Basking in the Sun in Miami

We are in Miami for two days to visit our daughter Jennifer. One item forgotten in our last blog was our first celebrity sighting. As we reached Key Largo, a powerboat named Three Rings came whizzing by, with that unmistakable silver hairdo of Jimmy Johnson at the helm, and a bunch of dudes slurping down Heineken on board. I saw him coming, waved, and he actually waved back. I have a way with celebrities. Saw Jimmy once before at the Dallas airport, and he nodded at me. Recognition!! Eat your hearts out Redskins fans!!! The three rings are two Super Bowls coaching the Dallas Cowboys, and one national championship with the Miami Hurricanes.

Prior to arriving yesterday, we spent the night at Sunset Cove on Key Largo. The forecast called for southerly winds clocking around to the west during the evening with the possibility of late thunderstorms. We picked a nice cosy spot that was sheltered from both the south and west, dropped anchor and tucked in for the night.

At about 11pm, the wind picked up to 20 plus and was whistling through the rigging, the rain poured down and the sky lit up with a lightning show that was at first breathtaking and then became down right frightening. With the simultaneous crack-booms all around us, the wind shifted to the northeast, and our anchor tried to reset, and tried, and tried. There were several other boats at anchor, and everyone was starting to move and drag. By midnight the wind moderated, the rain stopped and the storm had passed, but we were still just holding at anchor. So not much sleep. Then at 3am, more wind and we start to drag again. The weed there makes for poor holding, and you have to wait for a sandy spot for the anchor to grab. So, we sat anchor watch until practically dawn. Not much sleep that night.

The morning was cloudy and rain predicted but a nice northeaster at 15 kts. We left for Miami at about 8am, and after clearing the keys into Barnes Sound, we hoisted sails, turned off the engine and romped along nicely at around 6 kts in on a tight reach up Card Sound and into Biscayne Bay. Nice to have the boat moving so well. The wind dropped to 10kt and then started fading as we got to Miami. We booked into Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove which is very nice, has a massive docking facility and you can walk along the shoreline which is dotted with restaurants and bars and lots of boats to look at.

We cast off tomorrow morning with the plan of heading outside to avoid all the bridges on the ICW, and are targeting coming back inside tomorrow night at Lake Worth. Hopefully the wind will cooperate and be a bit stronger than forecast so we can sail that leg. Otherwise we will need to motor to make it before dark.

Got a message from Pete today- they made it home to Kitty Hawk with lots of adventures to tell. I hope he can get them all on the blog as soon as he rests up and recovers!!

Rob