SEBASTIAN TO TITUSVILLE

Mar 16- We left the anchorage at 8:00 am heading to Titusville today. It is a coolish morning, I have a sweater on right now but they are calling for it to get quite warm. We have a 39 mile run today to get to our destination. Dave is quite exhausted from our ordeal of the past days so I am skippering and he is resting today. We arrived at Titusville Marina at about 2 pm. and proceeded to wash down Manana in 91 degree temperatures. We finished and hid in the air conditioning until about 8:00 pm when we were invited aboard Sonata for a Blueberry dessert Bonnie had prepared. It was wonderful as always and we called an early night as every one was done from the days heat.

Passing Cape Canaveral area

Manatee zone (slow going)

A sunken sailboat

Coming into Titusville

NORTH PALM BEACH TO SEBASTIAN

Mar 15- We left at 8:30 am heading for Sebastian which is a 50 mile trip today. It is another warm day for travelling. We have a lot of bridges again but none that have to open for us. We arrived at the marina we were to stay at but they were unorganized and the docks were not in good repair so we left there and headed for an anchorage 10 miles up the ICW between two islands. The one island we were able to take Koby to and he could run around a bit. We had a light wind that night but we were well sheltered and it was coming off shore. We had a very peaceful night.

This was a town we passed by 

A few condos and boats here

A lighthouse in the distance

We passed a bush fire along the ICW

Passing through Melbourne

Passing through Cocoa Beach 

Sonata at anchorage with Koby's island in background 

A pretty sunset at anchor

FORT LAUDERDALE TO NORTH PALM BEACH

Mar 13- We left at 9:30 am this morning as the current is low right now and we are heading for North Palm Beach today. We have many bridges we have to have open for us, so it will be slow going. We finally reached Sailfish Marina at 5:00 pm and there is a hell of a current running through this marina, plus we have a million boats coming at us from all directions as it is the weekend. We tried to go into our slip but because of the current the dingy would not turn as it normally does so we had to get back out of the slip again and in doing so the dingy got up around the front of the boat and we almost ran it over. We should had taken this as an omen! We pulled into the gas dock and discussed whether to move on or try to get into these slips. That was the biggest mistake we have made on this trip. We did finally get into the slips but with great difficulty and we could barely get off the boat onto our dock to take Koby to shore. It was just an awful marina and we would not recommend it to anyone. Remember the name is Sailfish Marina do not, do not stay there.

Heading to North Palm Beach

Just a few of these in this area

A few small places along the way

Mar 14- We are waiting for slack current before we head out of this marina. Sonata managed to get out with little problem but not so for us. As we pulled out of the slip and turned up to go out the wind and current drove us across the channel into 2 boats and pinned us up against them. We had substantial damage to our bow railing and some of our fiberglass on the starboard side of our boat. We finally managed to get past the three boats and pulled onto the gas dock to assess the damage. We ended up removing the bent railing and then waited for the police to do their report. I called Sonata to let them know what had happened and they came back but there was nothing they could do especially in this current so we told them we would catch up when we could. It was a dreadful day for us and I literally felt sick to my stomach all day as I am sure Dave did. I guess the only saving grace is that no one was hurt. We finally finished all the paper work, etc and left that dreadful marina heading for Jensen Beach. We arrived there at about 4 pm. washed down Manana took Koby for a run and relaxed a little. Bonnie came over and asked if we wanted to get off the boat for a little and go have dinner at a restaurant that had been recommended to them by the dockmaster not too far away. We had a wonderful dinner and walked back to the boats and called it a night.

MIAMI TO FORT LAUDERDALE

Mar 11- We left Pelican Bay Marina at 9:15 am heading for Fort Lauderdale which is about a 18 mile trip. We were heading for New River as that is where our marina is, and just as we were about to enter the river which is very narrow we met a tug towing out a 100 foot yacht from this river. We scooted past them as we were right where they had to turn with this monster boat. Apparently that is the way these big yachts get in and out of this river, they are towed by tugs. This river is very narrow like I said with boats on either side of the channel with about a 4 knot current as well. Before we went to our marina we pulled over to the left side of the channel to tie up as we have a truck coming to fuel our boats up. We paid $1.73/gal for this fuel we couldn't pass that up. After we were fueled we

waited for the current to go slack before heading to the marina. We headed down the river at 3:30 pm as there are two bridges that close at 4 pm we have to get through. The current was still up but we managed to get tied up alright.

Leaving Pelican Bay Marina in Miami

Miami in the background

We played pass you with this guy all the way up

Coming into Fort Lauderdale

A lot of construction

Many of these in Fort Lauderdale

Some big boys

Heading into the New River

Just a little narrow

We pulled off to fuel up

This boat has to be towed out it's so big in the river

Looking up the river from Cooley's Marina

Looking up the New River

Bonnie and Judy 

Big guy on his way out the river

Mar 12- We are staying another day here at Cooley's Marina, Fort Lauderdale as there is lots to see and do. They are having a St. Patrick's Day parade at 12:00 noon we want to see. We walked over to watch the parade and then us girls walked downtown through some of the shops. The guys walked back to the boats. As we were walking back they had a band playing just down from the boats so we stopped and listened for awhile. We were invited aboard Sonata for docktails which ended just before it got dark. We will have to wait for slack current before we leave our slips tomorrow morning which is about 9:30 am.

Some pictures of the St. Patrick's Day parade

KEY LARGO TO MIAMI

Mar 10- We are off the dock by 9:00 am and are heading for Miami to a marina called Pelican Bay. We have 43 miles to travel today, the weather is warm but it is quite breezy. We had a following sea for almost all of the trip which made for a very uncomfortable ride. We arrived at the marina at 2:00 pm. got tied up and washed down Manana. We are 2 docks over from Sonata who have guests arriving tonight. It is Bonnie's sister Judy and her husband Ted from New Smyrna. They are planning to travel with them back to New Smyrna. We went over to visit with Charlie and Bonnie and played some cards after dinner for awhile. We made it an early night as it had been a long day and they had company coming and had to prepare the boat for them.

Finally Miami in the distance

You can probably see how rough it was

Approaching Miami

You can tell how rough it was

Miami downtown

Miami boat yard and a cruise ship in the background

Statue of man blowing conch shell

Saw many of these here

Odd to see this old building amongst glass and steel

We have many, many of these today