Start: Rodriguez Key, 25.03.008 N, 80.26.110 W
Finish: No Name Harbor, Miami 25.40.55 N, 80.09.701 W
0745 Underway
1336 Anchor down at No Name Harbor, Miami
Total Time: 5 hour 51 minutes
Total Distance: 46.12 nm
Mark took Daisy ashore and after he got back we checked the weather radar. The arrow above points to where we were anchored at Rodriquez Key this morning. The storms were headed north, but we decided to leave since they seemed to be moving slowly. As it turned out, the storms eventually went ashore north of Key Largo and we didn’t get a drop of rain. The photo shows dark storm clouds several miles out on the ocean, south of us, as we left the anchorage.
We made a little better time coming north today than we did going south from No Name Harbor a month ago, although we had to motorsail the entire way again because there was very little wind. When we were traveling south, we were breaking in the new diesel engines and had to vary the speed, probably causing us to travel a little slower, on average.
Coming in the channel to Key Biscayne past the lighthouse, we were constantly passed by small boats going at full speed as close to us as they could get. I guess it’s a game here in Miami called “Rock the Sailboat.” After a totally smooth ride coming here, I had to put away pictures and other breakables just because some hotshot kids wanted to show off in Daddy’s boat. It is Sunday, so we expected quite a few local boats in No Name Harbor and that is what we got. When we came in there were 24 local boats, mostly tied to the seawall. Throughout the day, more boats came and went if there was no place to tie up. Most of them don’t have a way to get ashore if they anchor. That are four cruisers here for the night. Unfortunately, whenever we stop in No Name Harbor there are some people on boats who blast music out of their speakers. Often it is in Spanish. Today, a large yacht came and anchored near us, playing music all afternoon. Thanks! Too bad we didn’t want to listen to their music.
Once again tonight, there are storms all around us, and the cells on radar look similar to what we saw this morning. As soon as most of the local boats left, we raised our anchor and moved towards the middle of the harbor. The rain started about 8 pm, just after sunset.
Tomorrow, we’ll leave and go north to Ft. Lauderdale which will take about five hours. We are supposed to have the riggers finish some wiring they didn’t complete when they put the mast back on. We definitely don’t want to go up the New River again, so will probably take a mooring ball at Las Olas Marina, or possibly anchor in Lake Sylvia. We aren’t planning to spend more than a day in Ft. Lauderdale. If there is a Sprint store within bike riding distance, Mark will probably try to see if they can get his waterlogged phone to work. It not he’ll be forced, finally, to buy a new one since he’s been without a phone now for over a week.
