Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Final dash

Not only I had to be in Fort Lauderdale in time for my flight to France on November 2nd, but also the ontime reputation of Papy Jovial was at stake. From Saint Augustine, it was a direct shot to Port Canaveral, basically with no wind and the Yanmar sail up all the way. Got there in time though, in fact arriving at the fuel dock at 6 in the morning. Tied up and went for a nap.
At that point, I was beginning to fight a cold, coming out of nowhere, maybe related to this other cold front threatening for the rest of the way.
I decided to stay inside as there was no way we could make Fort Pierce before the front would hit. From Port Canaveral we made Vero Beach, not a bad place, with good facilities at the municipal marina and a very nice restaurant nearby, underneath the highway bridge.
Then the weather held up until we got to Blowing Rocks marina (do not try that one, sailboats are not welcome) just as the wind picked up. I had to get into a slip with a strong side wind, strong side current and a million dollar boat next to us that I would certainly not like to hit.
Unpleasant night, in choppy waters, although we are in the Hobe sound with no fetch. Next morning, at first, it looked like we were not going to be able to leave the slip without falling onto the boat next door. Around 10:00, the wind shifted enough so that I could escape and we made a run for the gazillion bridges left until we would get to Fort Lauderdale. That day, we made it all the way to Delray Beach, leaving us with only 26 miles to get to Cooley's Landing.
We left Delray Beach at 8:30 and arrived in Fort Lauderdale (very busy with the boat show and the humongus super yachts lined up under Las Olas bridge) Cooley's Landing at 2 p.m.
Mission accomplished. And my cold is slowly giving up.
Brother John has kindly offered me the use of his dock and I will move the boat there on Tuesday before flying to Paris. Karen is flying to the Bahamas to visit with friends before going North and enjoying the cold weather up there.