Ft Lauderdale at Bahia Mar

"Fleetwing clear, thank you ____ bridge"

We got moving again. After 15 DRAWBRIDGES, we made it to Ft Lauderdale. When we got to an open mooring, but a police boat came by and said we couldn't moor there, so right now we're docked at a marina. After we docked, we took Hoolie out. We found out that there was a beach across the street. Tomorrow we'll stay here (Thank god, I'm done moving.) (Editor's note: we're going to Marine Stadium on Thursday, there's bad weather coming after that). So we can prepare for Marathon. For a few days, we'll do laundry, go out to Walmart, and we're already refueled

Rowan has taken on the duties of announcing our passage through a bridge. It's customary to thank for bridge operator for the opening and to let him know when you're through. We only missed one bridge today and that was due to the constant current against us all the way. There were probably some times when we didn't have an adverse current but we don't remember those times. In order to have a chance at not waiting between bridges, you have to be able to cruise at 7 kts which we can do except then there's a foul current of more than 0.5 kts.

Some of the houses could have been museums, perhaps they were.

We we get to Las Olas and we're waiting for the bridge to open, our first chore is to get out the binoculars and see if there's an empty mooring. This time they were all empty! That should have been a warning. Sure enough, a short time later, a police boat came by and told us we would have to move, all the moorings were closed! In talking to the marina office later, I found out that there was a barge waiting for an opening that was pushed by wind directly into the mooring field, wiping out everything there. They are now in a rebuilding mode and the office manager expected the mooring field to reopen by the end of January.

A remodeled Trumpy??

So we went to Plan B, a dock nearby. Las Olas was full so we went to Bahia Mar Yachting Center. Unfortunately, $40/night turned into $3.50/ft. We had wanted to stay several days to provision and catch our breath but the weather will not let us rest. Thursday will be the last good day to go south outside until Tuesday of next week. So our plan is to go outside to Miami and anchor in Marine Stadium to stage for the trip to Key West towards the latter part of next week.