No Name Harbor

Today marks our 6th day here in No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne. Our trip from West Palm went smoothly. We departed W Palm at 0300 and motored all but the last hour before entering Government Cut into Miami. After getting fuel and water we found a spot in No Name Harbor. Here we wait for suitable weather to cross the Gulf Stream on into the Bahamas.

This place is part of Bill Baggs State Park, a lovely palace with many walking trails and a very beautiful beach. It defiantly has the “island” feel to it. We are anchored here with our friends Ray and Sandy. We have also met several of their friends that arrived close to when we got here. It has been fun doing potluck dinners and cocktail hour with them.

We have also had a great time visiting with a couple we met up in Titusville. Jean and Jan, Jean is a retired Equine Veterinarian. They live on their boat here at the local Yacht Club. They had us to their club for lunch the other day. It was great swapping vet stories with them. Yesterday we went to Ft Lauderdale with them and got to see lots of local points of interest.

We will up date before we depart here. As of now it likely won’t be before the end of next week so in the mean time we will be enjoying the beach and exploring the area with Jean and Jan. Off to go get Cuban food for lunch today.

Dolphin Playing in our bow wake

Brickell Miami

Diana by the beach

Key Biscayne Light

Geo Nova at Sun rise

our crowded harbor last weekend

our view as we approached Miami

West Palm Beach #2

We plan to depart W Palm tomorrow morning at about 3 AM. This should allow us to make landfall in Miami in the afternoon. We hope to go to Key Biscayne and find a place to anchor in No Name Harbor.  We will stay there while waiting for a weather window to make the passage across the Gulf Stream and into the Bahamas.

The last several days here have been more fun for us because we have made friends with a boat from Pittsburgh. Sandy and Ray have some local info for here and where we are going. On Saturday there was a farmers market in downtown West Palm Beach so we walked the 3 miles and had a great morning there. Got great food for lunch and ribs and rice for dinner. That night Abe came here to get Diana. It was suppose to blow up to 35 knots so David stayed on the boat with his 1/3 of the dinner. Diana and Abe took home the rest of the dinner along with all of the laundry. The next day Diana took Abe to work at 7:30 so we would have his truck for the day. It was in the 40’s so we went to see a movie. Too cold even for the birds to come out. We had hoped to leave here at 3am Monday morning but when we saw the next window to go is tomorrow and it will not be in the 40’s we decided to stay.

Last night we went to Sandy and Ray’s boat for dinner. When we got ready to leave, Diana lost her balance. Instead of falling on the boat and maybe get hurt she just jumped in the water. It was 75 degrees and very pleasant! After getting up the swim ladder and getting in the dingy we realized that Sandy and Ray’s dingy was no longer on the back of the boat, it was adrift. We got that back to them. Once back to Geo Nova it was strip off the salty clothes and go for a shower. So much for getting laundry caught up at Abe’s!

Boat House at Palm Beach Sailing Club

Abe and Diana at Flagler Museum

Flagler Museum

Diana at Fabric store down town

Tiger Woods Yacht

Walk on a rainy day

West Palm Beach

We departed Titusville this past Saturday and took the intercostal down and arrived in West Palm yesterday. We took it slow and spent three nights on the ICW. The trip presented several challenges. There are numerous bridges along the way some are 65 ft bridges and some are draw bridges. Each has it's own difficulty. We did take all the instruments off the top to enable safe passage.

The first night we were in the Melbourne area.

The second night we took a left at one of the 65 ft bridges and went into the mooring field at Vero Beach. Thank goodness that was there. The wind had been blowing out of the South all day, up to 20 knots at times. The water board on that bridge said that there was only 63 feet of clearance. It was early afternoon so we went for a 2 hour walk to check out the area. The beach and downtown was about a mile away from the dingy dock. There was a sidewalk art and craft show going on. After checking the tide and seeing that low tide was at 6 am. We got up at the crack of dawn to see of we could get under the bridge. Needless to say we made it, the water was down due to no wind all night and low tide!

The third night was spent in Hobie sound. The last day was spent dealing with the timed bridge openings, tides and shoaling. At one spot we did bump when the water was only 5 1/2 feet deep. Thankfully it's just sand. Nevertheless we got here unscathed.

The wind has been blowing like stink since we arrived. The anchorage is wide open with a large fetch creating a bumpy time. The good thing is that we have been able to visit with Abe. Today we visited the Flagler Museum. This was one of his many homes. You could construct our entire house inside its ballroom and had room to spare.

The weather will likely keep us here until early to mid next week. There is a small Yacht Club here that gives us access to shore and use of there facilities. They have been most welcoming.

The wealth in this area is mind boggling. The homes along the waterfront are incredible. I have never seen so many mega yachts in one area. One belonged to Steven Jobs of Apple fame. He had the 400 ft boat made in Europe however it was not delivered until after his passing. I guess money can't buy everything.

What I couldn't believe is if we had driven here it would only take 3 hours not 3 days!

Hope to be departing Titusville soon. Diana will return Tuesday night from California. Maggie her sister had hip surgery and seems to be making a satisfactory recovery. While in California Diana got to spend some time with Zach as well as her sisters family. I am jealous. In Diana’s absence David was able to attend the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando. Lots of good information and now continuing education requirements for 2013 are taken care of. The Space Coast bird festival was also a great time this year. You always see much more when you go out with an expert.

David has also been able to put lots of miles on the Florida Scenic National Trail. When we finally get to The Bahamas we hope to meet up with our friends on Foot Lose.

With some luck by the time we get to the Bahamas the weather there will be more boater friendly.

Zach,Sam,Eamon

Maggie,Diana and Bill

Florida Reail

Sun rise over the St johns River

American Bittern

Bald Eagle sitting on a clutch of eggs

Downy Woodpecker

Mockingbird

Red- Bellied Woodpecker

Salt Lake WMA

Moth on Flower