Wednesday, January 28, 2009

So…..we do have a sailboat after all! To Miami Jan 22




We’ve enjoyed our trip on the Intracoastal Waterway - the 1065 miles since Norfolk, but the one thing most sailboat cruisers will tell you is the most frustrating is the amount of motoring you do. Recently ‘sailing’ has meant that maybe we rolled the jib out for a bit to help the motor along but that motor has been a constant companion ( and we’re glad it is too, don’t want to offend our reliable friend.)
So this morning we headed down the New River in Fort Lauderdale (before the Jungle Queen started her day) looking forward to letting Tiffany Rose stretch her sails on an ocean run down to Miami. Of course, we couldn’t leave the harbour without a little excitement. Just before we headed out the inlet at Port Everglades, we turned into the wind to put the mainsail up. We are well aware that you can’t go near a cruise ship while it’s moving and we had noticed one but it was sitting at the dock. No sooner had Dave gone up to the mast and I had start pulling on the halyard did the ship let off one big whistle. We thought we could finish what we were doing because it only takes a minute but there was the Sheriff boat racing toward us and yelling to get out of the way and go back up the channel right now, toward the bridge we had just come through. So there we were motoring around in circles by the bridge with an ‘almost up’ baggy sail. The ship was away from dock and out the inlet in no time though, and we continued on.
We got out passed the markers in the inlet, turned south,, unfurled the jib and……..turned the motor off! Ahhhhhh! Finally! (Not that we don’t like the motor, our reliable friend, just thought it would enjoy the free ride as well.) The day was beautiful, sunny although a bit chilly, the wind was from the west and the waves were small. We were able to sail on a reach the whole way. We felt like we arrived at Miami sooner than we were ready to. Dave and I would take turns at the helm as we approached the Government Cut at Miami, for ‘just another couple of minutes before we head in’. Then another couple, then another. Finally we turned the motor on (did I mention it is our reliable friend?) and brought the sails in and motored in toward the city. We planned to anchor in the shelter of some islands between the MacArthur and Venetian Causeways. When we got to the spot we had in mind we were surprised and pleased to see Myosotis, the boat we had rafted with at Vero Beach already there.
We have no internet connection as I’m writing this. When we do manage to post it we hope we can add some pictures and maybe a video too.

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