Fort Lauderdale – 30 miles sailed, 8 kilometres walked, 6 kilometres driven
It was nice having a car for a week, but by the end I started to hate it. Traffic, waiting for lights that take forever to change, dodging other vehicles, pumping in gas, rushing, racing, jamming the trunk full of stuff, stepping into a blazing hot car, finding parking and getting permits, traveling at 130 kph on deadly highways, understanding express lanes, watching the world speed by much too quickly – all of these things I dislike. It was a real pleasure today to drop Ana off at the laundromat then jettison the Chevy back at Easirent near the airport. Yes, the car enabled us to cover a lot of ground, and I liked that part. But getting rid of it was such a relief. I decided to walk from the airport and it was heavenly. Taking the time to look at the buildings and businesses we’d been speeding by all week, happily blowing through red lights by foot, seeing iguanas, smelling the air – all of this I loved, and it felt like I’d tossed a monkey off my back.
70 minutes later I met Ana at the laundry, we walked slowly through a big art fair happening on Las Olas, then quickly back to the boat as we had decided today was the day to sail to Miami in preparation for a Monday crossing to the Bahamas.
After a stop up the river to fill up the tanks and jugs with fresh, free, legal, and easy water, and also to give the boat a wash and rinse, we motored down the ICW, waited for one bridge, passed the monstrous cruise ships in Port Everglades, then headed east out the inlet and were in the ocean. As I watched the expressions on Anna and Stella’s faces, I remembered the giddy excitement of it all. This had become routine for us; for them it was brand new and the thrill shone through as they smiled, laughed, and pointed. I was so happy they were here to join us on this adventure.
There was a small craft warning with 20 knot north winds today, but still plenty of boats on the water. The waves were 3 to 5 feet high with some big ones pushing 7 to 8 feet, which enabled SeaLight to surf on them at over 9 knots. After four hours we reached the Miami inlet and turned east into the sheltered channel. There were many people walking the jetty so Stella sat on the side of the boat and started waving, hoping to get a wave in return from somebody…anybody. She waved and waved as Anna and I cheered on the bystanders:
“C’mon Miami!”
“Bring the wave, people!”
“Over here! Hi!”
“Miami, why you goin do me like that??”
Stella was losing enthusiasm, disappointed, but when Anna joined her waving from the side of the boat, and me from the helm, we finally got a waver! One guy waved back, then stood up and waved harder, and even did a little dance.
“Thank-you Miami!”
“We knew you could do it!”
“Bienvenidos a Miami!”
We motored to the Marine Stadium anchorage and nestled ourselves in amongst a hundred boats, with half of those blasting reggaeton and various Latino jams from oversized speakers to their cabins and decks packed with friends. This was a party place…and it was Saturday night!
Despite having picked up an annoying cold, Ana made us a big chicken dinner as the sky darkened and we dined in the cockpit with the beautiful city lights of Miami as our backdrop, listening to the music coming from all sides of the anchorage, talking about the day, happy to be in a new place after our long, but excellent, stay in Fort Lauderdale. It was an incredibly cool scene.
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