Past Ft. Lauderdale and Miami and a million bridges

On Christmas Day, very soon after my last post, I heard someone calling my name on the dock.  Debbie Maidman (MYC Moon Dancer) found us in the Delray Beach Yacht Club - by coincidence - because of our yellow and red kayak lashed to the aft deck ladder.  It was great to see her and it made our Christmas dinner festive.

Debbie - "Life Is Good"

We took off on Thursday for the bridge-filled trip south past Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and all that lies in between. The trip takes you past many mansions, high rise apartments, multimillion dollar yachts of all kinds, and just about any type and size of boat including several enormous cruise ships and commercial docks loading and unloading containers. It was a liesurely run because much of it is slow or a no wake zone.  We managed to time most of the bridges, and didn't have to wait too much.

One of many ICW mansions with sculpture in the yard

Water taxi in Ft. Lauderdale

One of several Cruise Ships getting ready for New Year cruises

Chiquita Banana Boat passing us on it's way out of port

 We stopped for the night in a quiet neighborhood in Hollywood (between Ft. Lauderdale and Miami). It was a wide man made canal with good depths, lined with beautiful private homes.

The gorgeous sunset

The amazing moon rise

The next morning we continued south through Miami and Miami beach to Key Biscayne.  This section is a study in contrasts.  There are still many large homes along the shore, but there are high rise apartments dwarfing them.  Some sections are old, surrounded by the new.  Some are rich and some are poor.  On the water mostly glamor and glitter. 

Large resort on the water

The old and the new

The Venetian Causeway and downtown Miami

Downtown Miami

Miami at Night - such a wild town!

We spent the night anchored off Key Biscayne in sight of downtown Miami.  It was a lovely spot, and a relief to be out in open water again.  I really tried to get a good shot, but there were too many waves, and the telephoto lens magnifies the movement.  Interesting effect ...

Biscayne Bay is wide and long, and we had a very calm, warm humid day for our crossing. We passed a regatta in progress.  We also reached a milestone - 1000 engine hours! And are now really in the Keys!

Regatta on Biscayne Bay

We hit 1000 hours!

Our anchorage off Key Largo - Where are Bogart and Bacall?