Friday, January 13, 2012

Boat Maintenance in Exotic Places: January 13, 2012

Many of you have worried about where we went- nowhere and everywhere would be our best response. And true to the cruising life, we have experienced the need for boat maintenance but we can’t complain about the locations.

We went into Soveral Harbor in Palm Beach Gardens for a scheduled repair of our windless “up” button. Without it, anchoring was a chore.That week we had two issues with our air conditioning, so being the “luxury cruisers” as folks tease us, we also had that repaired.  Lucky us, it was Christmas week so our stay was full of sun, the beach, church on the 25th, good food and a chance to provision at Carmines, right in our harbor. A week of good weather and a rented car and we were ready for West Palm, a short hop to a different marina and New Years Eve. We enjoyed the options here including fireworks at midnight followed by a trip across the bridge to the Breakers. We did ride out a northern front for two days before moving to Boca Rotan Lake and the nicest anchorage we’ve had in a while. It was great to test out all our equipment.  

Rick is fastidious about his boat maintenance; we had planned a haul out for just before the Bahamas but we could hear a clinking sound when under sail with the engine off. We have listened to tales of repairs from experienced sailors and voted to have the boat hauled out at Crackerboy Boat Yard in Palm Beach. The seasoned sailors were right; the yard knew what they were doing. We had the cutless bearing and zincs replaced and the bottom washed in ninety minutes and we were on to Ft. Lauderdale for two days, playing tourists on the water taxi and crossing the road to the beach to read on the sand for a day.

We have heard sailing friends say they wouldn’t “do” the ICW in Florida because of all the bridges, we say it has been a lot of fun, the scene changes daily so we love it. We did make the short run on the outside from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami Beach because there is a 56’ fixed bridge we can’t outsmart with tides, the ocean is the only way to do it. Winds built from the east so we had a slight rock and not as good a sail as we had hoped for. Great news, the boat is silent as she should be under sail, that’s all that mattered about that trip. We found Ft. Lauderdale interesting, but we wouldn’t go to Miami Beach Marina again as it was rocky 24/7 with heavy traffic.  By design, we have taken a mooring now in Dinner Key (Biscayne Bay, an hour down the coast) for a week. Here we are reading, sewing, sleeping and chatting with sailors as we come and go to Coconut Grove. We had not planned to be this far south so we are finalizing an itinerary and soaking up local knowledge before we take on Hawk Channel and the Keys.

Many of you have asked about our photos. We have taken enough to fill a hard drive (not really) but we are selective about taking shots and what is a keeper. We weigh lighting against composition most of the time, some days we just enjoy the view. 
Hillsborough Inlet Light, FL
Art Deco Light House
Miami Beach Marina at the Inlet
The South Beach Look! 
Welcome to the Breakers for Brunch
Only in Miami