Just Ducky: February 2013

Ft Lauderdale to Miami

We became a sailboat again, at least for a little while! Our trip on the outside in the ocean from Fort Lauderdale to Miami is necessary as our mast is too tall to get under one of the Miami bridges. The day started out with a couple of rain showers but cleared enough for these fair weather sailors. It was a great sail, averaging about 6 knots. We came back inside at the port of Miami and of course as soon as we decided to anchor, the heavens opened up again. The anchorage here is in South Beach around some of the islands near the cruise ship terminals. We were in one anchorage that had us right in the middle of the tours of the homes of the rich and famous. I smiled and waved, and although Just Ducky is a solid seagoing vessel, they could tell we were not among the rich and famous! We moved closer to South Beach and the dingy dock that allowed us to get to shore more quickly than our original location. We toured the Lincoln Mall with only buying one thing – a record for me. Of course, the sales here are not in my definition of a sale. The beach was beautiful and the people-watching was interesting. We lunched at a place called Tiramisu, a great recommendation from my cousin Brian. Food was great! I love the pastel colored art deco buildings in South Beach and found out that the buildings were originally all white. They were painted different colors after WWII to cheer people up. Who knew…

After 4 days we took off for Dinner Key in Coconut Grove. It’s really only about 5-6 miles south of Miami. There is a huge mooring field here and this is where many boats wait for a favorable wind to go over to the Bahamas, and in our case waiting for calm seas to go down to Marathon in the Keys on the outside. Our intention was to stay a few days. Remember how our intentions don’t always pan out? We’ll we thought it was good weather to leave, so we crossed Biscayne Bay, got to the ocean with 5 foot seas and then quickly turned around to return to our safe mooring ball. We probably could have braved the very uncomfortable ride, but decided if it wasn’t fun, we weren’t doing it. We became friends with a Canadian couple who suggested we go on the inside through Florida Bay instead of going on the outside. Mat decided to take his advice. So we spent 9 nights in Dinner Key (it’s a good thing it was pretty cheap.)

We found out that to take advice from a catamaran with probably a 3 ft draft when you have a 5 ft. draft is probably not the wisest move. We had to work with the tides in a couple of places to be sure there was enough water under the boat. Mat was resigned to having to call BoatUS to tow us off the shallows, but we got through, slowly but safely. As a result we saw some really great sunrises and sunset and in one spot the stars were so bright and numerous it took our breath away.

Arriving in Marathon was wonderful as we were greeted at the dock by Jack, one of our friends here. The weather here has been near 80 in the daytime and good sleeping weather at night. It’s what you come to Florida for. We arrived in enough time to tie up, rest a bit and be ready at 5 pm for cocktail hour. “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere” holds true in all of the keys and we are not ones to buck tradition. We’ve been here for 3 days and have already cleaned the boat, gone dancing one night, learned Mahjong (that would be me since we think men are not allowed to play mahjong), gone fishing (that would be Mat) and witnessed a drug bust here at the resort. Life is good: I hope I don’t have to pay for the copyrights on that phrase.

So those that are following us on SPOT, you can take a little vacation from that as we stay here at least through February. Although our friends Mike and Anita want to join us and go to Cuba, Mat has given a definite NO to that. We are more than happy to have them join us, but to somewhere a little less volatile that Cuba. March is still a little up in the air, but we’ll let you know when we are on the move again.

We do have one fast fact to share. We bought some cottage cheese in August from BIG Y (sorry, Tom) and believe it or not it is still good. I shudder to think what preservatives are in it.

For all of our northeast family and friends, I hope the storm is not as bad as they are expecting and that you all stay safe. Thanks to our neighbors Pat & Ed, we are resting easy that everything will be all right at Hillcrest.