We finally got to have breakfast with our friend Pam this morning. We brought our charts of the Bahamas with us to the restaurant and she confirmed that the weather looked promising and showed us the places we should go to and where we should stay. After breakfast we rushed back to the boat and got it ready to head to our departure port. Since we are going to start our Bahamas adventure in Bimini it makes sense to leave from the Miami area.

It’s been so long since we actually moved the boat. We spent ten days in Ft. Lauderdale!! I guess I must have forgotten what to look for because as we went past a commercial dock I missed all the clues that a huge ship was being moved off the dock directly at us. Luckily the tugs that were moving it were under control, the ship never got close to us!

Because we are in Southern Florida there were a number of drawbridges we had to get through. We were too early for one so we decided to anchor instead of trying to keep the boat from getting to close to the bridge. Once we got through that bridge we had to rush to make the schedule for all the other bridges. Finally we got to a bridge that two other sailboats were waiting at. Bill looked through the binoculars and saw that one of the boats was our slip neighbor from our marina in Annapolis! He had left a week or so before us and we had been wondering how far he had gotten. We were sure it was further than us! Once we got through the bridge we chatted on the radio for a bit. He was travelling with another boat and they told us that the railroad bridge would be closed for another 45 minutes. Bill found a good place for the three boats to anchor and we got to catch up with John some more. Another small world story!!
The picture above is Miami. We went by a lot of tall buildings, hotels and condos today. When we finally went under our last bridge in Florida Bill decided it would be a good idea to actually sail so that when we leave for the Bahamas, which we plan to do Wednesday night at 10pm, we would not have to sail for the first time in the dark. I forgot how wonderful, and how quiet, sailing is. We had a great sail until we got to the turning point for our anchorage for the night.

So now we are anchored in No Name Harbor in Key Biscayne. It is one of the places people go to leave for the Bahamas from. There are about twenty boats in here but we managed to find a place to anchor. We saw a couple of boats from the Annapolis area. Someone called out to help us find a spot to anchor and told us to come and visit once we got settled. We did and had a great time! Tomorrow we will get the boat all ready and hopefully be able to start updating the blog from the Bahamas!