Marine Stadium - Miami at night

As viewed from the back of our boat

One of the attractions of Marine Stadium is the view of Miami at night. We often sit on the back of our boat and just watch the lights come on as the sun sets, very pretty. The nights have been very warm so it's been conducive to watching the lights.

More of a closeup, it's a spectacular sight!

We found today that's there a paved road around the perimeter of the anchorage that ideal for a morning run so I tried it out today, great. We're been here many times but never realized the trail was there. There's currently a crane in place removing derelict boats, a great improvement!

The winds are due to increase to 20 to 25 kts due to a front coming down from the north. After the front passed, we plan on moving north, we feel secure here. Sunday still looks good for moving north.

Marine Stadium - A chill out day (not in temperature...)

Marine Stadium - needs renovation

After a long day yesterday, we just decided to take it easy today. Hoolie greeted us with an upchuck followed by diarrhea but he managed to reach shore first. For some reason dogs seem to think they have to gobble down whatever they run across, no matter how vile. Unfortunately, we get the result of non-digestible finds back on our boat! He seems to be somewhat better tonight and we'll know for sure tomorrow morning.

They are removing some derelict boats and scrap iron - good riddance 

On the way to get gas for the dinghy, we cruised by the outdoor arena (Marine Stadium)  that has gone into disrepair. Amazingly enough, there was a group interested in restoring the stadium to its past glory that actually encouraged graffiti "artists" to come to Miami just to "decorate" the stadium with their work, some all the way from New York. I guess it was a way to draw attention to the plight of the stadium but the results look terrible. Restoration has picked up steam in the last few months and perhaps it will  be restored after all.

Maybe happer times are in store for Marine Stadium in the future

I got gas for the dinghy and ice for the boat so we're all set for the next week. We'll go north on Sunday to Ft Lauderdale and then to Joe Mastri's place for a couple of days in Boynton Beach. We've scheduled a visit with the Fitchetts on 3/22 and then we'll pick up old friends from our Air Force days for a week's ride up the ICW. Time to have more fun!

Marine Stadium in Miami - A flat sea day

Sunrise coming our of Tavernier

After an overnight stay at Blue Seas Marina where we took on water and did laundry, we found the seas to be flat calm. We got out at 7:30 and headed east. There was nary a wave as we exited Tavernier and we cleared the 4.3 ft bar since we had a 1.2 ft tide in our favor.

Approaching Miami

We were greeted with a great sunrise, one of the few we've seen on this trip. With the time change, the sunrise is later relative to our non-adjusted bodies so far so we were up. With the calm weather we set anchor at Marine Stadium at 3:30 pm in the northeast corner, our favorite spot for easy access to Hoolie relief.

We've got to get one of these!

We didn't see the usual array of shells or racing sleds but we did see the single man sailing sled on hydrofoils, I guess it's a staple around here. We plan on  being here until Sunday we think unless the weather changes drastically. The price is right! ($0) and Hoolie relief is nearby. On Sunday we're headed for Ft Lauderdale and points north but for now we'll rest here.

Tavernier - At Blue Waters Marina at a dock

Nice community of retired folks - easy going people

The weather was a go for going east. There was an east wind but it was only 7 to 9 kts and the seas were calm so we headed out around 8:15 or so. The time change got us in the morning, a little later in getting up per the clock reset.

The trip east to Tavernier was uneventful which is fine with us. We noticed once again that we could clearly see the sea bottom as we approached Tavernier, even in 20 ft of water. It causes a double take on the depth finder to be sure you're in deep enough water since it looks so shallow.

We didn't quite fit in the slip so we're stuck out - but snug

On the way into the marina, we noticed a 4.2 MLW (mean low water depth - the depth a low tide) at the approach entrance but since we had a 1.7 ft tide at the time, there was no problem with our 4' 9" keel. One has to pay attention to depths and tides in the Keys.

So I filled the water tanks, Ann did a wash and I walked Hoolie. With that we're all set for the last leg out of the Keys to Marine Stadium and a rest before going on to Ft Lauderdale and the spring breakers Wednesday or Thursday.

Marathon - Our last day

No, I decided not to get this hat...

We had intended leaving Marathon this morning but when we looked at the latest weather report, it didn't seem the best decision. So we shot it back and forth for several minutes and then enjoyed the morning. We definitely want to leave Sunday morning. There's a change of weather coming down the coast on Friday and we want to beat the front to Ft Lauderdale. So we intend sailing to Tavernier on Sunday and then on to Marine Stadium on Monday. The trip to Ft Lauderdale will be dependent on picking the best day before Friday.

I always wondered why anyone would want 1200 hp on such a small boat??

Well, we had wanted to see the Marathon Seafood Festival anyway so we wandered over there around noon and, of course, the place was packed. We just had fun looking around. We had wanted to eat lunch there but so did everybody else - the lines were 1/2 hour long, too much for us.

By Key Fisheries where we ate dinner

On Sunday morning we'll compare the NOAA Marine Forecast and grib wind forecast and then decide what to do. Of the two, we've found the grib forecast to be more accurate. The NOAA coastal forecasts always seem to be exaggerated - a worst case I guess but they go too far most of the time.

Marathon - Waiting for weather

So far we're intending to leave Saturday morning but now we're not so sure. The weather is varying - or to be more accurate, the forecast keeps changing! We'll take one more look around 6:00 am and then decide what to do.

Winds of 15 to 20 all day long

Meanwhile, I took the car back this morning and met the same driver I had last year. You get to know people year after year. The clerk at the Marathon City Marina also knows me now and greets me by name, likewise for the Key West Bight Marina operator.

Fresh caught Mahi-Mahi - just great

One of the fun things about the keys are the fresh fish you can get. There's an excellent fish market nearby so I walked with Hoolie over to see what they had, they will even mail order the fish! The Mahi-Mahi was local so I settled on that with conch cevich for an appetizer which I bought already prepared. Ann practically never uses cookbooks anymore, the Internet has a universe of recipes readily available and in browsing through them, she can always find something delicious. Tonight it was Seared Mahi-Mahi with Basil Butter served with Balsamic rice and sugar snap peas. The fish was prepared as in the recipe but the rice was a package you can heat up in 90 seconds in the microwave. Likewise for the snap peas but they take 3 minutes in their own pouch as bought at Publix. The rice and snap peas are a great convenience when done in a microwave, they don't heat up the cabin and are quick - and they are also delicious. We have a 3.2 cubic foot freezer which is plenty big enough for us on a boat. We can store a couple week's worth of meat at a time. So we eat well while underway. At home Ann may spend more time cooking and somewhat more elaborately but I certainly enjoy the dinners in the cabin (just in case you couldn't tell...)

The seafood festival at Marathon is Saturday so if the weather doesn't cooperate, we'll explore the festival and sample even more local seafood, well I guess someone has to do it...

Marathon - A new head and stormy weather

Here comes the storm!!

We rented a car from Enterprise to enable convenient provisioning and I also stopped by West Marine to pick up a new head for the forward cabin. The Publix was packed, you could hardly move through the aisles! It was only a Thursday but if you're the only supermarket within 30 miles, I guess you have quite an attraction.

Our forward head was 10 years old so it was time for a replacement. The brand we had (Jabsco) sells new ones that are exact replacements down to the exact same bolt holes in the floor of the head. That is very important if you want to minimize installation time. So now we have a new head, not very exciting but quite a requirement for a cruising boat!

We had a change of weather today. We had reserved a table at Lazy Days at 6:00 but a line storm came roaring by and we were stuck on the boat with rain until 8:00. Ann had a backup plan so we fared pretty well. We continue to pour over the weather reports and Saturday still looks like a good day for going east.  You can be sure we'll be checking the weather prediction every few hours until Saturday morning. Meanwhile we're due for high winds until the rest of the front passes by on Friday night. However, the temperatures are still warm (in the 70's) so we're not complaining.