It has been quite a while since my last post - so I'll try to catch up! On Thursday, Dec. 10th we left Fort Pierce and travelled to Lake Worth where we anchored along with several other boats, convenient to both a grocery store and West Marine. We had heavy winds and some rain. We needed propane so moved to Old Port Cove, a favourite marina from last year, where they give you a bottle of wine on arrival and have a courtesy van that took Ron for propane. It is a beautiful marina with a fitness centre and restaurant - and lots of 'huge' boats! I celebrated my 66th birthday here!

From there we moved to Lake Boca Raton and again anchored. The lake is surrounded by beautiful homes so difficult to get Buddy ashore, but there is a park just a little ways back on the ICW. We had 13 bridges in this 27 mile stretch which really slows you down - took 7 hours!

The next day we moved to Fort Lauderdale. This is another stretch with many bridges - 8 in 14 miles! We initially picked up a mooring - the most expensive we've seen at $45. When Ron went to register, a dock was cheaper since we had been before and also got a Towboat US discount, so we moved! Might as well have power and water and not need the dinghy down. The beach is just a few blocks away and we spent the afternoon at the beach and looking in the shops! The bars along the beach all feature giant 45 oz. Margeritas - just a little too big for the afternoon so we returned to the boat and made our own (8 oz).

The most bridges are between Fort Lauderdale and Miami so we chose to go outside and make the 40 mile run on the ocean. It was a beautiful day but still we had to motorsail. We entered Miami at Government Cut then made our way south to Dinner Key, where we picked up a mooring. They have over 200 moorings and it is very exposed so always lots of wind and waves. It is also about 3/4 mile to the dinghy dock so a long run each time you need to go ashore and very often a wet ride! We did provision while there although it isn't that convenient but we are ready to make the crossing as soon as the weather cooperates.

We are now in No Name Harbor, a State Park just five miles from Dinner Key and very protected from wind and waves - what a relief! There are no services here but there are beautiful beach walks and tomorrow night, Christmas Eve, there is a potluck on shore. So we will enjoy Christmas here.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!