We were all a bit bored this morning and after school we decided to motor out of the Marine Stadium anchorage, under the Rickenbacker causeway bridge and into Biscayne Bay.

The bridge had clearance of 75 feet according to the charts but as we went under it things sure looked dicey to me. I was half expecting a huge collisions and the mast to come toppling down but we sailed right under no sweat.

We came down to No Name Harbor planning to anchor up inside and stay until late Friday night when we hope to cross the Gulf Stream. This did not work out however as the harbor was full of boats. This "harbor" is part of Bill Baggs national park and the number of boats that attempt to anchor up inside what is really a very small place is pretty silly. There were approximately double the number of boats in there than there is room for and if the winds pipe up to blow its going to be a game of bumper-boat-o-rama in there. In 10 feet of water in there boats cannot have more than 30 feet of rode out and even at that they will still be banging into each other.

So we opted to anchor outside the harbor entrance in 8 feet of water. There is plenty of room here and only one other boat anchored near by. The wind is blowing hard from the west southwest, ranging between 15 and 20 knots and with all of Biscayne bay for fetch there is a lot of chop so the boat bucks about a bit but I still prefer having 100+ feet of chain out and be out here than to have 30 feet out and parked right next to everyone inside. I hope I am still singing the same song in the morning.

Michele was griping today about being bored but some new friends fixed that this afternoon. As I was sitting in the cockpit watching a pretty boat under full sail head south out in the bay about 1/2 mile away it suddenly dawned on me that while he was flying full sail and the sail were all drawing hard the boat was not moving. It was very strange... the boat looked like it was sailing along great but it was definitely not moving at all.

After I watched for a few minutes through our Fujinon gyro stabilized binoculars (great toy... boat can be rocking and your view is like its on a tripod) I knew 2 things for sure: the boat was a late model Hunter 460 sailboat and they were indeed aground.l

I got on the VHF radio and hailed the "sailboat aground about 1/2 miles west of No Name Harbor". After a couple of attempts they answered back. I asked if they would like me to dinghy over and use our dinghy to help them kedge off an anchor and try to winch themselves back into deep water. They were grateful for the offer and off I went, but no before the Coast Guard got involved in asking lots of questions and monitoring the situation.

The boat, the "Banana Wind", had 3 guys from Philadelphia aboard and they had been trying to get to Biscayne channel so they could head out to Bimini in the Bahamas. They just about made it, but strayed too far east and ran aground in sand just up from the channel marker.

I drove the dinghy around and they were aground in sand in about 4.5ft of water, their boat has a wing keel and draws 5.5 feet. I took their 65lb anchor aboard the dinghy along with one of their crew and as they played out 50ft of chain and 100ft of nylon rode we ran it out as far as it would go. When the ground tackle was all in place they used their windlass to pull it tight. VERY Tight. So tight everyone feared for pulling it any tighter. With the engine pushing as hard as they could, even with the kedge out and pulling they were stuck hard.

When we were trying however it was right at low tide. Their only option (other than a very expensive tow boat bill) was to just sit tight and let the tide come in. With the kedge out and tight as the tide comes in I am sure they will be pulled off. I told them to tighten it if any slack showed and to be ready to use the engine to help but that they were likely stuck until slack flood at 11pm or so this evening. As I type this they are still out there.... I hope they are gone by morning and have a good crossing.

It was a bit of excitement at least. Michele got to watch through the binoculars so she had something to do. I got wet in the dinghy in the rough water, oh well. The coast guard kept track of everything and is monitoring the Banana Wind to make sure all is well and they thanked me for my help.

The photo above is the kids swimming yesterday afternoon and playing with the paddle board. They have on their wetsuits.... the water is about 68 degrees.

It supposedly got up to over 70 degrees here today but it sure does not feel like it with the wind blowing so hard. Its the same old story and it goes for everyone we meet as well as us. Sunny and warm Florida is simply NOT. I have no idea why anyone would want to "winter" here. Sure, its not Philly and there is not snow everywhere but it sure is not what I would call warm.

Here, you think it is going to be warm so you dress accordingly. You put on shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops. Then you freeze your butt off. At least up north you know its going to be freezing cold so you dress appropriately. All we know is that we will never spend another winter in Florida with expectations of warm weather. If we are still cruising next winter, the absolute furthest north we will even consider is the Virgin Islands and we would hope to be a good bit further south than that.

We plan to go ashore in No Name Harbor tomorrow and visit Bill Baggs State Park. It has a lighthouse we can tour, a great beach and lots of walking trails and such. It is supposed to be fun. We also have a boat surveyor coming to do a new survey on the boat late tomorrow so I can get different insurance.

The insurance policy we have now is up for renewal. I spoke to our agent about trying to get more coverage after all the work we have done to the boat and she shopped around a bit. We CAN get a much better policy. The biggest difference is that the new policy "is from a carrier who will actually pay a claim". It seems our existing insurance is with a company that does not actually pay claims out for the most part. Great...... I love that sort of thing.

We listened to Chris Parkers SSB weather net this morning and it seems very late Friday night looks good for crossing the Gulf Stream.

We want to cross the 60 miles or so to our waypoint north of Bimini at night so we can arrive in the daylight. Crossing the ocean where it is thousands of feet deep is not a worry, crossing onto the Bahamas banks where it can be only 1 foot deep IS a problem. We need daylight to be able to gauge the water depth. From where we will cross onto the banks to where we will exit the banks just northwest of the Berry Islands is about 70 miles and we would like to make it all the way across in daylight. So that means we need to enter the banks around dawn so we have as much daylight for the crossing as possible. Thus the leaving here very late at night.

If we can get all the way across the banks during daylight hours we will proceed down the Northwest Providence channel in deep water overnight to Nassau. It is only about 50 miles so we will have to go slow or loiter about so we enter Nassau harbor in daylight but this strategy gets all the way from Key Biscayne to Nassau in a single passage which we prefer. I do not want to anchor out on the banks nor do I prefer to anchor up around Gun Cay. We want to be in Nassau before Monday as Chris Parker says a front will be moving through Monday night.



Terry