Delray Beach City Marina - at a dock

 

Every stay in Marine Stadium requires at least one night photo of the Miami skyline!

Leaving Marine Stadium, we found the channel almost completely blocked. The tugs were turning a huge container ship around, a 180, and it was as long as the channel was wide. Eventually we found a path through the tugs. 

Oh no, how to get around? (Why me?)

We took the outside route to Ft Lauderdale today since winds were to be less than 10 kts with minimal waves - but it was still somewhat lumpy, but then it’s the ocean. As luck would have it, we traveled on the ICW through many bridges on a Saturday - far from an ideal time to pick. On the way through Ft Lauderdale, we saw one open mooring ball at Las Olas at 11:00 am but the dinghy dock didn’t look attached to land - but I could be wrong, it was far away.

This captures about 1/4 of the array of boats at Lake Boca Raton

People were out in droves in this great weather. I think the entire Lake Boca Raton was filled with boats in the shallow areas. People were out wading. I don’t think the boats in the middle could have gotten out until the perimeter boats left. I’ve never seen so many boater there. 

We are snug here at Delray Beach City Marina. It is very nice with concrete docks and pump out at every dock along with free laundry and ice. It’s only a short walk to town and the beach. We will stay here another day before resuming out trek north. 

Marine Stadium in Miami - at anchor

It’s a beautiful sight - Marine Stadium is open again!

 When we rounded the corner after passing under the Rickenbacker Causeway, we saw a lot of boats anchored outside the mouth of the Marine Stadium anchorage. Oh no, we thought, the anchorage is still closed. However, as we got closer, we saw dozens of boats anchored inside. The anchoring restriction must have been lifted and the ones outside haven’t yet had a chance to move back inside. That’s fine with me! 

On the other hand, we had a severe thunderstorm warning - coming right at us - but it missed!

We found our favorite spot deep into the anchorage and nearby a convenient shore for Hoolie relief. We put out way too much rode (90 ft of 3/8” BBB) for the 10 ft of depth with winds less than 10 kts but we feel secure. 

Later that afternoon, a severe thunderstorm warning was issued and the sky looked dark but it missed us. It’s strange that we had such high winds for two days straight and now we have just the opposite with winds less than 10 kts all day and the same forecast for Saturday when we’ll take the outside route to Ft Lauderdale. It feels good to start moving again!

Key Largo - Last day

 

A fish cleaning station in Key Largo - guess who’s very interested in that action?

They were cleaning fish today that were caught on the many fishing boats that populate the area. In Key West, the  pelicans and tarpons come by for a snack but in Key Largo, they have a different customer. They are long and sleek, sharks! They swim lazily back and forth, unchallenged by any other creature, almost hypnotic. 

Looks like the sharks are interested!!

The news of the day was the delivery of our new water heater. It was ordered in time to arrive yesterday but it sat in warehouse for 24 hours before being shipped - and I was paying for 1 day air. Of course, they didn’t count the 24 hours of idle time in their equation of 1 day air. 

The technician came at 7:30!

It finally arrived in Key Largo at 5:00 pm today and now the challenge was to find someone to install it. I turned to my friend Brett Roach, the marine specialist that organized the repair of Fleetwing last year. He came up with a technician that had just finished installed a water heater on another boat this afternoon. Brett understood my urgency and convinced the technician to work past his quitting time to install my unit. He’s still hard at work as I write this at 8:25 pm. 

A by product of not having hot water is also not having any water at all - since the water heater was leaking when pressurized so we had to turn off all water pressure to avoid filling up the bilges. It will be nice to have pressurized water again as well as hot water for showers!

Key Largo - The freight train stops

 

The African Queen from the movie of the same name is still in service.
Notice that it’s now driven by an outboard - no fire hazard in the middle of the boat.

All of a sudden this afternoon, quiet descended upon Fleetwing. It was roared here for the last two days, rocking the boat all through the night. About mid-morning, the winds slacked off and now it’s quite nice. It’s back to more normal Florida Keys weather. 

With all the high winds of late, the seas are still stirred up so we’re going to let them settle down over the next day and head out Friday when a south wind of around 8 kts is predicted. That’s the type of conditions we like for a moving day on the ocean. We’re less particular on the ICW but in the ocean where seas have a long memory, we prefer a calmer ride. 

The calm comes to Key Largo - what a difference!

I had ordered a new hot water heater to replace the one that died and had it ordered in plenty of time for it to arrive Wednesday for a Thursday installation by a local technician. Evidently the warehouse was aware of my desires so they let the unit sit untouched for a full day before UPS picked it up to start the delivery cycle. I paid for 1 to 2 day delivery and now it’s going to get here too late. It’s projected to arrive 7:00 pm on Thursday when I must leave at 7:00 am on Friday morning, there’s no time for an installation. I’ll shove it in the corner and hope I can get someone farther up the line to install it. 

Meanwhile, the reason for the tight schedule is an A/C unit waiting for installation next Friday in Titusville (not this week, the next week). To reach that appointment, I have to leave this Friday from Key Largo.

On the other hand, Defender Marine called today and said that although I ordered the A/C unit one day after the sale ended (an expensive mistake by me!) that they would honor the sale price for my purchase even though the sale was over. I thought that was a very nice gesture and good customer relations from Defender Marine!! It saved me $400! What a nice company!

Key Largo - Ran and high winds, and more rain, and more high winds…

I don’t want to know this! That’s just the average winds, the gusts are much higher.

 Well, we had planned on staying in Key Largo to wait out the bad weather and it surely did come. It was nothing but rain all day long with gusting winds. Just a miserable day in the Keys. It was tough to find a slice of time without rain for Hoolie relief. 

A day inside - all rain outside with high winds. Oh fun…

The docks here are very protected with two story condos on either side of the canal. That doesn’t stop the wind from howling and the boat moving about. It also doesn’t stop things from failing on Fleetwing. Today it was the hot water heater. It started having a leak in one corner. I saw no future in that, I saw no way to get at the leak which was buried behind the sheet metal sides. Besides, it’s 20 years old, time for a redo. 

The next challenge was finding a replacement. There were horror stories about back orders due to supply line constraints but luckily, I found a replacement in, of all places, at Westmarine. So it’s now on order for delivery in one to two days. We’re leaving Friday so Thursday is the second day. Now it’s wait and see if the replacement can find its way to Key Largo. 

Such is fun on a boat! If it doesn’t arrive Thursday, we’re not waiting around. We are going to leave Friday for points north, we’ll see what transpires. 

Key Largo - Amenities of Marina Del Ray

 

This very big boat takes up almost all of the width of the channel and it’s a narrow passage by “crash corner” where the channel takes a right angle turn - be sure to call ahead on Ch 16 to know if it’s coming!

The marina here is protected 360 but it also has other things to offer. With the slip comes access to the resort area of the on-site hotel. You can enjoy a free breakfast in the morning with various types of egg sandwiches, cereal, orange juice, fruit cup, pastries, and coffee. Basically, it’s all you can eat. 

Our Easter dinner! The ham was cooked in our air fryer (recipe off the internet).

There’s also a pool for your use with a supplied pool towel. Today we did laundry in a well kept laundromat room where everything worked (hear that Key West!) The best part that Ann enjoys is the ease in stepping off the boat. No more, “over the bow,” to get to land, just step off the side. 

For tonight, we had our Easter dinner with a small ham, sweet potatoes, biscuits, and an avocado. I think we’ll be having leftovers for the next two weeks! Meanwhile, we’re waiting out the high winds but Friday still looks like a good day for travel.   

Key Largo - Super calm ride

 

The prediction was for the winds to start late in the day - so - early morning departure!

It’s the calm before the storm for today’s run from Marathon to Key Largo. The seas were flat but the high winds are coming. It looks like we’ll be here until Friday but then the forecast can always change so we don’t really know. 

After our first substantive rain shown in three months in the Key - a rainbow!

We are once again at Marina Del Mar which is completely protected from high winds in all directions. We have a side-to dock so it’s easy on and off for Ann and Hoolie. The resort here features a complementary breakfast which we’ll partake of as we wait for better weather. 

Snug at a side-to dock, easy on and off

Unfortunately, our extended stay here throws all our plans in disarray for stops on the way north - an effort in rearrangement that will begin Monday. Once we get inside on the way to Miami, we’ll have more control on when to travel or not but in the ocean, we like calm weather.