CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2025 (12-13)

CODA :  Dania layover...

21-22 January 2025

Harbour Towne Marina, Dania, Florida 

Dania Beach

Marc-  We had a very enjoyable day yesterday here with sunny skies and warm weather.  It was great to visit with my Aunt Monique, her daughter Danyelle and her husband Martin.  They are part of the Quebecois side of my family.  We spent the day touring greater Fort Lauderdale, stopping at 2 state parks, and enjoying good food in cool places.  Martin was also kind enough to drive us to West Marine for boat parts and then over to Winn-Dixie for more water and seltzer.

Family.

One of many large catamarans at this marina.

This State Park lies between Ft. Lauderdale Beach and the ICW.  It has the advantage of being across the channel from Sunrise Bay (one of the few remaining anchorages in this area).  Unfortunately the Park dinghy landing dock was damaged and park access is cut off from the water.  The Park is heavily forested, along with a creek, and has walking and canoe and kayak trails.

Sea Grape tree colors at Hugh Birch Park.

View from the damaged dock towards Sunrise Bay (and a water taxi).

Lunch stop frequented by many Quebecois who winter here.

Dairy Belle is famous for its Poutine and Ice Cream.

This sign commemorates both poutine and my birth year

(Both the poutine and ice cream are excellent). Authentic Canadian Poutine features fries, poutine gravy, and white cheddar cheese curds all tossed together.   The original version is only $5.00 on Tuesdays.

 View of the Fort Lauderdale cruise ship control tower and port facility across the ICW from Dania Beach State Park.  

Cruise ship in the ICW.

The entrance to Whiskey Creek looking out on the ICW.

The Hideout is an extensive beach front picnic area and includes a dining facility.

Whiskey Creek directions.

A container ship on the ICW from Dania Beach.

Dania Beach Pier.  It also has an excellent restaurant.

Pier Restaurant view looking North to Port Everglades Inlet.

One of the local inhabitants back at the marina.

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Marc- 22  January 2025:  Then we transitioned to bad weather on Wednesday.  Gray, wet, dreary and windy.  

We were staying warm and dry in our cozy Coda when the rain stopped.  Out came the walking poles and off we went.  We walked out to Dania Beach and then South to Hollywood Beach and its famous paved in stone boardwalk that they call a "broadwalk."

Hollywood signature sign found on many walls and buildings.

We walked down from Dania Beach through a mostly park-like setting for a mile or two in Hollywood until we came upon this gate.

The second part of Hollywood Beach is highly developed with condominiums, a few retro single family homes, restaurants, hotels and shops.  The city built a wall, installed street lights, paved a bike path and made a boardwalk out of paving stones.

And no beach is complete without an open air theatre.

We made it all the way to the Magaritaville Hotel and the rain returned.  Unfortunately we had not thought to bring our rain gear.  Luckily my cousin Danyelle called and came to rescue us and take us to her home for lunch.  Actually we picked up sandwiches at the local Subway.  

Along with Subway's well known foot long sandwiches is this  

footlong Oreo cookie.  OMG.  Thankfully we did not see any, and did not ask if they had any.

  

CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2025 (11)

 CODA :  Arrival in Fort Lauderdale, a.k.a. the yachting capital of the world.

20 January 2025

Harbour Towne Marina, Dania, Florida  

A rather colorful Pompano Beach drawbridge.

Marc-  I started off completing a long overdue project: finally having a working depth sounder (Charlie, it really is phenomenal!).  This will certainly be helpful in The Bahamas.  Sue made an excellent breakfast of eggs, sausage and toast with coffee, of course.  

It was otherwise a rather miserable day due to the rainy weather.  But we were warm and dry inside  CODA's pilothouse.  We popped out for a few photos from time to time.  Most of the excitement involved passing through 16 drawbridges.  Each of them had their own timetable.  At first we were exempt to bridge schedules by following a commercial tugboat and barge through a few bridges (bridges open on demand for commercial vessels).  Unfortunately the tugboat and barge arrived at its destination (a waterfront construction site).  There is a lot of construction in this part of Florida.  It is everything from building up an island with sand and gravel to building houses, to tear downs of houses for new construction (there are only so many waterfront lots after all).

I am sure this mansion replaced a small ranch house.

They also tear down large Mediterranean style houses.

One of the newer homes on the ICW.

I am not sure what to call this one except large.

Unfortunately darkness arrived well before we could end our travels.

A Fort Lauderdale mega yacht of which there are many.

This is a cruise ship we passed as the rain increased.  Thankfully there is a windshield wiper on our front window.

We passed a large cruise ship port as well as a large container ship port before we came to our dock for the night.  It was actually exciting going through Fort Lauderdale and Port Everglades at night.  The drawbridge operators were also nicer.  

Sue:  It was not a beautiful day.  Dreary all day and rainy most of the day.  But there was plenty to see.  The homes got even nicer, which is so hard to believe but true, as we got into Ft. Lauderdale.  But it got dark and I couldn't take more photos.  Some homes were so large you really couldn't get them all in the photo.  They wrapped around corners with guest houses, pool houses and who knows what.  Just unbelievable.  The money down here is mind boggling.  

It was a bit scary being on the water in the dark, but because we were in the Intracoastal and in Ft. Lauderdale, there was quite a bit of lighting.  And thank goodness for the electronic charts.  And thank goodness for Marc, who knows what he's doing.  It was reminiscent of our first date when we sailed from Plymouth over to Wellfleet, and he navigated the long channel into Wellfleet in the dark.  The harbormaster said "You came in here in the dark?"  I don't ever want to travel in the boat in the dark again.  Because there were so many bridges today, we lost a lot of time.  We didn't leave early enough.

The marina closed 2+ hours before we arrived, so there was no help docking at the huge pilings with the weird little dock that you can't safely get onto in the dark and the rain.  The safe way to get off is from the bow of the boat to the main part of the dock.  How they expect you to lasso the pilings, I don't know, but Marc managed to do it.  We took a walk around the marina, and they were our first steps off the boat in 2 days.  It is 66 degrees, but somehow I am cold, probably because we got wet docking.

 

CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2025 (10)

 CODA :  Arival in Lake Worth.

19 January 2025

North Lake Worth, Lake Worth, Florida  

This is the Boat Beacon version of our current location.  The lost tree club sounds interesting.  All of the pink boats are powerboats.  Sailboats are normally white (unless it's your own boat then you are a blue dot).  We don't see any white boats (despite being anchored with a dozen sailboats) since none had AIS operating at the time.

Marc- We got an early start from Vero despite having dead batteries this morning.  Our generator came to the rescue.  I think the reason for the battery depletion is one faulty battery (we have six).  I am not an electrician but understand that one bad cell can prevent the whole bank from operating.

We motor sailed down the Indian River to St. Lucie Inlet and then on to the Jupiter River and its inlet today.  The water quality is nicer near the ocean inlets.  Jupiter Inlet and its surrounding waterways have an extraordinary turquoise color.  It is even better when you see several dolphins swimming alongside.

Jupiter Lighthouse from the ICW.

We went by many waterfront properties but the boat here is larger than the house (unless this is only the boat house and the mansion is set back on a hill).

This is definitely more appealing to us. We almost never see old boats.  They are all shiny new fiberglass things.  

We passed through at least 6 drawbridges today (this is called a bascule bridge). Bascule is a French term for a balance scale.  With this type of a bridge, a counterweight continuously balances the span, requiring minimal effort to open or close the bridge.

We passed through the new US Route 1 Federal Bridge under construction. Note the fortress type design. Only one span was operating making this a tricky passage.

Last night's sunset at our Vero mooring.

We packed so much stuff inside the boat and now we are packing the outside (on deck so to speak).

We experienced some furler difficulties today in the gusty winds.  The furler is the round drum at the bottom of this photo.  Normally when you pull on the yellow line the sail rolls up sort of like a window shade. The Genoa sheets tied themselves up in knots.  This was after 30 minutes of un-doing those knots.  The yellow line also jumped off of the drum.  Somehow the 30 knot wind gusts caused all this mayhem.

Stern view from our anchorage tonight.

Bow view tonight.

Sue:  Not much to say.  It was quite warm today, after ditching the down jackets only 2 days ago.  We are pretty far South now, so I'd better get used to it.  We are anchored tonight.  The nearby Safe Harbor marina wants $236 to spend the night.  I don't think so.  We got here late, so probably wouldn't have gone ashore even if we could.  Apparently we are not allowed to go ashore - the shore area has been fenced in - because this fancy city doesn't want people leaving their dinghies on shore.  There were signs up as we entered the bay "This is not an authorized mooring field.  No liveaboards allowed."  We are transients, and are anchored, so we are allowed to be here. 

CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2025 (9)

 CODA :  Leaving Vero Beach tomorrow!

18 January 2025

Vero Beach Municipal Marina, Vero Beach, Florida  

My cousin Armand brought us to his favorite fishing spot: the fishing pier beneath the incredibly well designed Vero Beach Bridge.

Marc-  Our last day in Vero was spent walking about the town, doing boat projects, and having a very nice lunch at the Riverside Cafe.  The long awaited US Customs and Border Protection sticker came today allowing us easier re-entry to the US.  I also finished installing a new depth finder transducer.  This will come in handy for the poorly charted and poorly buoyed Bahamian waters.

I like the looks of this heavily built sailboat from Switzerland. 

How do these birds that spend so much time in the mud stay so clean?

These two lizards do not seem to get along.

Riverside Cafe.