January 2007
Cape Canaveral - Miami, USA
GD spent the first few days of January in Harbortown Marina on the Canaveral Barge Canal while still I stayed with Rick and Lizzie. Hard though it was we set off south again via the ICW on 5th to anchor at Indianharbor Beach - one of the better anchorages on the ICW. We anchored next to Ray on 'Maria' who I know from emailing via a mutual friend in the Moody Owners Association. It was good to meet up with him after following him south over the last few months and reading his regular email bulletins. We spent a bit of time ashore eating breakfasts and researching a generator for GD.
From Indianharbor Beach Ray and I moved on to Vero Beach on 8th. Vero Beach was very crowded and we ended up three to a mooring ball (no anchoring allowed here) with GD in the middle, Maria on one side and a Dave and Carol on Celebration on the other - all very sociable. Went ashore for a walk to the beach and a look round the town. Some nice tree-shaded, florally-abundant avenues near the marina are the best it has to offer. Free wifi at the cafe near the bridge south of the marina.
I left the next day for the short trip down to Fort Pierce and the Class A inlet that would let me back out onto the ocean again. Spent a day at Fort Pierce behind Causeway Island waiting for the north easterlies to die down a little. They didn't so it was off down the ICW again to Peck Lake (groan - the ICW is rightly called the 'ditch' and I'm fed up with it! It's shallow, narrow, busy, has lots of lift bridges that only open at certain times and requires total concentration all the time - especially with GD's 6' draft.)
Peck Lake is an excellent anchorage with easy access to a great empty Atlantic beach just a short dinghy ride and walk away. It's popular so try to be there mid-week if you can.
Peck Lake tempted me for two nights and then off again along the ditch to Fort Worth, another Class A inlet and another chance to access the ocean.
The anchorage was large and held around 40 boats. At 06.30 the following morning only five were left - the weather was favourable for the crossing to the Bahamas and everyone going that way had departed during the night.
We left at first light (06.45) for the 45 mile trip south to Fort Lauderdale. This was straight into wind of course! We hugged the coast to try to find the counter current to the Gulf Stream which comes within a very short distance of the shore here and at times we did seem to be getting a boost.
There are few good anchorages in Fort Lauderdale and as its my intention to do add some goodies to GD while I'm here we elected to go to the Municipal Marina at New River.
The trip up New River is worth it even if you're not staying there - narrow, bendy, lift bridges and 'new Florida' style houses on either side - it feels more European than American. Indeed they call this place the 'Venice of Florida' and this particular section of New River is known as 'Millionaires Row' due to all the waterfront mansions owned by the rich and famous, and often used in film sets too.
New River is on record as being the shortest, deepest and most windy river in North America. According to Indian tradition it appeared overnight (hence the name 'New Water') after an earthquake and is in fact a flooded canyon that used to be more than 100' deep until the dredged material from all the canals was deposited here.
The marina is very cheap considering its in the heart of downtown Fort Lauderdale, but the shower and laundry facilities are at another marina a mile away on the other bank. This initiated experimentation with the solar heated water bag which seems to work quite well producing enough warm water for two showers after a day on deck.
Fort Lauderdale has many marine suppliers (see bottom of this page for directions) so it's an ideal place for us to get some of the kit we need for the next section - out to the Bahamas and on into the Caribbean. We have invested in a Honda 2000i generator / inverter as a back-up power supply and battery charger (bought as a deal for buying two with another boat - Dick and Judy on Ellen B) a new (2nd hand) 9oz Elvestrom working jib (115% approx.) and an ICOM 802 SSB radio for weather and communication. We are waiting for the sail to have some small modifications and the radio to be supplied and fitted.
In the mean time we're doing some maintenance and enjoying what Ft. Lauderdale has to offer - restaurants (wide choice) - beaches (can't see the sand for the people - yuck), museum of modern art (small, well laid out and interesting), marine suppliers (more than you can shake a stick at), people-watching at the Las Olas Centre across the river (the rich, the beautiful and the weird) and great weather (even the rain is warm!).
To add interest there's an endless stream of boats going by. Everything from small power boats (each with obligatory babe sunbathing on the foredeck) to seriously big mega-yachts that look too large for the river (each with obligatory white-shirted, be-sunglassed, serious-looking crew glowering down at us mere mortals).
Moored next to GD is Tom and Elaine on Sunshine Baby (a motor catamaran) who are waiting for the weather to change for their crossing to the Bahamas.
The new sail is now on board. The only delay now is sorting out the ground plane for the SSB - we can receive OK, but not transmit effectively. And of course the longer we're here the more we find to do. We now have a filter set up to filter water going into the tanks. Water quality hasn't been an issue up until now but Florida water looks yellow and unpleasant. A raid on Blockbuster produced some cheap DVDs to watch and swap further down the line. The 20lb Danforth anchor now has 25' of chain at the end of it's rope rode to help keep it in place and protect the line during two-anchor 'Bahamanian' style anchoring. The anchor locker is starting to look crowded!
On the 30th of January we finally slipped away from the New River marina and made the short journey down to an anchorage in Lake Sylvia, Fort Lauderdale with a brief motor round the harbour for a look (where we got told off by the local sheriff's boat for being too near Port Everglades, even though there was only a scruffy looking container ship docked there - security!) and to let the tide come up a bit in the shallow entrance to the Lake.
Early in the 31st we left Fort Lauderdale and had a slow but relaxed sail at 4 - 5 knots with the wind dead astern the 20 miles southwards to Miami. Luckily no cruise ships where in dock so we could use the main channel (if they are there you have to divert south of Dodge Island) and turn north then east into the anchorage south of Venetian causeway. Despite trying to sail slowly we arrived at dead low tide and managed to record 0.2 feet under the keel on the way into the anchorage. There are lots of permanently moored boats here and transients as well. GD is now anchored near a Moody 41 belonging to Michael and Sarah Claus, fellow MOA members with whom we are in contact thanks to Peter Robinson - the 'Mr Big' of the American cell of the MOA.
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* Marine Suppliers in Fort Lauderdale.
(Directions to a few of the suppliers we used while based in New River:)
From New River cycle south 10 - 15 min's on Andrews Ave. to State Route 84. Turn right (west) for Boatowner's Warehouse (good advice and reasonably priced) and Sailorman (fun place - new and consignment store) or left (east) to State Route 1 for West Marine (expensive but well stocked). For Home Depot cycle north (15 - 20 min's) on Andrews Ave over the railway lines to Sunrise Blvd.
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