Up Biscayne Bay and the ICW

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Happy April Fool’s Day.

We had a good time at Mom’s, ate lots of ice cream, got prescriptions filled, changed oil and filter on the boat. Mom and I played Yahtzee and SkipBo. I finally managed to beat her at SkipBo by playing it her way, cut-throat. Thursday night (last night) was supposed to be stormy, with thunder, lightning and high winds, so we paid for another night at Matheson Hammock Marina. We stayed on the boat last night only, as they don’t allow liveaboards. Anyway, the rain and wind did not happen last night, even though the middle of the state was hit hard by bad weather associated with the cold front moving south.

So we were out by 8:30 this morning, under cloudy skies and hot, humid temps. We were still waiting for the cold front that was taking its sweet time coming down. We finally got a little rain around the time we reached the Rickenbacker Causeway, but it was gone before we got to the Port of Miami. No winds, just a drizzle, but it did cool down some and felt less sticky.

We traveled up the ICW through Miami, only having to have one bridge open for us, the one on Venetian Causeway. Biscayne Bay looks good, pretty clean, and the buildings are well kept along its shore. But there are sure a lot of buildings. The only places you can see the ocean are the inlets. There are highrises everywhere. The boat traffic was not too bad until we got past Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale. The ICW is a bit narrow north of Pt. E. and the boat wakes bounce off the sides of the seawalls, traveling back and forth until they die down. We saw huge ships: freighters being loaded, cruise ships waiting for passengers, and mega-yachts everywhere. There were a few nutsy boaters, one kept drifting into the paths of oncoming boats because the driver was either texting or reading something. I had to whistle at him once to keep him from getting run over. He thanked us by rocking us with his big wake when he later passed us.

We are anchored for the night off the ICW at a place called Santa Barbara Lake near Pompano. We expect some rocking from the local boat traffic, but nothing we can’t handle.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Margie. We love you.

More later.

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Photos

Downtown Miami
from the Bay by the Miami Herald building

Matheson Hammock Beach
from the Bay

Rickenbacker Causeway
from the ICW

Waiting for the bridge to open
Venetian Causeway

Dementor flying overhead
near Bakers Haulover

Loading freighter
at Port Everglades, Ft. Lauderdale

Cruise Ship
at Port Everglades

Goodyear Blimp
near our anchorage at Pompano

Comments

[Barbara]

Deanna is looking forward to seeing you both! Wish I could be there too. Love and enjoy.

[Tom]

Memories
You sure brought back a lot of great memories. I am jealous but happy for both of you. Ho, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum. Or something like that.