Day 44 - Fort Lauderdale

After leaving Key Largo, our objective was to get past the complexity of Miami/Ft. Lauderdale as quickly as possible. We agreed with Ringle that there was little of interest in this area, and we simply wanted a safe harbor for the night and to move on until we reached West Palm Beach, where the drawbridges were not as numerous in the ICW.  Kite left Anchorage Marina after a wonderful day of snorkeling in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, en route via the ICW to Miamarina, the city marina of Miami and conveniently located close to Government Cut, the main shipping channel to the Atlantic Ocean. She would spend the night at Miamarina and leave the next day to travel in the ocean to Ft. Lauderdale, Las Olas Marina, to pick up a mooring for the night and then leave via the ocean again, to sail to West Palm Beach on Thursday. The weather forecast was favorable for this plan.

The day was windless when we left Key Largo, and we motored the entire 39 nautical miles to Miamarina, with a slight assist from the sails during the last few hours of the trip through Biscayne Bay. The water in Biscayne Bay is only 8 to 10 feet deep, and so clear that you can see the bottom when it is calm and glassy, as it was during our crossing. As we approached Miami the skyline slowly came into view, and it is truly a beautiful skyline. We arrived at Miamarina around 16:00 and after checking in, walked to a nearby bar for a drink with Eveline and Vince, and then to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner. Lyn had Portobello risotto and I had lasagna. Both were excellent. We returned to Kite to relax, sleep and prepare for a 09:30 departure via Government Cut to Port Everglades and Fort Lauderdale.

Clear water in Biscayne Bay - 10'deep 

Miami skyline - from the south

As we motored out Government Cut this morning, the wind was nearly calm and the waves were tiny, as we had expected from the forecast. Kite set her main sail anyway, to stabilize the ride if not to provide some assistance with the propulsion. As she motored north in the Atlantic Ocean, Peter noticed that her speed was greater the farther out from shore she got. We settled on the 200 foot line, about 2 miles offshore where our speed was over 7 knots, thanks to the Gulf Stream. As it turned out, we ended up motoring the entire 29 nautical miles to Fort Lauderdale, although we might have been able to sail for the last hour in the ocean. It hardly seemed worth the trouble and we decided not to bother. It was a comfortable crossing and we saw lots of flying fish, a very large sea turtle, and the beautiful Miami skyline just a couple of miles away. As we entered Port Everglades inlet and turned up the ICW to Las Olas mooring field, we were amazed at the opulence of the area. Huge mega-yachts lined the shores of the ICW. Our little sailboats felt inadequate in such company. We will be glad to leave all that behind tomorrow as we move on to West Palm Beach, the last vestige of such opulence.

Ringle in Government Cut - Miami in background 

Mega-yachts in Ft. Lauderdale