Yachting, 365 days and a lifetime: Day 111 & 112: Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

MIAMI, FL USA

I woke up and opened the door, preparing to leave Marathon. The humidity and morning heat was already warm to the skin and it didn't take much to get a little sweat on the forehead. There was no wind and the smell of fish was in the air. A lobster boat was working its way out of the harbor, eager for a good catch being that they are selling to China for $13 a pound right now. The smell of a diesel engine replaced the fish odor temporarily as they cruised by. It was time to get off the dock. A foggy channel had me checking the weather forecast one last time. Dense fog advisories to the north had me thinking twice, but it looked like it was already starting to lift. We were off the dock before 0800. The water was glass. Not kind of calm...glass calm. No swell, not even a ripple. The boat sliced through the water effortlessly. The visibility was fine but the horizon of the ocean blended seamlessly with the sky. The water was a turquoise blue and you could see to the bottom just fine. Cruising through 20 feet of water looked more like 2 feet of water. Lobster pots scattered the bottom with patches of seagrass and white sand everywhere. The fog gave way to a perfect blue sky and mother nature cranked up the heat. I couldn't ask for a better start to my 25th birthday. We cruised slow up the coast to Miami.

Miami was alright, but being that I was only there for one day I guess I shouldn't form an opinion. We did meet up with one of the captains that we know from Chicago and went out to dinner with him to one of his spots. He took us to some other bars that I didn't really like but whatever it was fun. We did see Bill Clinton having dinner at one of the places we went to. Secret Service was everywhere. The bar was full of pin stripped suits and everyone was dialed up...everybody must have been somebody. I think my t-shirt and jeans was a little under dressed. Paul took us to another place that was exactly the opposite...a dump. We called it an early night and that was it...happy birthday!

FT LAUDERDALE, FL USA

We woke up this morning and decided to stay in Miami. We had some good contacts here and were hopeful that we could get some things done. After making 100 phone calls I figured that most of our contacts were in Lauderdale anyway. The wind was picking up and there was a front coming through sometime in the next day or so. Being that we couldn't start work until Monday I still decided that it would be better to get in front of the weather and get to Lauderdale. We left Miami and found that the seas were already building. Our stabilizers went out twice and made things very rough being that we had a quartering sea. We got to Lauderdale in about an hour just as the sky was turning black. Thunder and wind greeted us at the docks and it was good to be secure again. I guess I called that one a little too close for comfort, but we are here and safe. We are staying at Bahia Mar which is a good spot I guess. I haven't been off the boat yet. I spent the rest of the day washing the boat and still have to do the port windows tomorrow. It rained a little while I was washing but the important thing was to get the salt and soot off.

Bruce, my first mate for the river delivery, is in town completing his 200 Ton upgrade and I think that we may go out and grab dinner tonight. It will be great to see him again and catch up. Its funny because there are so many yacht crew in the world but once you start to meet them it seems like you keep running in to them over and over again. Of course, Ft. Lauderdale is a good spot to run in to yacht crew. If you sat at the docks long enough here you would see every registered vessel in the world go by.

Click this link to watch a video from the Marathon to Miami cruise:

Sound Waves Video

The owner enjoying the water out on the bow