PCR test had come back negative.  Our first concern was about our 90 plus year old friend Bill Straith, who we had seen six days prior in Jupiter. Was she positive when we visited Bill Straith in Jupiter?  Where could she have picked it up? She has had cold-like symptoms since Titusville but was mostly over those, and none of the classic Covid symptoms of sore throat, fever, or taste issues. We had both been fairly careful with masks, but we also had become complacent and forwent masks at times back in Titusville.  And Harry? He tested negative. That seemed even crazier. We headed back to Juno to assess our options but with the unknowns of when Sarah will be negative, and if Harry will be positive by then, it is hard to think in very concrete terms. 

Trying to make the most of our current situation, we found a public park coincidentally called Juno, with a tennis court, where we played some tennis. We also found a nice state park about an hour’s walk from our Lake Worth anchorage. MacArthur it was called, and it had a nice beach and so we spent the day on Saturday Feb 12th at the beach, enjoying some rest and relaxation and the sun and water. We then made plans to take advantage of a north westerly wind  for a sail down to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday Feb 13th, a day that started out windy and rainy. We were making such good time, we decided to continue on to Miami but soon after noon, the wind and rain died, forcing us to start the engine for the final few hours.  We dropped our anchor around 5 pm off the Venetian islands in Miami, where we had front row seats watching all the activity around us including giant cruise ships departing and turning on a dime, watching the Miami skyline all lit up at night for Valentine’s Day, and in time to catch the Super Bowl.

 

An improvised dinghy landing to find propane

The park as lovely was the name suggested

The Lake Worth dingy parking lot

 

An endangered Atala butterfly

A well deserved beach day before leaving Lake Worth

Miami - just in time for sunset and the Super Bowl

Motoring Down the ICW, A Brief Visit With an Old Friend & Lake Worth: Feb 1 - Feb 3

We both felt so much better now that we were underway again even if it was principally under power and not sail. South of Titusville we passed the former home site of a dear family friend, Dick Tillman, in Melbourne, FL who had passed away in October of 2020.  A fire last fall resulted in the complete loss the house. Fortunately no one was hurt and neither of the neighboring properties were damaged.  On our first trip in 2019, we spent three wonderful days there as guests anchored just off his property. With Dick gone and to see the vacant lot was sad. However, his family still owns the property and it looks like one of his daughters and son-in-law are going to rebuild and make it their retirement home. We are looking forward to a future trip to again anchor nearby to stop in for a visit.

We moved down the ICW another couple of hours and found a place to anchor in Hog Cove that was nicely protected from the southeast winds. When we awoke in the morning we saw hundreds, if not a thousand, ducks swimming off in the distance. They were too far away to identify but when we got Juno going again, the flock took off. It was quite impressive.

Wednesday Feb 2nd we covered about 70 miles under power on the ICW from 8 am to 5:30 pm stopping  at Peck Lake, really just a little bump out in the otherwise narrow ICW. This put us about 10 miles or a couple of hours north of Jupiter Inlet where we planned to meet up with Bill Straith, the father of one of Sarah's two closest childhood friends, at his condo for lunch Feb 3rd. We made this same stop on our last trip so anchoring and getting ashore was fairly familiar.  Bill offered us the use of his washing machine and drier which we gladly took him up on. While our load of clothes did their thing, we enjoyed catching up on family and close friends as well as a picnic lunch outside at Bill’s condo property overlooking Jupiter Inlet.

After retrieving our laundry and saying goodbye, we moved along another 10 miles down the ICW to Lake Worth at North Palm Beach. This is a popular anchorage with plenty of space to accommodate the many transient boaters like us who stop here. This anchorage provides good protection, a handy beach area to land the dinghy which is within easy walking distance of Publix grocery store and West Marine, and multi-million dollar homes and yachts as eye candy. Who could ask for more?

Moving again with Titusville in the background

 

Anchor down just in time for sunset in Hog Cove

 

Hundreds of ducks the next morning

Visiting with Bill Straith

 

The last of seven bridges to get past today before arriving at Lake Worth