Back in North Palm
Trip Start
Dec 01, 2007
1
18
35
Trip End
May 31, 2008
North Palm Beach,
Florida,
United States
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
We rounded the mark near Cape Florida to enter Biscayne Bay on Saturday and the winds were still moderate and the skies blue. A beautiful day. We had made it back into the bay ahead of the front. Before us was Biscayne bay and it was easy to see that this is a boaters haven. As this was Saturday afternoon the place was awash with boats of every kind. Sailboats criss crossed amid power cruisers and cigarette boats running wide open. It was nuts. This is not my idea of a good time. I don't like crowds and I don't like noise. This is not my kind of boating but maybe we Can find a quiet spot.
We head into the bay at our usual 7kts when we see a sleek, multi-million dollar, 60-80 foot power cruiser racing toward us at what had to be wide open throttle. Its kicking up a 20'+ foot rooster tail....this guy must be burring 5 gallons of gas a minute as it passed 150 feet from our port bow going an easy 50 miles and hour. Then we see the chase helicopter following with cameras rolling. We figure it was a photo op for a TV show. Who knows....Nuts.
We pick our way past dozens of boats and find a way to anchor off the Key Biscayne yacht club. Its getting late in the day and we figure if the weather was decent the next day we would take the dinghy back to the park at Cape Florida.
As it turned out the cold front came through the next morning and winds hit 25kts again. After sizing up the situation, we decided to just head back to north palm via the inter-coastal. I knew this would be bad as there are easily two dozen bridges going north. Many of these bridges open only on the half our or hour and going the 50 miles would be a drag. First Forty is 29' high and all but two require an open for us to get by.
As it turned out, I decided to call the stretch of water the "root canal". Ill leave out the details, but the 9 hour trip from Ft Lauderdale to North Palm was sheer agony. Our average speed drooped to under 4kts and we even had one bridge that failed to open on its schedule and we found ourselves "doing donuts" for 45 minutes as I cussed like....'a sailor'. Another time, a voice with a new york accent screams at me on the radio..."move that Nordhavn...get it through the bridge"......as a racy power craft on the other side apparently felt burdened by an extra 60 seconds to wait on the bridge while I motor through at my usual 7 knots. I felt like telling him to go back to New York.
This was what I call a once in a lifetime travel experience. It will never be repeated in my lifetime. Still we saved ourselves a terrible upwind slog off shore. I would have to say this was the worst day I have ever had on my boat. Uggg.
So our cruise to the Keys is behind us, we must say it was bit of a disappointing experience. With a five foot draft vessel we could not get into many anchorages. We saw dead reef and few fish. We did, however, see many cold beers in Key West and hear some great bands so all was not lost.
We look forward to beginning our Bahama's adventure around April 1. By then most cold fronts should be history and the water should be clear. Oh don't forget those rum drinks. See you then!!!
