Sometimes life is just plain good. Last week my two sons took time out of their busy work schedules and hectic family lives to join the old man for a week of sailing in Florida. It was just the 3 of us on board and we had the opportunity to spend some quiet time together and get re-acquainted in a way that was absolutely wonderful.

Scot & Steve flew into West Palm Beach on February 24th in the middle of some of the worst weather Florida has seen in quite a while and our drive back from the airport (after a delayed arrival) was in blinding rain and severe lighting. In fact, we stopped at a local restaurant to see if the rain would let up before getting into the dinghy for our half-mile ride. It did a little but the ride back to the boat was a wet one and we nervously watched lightning accompany us all the way. But, soon we were tucked away safely and drying out.

The next morning proved cold and windy and so we decided to delay our departure and do some errands before leaving tomorrow. We enjoyed a rather quiet day and ran around with our rental car to grab some seafood (Cindy had told the boys of her departure dinner) so they could enjoy some local cuisine. Soon with all our errands completed and the car returned we settled into a quiet evening on the boat punctuated with a fine dinner of oysters on the half-shell, crab-cakes and Caesar salad (and you thought we camped on the boat?!?!).

The cold continued the next day but we decided to leave for Lake Worth anyway despite a falling tide made our way down the St. Lucie River to the ICW with just a couple of bottom-bumps to make it interesting.

So here we were the three of us making our way down past Peck Lake and under numerous bridges and the slow pace of a motoring sailboat gave us time to talk, laugh and enjoy each others' company.

We continued on through the day and the boys were amazed at the contrasts that the ICW presented to them. On the one hand, they saw dolphins, manatees, pelicans, and other birds they had not seen before. On the other, they gawked at the million dollars homes lining the water. Soon, we passed under the last bridge for the day and entered Lake Worth. We decided to anchor in the North Lake Worth anchorage and we found ourselves securely anchored among 3 dozen other boats for the night. Scot & Stephen launched the dinghy to explore shore-side and bring back ice while the captain tidied up the boat and started dinner. We managed to finish the rest of the seafood stock and tonight feasted on Ahi tuna, scallops and fresh salads. And, the captain didn't have to cook after all.

Overnight the temperature dropped further and the winds picked up to create conditions offshore that made an ocean passage outside impractical. So like everyone else that morning we decided to face the numerous bridges and take the inside route through "The Canyon". We motored along after having some difficulty with our ground tackle (the swivel shackle jammed on the anchor shank) and soon we were entering Lake Worth Inlet. The captain, while searching for the ICW markers, said to himself that "oh, we should be over there...so I'll just cut this corner". Wrong. Suddenly we found ourselves kissing the ground in about 3 feet of water. So Scot & Steve launched the dinghy (& had to replace the outboard that we had removed last night in anticipation of a lumpy offshore passage) and pushed Leeway into deeper water. This time not trying to cut any corners, we continued on past Peanut Island and towards the remainder of the many bridges we would see today.

We all took turns at the helm and the boys saw just how narrow the ICW can be in places and we were all enjoying the bright sunlight and rising temperatures of the afternoon as we made our way towards our destination of Ft. Lauderdale. As we were approaching the Boynton Beach Bridge (Ocean Av) the engine began to stall and I soon realized that the fuel problem that had plagued the boat earlier had returned with a vengeance. We managed to keep the engine from stalling long enough to grab a dock just to the north of the bridge and tie up so we could investigate further. The dock was a fuel stop for a small marina and charged what I felt was the exorbitant fee of $2.00 a foot for no washrooms, no showers or other facilities. But, they knew we had no choice and so we paid the piper for an overnight stay.

After we were tied up we all put our heads to trying to solve our dilemma. I dove into the engine compartment, Steve got out the parts and tools I needed and Scot filled all the jerry cans and water tanks. I quickly realized that in addition to our fuel problems the large alternator that services the house batteries wasn't charging and so our fix-it list got longer. We went about changing all the fuel filters, treating the fuel with biocide, and finding and repairing a broken wire on the alternator. Within about an hour, we were ready to run the engine to test out our solutions. We ran the engine for an hour and concluded our problems were over. As it turned out, we could have continued on our way but since we had already paid for the night and the afternoon was growing long-in-the-tooth we decided to stay at our expensive dock.

To our delight, next door to the fuel dock were a couple of very good restaurants and since we were a little tired from our afternoon's adventure Scot decided to treat us to dinner at the 2 George's Restaurant next door. We had a great dinner and a couple of drinks together and then I decided to retire back to the boat while the boys stayed at the bar. Let's just say they had a very good time before finding their way back and you might want to ask them why their clothes were all wet when they returned.

The next morning dawned warm and bright and we cast off about 8 am to complete our journey through "The Canyon". I was slightly concerned that the guide books strongly suggest not travelling through this part of the ICW on a weekend because of the large amount of local boat traffic and our delay now necessitated us doing so on a Saturday morning but, as it turned out, we found the ICW mostly deserted with only light traffic. That coupled with the fact that we made every bridge opening along the way made for a fast and pleasant run into our next anchorage at Lake Sylvia in Ft. Lauderdale. The only negative of the day occurred when our fuel problem returned but we quickly switched to our second tank and managed not to fowl any of the filters. I decided to isolate the main fuel tank for the time being and seek a permanent solution after the boat reaches Miami.

Getting into Lake Sylvia is a little tricky because of its shallow entrance and, of course, we were trying to do it at low tide. We snuck our way off the ICW and hugged the shore as directed by the sailing guides and sure enough, the captain, with his keen sense of the bottom, grounded the boat just a few feet from the anchorage. The now crack rescue crew swiftly launched the dinghy and with blazing speed had the boat afloat in no time and we quickly anchored and toasted our achievements on this just gorgeous day. We spent an idyllic night at anchor.

Morning came even grander than the previous one. It was sunny, warm and calm. We weighed anchor about 9am and made our way back to the ICW and waited for the final bridge to open before heading out to sea. We motored past a half dozen cruise ships at dock in the Port Everglades pier (Ft. Lauderdale) and made our way out past the channel markers into deep water of about 100 ft. before turning south for Miami. We hoisted the mainsail but alas it proved to be more of a bed sheet than any real motive power in winds that were about 5 knots. Still we all enjoyed the slow motor along the coast taking in the shorelines of Ft. Lauderdale, Hollywood, Miami Beach, North Miami and finally, Miami itself.

While making our way down the coast, the Coast Guard announced on the VHF radio that the Government Cut at Miami was closed indefinitely because there were more than 2 cruise ships in the channel. This proved rather disconcerting since this was our destination and we listened on the radio for a long time hoping to hear an announcement that it had re-opened. Finally, as we approached the cut, we had to radio the Coast Guard and were advised that while Government Cut remained closed we could enter the cut and proceed south of Dodge Island and into the Miami Harbour which we promptly proceeded to do. Miami Harbour proved both busy and bouncing with traffic of every type and description but we bounced our way merrily along watching dolphins play in the shallows alongside the harbour. The channel comes within a 100 yards of downtown Miami and then turns to proceed out through Biscayne Bay (see the lead picture).

We were heading for Dinner Key Marina which is in the Miami suburb of Coconut Grove where the captain and boat will stay while awaiting the return of the Admiral in mid-March. We turned left at Miami and rejoined the ICW as it made its shallow way under the Rickenbacker Bridge and through Biscayne Bay. Soon we found ourselves in the Dinner Key Channel and contacted the marina for directions since we had never been here before. We wanted fuel and water before going to our mooring and were advised that we had to go to Grove Marina next door for a fuel fill-up. We circled in the shallow basin for about 45 minutes while a power boat fuelled up but finally we were heading back out to the mooring field. We re-contacted the mooring field manager James who directed us to head back out the channel to marker 8 and then turn to port. We did so only to find ourselves directed into shallow water alongside a couple of derelict boats - that didn't seem right - so we contacted James again to find out that he meant for out to go our their South Channel not the main channel (no one on-board heard him say that) and then turn to port into the mooring field. So he said we should now proceed south of the mooring field and proceed west across the top of the field into the south channel. We followed his directions and (yes, you guessed it) promptly ran aground. The marina boat run by James quickly responded and towed us into the mooring field (he grounded us 3 more times before getting us to deep water) and finally to our mooring. The only thing that made the whole incident tolerable was the genuine desire of James to make our stay as comfortable as possible and his apologies for the miss-communications. So by the time we finally got settled on the mooring we decided to simply stay aboard and go into the marina in the morning. We spent a quiet night talking and barbequing on board.

In the morning we went ashore to register with the Marina, explore Coconut Grove, have lunch at a local restaurant and generally just spend some time together. The day passed all too quickly and soon it was early evening when my cell phone rang. It was my friend John Gobby who was joining me for a couple of weeks and who had arrived to drive the boys to the airport tomorrow. We decided to celebrate our last night together with pizza and while John & Steve went to get them, Scot & I make drinks and we spent a great night talking, laughing and kibitzing.

So all too quickly our week together was over and after showers and some laundry the next morning it was time to head to the airport. We intended to have lunch on the way to the airport but in our limited knowledge of Miami found the airport before we found a good restaurant. So John & I dropped the boys at the airport in time for their flight and return to a snowy homecoming.

It was a great week that was over all too soon. Life should give us all more opportunities like this. At least, that's my perspective on our week together and I'm sticking to it.