As promised, on Tuesday our solar panels arrive in Stuart,
albeit, a few hours later than expected.
At 10:30 am they are at the boat, and by noon they are fastened on the
framework and we are casting off docklines.
We are off to an anchorage at the mouth of the Lake
Worth Inlet, a mere 35 miles away. The
ICW passes through picturesque Hobe Sound with many lovely homes situated
between the waterway and the coastal beaches.
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| Notice the trellis on the chimney of this house - very attractive |
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| Another beautiful house along the ICW |
It seems leisurely until we realize that the bridges that must open for
our passage are all timed which causes us to wait for openings at several
points. Sunset threatens as our pace
slows down. After all, this is December 18, and our days are painfully short.
We have never been through this area before, and it is ill advised to ply the
ICW after dark. It is 6 pm and the last
glow of sunset faintly illuminates us as we drop anchor at our planned destination.
On shore are the huge mansions of Palm
Beach, many spectacularly decorated with Christmas
lights.
The alarm goes off at 2 am. We pull anchor and head out the
well buoyed inlet to the Atlantic Ocean.
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| What's the attraction of blue water sailing - how about this sunrise? |
We are timing our arrival in Miami to coincide with a
favorable tidal current and in this case, our calculations are right on.
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| Entering the Port of Miami |
We come into the harbor, make the turn to go
through some very shallow water at high tide, and drop anchor in a lagoon
between man-made residential islands.
Looking east we can see the buildings of South
Beach and to the west is the skyline
of Miami
proper. To the south over a causeway are
the many huge cruise ships that come and go into the Port of Miami.
We have been told there is much to do and see here. We take the dinghy into a canal that almost
bisects Miami Beach. What we see are graffiti decorated bridges,
floating trash, and, to our surprise, three iguanas in a tree overhanging the
canal.
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| Check out the three iguanas - we thought they were plastic at first and then one blinked |
It leaves us with mixed
feelings. The next day we take our bikes
into South Beach to have a better look around. Traffic is insane, and twice I am almost hit
by cars. Latino machismo is decidedly on display. The famous Lincoln Rd., a pedestrian thoroughfare,
is packed with people gawking at the exclusive shops and chic sidewalk
cafes. It seems almost everyone is on a
cell phone and unaware of other walkers or bicyclers in the congestion. We hear a variety of foreign languages. It
looks like it could be a very interesting place for people watching from an
open air restaurant, but something is a little unsettling about the populace,
and I keep my purse well protected. There is a lovely bike trail through the
dunes that form the Atlantic coast. On one side is a beautiful beach crammed
with rows of rental umbrellas and chaises.
On the other side are swank hotels with lush landscaped pool areas. The
southern most tip consists of park land (again with visible graffiti) backed by
huge high rise condos.
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| The view north from the southern tip of South Beach |
It is indeed a dramatic contrast of wealth and poverty,
tourists and shady looking characters.
The next day we decide to head back to South Beach
and take an audio tour of the Art Deco district. South
Beach is famous for its
collection of Art Deco hotels and other buildings. Since Miami
is a relatively young city, much of its growth occurred between the late 20’s
and World War II. Architects chose to use different varieties of Art Deco
design as it reflected the era’s interest in burgeoning technology and was also
an inexpensive way to construct buildings that had a distinctively artistic
flavor.
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| A private home in the Spanish Art Deco style |
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| A hotel facade that suggests rocket ships of the1930's vintage |
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| An Ocean Blvd. hotel sporting colors popular in the Art Deco era |
The interesting and informative tour takes us almost two hours, and
when we return to the starting point, the Art Deco Information Center, we find
our bikes, which were secured with a sturdy lock in a very open area, are
gone. We rush into the Center, and the
receptionist is quite shocked and sends us to the nearby police station. Within a block we come upon a policeman on
bicycle and tell him what has happened.
He puts out an immediate APB and points us in the direction of the
station. When we report the theft, the
officer is sympathetic, but his body language tells us it is hopeless – our
bikes are gone for good. His parting words are “Stay safe out there”, repeated
three times. We beat a hasty retreat to
the safety of our boat.
As much as I want to get out of Miami, we decide to stay through
Christmas. We host a happy hour on our
boat for the two other nearby anchored boats, a catamaran with a British couple
and a trimaran from Michigan
whose owners know some of our past friends from the multihull community. On Christmas Day friends we sailed with last
winter and spring in the Bahamas
come over from another anchorage for a full fledged Christmas dinner. This year
they will only cruise in southern Florida
as they just purchased a home in Vero and will be settling there after seven years
as full time liveaboards, selling their beloved boat. It is a bittersweet moment for them.
The day after Christmas we make a short trip down to
Biscayne Bay and No Name Harbor in Bill
Beggs State
Park, passing by the dramatic Miami skyline. The stylish buildings have a
Latin twist making them more interesting than most in big cities.
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| Interesting Miami building |
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| Miami skyline looking up the Miami River |
Our destination is a place where many people
stage for crossing over to the Bahamas,
and since this morning the window for making the crossing is ideal, the harbor
is empty and we are able to anchor in its protection. The dinghy is launched, and we spent a
delightful and relaxing day on the Atlantic beach. Something here just feels safer and more
comfortable, and the views can’t be beat.
Leaving No Name Harbor we motor past Stiltsville and out of Biscayne Bay.
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| Several of the remaining Stiltsville homes |
Stiltsville is an historic area in the Bay where people built small homes above the protected waters of the bay. Many have been torn down or destroyed by hurricanes, but a few remain and are occupied occasionally. There is much ongoing debate over the future preservation of the Stiltsville area. Thus, we begin our “nostalgia tour” into the Keys,
anchoring off Rodriguiz Key near Key Largo
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| Sunset at the Rodriguez Key anchorage we shared with two other boats. |
and then making the rest of the trip
to Marathon the following day in beautiful
sailing conditions. It is blowing 12-15 knots on our beam, the water is flat,
and we give our recently re-cut sails a test.
The boat performs as desired, and we are making over seven knots of
speed. This is what Keys sailing is all
about, skimming over translucent smooth water, and we have the best sail we
have had since leaving the Bahamas.
The downside to the Keys for our deep draft boat is the depth. We arrive at Marathon right at low tide and
anchor off the entrance to Boot Key Harbor until the tide begins to rise and
other boats passing though the entrance report sufficient depth for us. We get
a mooring ball in the deepest part of the harbor and settle down to stay at least
until the new bikes we have ordered arrive, as this is a reasonable place to
have mail and packages shipped. And, we
call this our “nostalgia tour” as we have spent many wonderful weeks down here
over the years, windsurfing and later cruising our trimaran. We feel like we have arrived at home.
