IMAGE James niece Chris and her family visit.


On Sunday 29th afternoon we arrived into our chosen Ft Lauderdale ‘homebase’ the Middle River anchorage –just off the ICW. We had about 10 neighbors – all Canadians waiting for a weather window to make the crossing across the gulf stream to the Bahamas – some have been stuck here for over 1 week. Soon arfer we arrived, one of our neighbor came over to give us all the ‘local’ info. There is no anchoring charge here – and no troublesome shoreside neighbors – not all of southern Florida is as easy as this.

Just a short dingy ride away we have a secure floating dingy dock and rubbish disposal. Just a short walk away is a large supermarket and a high-end Mall with a great WiFi service.

One of our important jobs to get completed whilst we were here was to have our dive gear checked and serviced – this proved all too easy. We had dingy access on a nearby canal to the local dive shop – so on Monday afternoon we dropped off our BC’s and regulators and they were ready for collection on Thursday – excellent service.

Chris, David and Harry Hart (James niece) were in town to exhibit at Miami Art Week – and we were able to meet up on Tuesday 1st December. It was great to welcome them onboard and have time for lunch and lots of chatting and catching up.

Dodging the rain showers on Wednesday we managed to get some outside boat jobs and cleaning completed. La Aventura had the trademark motash for all the motoring through the brackish ICW waterways. She is looking like a white sailboat again.

The local art deco cinema had the new James Bond movie Spectra showing – so we treated ourselves to their cut price matinee on Thursday – and really enjoyed the movie and fresh popcorn!

We met up with Barbara Mason on Friday for lunch. Barbara is the Mum of our good friend Sue – and Barbara has been very helpful during this stay in the USA as our official postal and banking address. We have known Barbara and her family for many years – so it was great to meet up and enjoyed each others company for a few hours.

Another day of dodging rain showers on Saturday – we managed to get off and get all our winter clothes and bedding washed at the nearby laundromat. Its great to have this all completed so we can Vacuum bag everything and store it away for a long, long time we hope.