Delray City Marina

March 30-31 Beautiful homes on clear blue waters were our views on the ICW from Ft. Lauderdale to Delray's City Docks. At one point, I was using my zillow app to gauge the prices of the homes, then I got depressed! Crazy $$$$ We settled into the cutest "public" marina with great amenities (like free laundry and pumpouts!) and next to Atlantic Ave"s cute shops, restaurants, charming homes, and beach.

There have been lots of reportings of massive Blob of Sargassum that has washed up all along the coast. We have seen in it on both sides of Florida, and around Delray is probably the largest mass we have seen. It didn't keep me out of the water, but the giant 5' waves the next day did!

Ft. Lauderdale bonus

We enjoyed a few bonus days where we worked on boat projects and then got to relax.One thing I cannot resist doing is picking up trash around the beaches and marinas. Ft. Lauderdale's beaches, especially after the spring breakers invasion, was very littered. While on a early sunrise walk, a turtle's freshly laid eggs nest was discovered as a crew quickly came to protect it with markers. That inspired me to take an even longer litter clean up, which I ended up with a table cloth filled with bottles, a diaper, plastic toys, etc.

Back to the mechanical issue that caused the chaotic docking... David realized immediately that the cables were loose on the transmission and he repaired the one that came loose and tightened the rest. He really is amazing at solving mechanical and electrical problems, I call him MacGyver (he kind of looks like him too!)

Spring Break FT. Lauderdale Style

Turns out our stay at Bahai Mar was more of a typical college Spring Scene than any other prior place. Tons of teens, fancy boats and mega yachts with crews surrounded us (like seriously the largest boats! Even one belonging to a Russian Oligarch called "St, Nicholas!" The pool scene was partiularly interesting, especially watching the teens try to score drinks (but they forgot their ID's!) I am a big fan of Bravo's Below Deck and I noticed a girl who looked like she could have been on the show. I started looking up the cast and this Mom leaned over me and said, "Yes, that is HER from Below Deck. That's my daughter, Camille Lamb from the last season-10." Her Mama from Mississippi told us we could get a picture (you know she has to be a former pagent stage mom!)

Then I asked for a picture with Mama!

Lessons Learned in Atlantic ICW

On Monday, March 27 we started our official trip up the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) As we were quickly in the middle of all sorts of boat traffic, we learned many new things about bridge etiquette. Around Miami, there are varying heights of bridges and most need to be opened for us (we are 19.5' with the mast down.) Our first birdge, we sat patiently waitng for about 20 minutes, knowing that it opened on the half hour, well it didn't, so David called. The scarcastic operator said, "You didn't ask so I didn't assume you wanted to go thru." That was lesson #1. Lesson #2 Bridges are not well marked so double check the name because some have East/ West names added like the Venetian. Lesson #3 Unless you get the timing right, like on the half hours or quarter hour, you will have to wait for the bridge opening. Lesson #4 Treat the Bridge operator with courtesy when communicating, they can be real sassy and everyone hears what they are saying on channel 9.

Despite the bridges, we saw some amazing homes and David enjoyed the trip for the most part till docking at Bahai Mar, Ft. Lauderdale. While attempting to dock stern in, with wind, he tried a few times. On his forward thrust, he yelled that his transmission failed and he lost contol of both engines. We were in the last pier (the low rent district) and the only thing that stopped us was the dock sea wall that our bow came up on. The wooden mooring poles also took a few hits, and the harbormaster was quick on the scene to help secure our boat. Good ole Towboat USA came and put Voyager into her slip. David was so calm during the event, I was pretty shaken up so I left with Rugby. When I came back, David was working on the lines on the dock when I heard him yelling. "Oh SHIT!" (He doesn't curse like that usually!) I came out and he had just been sprayed by the nasty sailboat neighbor whose toliet pumped out onto the dock ~ and David's leg which had some deeps scrapes! I think this upset him way more than the docking incident! Luckily, it came to David what went wrong with the transmission, the cables had come loose on the gears. He repaired the damaged gear and tightened and oil the rest of the throttles. The Bahia Mar Hilton has a wonderful pool so it was in order after Monday's fun day, to stay and enjoy it.

Voyage to Miami

On Saturday, we left ORC and went into the open waters towards Miami. The winds and waves created a very rough and wild ride! At one point, waves were splashing into our cabin's windows. Needless to say, I needed for the first time Dramamine. We came into Biscayne Bay just in time to join other boats in a lively afternoon party. Loud music from many different boats, all sizes from yachts to dinghys were there to play in the sun and the waves. We enjoyed a fun swim and soaked in the Miami party scene.

We stayed at the Bayshore Marina and walked to a lively area called Coco Walk in Coconut Grove and tried a place called Sishi It probably was the best creative sushi (Rosemary Eel Roll!!) as well as service we had this entire trip! Mw and Isabel met up with some friends and David and I saw a line for icecream so, we knew it was good! Ii's called Salt & Straw and we discovered once again creative flavors like Honey Lavender, Arbequina Olive Oil and Roasted Pineapple Coconut Sherbert. The next morning we had Starbucks and the girls left for their flights home. David and I stayed another day to clean the boat and picked up groceries at Fresh Market then had a wonderful early dinner on the boat followed by a great night's sleep.

Relaxing vacation at ORC

The rest of the week was relaxing and pampering! I nearly fell asleep during my overdue pedicure and Rugby had the Mobile Grooming spa treatment. He came back 3 pounds lighter and fresh as spring! David and the girls played tennis and pickle with friends and MW hit some golf balls. I think we got to experience everything we wanted to do and more. Did I mention the landscaping is beautiful here??

Found the Snowbirds

Another day of reading and relaxing by the pool for the girls. David and I are fortunate to have several friends who spend their winters in Ocean Reef so it only made since to clean the boat once and invite them all to visit! Our friends Chrissy & Jay S from St. Louis met with our Louisville friends, Anne H., Lisa A., Joe & Kelly H., and Heather & Steve C. for drinks and appetizers which evolved into a light dinner and a late night.