Boca Chita Key to Miami (January 28th -February 3rd)
Well, here I sit in Dinner Key Marina in Miami for the next few days while Sondra travels to Orlando for some remnant work life commitments. I have plenty to do on the boat, but it is a little odd with just Baxter and myself. I just realized I have not spent one night off the boat since the beginning of November. Without further ado here is what we did this past week.
Last Sunday (Boca Chita Key)- party boats slowly dissipate through the day, with a new rush of boats arriving just before sunset. All but four boats leave after the sun sets, making Sunday night a quiet night in the harbor. Although we did have a generator running all night 20 yards to our stern, this is an improvement from the generator running all weekend directly under our bow. Temperatures dropped over night to the 50s!
Monday- By mid-morning the three remaining weekend revelers had left. Sondra and I walked the wooded path for 30-minutes in the morning, hiding from sustained winds of 20-25 knots making the chilly air colder. We made about 40 gallons of water with the water maker.
Around 11 am a beautiful Kadey-Krogen 48 entered the harbor. After lunch, Mike and Maria of Tuscan Sun came over to say hello to the only other cruising boat in the harbor. They invited us over for a sundown docktails, where we learned that Mike and Maria grew up in Sondra’s hometown area of the San Fernando and Simi Valleys! Sondra rarely meets people who know of her town, outside of its old infamous, seedy film industry.
Three other boats overnighted in Boca Chita Monday evening; two were sailing schools and another had a couple onboard a large catamaran. A very different vibe from Friday and Saturday nights. It was a quiet and chilly night on the boat.
Tuesday- departed our little wall before 11 (with a rising tide) and motor sailed up to Miami. It had been about 2 weeks since our last holding tank pump out, so we stopped at Crandon Park Marina. Where we purchased 50 gallons of diesel along with the pump out. Our last diesel purchase was back in St Petersburg. While at the fuel dock, I ducked into the dockmaster office and found that there was one mooring ball available for two nights! This saved us an hour southbound trip to anchor outside of No Name Harbor and allowed us easy access to shore. The mooring ball was at the west end of the field providing a pleasant view of the Miami skyline.
Wednesday-We awoke to another cool but sunny morning and decided to go on a very long walk-through Crandon Park, Key Biscayne Village and to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State park at the southern tip of Key Biscayne. We hiked all the way to the end and had an expensive and average lunch at “Boater’s Grill” at No-name harbor. It was neat seeing all the boats staging for their weather window to the Bahamas. We then hiked back north to Winn-Dixie where we did a provisioning run. Due to the weight of the groceries, we took the bus back to the boat. In all we walked about 8 to 9 miles.
Thursday- We departed the mooring field around 10 am and did a short hop to an anchorage on the west side of Key Biscayne for the night. There was no shore access, so we stayed on the boat. Did boat chores (Finally marked our reefing system to make it easier to reef) and enjoyed the views.
Friday-We moved to Dinner Key Marina in the morning and explored the area and the huge waterfront. Very urban and cosmopolitan and we enjoyed the change in scenery. We had a virtual happy hour with some good friends and ended walking to Monty’s for dinner. Overall, a good day.
Saturday- Sondra and I did laundry in the morning, and she hopped on an Uber to the Ft. Lauderdale Airport around 11 am. I ended up fixing our sail outhaul and doing a small grocery run. There is a Fresh Market next to the Marina, so I plan on doing several small ones instead of a big one. Sondra will return on Tuesday.
Well that’s it for the week and as always click the below button for this weeks photos.
Links to photos from Boca Chita and Miami are below. If needed, photos can be sorted by "Name" to see them in chronological order.
24-5
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