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It’s Thursday morning and we are anchored in a nice little harbor in Miami Beach off of Biscane Bay.  On Tuesday we sailed down the short 20 miles from Ft Lauderdale on a screaming reach in, at times, a little too screaming as it was very windy.  While the wind peaked at 30kts in gusts, the seas were pretty flat as the wind was coming off from shore and we weren’t far from the beach.  It was a fun run but I have to admit that in the big gusts it was a bit much.  However, Pandora topped out at nearly ten kts at times and rarely saw under 7kts on the entire run.

As I have mentioned in some recent posts, this area of FL is known as the “gold coast” and there is no doubt that the area lives up to it’s name.  Everywhere you look it’s clear that there is tremendous competition to prove that you are the biggest dog on the block.  Whether it’s your home on the water, your megayacht, or both, EVERYONE is working hard to make a statement that they have done well for themselves.  However, some have clearly done “weller” than others.

How about Kismet?  This boat, er… ship, is owned by Shahid Khan, a self made man from Pakistan.  It seems that he has built a huge company Flex-N-Gate selling, among other things, and I would imagine that it’s a really-really lot of things, all of the bumpers on every Toyota, both cars and trucks, sold in the US.  He is worth something like 3.2 billion.  His 300+’ yacht was only launched in 2014 and is clearly the “queen of the fleet” in Ft Lauderdale.   Check out this link to the charter site.  Be sure to look at the slideshow.  If you wish, you can charter her for about $1,600,000 per week and I doubt that fuel is included.  However, the 18 crew are and there is plenty of space for your 12 guests.  Shahid has done well for himself.  Would you buy a car bumper from this guy?  I guess you already have.Oh yeah, he also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars pro football team, a UK soccer team and the private jets to get himself to the games. Get Anfield seating tickets today to experience the games live!

Even if you aren’t rich enough to own sports teams, you can always get one of these.  This nifty little deal will make you feel on top of the world but be sure to wear your helmet.  It’s a sort of “jet ski” with a “jet”.   See the guy standing on the water?Yes, that’s pretty neat but then things get even more interesting. If you have the nerve you can do blink-of-a-eye “vertigo inducing” fast flips, again and again.  Way too athletic for me.  I am guessing that the “pilot” isn’t in his “upper mid 50s” like moi.One way or the other, there is plenty going on in these parts.

On our last night in Ft Lauderdale, we were treated to a beautiful rainbow.  What a sight.  After the “flipper guy” this seemed more like our speed.As we sailed the short distance to Miami I was struck by the amazing array of high rise buildings that line every inch of the beaches.   Let’s hope that a really big hurricane doesn’t hit this area any time soon and wash all of this nice stuff into the water.

Speaking of water, you can walk along the beach in Miami along a really nice promenade and we did.   I guess that they know better than to build boardwalks here as they so often get washed away in storms.  We happened on a lovely hotel on the beach, the National Hotel.  We loved the lap pool and have decided to have a long lunch at the restaurant overlooking this view on Valentine’s Day.   We thought that lunch would be better than dinner as schlepping back to Pandora in our little rubber dink in the dark might not be the best way to cap off a nice day.

Walking around Miami Beach is a nice way to pass the time.  We particularly liked seeing the sights along Lincoln Avenue with all of the outdoor cafes. Just about everywhere you turn the landscaping is beautiful.  We did our best to peak into the private homes we walked by.  How about this beautiful landscaping?However, where there is money, there will be some that feel that they should be master of all that they survey and Miami has it’s fair share of folks that feel that way.  A particular standout is a property owner on the shores of the harbor that we are anchored in.  It seems that he isn’t happy about his “million dollar view” being maligned by nasty cruising yachts so he has anchored 25 little plastic sailboats in his part of the harbor to keep the “nasties” like us out of his view. So, now he has a view of a bunch of little crappy boats covered with seagull droppings.  How scenic.  I suppose that he feels he has won in his own little way.  No accounting for taste but hey, he’s arrived and he can at least say “my fleet of little nasty sailboats and seagull droppings is bigger than yours”.  Yes, it is…

It’s Sunday afternoon here in Ft Lauderdale and we are enjoying a really spectacular day.   The temperature is about perfect, in the high 70s and the sun is out in force. 

I expect that we will head out to make the run to Miami on Tuesday morning as the wind is forecast to be from a favorable direction to sail and not too strong.  That will be a nice change of pace as it seems that we have been experiencing front after front with strong winds for the last few weeks as we have made out way south.

A few hours ago I heard from our friends Cathy and Port who, interestingly enough, just got back from a three week trip to India.   It seems that India is a bit different than Fairfield County Ct, where they live. Ya think?

Cathy and Port have a house in the Keys near Marathon and told us that they will be down in late February.  Brenda and I visited them a number of years ago, in what seems like a different lifetime, prior to my retiring.

Port designed the place and it’s really lovely with a South Seas island look. I wrote this post the first time we visited.  What a spot.  You just can’t beat the sunsets.  It will be great to see them “in situ” again.  Cathy and Brenda share a love of gardening but I think it’s safe to say that Cathy has more stamina than me and Brenda put together as her gardens at their CT home are very extensive.

Earlier I headed ashore for a walk and to enjoy the weather on this lazy Sunday.  Well, it seems that some of the other  “locals” had the same idea.  Along the way I saw some large iguanas “catching some rays”.    It might look like this guy is “inside, looking out” but he was just staking out his turf through a fence on the side of the canal.  “Don’t even THINK of coming near my fence!”Above him, in a tree overlooking the water was one of the dominant males looking like he owned the place and trying to look his “lizard best”.  “I see you.  You in that rubber boat, yeah you!”I also came upon a group of stand-up-paddle-boarders (SUPs) making the most of the beautiful weather. How about yoga afloat?  In their own way they too are staking out their claim.  “You think you are good at yoga?  Well, watch this.  I can strike a pose on a tippy board, so there!!!”One way or the other, it seems that everyone here is working hard to appear like they aren’t working at all. 

I guess that about sums it up here in south Florida.  “Don’t I just look marvelous?  Enough about me, let’s talk about what YOU think of me.”

For now, I’d better focus on looking like I belong here too.   Where’s that damn yoga mat?  It must be there somewhere.   No, forget about that.  I think it would be better for me to just climb a tree and survey the landscape.  I guess “lizard” is more my speed and I do want to look like I belong.   “Hey you, you scaly lizard… Move aside, that’s my spot.”  No kidding, I know I’m all that and more.  Well, at least more than a lizard.

“Good luck Bob! You just keep thinking that.”  Yeah, I know.

It’s Saturday morning and we are sitting in Middle River in Ft Lauderdale.  With convenient shopping nearby, including a huge mall, we are planning to stick around for a few days to see the sights and sometime early next week, we’ll head down the coast to Miami as planned. 

Being here brings back memories as it was from this harbor that we crossed to the Bahamas three years ago, for the first time.   And, it was here that we got to know Bill and Maureen on Kalunamoo and Melinda and Harry on SeaShell.  Kalunamoo is in Antiqua and SeaShell in South America these days.  We are excited about seeing all of them again in June as both couples will be at our Gam in Essex.  It will be a fun reunion.   Interestingly, last evening we spoke directly with Bill and Maureen via the SSB radio.  Even though we are 1000 miles away, it sounded like they were in the next harbor.   Pretty amazing and it was a lot of fun to catch up.

As I mentioned in my last post, we experienced some really strong winds during a storm in Lake Boca a few days ago.  The National Weather Service decided it was a tornado that went through our area which would account for the conditions that we experienced.

As I think back to the experience, the wind hit so suddenly and changed direction in a moment, I guess that we must have had a near-miss with a real live twister. The ferocity of the winds was unlike anything that we have ever experienced in our 40+ years of sailing and based on the NWS judgement that it was a tornado, I will upgrade my estimates of the wind speed to say that it was officially “frigging windy”.

I won’t go into much more detail than I did in my last post except to say that I am really glad that it wasn’t any more severe than what we experienced.  I am very glad that it came and went so quickly as I don’t think that Pandora’s anchor and chain could have handled much more without something really bad happening.

Anyway, what a difference a day makes, as we now sit in a lovely harbor enjoying a sunny day. Yes, we did have a few more squalls here yesterday afternoon and overnight but they were the puny type that we are used to having.  In spite of their relatively minor gusts, we did drag a bit and woke up to find ourselves too close for comfort to a boat nearby.   As we moved and reset our anchor I did notice that the holding here isn’t as solid as it was in Boca.

All’s well that ends well and it’s nice to know that we can rely on our anchor when the going gets rally rough, well at least most of the time.

When we were walking around town yesterday, we happened on a flock of Ibis or is that Ibbisses or Ibi?  Not sure.  Anyway, they like to hang around acting like ducks in a park but I don’t think that they are looking for bits of bread.  Very interesting birds. You must know by now that I enjoy sunrises and sunsets and post, perhaps too many photos on this site, but hey, here’s a nice one from yesterday morning.

Notice the group of vertical wind generators on the top of the apartment building in the distance.  This is the only place where I have seen the vertical type in action.  And, of course, in every view here in Ft Lauderdale there’s a large yacht in the picture.  There’s no denying that we are deep into the “land of conspicuous consumption” or perhaps better, “the temple of consumption”, here in the “Gold Coast” of Florida.

Speaking of consumption, today we’ll  be heading out to lunch and go for a walk in the mall.  

 

It’s Thursday afternoon and we just arrived in Ft Lauderdale where we anchored in Middle River, a spot that we generally visit each time we come through the area.  We particularly enjoy this spot as there is a great public dock for us to tie up our dink and do some shopping.  Amazingly, this is probably one of the few places you will ever go where there is a place to tie up across from a high end shopping mall.  To see a huge mall and grazing manatees in the same area is certainly not something that we see every day. 

Today has been a rainy and windy day but it seems to be brightening off to the west.  I am hopeful that it will clear up before the evening.

Last night was pretty windy with gusts coming down on Pandora causing her to strain at her anchor.  However, that was only a test to be sure that the anchor was well dug in as things really got interesting this morning around 08:00 when a very strong line of thunderstorms came through Boca Raton.  It went from nearly calm to fierce gusting wind and rain lashing the harbor in just a few moments.  Over the years Brenda and I have experienced many thunderstorms at anchor and while on moorings so we thought that we knew what to expect.

Not so…  As the torrential rain slammed into us, the winds increased hugely but to exactly how powerful, I can only speculate as I did not have the presence of mind to turn on the instruments.  However, the wind came on so suddenly that I didn’t even have a chance to turn on the engine, just in case we dragged.   In just a few moments a huge burst of wind came down on us Pandora and healed over at least 30 degrees, perhaps more.  Let me tell you that this is about as much heeling as we experience when we are sailing hard on the wind in strong conditions and much more than we have EVER experienced when we were anchored.   The amount of force that blasted against us was just unbelievable.  Thankfully the dink was secured in the as I am sure that it would have flipped, engine and all had it been trailing behind us.   Even though the dink was clear of the water, it reared up in the davits and threatened to rise above the top of the radar arch in several of the gusts that hit us.  The roar of the wind in the rigging and hitting the canvas was breathtaking.

For a brief moment, several moments actually, I fully expected Pandora to drag her anchor and to make matters worse, we were anchored quite close to a 100’ motoryacht, that was on a dock behind us. Had we dragged even 100’ we would have been driven directly broadside into the yacht.  It was a real cliffhanger, let me tell you.

Happily, the new over sized Rockna anchor held and the only damage to the boat was that some of the plastic clips that hold the SSB antenna on the back stay broke off because of the pressure of the wind.

This was our first experience with real wind since installing our new anchor and I am very thankful that I purchased such a large one, several sizes bigger than is called for for a boat of our size.  There was only one other boat anchored near us, a small 25’ cruiser, and he dragged several hundred yards toward shore.

All and all, it was a very “exciting” experience and not in a good way.  I should note that Brenda took it all in stride and certainly looked calmer than I felt as everything crashed around down below.

Finally, the winds let up and the rain slowed to a light drizzle so we headed off to make our run down to Ft Lauderdale, a short 15 mile run with bridges every mile or two, just like yesterday.  The run from Palm Beach to Ft Lauderdale has more bridges per mile than any other part of the ICW and I am very happy to have that part of the trip behind us.

This part of the ICW is just jammed with remarkable homes and even though some are just over the top it’s fun to look into back yard after back yard as we make our way south through the Gold Coast of Florida.

This looks more like a convention center than a single family home. I am sure that “sticks and stones” would indeed break some things at this home. I wonder if the “lady of the house” puts on makeup before even peeping out of her bedroom?  Probably a good idea. This one was a welcome break from the “Mediterranean” influence that pervades this area. I guess that this guy is “topped out” with his “giga-mortgage” and can only afford a “micro yacht”.
We passed many yachts along the way, some that looked larger than the homes they were parked in front of.  I was struck by the lovely lines on this grand old lady.  Her metal hull looked a bit lumpy but she is beautiful, never the less.   So, for the next few days we will enjoy Ft Lauderdale prior to making the short offshore run down to Miami and then on to the Keys.  While our plans continue to change, we have once again decided to help out SSCA and man the booth for a half day during the Miami Boat Show.

Yes, I know, we have been changing our plans each day and not it’s up to the weather to get us to Miami in time for the show.  However, I am pretty optimistic as the show is a week away.

For now, I am glad to be in Ft Lauderdale and look forward to doing some shopping for provisions and enjoying the sights.

Yes, I am seeing blue sky to the West.  Sunshine is certainly on the way.  With some luck we won’t see any more healing to 30 degrees till we head out to do some sailing.

Here’s to sunshine and blue skies in so0n-to-be-sunny Ft Lauderdale.  Glad to be here.

It’s Wednesday morning and we are anchored in Lake Boca having made our way nearly to Ft Lauderdale where we will jump out to head down to Miami and The Keys.  We picked up our anchor yesterday morning shortly before 10:00 to begin what was to be the longest/shortest run of the trip so far.  For this short stretch of just over 20 miles, there is a remarkable number of bridges, more than one for every two miles along the way and nearly all open on their own schedule.   While the schedule is nominally designed to make it possible to run from one to the next within the time allotted, many things can go wrong and cause things to get out of sync and mess everything up.   

For example, the first bridge we had to go through, a mere few hundred yards from where we were anchored in Palm Beach, was experiencing “technical issue” and as a result, had to raise, and lower, each of the four segments individually, thereby turning a quick process into a long, drawn out one.  As a result, we missed the next bridge and had to anchor for a half hour until their next opening.

After that we did pretty well until we came to a bridge that had one span frozen in a partially open position.  We were told that a mechanic was on the way.  I didn’t check my watch but I am sure that we were anchored or over an hour until the bridge was finally opened.   By that time, there were 6 or 8 boats anchored waiting along with us.  Of course, when the bridge finally opened, there wasn’t enough time to get to the next bridge so all of us set the speed as slowly as possible to cover the distance to the next bridge in time for the “next” next opening, about an hour later.

Another rub in all of this is that in order to make an “ideal” well timed trip through the bridges, you have to be able to motor at a good 7kts and there are plenty of cruising yachts that just can’t do that.  Fortunately, that’s no problem for Pandora but of the half dozen boats that we were traveling with, Pandora was the only one that could make speed that was sufficient to make each remaining bridge.  As  a result, we arrived in Lake Boca first and watched as the remainder of the “fleet” arrived over the next 90 minutes following our arrival.

Along the way, as we have been motoring through the part of Florida that is known as the “Gold Coast”.   True to it’s name the area includes an amazing display of wealth in the homes and boats that lined the waterway.  I should note that for all of these fabulous homes, I almost never saw anyone in evidence on the property with the exception of those working on the homes and yards.   I guess that you can’t take much time off from work if you want to support such a lifestyle.

I was struck by this yacht named “Sexy” with it’s bold color scheme. Not sure if this that’s quite the right name but when you see the home that goes with it, you get a pretty good feel for what the owner must be like.  Sexy?  Not sure again if that’s the correct term.  I guess you’ll have to be the judge.Now this is a sexy boat.  What sleek lines.  Pretty elegant.  “James, please run me and Buffy over to the club.”The amount of work that must go into keeping these places in perfect shape.   How about a diver chipping away at some concrete bulkheads that need mending.Or, imagine how much goes into keeping hedges like these in shape.Or these.  Everywhere you look things are pretty much over the top and mostly unoccupied.  I guess if you really want to be impressed, you will have to visit their “main homes”.   

Speaking of an opulent lifestyle, how about the Breakers, the iconic hotel built by Henry Flagler way back when.  In a recent post I incorrectly identified a different building in Palm Beach as that hotel but later found out that particular building was a hotel years ago, that it was now a condo residence complex and the Breakers were in a different spot, near the beach.

Well, Brenda and I paid a visit to The Breakers to have a drink in their ocean front bar.  Can you say “NY drink prices are cheap compared to these?”.   Pretty expensive but what a place.

How about a bit of gold leaf on the ceiling?  Very subtle, yes?Or a nice “glass” chandelier in the lobby?  Oh yeah, and a cute little flower arrangement to round things out.  The painting details and woodworking are just over the top.A really stunning hallway.  And, as you arrive and drive, or walk, up the main drag you surely can feel like you have “arrived”.  I expect that feeling is quickly followed by the certainty that your money will soon “depart”. One way or the other, if you can’t afford to keep a fabulous empty home on the ICW, at least you can act like one of the ”uber-rich” for a few days by visiting this beautiful iconic hotel. 

So, now for a day here in Boca and then on to Ft Lauderdale and another day of fun bridges.  Good thing that it’s less than 20 miles.

For now, I had better finish up and get on with our day and I expect that we might very well cover more distance on foot today than we did on the water yesterday.  All and all, it took us 6.5 hours go to 22 miles and that was motoring at 7kts when we were on the move, otherwise, we just SAT and WAITED for bridge after bridge, all day.   Well, at least we had plenty of time to get to know the locals.

However, before you feel badly for us, and you probably don’t, it was sunny and pretty warm.  Such is life on the “slow lane” on the ICW.  Eleven bridges in 20 miles. Annoying or not, it could be worse, I expect.