Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-21 (Part III - returning North)

  Riviera Beach Municipal Marina, Riviera Beach, Florida:  April 9, 2021

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Riviera+Beach+City+Marina/@26.7733657,-80.0544615

Fiddler's Green joined us in the ICW

A good omen - a coconut floated in on us.

Ft. Lauderdale homes.

Ft. Lauderdale boat.

Lake Boca Raton

Pompano Beach

West Palm Beach Tower

Riviera Beach Municipal Marina

At the end of the day we were still having a good time.

Marc-  We spent the last two days on a road trip to visit friends in Ft. Myers and Bonita Springs.  Beautiful homes and fun times with old friends:  Donna, Frank and Roberta.  Doreen came down via plane to augment Michael's crew aboard Fiddler's Green.  We enjoyed dinner last night at the Downtowner Restaurant on the New River in Ft. Lauderdale.  Fiddler's Green was tied up only 50 feet away.  We were 4 miles away at the Coral Ridge Yacht Club.  

At 08:30 we joined forces once again and headed North in the ICW.  The homes were unbelievable.  One home had a water slide from the third floor to a glass pool on the second floor.  It was truly a feast for the eyes.  The bridges were fine for the first third of the trip and then we hit several bridges not in sync that delayed us 30 minutes at each bridge.  The bridges are mostly on set opening schedules: e.g., 15 minutes and 45 minutes after the hour. A few bridges only open on the hour and a few bridges open on demand. The bridge attendants were all courteous and helpful.

Fiddler's Green arrived at least an hour before us at the Municipal marina and checked in.  Michael was there to take our lines and help us dock when we tied up after closing hours.  To celebrate we all went to the marina's Rafiki Tiki restaurant for excellent food.

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-21 (Part III - returning North)

 Coral Ridge Yacht Club, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida:  April 6, 2021

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.1416844,-80.1057428,1178m/data=!3m1!1e3

Michael was the early bird this morning leaving the marina first.

We left Key Biscayne and headed for Miami.

We went right into the center of the harbor.

Condos at Fisher Island.

The ship encounter.

The Coral Ridge Yacht Club

100 year old Banyon tree at the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park in Ft. Lauderdale.

Ft. Lauderdale's extensive water taxi service brings people to the State Park.

Marc-   We left Key Biscayne at 08:00 and headed Southwest in Biscayne Bay before turning North towards Miami and our intended route out through Government Cut into the Atlantic.  I started to wonder about this plan when the Miami Harbor Patrol started giving instructions on VHR Radio Channel 16 that the Miami Ship Channel was closed due to Cruise Ship movements.  I regained hope when these same Harbor Patrol officers instructed mariners to take the Fisherman's Channel to Government Cut.  All went well until we reached the end of Fisherman's Channel and discovered a huge Container ship coming into it and taking almost the entire channel.  We were left with limited space passing between a Fisher Island car Ferry (holding in place to starboard) and the container ship with its three ocean going tugboats helping it turn into Fisherman's Channel.  Since Lucy III is only 12 feet wide there was plenty of room for us to pass.  Once outside Government Cut we discovered that the forecast for calm seas and light winds were not accurate.  Winds were out of the East at 10-15 knots with 3 foot seas.  This was favorable for us once our sails were set (giving us an average speed of 6.5 knots) but it would have been a much smoother ride for Michael had Fiddler's Green taken the ICW.

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale at 02:00 without any problems.  The harbor was alive with activity from blue lights flashing on the ever present police boats in Port Everglades to the many different private yachts in the ICW and intersecting canals.  Our only delay was waiting 15 minutes for the Los Olas Blvd. bridge to open.  We arrived at the Coral Ridge Yacht Club and found our assigned slip.  We gained entry to this very nice facility as a result of our membership with the Diamond Island Yacht Club (formerly the Royal Savage Yacht Club).  Luckily Wendy Friant had changed the name on the web site such that a google search by the Commodore resulted in opening the door for us in Ft. Lauderdale.

Engine note:  Running the exhaust fan for an hour seems to cool the hot engine enough such that it will restart.

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-21 (Part III - returning North)

  Crandon Park Marina, Key Biscayne, Florida:  April 5 2021 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Crandon+Park+Marina/@25.7242571,-80.1578257,672m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x88d9b58c7ad31201:0x7c5fc5cdf003cf50!8m2!3d25.7242571!4d-80.155637 

A resident of the Crandon Park Marina.

Michael making Fiddler's Green beautiful.

One last sunset over Biscayne bay from the beach at Virginia Key.

Marc-   Today started with filling our fuel tank and doing some boat maintenance.  The boat maintenance was adding a coat of polyurethane to the brightwork (the sun takes its toll).  This really helps keep the boat looking great without a great deal of effort.  Michael did some polishing and buffing of Fiddler's Green.  We tried unsuccessfully to find the problem with his spot light.

I took a break to jog over to the Atlantic beach on Key Biscayne.  The winds were still blowing 15-20 knots out of the Northeast and few boat offshore were heading South.  The kite board people were having a grand time.  Sue made a wonderful pork roast and roasted vegetable dinner for us all.  Tomorrow we leave for Ft. Lauderdale.

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-21 (Part III - returning North)

 Crandon Park Marina, Key Biscayne, Florida:  April 4, 2021 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Crandon+Park+Marina/@25.7242571,-80.1578257,672m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x88d9b58c7ad31201:0x7c5fc5cdf003cf50!8m2!3d25.7242571!4d-80.155637 

Easter Flowers

A view of Miami Beach from Key Biscayne

Kite Board flying

View of Miami from our marina.

Miami's public transit trains ride the very elevated rails.

We did Easter dinner at an Italian Restaurant with outdoor seating and a view.

Marc-  Happy Easter everyone.  We did Church online and then went out for brunch at a local diner in Key Biscayne.  We were pleased to find outdoor seating beneath large umbrellas.  After that we did a walk over to the fossil reef and beach in Northern Crandon Park where we saw kite boarders taking advantage of the steady wind.

We headed over to the Brickell section of Miami for Easter dinner and found an Italian restaurant in Mary Brickell Village.  We had a good view from our outdoor table and the people and dog watching was interesting.  

Finally I have been able to work out the details in getting our underwater GoPro camera videos uploaded on YouTube.  All it took was running it all through my iphone with a GoPro App.  I had previously tried to simply transfer files directly to my laptop with poor results.  Here are three links from video taken at Looe Reef off of Bahia Honda Key on 23 March:

https://youtu.be/2K-0wN5K3g0

https://youtu.be/uub4xg56U1I

https://youtu.be/FmlgDErTFHk

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-21 (Part III - returning North)

 Crandon Park Marina, Key Biscayne, Florida:  April 3, 2021 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Crandon+Park+Marina/@25.7242571,-80.1578257,672m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x88d9b58c7ad31201:0x7c5fc5cdf003cf50!8m2!3d25.7242571!4d-80.155637

A marina inhabitant:  Green heron

This flamingo lives on Virginia Key at the Seaquarium.

Aquarium Parrot

Reef fish at Seaquarium

Sea turtle in lagoon at Seaquarium

Manatee at Seaquarium

Dolphin and Killer Whale show

Then we visited the Flipper Show (a movie and television series in the 1960's)

Flipper TV show video can be found at:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6PqrTZsho0

The 1964 movie was called Flipper's New Adventure.

Virginia Key bougainvillea

Rickenbacker Causeway Beach lunch stop.

Marc-  Today was a continuation of the very windy weather with wind of 25 knots gusting to 35.  We walked over the bridge to Virginia Key and the Miami Seaquarium and Rickenbacker Beach.  The Seaquarium visit was fun with excellent whale and dolphin shows.  The "Flipper" show was amazing in that the trainers diving in with the dolphins and jumping with them.  Sue took a video of two of the scenes in the show: 

Dolphins: https://youtu.be/g3hCCO_ETa4

https://youtu.be/oAc3OoAihLk

There were also the Flamingoes: https://youtu.be/4P1lI0MRYos

 We also wandered through the exhibits to a boardwalk around a Virginia Key lagoon.  I was most interested in the sea turtles swimming about around the mangroves.  I took a video of the sea turtle with an announcer describing some birds diving for fish:  https://youtube.com/shorts/-nlXoIEn_m0

Sue and I walked over to the beach next door and found a food truck serving up great food right on the beach with picnic tables and a few palm trees for shade.  The pollo brochettas were excellent and the view fantastic.  This free beach has white sand, warm turquoise water with a background view of Miami. 

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-21 (Part III - returning North)

 

Crandon Park Marina, Key Biscayne, Florida: April 2, 2021 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Crandon+Park+Marina/@25.7242571,-80.1578257,672m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x88d9b58c7ad31201:0x7c5fc5cdf003cf50!8m2!3d25.7242571!4d-80.155637

Crandon Park Marina is a very secure spot to be in stormy weather.

Rules to follow on the Miami Dade buses today.

 Miami décor

We celebrated getting our second Covid-19 vaccines today (Pfizer).

Marc-  Today was our day to get our second Covid-19 vaccines.  It was a challenge to get this scheduled and an even greater challenge to get there and back.  Our attempts to book an Uber or Lyft failed as did the taxi.  Rental car costs are through the roof due to Passover/Easter/school vacation.  Even if we were able to book a ride the cost would have been extreme as the Pharmacy where we were getting our vaccines was 30 miles away.  Michael came up with the idea of taking local public transportation.  Our resident friend George said that the trains and buses are fine and safe.  They are also free during Covid and they're not crowded.  You go online and plan each destination and a complete route is created for you.  This was great since we needed to take a bus to a train to an articulated bus to another small bus and then walk a bit.  Fortunately we arrived early after 3 hours of travel with enough time for lunch.  Our return was fine.  We took the train an extra stop to get to a post office in old Downtown Miami.  This older section of town is past its prime with many closed storefronts and a bit run down  We returned via the newer section of town, Brickell, which is modern and thriving.  We caught the bus back to Key Biscayne.  To celebrate we went to the village and found a frozen yogurt shop.  We walked back through the village and saw some of Crandon Beach before taking the bus back to the marina.  We walked 6 miles today.  Wind is now blowing 25 knots from the Northeast with gusts now to 35 knots. Lucy III is rocking and rolling a bit even in this secure spot.  

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-21 (Part III - returning North)

  

After dinner encounter with Carol and George on the Key Biscayne bike path across the street from the Crandon Park Marina. 

This manatee was waiting for us on our dock back at the marina.

Crandon Park Marina, Key Biscayne, Florida:  April 1, 2021

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Crandon+Park+Marina/@25.7242571,-80.1578257,672m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x88d9b58c7ad31201:0x7c5fc5cdf003cf50!8m2!3d25.7242571!4d-80.155637

Marc-    We remain hunkered down for an approaching cold front with dangerous weather.  Crandon Park Marina is about the safest place in the Miami area.  It is very nice here with concrete floating docks and secure gates.  There is a nearby beach and the Miami Seaquarium that we plan to see soon.  Next door is a NOAA research facility and the Marine studies campus of the University of Miami.  There is also a rather large High School facility here for Marine and Science Technologies (MAST).  

Carol and George suggested that we have dinner at the Atlantica Restaurant nearby.  Our table was outside but well covered for the approaching rain (that held off until we were back aboard Lucy III and hopefully until Carol & George were back home).  Dinner was excellent and the company the best. There was even a duck named Daisy who roamed the deck looking for food that diners might share.