Day 106, Year 10: Land was created . . .
Date: Saturday, January 24, 2015
Weather: Overcast, Windy, with a Little Rain; Temp in the mid-70’s F
Location: Anchored in Lake Sylvia, Fort Lauderdale, FL
“Land was created . . . to provide a place for boats to visit.” Lee noticed this quote over the front doors of West Marine today. Brooks Atkinson, drama critic of The New York Times for 31 years, wrote these words and how true they are—at least in the eyes of sailors. And we managed to spend our day exploring some of the land that boats Windbird and Sea Turtle might visit in the next week. It was an overcast, dreary sort of day and when we arrived at Bluewater Books and found that it closed at 1 pm, I suggested a little land exploration to brighten our day. Key Biscayne and Coconut Grove, both just south of Miami, are two anchorages we have been contemplating for our next stop and there’s not much written about either. Sooooooooo, a road trip was in order.
We headed to Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove first. We got there by following the directions given to us by Mark’s phone and were surprised when we turned into the driveway to see this modern building with huge lettering reading, Miami City Hall. I have since learned that the building was the original Pam American terminal building for Pan American Airway’s flying boats, the Clippers. Dinner Key was the base of operations. We were then even more surprised to see how many boat slips there were in the marina next door, Dinner Key Marina. In researching it tonight I found that it is the largest wet slip marina in Florida. Somehow we had gotten the impression that it was just a tiny little marina. It is booked solid as are its affordable moorings. But the very personable dock master, Patrick, put us on a wait list and said we would be called if a mooring becomes available. If not, he said that anchoring is permitted on three sides of the mooring field and that anchored boats are welcomed at their dinghy dock. That’s the information we were seeking, so we headed on. The Rickenbacker Causeway, at the north edge of Coconut Grove, heads across Biscayne Bay to Key Biscayne. At the very tip of the island is Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park and in the park there is an anchorage called No Name Harbor. It is a tiny harbor and the park charges $20 a night to have your boat anchored there. There are no facilities other than a pump-out station, but there is a little restaurant called the Boaters Grill. Anchoring there would be the same as paying for a mooring across the bay at Dinner Key where you have full use of the facilities. We’re not yet sure which anchorage we will choose, but at least we now have first-hand information and a feel for each place. It was sunset by the time we got back to Las Olas Marina, so Mark and I hurried back down the waterway to Lake Sylvia. Well, we hurried up to get started on the trip, but then we had to go at idle speed all the way home. We both really enjoyed the twilight ride. There are so many lights in Fort Lauderdale that I don’t think it ever really looks dark. The biggest mega-yacht we pass each day on our way to and from Las Olas is named Kismet and she was lit up like a Christmas tree. We finally looked up her length and it is 312 feet. Unbelievable. This 2014 Lurssen yacht is available for charter in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. I don’t even want to know the cost of that.
Early in the day, we had a Skype video call with Justin, Ziggy, and Coco. Unfortunately Jo wasn’t home, but we got to watch Ziggy and Coco at play. Justin said that Ziggy has become an amazing surfer since we were there at Christmas. Justin takes him to the beach every afternoon after school and he can now catch waves and stand up on the board all by himself. And tomorrow Ziggy and Coco are having the grand opening of “Ziggy and Coco’s Famous Restaurant”. It was idea they hatched when they still live on Culebra and they have had a little cardboard sign on the front gate since moving to Aguada. So tomorrow is the big day. Evidently they are busy tonight preparing the soup they will serve. And we saw on Facebook tonight that Sam’s Scout Troop Pinewood Derby was today. Sam took third in his pack and Jonah won the “scrub scout” (aka sibling). We’ll try to call them in the morning and find out the details of that event and to see how little Ollie is feeling. The weather up there looks miserable, but hopefully they are having more snow than rain and can get outside and enjoy it. Our weather is definitely cooler tonight and both our daytime and nighttime temps are supposed to be a few degrees lower this week. But at least we are not going to get snow!
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| 150124 Day 106 Florida, USA–Key Biscayne; Las Olas to Lake Sylvia in the Evening |
