Friday April 5: North of Hillsboro Inlet - Ready to Leave to the Bahamas!!

It was the earliest I had ever been up since arriving to Banana Bay in November! This is Randy and Cindy following us out of Banana Bay at 7:15 am on Wednesday.

Destination was 65 miles to the north-eastern corner of Barnes Bay. Wind was going to switch to the NW so being by the NW shore would give us max protection overnight!

The day went well as we wound out way east on the bay side intra-coastal waterway. Depth of the water varied from 5 to 8 feet. Makes for easy travel, really.

We were in touch with Terri and David on TD Dream who had left from Marathon (ocean side) also. As we approached Jewfish Creek, they hailed us and indicated they were spending the night - 6 miles short of our anchorage on Barnes Bay.

Terri sent us a picture of us passing by - thanks Terri!!



The anchorage in Barnes Bay worked out fine. Wind continued to blow all night but we were well protected. It was another early morning leave time of 7 am as we continued north now toward Miami.

A trawler joined us late early evening. They appeared to not be up as we left early Thursday morning!

Destination: another long day of almost 60 miles to Hollywood, FL.


What a crummy day it was! All was well until about 11 or so - cloudy and windy but ok. And then as we started out across Biscayne Bay the rain decided to come in! One good thing - the waves are typically less but - it's raining!

Miami was totally cloud covered :-(

It's still fun to see the skyline appear on the horizon though. And with the flybridge plastic up, it was an ok trip.

We arrived at the marina in Hollywood about 4 pm. This was always one of our favorite stops along the FL east coast with pleasant memories of the boardwalk, the bandshell and karaoke at Joe's Crab Shack with Peter and Cheryl. Sadly it is no longer there :-(

The weather still continued to be cloudy and windy throughout the afternoon.

This morning (Friday) both of us fueled up at the Hollywood Marina. Best and easiest place as we prepare to leave tomorrow morning for the crossing to the Bahamas - West End.

Now only about 20 miles to a marina north of the Hillsboro inlet (and 9 bridges, 6 of which we needed to have raised) for tonight. We were just glad it wasn't a weekend - crazy enough boater for just a Friday!!

We went past Port Everglades - one of the inlets that we could have used to make the trip to the Bahamas but one check of the cruise ship schedules rather made that option a no-brainer: don't do it!!

SIX cruise ships are due in tomorrow morning - just about the time we'd like to be leaving. And who knows about the container ship movements!!

We saw just two in port when we went by today.



Traveling through this area of the ICW always leaves us wondering how it is possible for so many people to have so much money!

The homes are amazing, the yachts are amazing and the sheer numbers of both are incredible.

Randy and Cindy led the way to our marina for the night and we were in and tied up by 3 pm.

Steve spent the next couple of hours making sure all is ready for  our leave time of 6:30 am.

Engine checked, water tanks filled, everything on deck tied down. We expect only 2 foot waves all the way across but better to be prepared, right?!!

One last image that Cindy shared with me: why such long ladders are needed down here in Florida: how else do you manage to trim the palm trees :-)

Doesn't look like a job for anyone who is fearful of heights :-)




So we're off tomorrow am. Will post when we have some internet in the Bahamas!!