AICW – Page 3 – 360 Water View

April 23, 2020 – We decided to take our time getting started for our transit of the Miami-Ft Lauderdale stretch of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, so we lifted anchor at about 8:30. We had hoped that perhaps the weather would be favorable for a run ‘outside’ in the ocean, rather than the AICW, but it was pretty windy out of the E-SE, with waves project o be 3-5 feet. Nope, not for us, so we would go up ‘the inside’.

What we found was pretty atypical for this stretch, notorious for miles and miles of jammed, hectic, raucous boat traffic, squeezing and rushing through the many no-wake zones, and either rushing or having to wait for the dozens of bridges that must open if you are too tall to fit under.

9AM on a Thursday – no boats moving anywhere

This long line of cruise ships isn’t going anywhere soon. There were also quite a few moored outside the entrance to the port.

It was empty. No boats. At all. For the first 5 miles, until a big yacht (Sweet Emocean) pulled out in front of us at the Venetian Causeway bridge, after which we followed him for a while. So, it was we two. And no others. That made navigation pretty easy, although generally it’s just keep the reds on the left, and the greens on the right, (other than the exceptions, I know).

We followed ‘Sweet Emocean for about an hour.

Some bridges will open when you call them, but most will open if you call them, but only at particular times, like on the hour and half hour. Or on the quarter hour and three-quarter hour. Or on the hour, and 20 and 40 past the hour. Our big yacht leader was gracious enough to let us pass, at one point, since we were going to be able to fit under a handful of the bridges ahead without needing them to lift, whereas he would have to adjust his travel speed slower to get under on their schedules.

Between Miami and Fort Lauderdale we came across an industrial port – the container ship loading crane was interesting, but one ship was really unique. So your yacht is in Florida, but you’d really like to cruise the Mediterranean once this coronavirus thing blows over? Just load it up!

Well, there are yachts, and then there are Yachts, A lot of them, here in Fort Lauderdale.

We actually made fairly good time, due to the light traffic, but decided to anchor in early afternoon, especially after the Captain got a bit testy about an AIS alarm that kept beeping. Showers and thunderstorms were forecast in the evening as well, and we wanted to make sure that we had a good safe spot to drop the hook. Every anchorage that we had seen (and urban/suburban anchorages are…interesting) had quite a few boats, and we didn’t want to push too far and then have to take what was left over.

Catamaran sailboats seem to prefer the one we found, with three large ones there when we arrived, and another arriving before sunset. With three other sailboats as well, we felt the odd man out, as the only powerboat. Other than some folks who came around to social distance in day boats.

Taking pictures of yourself in a bikini on a boat is apparently pretty popular down here. We saw a lot of it. Wonder it she is looking to ‘Trade Up’?

This is the waterfront around our anchorage. A good place to take your kids tubing. Around and around they went. Seemed…normal. Uh-oh, somebody better call the cops.

April 21-22, 2020 – We’ve been in the Keys a lot longer than we’d planned, and our month at Skipjack was coming to a close. We’d watched the weather, and at least from a wind and wave standpoint, it looked like we had a couple good days for the 112 miles from our marina in Marathon up to Miami’s Marine Stadium.

There was a mention of chance of morning showers. But if they’d said ‘chance of morning water spouts’, we probably wouldn’t have gone.

Hey, is that what I think it is?? Let’s turn around!

Well, a squall line popped up along the Keys, and basically moving from West to East, we began to see some heavy rain ahead, so we slowed and did a couple slow 360s, to let it move on ahead. We noticed quite a few rotational clouds that dipped down from the bottom of the rain clouds, so we hung back further, eventually just anchoring out for 45 minutes and eating lunch, to let the storm subside.

We were able to follow the remnants of the storm line, although we did get just close enough to actually catch a little rain.

The rest of the afternoon was drama-free, and we anchored along with about a dozen other boats in the lee behind Rodriguez Key, south of Key Largo.

We were up early the next day, and enjoyed a nice ride up to Miami. We began to see some distinctly different kinds of boat up here.

118′ yacht ‘Stampede’, anchored 20 miles south of Miami

We entered Biscayne Bay, and approached Miami from the south, anchoring in the area called Marina Stadium. We counted four dozen boats at one point – some were a bit derelict looking, some were high end. Some were cruisers, on their way to somewhere else, but a lot were day boats, partying like coronavirus wasn’t a thing.

Karma! This joker was blasting past anchored boats in his go-fast boat – and being towed home a half hour later.

Based on the action, with motor boats and jet skis zipping through the anchorage, dance tunes thumping (on a Wednesday in the middle of a pandemic, mind you), it’s hard to fathom what it must look like on a regular weekend.

But for us, a nice stop after a couple ocean days, and a transition to the long Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Nice views!

Category: AICW

Into the ditch – Miami to Ft Lauderdale

Ready, Set, Go !