Titusville - Getting ready

Boats, mostly sailboats, waiting for weather to cross over to the Bahamas

It looks like Saturday will be a good day to travel south. We have four days to reach Ft Lauderdale but we'll stay at Vero Beach first for three days to let the bad weather pass by and to allow us to reprovision with fresh vegetables and fruit. The bad news that we'll probably have to raft up at Vero Beach. The weather for crossing over to the Bahamas has not been good all month and there's a crowd waiting for good weather at all the staging areas (Vero Beach, Ft Pierce, Ft Lauderdale, Miami, Marathon, etc.) That makes for crowded anchorages. However, it's time to move on so we'll see how it goes.

Like birds everywhere, panhandling

Once in Ft Lauderdale, then it's watching for the weather for a good passage to Miami and hopefully all the way to Caesar's Creek. If we make it to Caesar's Creek, then we'll aim for Rodriguez Key and if they weather's good for that when we may skip Marathon all together. We heard that there's a month long wait list for a mooring and if that's true then the anchorage itself will be very crowded. The next anchorage after Marathon is Newfound Harbor by Picnic Island, one of our favorite stops. The island is not inhabited and you can take your dog ashore there. During the cruising months the anchorage has few boats, we're usually the only ones there. During the summer months it's another story. Upwards of 100 boats have been known to anchor during the day to take advantage of the sandy beach. After that it's on to Key West.

Meanwhile, the marinas are full with boats waiting for good weather to cross over to the Bahamas. We, or course, are not in that crowd but we're impacted by the crowded conditions. Like I said, it's rafting time at Vero Beach.