We reached Key Biscayne Monday evening. Melissa Richter Bartolini, my former colleague at Fitzgerald & Co., now lives in Miami with her husband Alex. They showed us the condo they recently bought with beautiful views of Biscayne Bay. They are completely remodeling it to make it their own style. We went to dinner at an outdoor Cuban restaurant at No Name Harbor where our boat was anchored. We shared delicious snapper and grilled shrimp with flan and key lime pie. Melissa and Alex are very happy living and working in Miami. Alex is in banking and we found out that his boss is Craig Farnsworth, a former colleague of Randy’s while they were in New York. Melissa is still in brand planning and she was in a very big new business pitch, so we’re glad the pitch is over so they could spend the evening with us. The client still hasn’t made a decision, but it looks very promising.
Smoke from the Big Cypress wildfire crossed the state and brought smoke to the Keys. The left-hand picture was taken at Key Biscayne near Miami while the one on the right was taken today north of Ft. Lauderdale. We first noticed the haze and smoky smell while we were at anchor in Key Largo and it wasn’t until we got to Ft. Lauderdale yesterday that it cleared up, with the help of a brisk NE breeze. Today we on our way to West Palm Beach, a run of about 40 miles from Ft. Lauderdale. We left our anchorage at 7:00 am and expect to reach the Lake Worth Inlet at Palm Beach by 3:00 pm in order to be able to enter the inlet at slack water (high tide). The wind is blowing from the southeast giving us a following sea and allowing us to have both the main sail and the jib out. Because we are catching the edge of the northerly Gulf Stream current we are making good time, averaging nearly 7.0 knots. Our normal speed with no current would be more like 5.7 – 6.0 knots.
When we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale yesterday, the first thing we did was to take on fuel and water at Bahia Mar Marina. Then we eased our way up a nearby channel to Lake Sylvia where we anchored . Lake Sylvia is really a salt water basin surrounded by Ft. Lauderdale beach and Hwy A1A to the east and south and by a series of man made islands and canals to the west and north. The islands all have big houses on them and are connected by little fixed bridges. There is however one canal that is unobstructed and this is the one we followed into the basin. There are some shallow spots that have to be avoided on the way in, but we had read the cruising guides and had stayed here before so we knew the procedure. One anchored we enjoyed quiet, peaceful surroundings interrupted only by some dogs barking once in a while and by voices from other anchored boats.
We had what turned out to be a great dinner of pasta mixed with sauted ham, red onion, garlic, green pepper, pine nuts and basil with olive oil. Accompanied of course by a nice merlot. We were going to grill chicken, but alas it had gone bad. Not surprising since we had bought it back on April 30. Today we conducted a burial at sea for the spoiled chicken.
The weather continues to be beautiful, but that may change by this weekend. We will be at Loblolly Yacht Club visiting friends on Thursday and Friday, so maybe we can sit it out if things turn ugly. We are in no particular hurry.