Sunday, October 22, marked the first day of our “shakedown” trip from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa. Our friend Nick helped navigate us through the tricky (for us) river passage to Lake Sylvia, which required calling for numerous bridge openings. At Lake Sylvia, Nick kindly gave us an anchoring lesson, then we were off to the Fort Lauderdale Marina for some non-ethanol gas for our dinghy engine and to drop Nick off. (Thanks Thea!) The two of us took the boat from there to Oleta Bay – a beautiful harbor and nature preserve in north Miami.
We spent Monday in Oleta, getting Blue Bonnet organized and learning more about her. We also enjoyed numerous swims, plenty of sunshine, and a short trip in our dinghy the Portland Pudgy (Brand name not a given name). By Tuesday, we were ready to move, so we headed back out into the intercoastal waterway (ICW) and motored towards Miami. The drawbridges were exciting, but even more nerve-wracking was the Lucy Tuttle Bridge, a fixed bridge that draws 56’ at low tide. As we slowly inched Blue Bonnet (who measures 55’ above the water) under the bridge, we both held our breath. Bob swears that he saw the radio antenna make contact. After that, it was out into the Bay of Biscayne and on to the Keys. We chose an anchorage on the south end of Elliot Key and watched the storms passing over the mainland of Florida. We couldn’t hear the thunder, but the lightning was beautiful from a distance. Around 1am, our night turned lively. Contrary to weather reports, the thunderstorms had moved directly overhead. Lightning directly overhead, wild wind, rolling seas, and strange noises kept us up for most of the night. After about 7am everything calmed down and we were able to sleep until around 10am. After our stormy experience at Elliot Key, we decided to motor as far south as we could without wearing ourselves out. Destination: Islamorada.
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AuthorRobin and Bob recently quit their jobs, sold all their belongings, and headed south to begin a new life on the sea. Check back here to find out how life adrift is going. Archives
February 2019
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