On to Lauderdale and then the Bahamas

Well we completed our stay in the Keys and we are now in Fort Lauderdale waiting to cross to the Bahamas. The Keys are great and the marina we stayed at was very nice but it was time to move. We had a car for two weeks and made very good use of it to get around. I guess I should say I used the car to get around because Ginny bought a bike. We went to West Marine where they had a folding bike on sale. It is a pretty nice bike and Ginny has used it a lot.

We went to Miami three times, twice to pick up and drop off Stephanie at the airport and once to go to the Miami Boat Show. As you can imagine, the boat show is huge. We spent the whole day at the convention center where they had a few boats but mostly vendors of boating equipment. We didn't make it to either of the other two venues where the boats were but we had a great time and only spent a few dollars.

We met a lot of nice people at Plantation Key Marina who are very knowledgeable about the Bahamas and other places that we are going to visit. We had planned to stay in Islamorada until Sunday because we wanted to go to the nautical flea market being held at Founders Park. After looking at the upcoming weather we decided to leave on Friday so we could get to Fort Lauderdale before the windy front came through.

Originally we were going to anchor the first night in Biscayne Bay and then run to Lauderdale, but we decided to stay in a marina which turned out quite well because Sid and Evelyn from "Something Special" were there. We stayed at Dinner Key Marina which is in the Northwest corner of Key Biscayne. Fort Lauderdale is only about 30 miles away but we wanted to get in early and we knew that it would be slow going on the Intracoastal so we left at 7:30. Even though it was a weekend, the ride was very easy and we didn't have to wait long for any of the bridges. There were only two bridges that we needed to have opened and they were fairly close together. Boat traffic was not an issue until we got to the Port Everglades inlet in Fort Lauderdale and then it seemed liked everyone who every owned a boat was moving around. We made it to the marina shortly before the wind picked up and we are now tied securely waiting for the wind to stop and we can cross to the Bahamas. I don't expect to be able to cross until at least next Friday or Saturday. I think we are going to cross with at least three other boats -maybe four. Two of the boats are here at the marina and one of the others is coming tomorrow so we will all be ready.

We went to a sandbar one day with Sid, Evelyn, Beth (taking the picture) and Dean.

Leaving Plantation Harbor Marina

Gilbert's Restaurant in Jewfish Creek

Miami from a distance

Dinner Key which is near Coconut Grove

Leaving Dinner Key Marina

Downtown Miami on our way to Lauderdale

Cruise ships lined up in Goverment Cut

"Something Special" and "Alquonquin" behind us on the Intracoastal

Fort Lauderdale also has its share of cruise ships

They start the kids young in Ft. Lauderdale.

Did I mention it is Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale