Need to Work Out Some Kinks!

We left Lake Worth (West Palm Beach) early morning yesterday.  We decided to head offshore instead of staying in the ICW with the many bridges that we would have to go through.  It was also meant to be   a shakedown sail since we hadn't done in a while.  When Michele headed south down the ICW instead north to go out the Lake Worth inlet, we should have taken this as an omen and either kept going down the ICW or returned to the anchorage.  However, we banged a U-ie and went out the inlet.  The easterly winds that were predicted were more westerly and then southerly.  The seas were only 1-2 feet, but every second and on the beam.  With the opposing current, it was very choppy.  Michele was a little nauseous all day.  Steve was also uncomfortable, but not sick.  We motor-sailed all day.  We stayed close to the shore among lots of company - sailboats, small craft, big craft, dive boats.  It was like the southeast expressway!

Originally, we were going to leave port at night to get a morning entry into a Miami port.  However, the wind and seas were worse the night before.  So we knew leaving port early morning from Lake Worth was going to be iffy getting in before dark - unless we could maintain a decent speed.  With the wind direction and current, it was impossible to go fast enough to make it to Miami.  We knew we would have to enter Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale).  We made it into the inlet with plenty of light left.  Then we had to decide where we were going to anchor - not many choices around this area.  We could go north and try to anchor in Lake Sylvia.  We had never been there, and weren't sure how much room there would be to anchor.  There were several sailboats that were ahead of us which made us think that it would crowded in there (along with the local weekend traffic).  In retrospect, we should have taken our chances since we still had enough light to figure things out.

We opted to go south and try another anchorage that we saw on the chart (bad idea) or maybe continue south to an anchorage that we had been to before.  The problem with the 2nd choice was that we didn't have enough daylight to make it. But . . . we took the chance because it was a known anchorage.  Again, bad idea.  First problem was traveling down the ICW at night.  The channel markers were not lit and very difficult to see until we were right on top of them and nearly hitting them.  Luckily, we didn't hit any, but we had a few close calls.  The next problem was that, apparently, there is significant shoaling in the area of the anchorage that we were going to, due to the Haulover Canal inlet from the Atlantic.  The area is dredged every 4 years (and must have been dredged the last time we were here 4 years ago and is due again now).  The channel here is very skinny.  If you miss it, you're screwed.  And in the pitch black, it's not that hard to due.  In fact, we were in the channel, but too close to the marker where there is significant shoaling.  We hit bottom, but were able to get off.  When we turned around to get off the shoal, we ended up on another shoal.  When we shined the spotlight on what we thought was a marker, it turned out to be a danger sign!  After bouncing back and forth, a tow boat approached us, asking if we wanted help - for a small fee of $100 or course. (This is a popular spot to go aground, so this tow boat just sits there waiting for it to happen to make money.)   Even though we have a tow boat service, it was late and we didn't want to deal with it.  So we let him pull us off the shoal and lead us into the anchorage.    All in all, a fun day of being a cruiser!  Living the dream, ;-), ;-).

Today was a chill day.  Hanging on the anchor, going ashore and walking around Oletta State Park, and drinking wine at sunset :-D.

But Hey . . . We're in Miami!!!!