Since we are a bit ahead of "schedule" in our northern journey, we decided we would take a side trip to meet up with the crew of Chagos, a 70+' steel hull retrofitted in Bayou La Batre and Turner Marine last year while we were at Turner. Our friends from Mobile might remember her as she sat on Turner's river dock for several months. So we turned to port off the AICW at Port Everglades and headed up the New River to Lauderdale Marine Center where Chagos is docked. The South African crew works the boat while the finishing touches are completed in the marina center. Our pal, Sarah, is cooking aboard these days and keeping the crew straight. We met Sarah last summer when the sailboat she was crewing on docked behind us at Turner. Through Facebook, we've kept up with each other's travels and finally were close enough to cross paths again. Also, in the same marina with Chagos is Don, now of S/V KeKeKo and formerly of S/V Panacea, another old Turner neighbor. He had just returned from the Carolinas with his new-to-him Leopard 43 sailing cat. The crew of Chagos helped him get it back to Florida arriving early same morning we arrived.

We originally intended to stay in the marina for one night for a brief visit, but we had such a good time, we stayed three nights. I hung out with Sarah during the day while she shopped and ran errands for the captain and crew. Then she and I cooked for all those three nights, and then we enjoyed sundowners on Chagos' stern table. What a great experience it was for us! I cooked Papa Dunn's gumbo in Chagos' galley one night with Sarah's help and presented the printed copy of the recipe to Chagos' captain with a brief history of Captain Dunn to take back to South Africa. They will leave soon to cross the Atlantic and find her owner. Her captain, Warwick, is quite an interesting fellow, having served as a safari guide and fishing guide in Africa, his home continent. He shared some amazing stories with us. After we shared with him how bad we are at fishing, he, like others before him, offered advice on catching fish while sailing. But he went a step further and rigged a sailboat fishing rig complete with lures and a bungee cord made of surgical tubing that allows the boat to continue sailing while tiring the fish out--the fish he says we definitely will catch. We shall see. Regardless, we will be forever grateful for his generosity of time, talent and company.

The trip up the New River was worth the time and effort for more than the good company of KeKeKo, Chagos and their crews. Not much wider than our old Dog River canal in some places, gigantic yachts, or "white boats" as they are known to the boating crews, traverse these waters along those of us with our tiny boats. Many are the size of commercial ships, all with paid crews. It was quite nerve racking to pass these large vessels, or rather to head off to the sea wall and wait for them to pass. In addition, there are four bascule bridges that must be opened for the vessels. The bridges are closed for rush hour from 7:30 to 9:00 with the first opening at 9:00 a.m. On the day we left, since we no longer seem to be able to get under way at 6:00 a.m. as in the days of old, we were one vessel of five waiting at the first bridge past the marine center at 9:00 a.m. The parade grew as we headed down river. Along the river are amazing homes and vessels of the Fort Lauderdale well-to-do.

We headed down to the Port Everglades pass hoping we could get out and sail with the southeast winds up to Lake Worth, but the winds were nearing 20 knots with high seas breaking in the pass. We chickened out and turned around heading north in the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

Aaaaaahhhhhgggg! We passed 19, NINETEEN!, bascule bridges in just 43 miles. They all open on a schedule so I often raced to try to catch an opening or, if missing the opening, had to keep Sea Soul steady in the currents as we waited up to 45 minutes for an opening. Ed wasn't able to help much being very busy with work from all the bad weather going on in the Panhandle. Count in dealing with the large wakes from huge fast boats with extremely inconsiderate captains, high south winds behind us and currents that alternately pushed us ahead or pushed against us. It was a stressful, exhausting, long day that did not get us very far on our journey. We anchored off downtown West Palm Beach, but with the winds blowing like crazy and an opposing current pushing the boat against the winds; we just stayed aboard, ate comfort food, and turned in early.

This morning, we were up and going at daylight to catch the bridge at 7:15, hoping we could get past Fort Pierce. Watching the weather radar, we decided to take anchor in a nice protected cove at the top of Hobe Sound south of St. Lucie that had access to the beach. Yesterday was enough stress for the month of March. We anchored early so we could walk the beach and relax before the storm came. There is always tomorrow to may more way. We still wait on the storm at 5:00 p.m., but we can see the red, yellow and green of the weather radar coming closer. Even so, we should be well rested and more relaxed tomorrow for another stab at heading north.
Photo Gallery--Fort Lauderdale to almost St. Luce
This song shows what it looked like on the AICW, but MY boat is NOT for sale. (Unless the price is right so I can buy a bigger one.)