Take Me To Miami!!

Weekend days in No Name is a free for all!  Motor boats, small and large, decide to arrive for the night and anchor or dock along the wall.  We had 4 boats anchor very close....too close for our comfort. Near the wall there were three 45' fishing boats who anchored and rafted together.  They think nothing of just dropping the hook and drifting until it catches.  We, on the other hand, plan our spot with enough swing room, then decide on the length of scope, and take care to get it set. then the GPS stays on to read the coordinates for an hour or so. We must be doing something wrong (or perhaps right?).  So we left the boat and had dinner ashore with our new friends and had a great last night. 

Picture of an ariel photograph of No Name Harbor in the foreground.
You can see just how tight it gets in there. Last night there were apx.25 boats.

 We were up and hauling the anchor by 6:30AM to get an early start to Ft Lauderdale. It was tricky with the anchor having boats so close by. They could have been over where our anchor lay! We came really close to 2 but finally the anchor was up and we were off.  This time we passed the Cape Florida Lighthouse from the ocean side.

Once out from the Key Biscayne Channel our course turned 25' north with winds out of the SE.  The weather forecast had been for 10-15K out of the SE with 2-4; waves. No problem since that's about what we had on our trip from Marathon. Well......the winds were 16-18k gusting to 20k out of the ESE and the waves were 4-6' every 8 seconds.  We were being hit broadside and rolling over and back furiously.  Everything below that was not tied down went falling. We did not relish doing this for another 33nautical miles so after 9 miles we turned west into Government Cut and headed into Miami. Our first stop was Miami Beach Marina for fuel then on to Miamarina Bayside Marina to dock for the night.


 This marina is in the center of downtown next to the Bayside Shopping center and where they host the Miami Boat Show.  After resting and having lunch we left Pretzel to sleep and went exploring. What fun!  There was live Cuban music on a stage and people of all ages dancing, playing chess, eating meals, and living!!  Peter found a shell shop and bought a conch which he can blow at sunset....long story if you don't know.  Returning to the boat we sat and watched the multitude of commercial boats going in and out for tours as well as 2 Carnival cruise ships rotate in the turning basin before leaving. So we hope to be able to make the trip to Ft Lauderdale tomorrow.

Bayside shopping

Musical Stage

Everyone was dancing!

There were 3 tables of chess playing.

Downtown Miami in the background.