A 2 day trip from Vero, on the “inside” down the ICW, had us arriving in Ft Lauderdale just before sunset yesterday (note to self, never travel on the ICW in south FL during the weekend). With most of the provisioning completed we tackled a few projects with the major one being draining our fuel tank so we could clean out the inside. This involved borrowing 12 five gallon jugs to store the fuel in, 4 rolls of paper towels, 1 bottle of Simple Green, 5 gallons of solvent and 9 hours of labor. There was a slight layer of “black sludge” on the bottom, however it was much less than I had expected. After talking with several other boaters who had completed a similar project I was expecting at least an inch,(BioBore the fuel additive I add every other fill-up works!)
While in Vero we were treated to a rocket launch which we could clearly see from Cape Canaveral to our north (Yes, they are still in the rocket launching business). And the night before we left there was a “boat parade” complete with Santa’s sled-boat.
Yesterday’s milestone occurred when we crossed into the 80 degree water zone just north of Boca Raton. We hope to cross over to the Bahamas as soon as Mother Nature cooperates.