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Happy Valentine’s Day from Cambridge Cay in the Exumas Land and Sea Park which is the most beautiful place on earth. We think this is even better than Warderick Wells, but you will need to sail here yourself and decide if this is true. For now, simply enjoy these photos which need no explanation, just take in the beauty.

click this photo and look left and right, UNREAL….our own private beach and there are about 6 of these at least.

Cambridge Cay is beautiful and here is where it is located.

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….Sail on, Sail on…

Sailing in the Exumas is always a great experience because the winds are usually from the East and courses are usually North and South. This means  a comfortable point of sail called “reaching” to sail from destination to destination. Today, we picked up the anchor at Warderick Wells, Emerald Rock, and within 5 minutes we were under full sail. As we turned the corner and set up our course south to Staniel Cay, we noticed that our new sails seem more powerful. In 18-20 knots of close reaching we needed to drop in the first reef on the main sail. This gave us a chance to test out our new boom arrangement and new single line reefing system under full wind loads. It worked well and once the reef was in and the course was set, Island Spirit sailed even better. I am never disappointed in the way Island Packets will sail. They actually sail upwind very well and they love to beam reach in 15-20 knots. 

B&G Zeus Sail Steer is really cool gear.

We also used this sailing time to keep learning our new B&G Zeus2 Sail Steer and the autopilot wind vane steering. We have sailed this boat since 2002 on wind vane steering and we almost never, ever hand steer this boat under sail. The B&G gear and autopilot will process the wind shifts and will head up or fall off far better than a human can ever do. Island Spirit sailed 99% of the way here today and her last three tacks were close hauled into the harbor. Radeen and I were tired when we got here, but we are gaining faith and confidence in this new electronics package and its capabilities. Our last B&G system we had 100% trust in. At this point, we are at 85% due to a few very minor glitches. Overall, the new B&G gear IS far better than the old gear and we are very happy with the upgrade. 

After dropping sail off Staniel Cay, we motored around our buddy boat Crealock 34 NEVERLAND and decided that there was not enough room next to the yacht club so we moved around to Thunderball Grotto and dropped the hook just west of the grotto in 10 feet of water. We launched the dinghy and headed into shore for a nice walk around town and we stopped in all three stores to say hi and we bought a small item from each store. Bahamian people are so kind and so nice, this is a great country to visit.

Here are some photos of the day….

Radeen doing the logbook and Island Spirit heeled over 30 degrees

Autopilot sailing under wind vane, holding a specific wind angle

Fantastic, this boat loves to sail

The helm electronics, B&G Zeus2 in Sail Steer mode, Samsung Tab2 with Navionics for chart overviews Autopilot set to wind vane steering, see the “W” top row

Hayden on deck adjusting the tension in the jib leech cord

The water flow in the sink says it all….we are on a 30 degree heel

Radeen at the helm with the 30 degree lean

Starboard tack for Pig Beach, notice the shadow of our sail on the 10 foot bottom

The Grotto anchorage, this is off our bow

Exploring by dinghy

The rock looks like the head of a lizard

Sailor GrL Radeen loves to travel

Beautiful flowers around Staniel Cay

The rental cottages at Staniel Cay Yacht Club

Nurse Shark Feeding at Staniel Cay, look how tame they are!

The next stop will be back north to Cambridge Cay where we plan a few lay days to work on teak, also to go snorkeling and to break out the dive gear to look at the bottom and practice. We have another front arriving Wed night into Thursday so we plan to take that one in Cambridge Cay.

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…Atop Boo Boo Hill with the team…

We sailed on a perfect beam reach from Highbourne Cay south to Warderick Wells, which is the center of the Exumas Land and Sea Park. To us, this one of the most beautiful places on earth. The deserted islands with crescent beaches lined with rock edges makes it a dream to explore. Walking trails traverse over sharp jagged rocks that look like the surface of the moon and wind through hard sand tidal flats with waters running out to sea. The trails lead you to the park office and more beaches and also up to the top of Boo Boo Hill, one of the the highest points in all of the Bahamas. All of these features help to make Warderick Wells a perfect place to celebrate Hayden’s birthday. With our buddy boats  IP380 PLAN SEA, Jim and Loretta, and Crealock 34 NEVERLAND, Jim and Cynthia, we shared a delicious meal aboard Island Spirit, laughed and had a great time. Sharing places like this with friends makes it even more special and more memorable. Make sure to add Warderick Wells to your cruising bucket list. Look at the following photo because THIS is why we sail to the Exumas, the water is so beautiful….

The winds from this frontal system, which is causing SNOW up north at home in PA is unusual in that it has zero West or Northwest component to the strong winds. All the wind has been from the North and the Northeast which makes for a great anchorage off Emerald Rock on the south side of the park office. So we dropped the hook here, as all the mooring balls were taken in the north field, and we used the dinghy to reach the beaches and hike the trails. Below is the approach across the tidal flats from Boo Boo Hill as we look west towards the park office.

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…Our Team of three…

We spent one lay day at Bimini Sands Marina in South Bimini to allow the East Winds to shift to SSE as forecasted. This gave us time to shuttle down to the airport in the AM to check into the Bahamas and get our cruising permit and fishing license. All of us were granted only 90 days, but asked if they would kindly allow us 120 days and they did. After customs, we washed our boats because non of us had been to a dock for many weeks. The day was spent with the teams going to north Bimini to BTC for SIM cards for their cell phones and Radeen and I stayed back and did a few network jobs and hit both pools. That night Team IP 380 PLAN SEA cooked us a delicious dinner of roast pork with sauteed apples and onions.

Hayden and Radeen raise the Bahamas Flag

Tuesday, we departed Bimini with a planned passage like Jim and Cynthia of Crealock 34 NEVERLAND did last year, running all night past New Providence to Highbourne Cay, a 28-30 hour run. That sounded great to all of us as we really do not like Nassau and wanted to take this calm weather window East as fast as we could. Remember, it is 200+ nautical miles EAST of Miami to reach the Exumas at Highbourne Cay. The trade winds are ALWAYS EAST so it is very difficult to go east. These weather windows only show up every 7-10 days, so many times you are simply waiting back in Miami for the winds to go South or to die down enough to power east. This time, we had 3-4 days of calm before the next front arrives on Thursday night, so we motor sailed the entire 200 nm.

We did have a fantastic sail out of Bimini, sailing south on East winds, to Gun Cay / Cat Cay cut where we turned East and headed out onto the Great Bahama Bank. Cuts in the Bahamas are to be respected because the current runs fast between them and the shore is always very hostile, rocky and jagged. God help you if your engine would ever die when running a Bahamas Cut, if it did, it would be very serious. Because of that, we always keep a sail up when motoring into cuts. In this photo you can see buddy boat IP380 PLAN SEA powering around the point with his sail up in the rocky cut. Very cool photo.

Running the NW Channel

Once up on the Great Bahama Bank, we enjoyed the flat conditions for making lunch and dinner as we motored east til the sun set behind us. We motored on towards the scary and always challenging Northwest Channel where the the 10 foot waters of the banks flow out into the 5,000 foot depths of the Tongue of the Ocean. This small slot of water framed by rocks and coral reef on each side is the only way through. Due to our speed and the long distance, we always arrive in the dark of night. For safety we are running two independent GPS systems on board, one the new B&G Zeus with a rooftop GPS antenna, and one a Samsung Tab2 tablet with builtin GPS and Navionics software. Between these two systems, we feel confident that we know where we are, even though they present the chart data slightly differently. Once through this cut, we bashed our way into big waves as the winds were 10+ knots EAST (all forecasts were for 4-5 knots from t SSE).

Sunrise peeked through the scattered clouds as we approached the west end of New Providence and we all were happy to be able to see beyond the bow of the boat. Now we could see the salt spray all over the windshields from taking bow waves of salt spray all over the entire deck and canvas. We are so glad we washed the boat yesterday! It is crazy how the wind forecast is rarely right, it may be close, and it may be from the right quadrant but it is not right on. We left the Tongue of the Ocean and crossed up onto the next Bahama Bank and NOW the Exumas were in reach. Just another 50 nm (7 hours) and we reached Highbourne Cay where we always re-fuel. We used 32 gallons since Miami….$2.69 a gallon there and $4.41 here. We were grateful to drop and rest after 39 hours of moving. Next stop, Warderick Wells (30 nm south) in the Exuma Land and Sea Park! Wait until you see that…..

Here are more photos, Photo Boy loves to take pictures….

Fun Selfie at the infinity pool at Bimini Sands

Radeen, my favorite photo subject

Ocean water color right off of Bimini, BLUE BLUE BLUE

We set full sail, Jib, Staysail and Main….ahhhhhhh

IP 380 PLAN SEA sailing with South Bimini in the background

Sailing photos are always the best 45 degrees off the bow

IP 380 PLAN SEA, Jim and Loretta ocean sailing

Crealock 34, NEVERLAND sailing off South Bimini

The Crealock 34 is a sleek double ender

The new NEVERLAND with Jim and Cynthia at the helm

IP 380 PLAN SEA off Gun Cay Light

Look at the shordline, all rock and no beach here

Harsh jagged rock of Gun Key with abandoned buildings

Neverland powers through the cut at Gun Cay and Cat Cay

The sun sets over the stern on the banks as we power east

This is the view from the helm, all night long, know your radar system well

YES, we are alive! We can see, look there is the bow….yahooooo

WHAT? Salt spray up to the roof, OK, time to fire up the watermaker and clean this off

Sunrise around the jib as the winds have finally gone SSE

We learned how to customize the Zeus2, screen making our own layouts to choose from. Very cool!

Photos of: SUNSET, our first 2017 at anchor off Highbourne Cay

The winds are west, the front is coming, the sun is setting, time to find shelter tomorrow

Our conch horn from friend Carey which I blow at sunset…”Welcome to Da Bajammas Mon!”

Sunset, bow facing west which means a new front is coming

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…Our Team at the Wallcast… Hayden, Radeen, Jim, Cynthia, Loretta and Jim

We had our easiest and smoothest crossing of the Gulf Stream since 2012 when we first crossed over with our good friend, Carey, who taught us how to go to the Bahamas. For this crossing we left from South Beach Miami as we had attended our 7th New World Symphony Wallcast the night before. We had a great send off party at the Wallcast with boat buddies Jim and Loretta of IP 380 PLAN SEA and Jim and Cynthia of Crealock 34 NEVERLAND and Bill of IP380 Tamarak. We always enjoy these Wallcasts and this one was interesting once again, featuring 3 Viennese composers. The first half was unusual with an atonal style of music while the second half was a fantastic presentation of Schubert’s 9th symphony. These free outdoor concerts have become one of Miami Beach’s top events. After the concert it was back to the boat, de-rig the dinghy, take off the 15hp Yamaha outboard and fuel tank and secure the dinghy for an ocean passage.

Our new B&G Zeus2 sets a course for Bimini

Exiting the inlet was rough even in light air with wind against current and we all slammed through the waves. takin gspray over our bows. The crossing from Miami to Bimini is 50 nm and we knew the winds would be calm, 5-10 knots out of the east and our course is east. With the 3 to 4 knot north flow of the Gulf Stream, we needed to point the boat on a course of 120, which placed the winds 30 degrees off our port bow. This is a motor run, with the engine at 2500 rpms and the sails helping to dampen the rolling of the boat, so it was a dream passage. We pulled into Bimini Sands Marina at 1600 hrs and docked on their nice, long, floating docks. We all washed the salt spray and city dirt off our boats, since we all had not been to a dock in several weeks and then popped a celebratory bottle of GRUET. Welcome to the BAHAMAS where the people are so kind and friendly.

Docked at Bimini Sands Marina

Our next task was to find a Super Bowl party which we heard was canceled due to damage from Hurricane Matthew at the pub we went to last year with Jeff and Sharon. Fritz, the dock master, said the game would be on at the nearby Tipsy Turtle Pub and we thought we would go…..but we all crashed hard as we had very little sleep in the past few nights. So, we did not see the Brady Bunch win in the last seconds of the game of  “Was The Knee Down?” Atlanta was robbed of their Super Bowl win. Tough call.

So, now we will take a lay day here at Bimini Sands Marina and let the building east winds die down and then run directly to Highbourne Cay in the Exumas overnight from here, about a 150 nm run. We will be in Warderick Wells for the next front which arrives on Friday.

Welcome to the BAHAMAS….

Our last sunset in Biscayne Bay

Radeen, Cynthia and Loretta….the Girls

Jim, Hayden and Jim,…the Boys 🙂

Wallcast # 7 for us and The New World Symphony’s 29th Anniversary concert! NWS is a highly competitive tuition-free post-graduate school for professional musicians.

Click here to read about and watch a video about the Wallcasts.  https://www.nws.edu/events-tickets/wallcast-concerts-and-park-events/

Sunday sunrise in Government Cut lighting up the cruise ships

Good Morning Miami

Well, hello, cruise ship Adona underway, this is Island Spirit

Heading out Fisherman’s channel

Neverland and Plan Sea heading out of Miami

This is a very calm day at sea, Neverland looking great

Departure Selfie Year #6, Hayden & Radeen

B&G Triton 2 display showing the Gulf Stream current at 4.4 knots, very cool Note: Our depth reads at 4.5 ft. whenever we are “off-soundings” in deep water,

We made this custom screen, Instruments left, Sail Steer center, Data column right.

AIS at the helm is very nice…LOOK OUT a ship!

That ship is 900 feet long and it is going 15 knots, YES, you may pass!

Check out the color of the water, this is the true colors

Hayden harnessed on and out on the deck dropping main and raising the Q flag

The required GRUET to celebrate arrival in the Bahamas

Radeen after washing the boat

Our Fleet: Island Spirit, Neverland and Plan Sea

Please note, we are running a new ship satellite tracking device called Garmin InReach. This places our position onto a building map of our trip. It also places our latest position onto the home page of our blog. So, with this, you never have to ask us “Where Are you?” You can simply see where we are an any time.

Here is our Trip Map
https://share.delorme.com/islandspirit

Here is our latest position, Look at our home page, top righthand column.
http://IslandSpirit.us

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…ahh Anchored off Virginia Key….

We have reached the launch pad and we are planning on motoring out of the USA on Super Bowl Sunday to Bimini Sands Marina on South Bimini. We will dock around 4-6 pm and then clear into the Bahamas on Monday morning. The winds are calm, the waves are to be 3-4 feet and we will need to motor into a 5 – 10 knot head wind as it looks. Then Monday we plan to see if we can depart or if we need to wait one day and then move on. The next leg we will run overnight as there are no real stopping spots.

Leg 2 will be a 100 nm run from Bimini to West Bay on the island of New Providence. We have no plans to go to Nassau. Then on Wed it is flat calm, so we will run the last day for a 50 nm leg to reach the Exumas which are 200 nm East of Miami. Once we reach there, the courses are now south and with NE and E winds, we can actually sail as we push south. On Saturday, Feb 11, a major front is predicted to arrive with winds at 30 to 35 knots from the North. We will need to figure out a place to be safe with that front. That is why we have a 55 lb ROCNA anchor and all chain. It has always held our boat securely on anchor.

Here is a map of the plan…

Our plan to go: Miami to Bimini to West Bay to Exumas ASAP

One more rigging piece: “The Freddie”, a stay sail Barber Hauler! Works Great!

We have worked entirely too hard on Island Spirit this year. It has been nearly 3 months of refit and work, far more than we expected. We got ourselves into an endless void of thinking that we will be out of the USA for 4-5 years, and that set off a panic as to refitting nearly everything on Island Spirit. Maybe we went overboard, maybe we did not do enough. The bottom line is, we did what we did and now we are leaving. Whatever breaks or does not work, we will fix or deal with along the way.

Reviewing how to get there on our new B & G

Our plan now is to push to the Exumas and return to exploring the most beautiful place on earth. Next, we will move beyond the Bahamas and get this boat into the Caribbean Sea. There we will rediscover many of the places we have visited on friends’ boats and on charter boats. This time it should be even better on our own boat and on our own schedule. We plan to base the boat there for the next 4-5 years! Let cruising year #6 finally begin on Super Bowl Sunday….go ATLANTA, we have had enough of New England!  🙂

Here are some photos of the week

Of course, a rental car to Costco, load up!

Chaos of driving I-95….NUTS

Coco Walk Starbucks, we love this place

Testing new B&G NAV gear and Autopilot

4 diesel jugs, two to port, two to starboard

Radeen making great meals on Island Spirit, This is Mediterranean Chicken.

We met new I 32 Wingward owner, Alex, with his captain Allen for lunch at Lokal. Thank you, Alex, for a great lunch and a fun visit! Good luck with your boat! L to R: Hayden, Radeen, Capt Allen and IP owner, Alex

We always tune the standing rigging before we hit the ocean

Radeen had to buy a new mixing elbow to have on board for change out in the Caribbean. Ours is 2.5 years old.

Sailing Biscayne Bay, about 20 Melges racers on a practice leg

NOW, FOR THE WEATHER JUNKIES….

The situation is this. The Exumas are 200 nm EAST of Miami. The Gulf Stream, 5-8 miles off Miami, flows north at 3 knots. Any wind from the NORTH kicks up the stream into 6-10 foot waves. So sailors wait until the winds die down or until go any direction without a northerly component. We have that coming Super Bowl Sunday so we will take it. Sadly the wind is from the EAST and we need to push east 50 NM to reach Bimini. Then Wed it goes flat calm, so we may wait a day and leave Tuesday running overnight into Wed to reach the next island of New Providence. There we anchor at West Bay. Then it is one more 50 nm day to Exumas. At that point, we can run south. So here are the winds and waves for a few of these days….Study up.

WAVES….

This shows 1-2 meter waves off Miami

Wed we will be on the banks, it shows 0-0.5 meter waves

Sat, the winds are driving wave of 1-2 meters from the north

Sunday, winds are to be 5-10 from the east

Wed it shows 10 knot winds from the S

Sat this is showing 20-30 knot North Winds!!! These GRIB files from from the web site www.PassageWeather.com

Sunset off Virginia Key looking back at the Coconut Grove skyline

Tomorrow, Saturday, we will go to South Beach and take in one last WALLCAST concert along with IP 380 Plan Sea, Jim and Loretta, and IP380 Tamarak, Bill and Cynthia and Jim of Crealock 34 NEVERLAND. This will be our send off night!

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…Miami Cordage is THE place..

Team Island Spirit, along with IP 380 Plan Sea team Loretta and Jim and IP 380 Tamarak Bill, loaded of 250 feet of new 5/16″ G4 HT Acco USA made anchor chain. We found our best pricing from Stuart to here at Miami Cordage via the friendly and helpful owner named Jason. Using our $9.99/day Enterprise rental car we drove the 20 minutes north on I-95 and picked up the chain in the trunk of the car.

Stainless steel 1 1/2″ ratchets, very nice

While there, we discovered that they also sell stainless steel ratchets that we use to secure the dinghy in the davits. We have never had SS ones, we always bought the cheap $20 ones from Home Depot and they would only last about a year. These are 1 1/2″ wide, beautifully made by Suncor, cost $75 and should last many years. With our order complete, they cut our chain and asked if we wanted it in buckets. “OK” we said, wondering how we would lift a 125 lb bucket. They lifted both buckets at the same time with a fork lift. It was really cool how they did that from the loading dock and down into our trunk. These guys are pros and so pleasant to work with. Of course, on the way back to Dinner Key, we took a wrong exit off I-95 and ended up in downtown Miami. There we hit the brakes too hard and the chain buckets fell over and all the chain pushed into the back seats. Oh well, it is a rental 🙂 ….

Our cheerful Chain Gang, Radeen, Loretta, Jim & Bill

Once back at Dinner Key, we arrived precisely at high tide as planned to load the chain out of the trunk and into the bow of the dinghy. At 250 lbs, it made the dinghy bow go down, but it was no more weight than one or two people, so the 10 foot AB dinghy handled this easily. Thanks to our “Chain Gang” of Bill, Jim, Loretta and Radeen, we had this loaded and out to the boat in a very short time. Jim then helped us offload the old chain out of the boat locker and down into the buckets in the dinghy.

250 ft in the dinghy for sale

We are offering this old chain at $1/ft to other cruisers, cutting off whatever they want. I already sold 100 feet to one boater. The reason we replaced the chain is that it was bought in 2002 and we are sailing onward to the Caribbean Sea for the next 5 years, so we wanted to go with new chain and a new shackle. Note: 5/16″ G4 HT chain has a 3,900 lb working load and we use the USA made Crosby HT 3/8″ shackle which has a 2t WLL or 2 tons working live load. Many people put the wrong shackle on their HT chain and that becomes the weakest point. We also do not use a swivel because we have a horizontal windlass and the chain does not get turned or twisted very much.

So, our new anchor chain is on and we have one more boat job to do and that is to tune the standing rigging and tighten the forestays. After a trip to Costco today, then it will be a waiting game for a weather window.

Radeen smiling in the rain as we load provisions on Sunday

250 lbs of new anchor chain in the trunk of the car

Taking the chain out to Island Spirit

That is 250 feet of HT chain in the dinghy bow

250 feet of chain loaded up to the deck

USA Crosby 2T HT shackle. The proper one. USA made.

SS wires secures the anchor shackle

This should just about do it for the refit of Island Spirit, new sails, new electronics, new running rigging, new Spectra watermaker, and new anchor chain. Now if the east winds will just stop blowing we can head out. Looks like next week now…..

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…Drop off Laundry…

Every time we have sailed to the Bahamas, now this the 6th year, we have left from Miami. Why would we stage here, people ask? The bottom line is because it is easy and close. There are plenty of anchorages for waiting for weather and there are grocery stores, hardware stores, car rentals, pubs, gas docks, water docks, dinghy docks, all to support our preparation to sail out to the the Bahamas. Every year, we bump into friends at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club and others who are also preparing to leave. This is a great place to stage up and get ready to sail out. Every thing you need is is within an easy walk of this harbor, and we love it here. Add to this, the end of January is always the World Cup Sailing Event where the best of the best from all over the world come to Miami to compete. Many times these races are qualifying races for the Olympics, so it is great meet and watch these world class sailors. This is a sailing event like no other.

The boat in prep for laundry day

So what are we doing?

Well, we have a punch list of final jobs and it always seems to be the same. Firs,t buy up all the food and booze we think we will need for the next 3-4 months. Fix the last items on the boat like: 1. replace the impeller. 2. tune the rigging. 3. fuel up and fill 4 diesel jugs and tie these on deck. 4. Watch the weather and be ready to sail out on any day the weather is good.

This is 8 Gallons/hr from the Spectra Ventura 200t watermaker

We also fired up the Spectra Ventura 200t Watermaker and turned salty Biscayne Bay water into pure drinking water. It is amazing how easy this machine is to run. Simply open the seawater intake, turn on the feed pump, dial up the pressure and out comes fresh drinking water while only using 8 amps of 12 volt power. WOW, that is really amazing. Yes, it is low production at 8 gallons per hours but then again we are running this off wind and solar power which is really cool. We plan to run the watermaker every day during mid day when we have extra solar power. If this all works as planned, then we can keep our water tank full via wind and solar, using about 7-10 gallons of water a day.

ACCO USA 5/16″ G4 Chain

Added to these common prep tasks, we have decided to replace our 250 feet of 5/16″ G4 HT USA ACCO anchor chain which is 16 years old. We beat it to death last year during a bad night on the Bahama Banks. So, we will use the rental car to load 250 pounds into the trunk. Then we will take it to the dinghy dock and haul it into the bow of our 10 foot AB dinghy. We will take it out to our boat, load it up and onto the deck via the windlass. Then we will offload the old 250 feet of old chain. This will be the final refit job of 2016-17 for Island Spirit. Island Spirit is almost like new and she is ready for a new Caribbean adventure. We are excited and we are ready to get sailing. We should be after nearly 3 months of refit work!

Here are a few photos of this week…

Anchored out with a sunrise on Biscayne Bay

Cappuccino Girl Radeen with her green eyes

LASER World Cup Sailing Miami

There they go down the launch ramp…120 boats in the the Laser Fleet

We spent a day in the Library working on the internet web servers

Taking laundry to the boat

5 loads of laundry from the drop off service

Sunset on anchor

Our IP 380 friend Bill of TAMARAK sails by

Perfect water made from Biscayne Bay saltwaer

Salinity tested out at 108 ppm

The machine, The Spectra Ventura 200t

Worlds Cup Sailors

The awards stand and jumbo tron

The winning team of the 49er fleet, the Brits

Radeen packing up the Lasers

Walking around Dinner Key area, amazing architecture

 …..So, here we are in the final prep for sailing out to the Bahamas and then onward to the Caribbean Sea. Who knows what is ahead, but we have been here before and we know that leaving is the hardest aspect of any voyage. We ARE leaving and we hope it is soon, very soon……

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…Fred and Gail visit Team Island Spirit…

The Wallcast a top venue in Miami Beach

Hollywood, Florida, a dream beach town

Sailing Biscayne Bay, close hauled, 40 degrees

The overview of where we went and how the 30+ knots of winds arrived.

The Biscayne Bay focused area and Miami Beach

The Sailing World Cup Jan 27-29

The Men’s Laser Class Start

The weather mark

Dinner Key Marina Office

 Here are the best few photos of the 350 I shot!

Fred the master sail trimmer

Hayden and Fred racing Island Spirit style 🙂

Gail and Radeen racing Island Spirit style

The Projector at the Wall Cast, South Beach

The Wave Machine at the Beach, Margaritaville

Of Course we watched CAPTAIN RON on our 32″ HD Samsung TV

Did I say Wave Machine!? Surfs UP!

The Beautiful Hollywood Beach

Gail and Radeen dressed for dinner out, Thank you Fred & Gail

Fred and Gail, our dear friends

Radeen and Gail at Le Tub, the 1959 local burger joint in Hollywood, FL Thank you, Fred and Gail for a great night out at a fun place.

Required Selfie, Hayden, Radeen, Fred & Gail

Fred and Gail get a new Bentley

World Cup 49ers

Team Island Spirit racing with ease

Radeen racing, tough job

Heading into South Beach via the Collins Canal under the roadways. We enjoyed the concert with Bill of IP380 Tamarak and Jim & Loretta of IP380 Plan Sea

The Sat night Wallcast in South Beach, a MUST ATTEND event

The ICW as seen from atop the Hollywood Bridge

Radeen and Fred on the Hollywood walk

Hollywood pavers and beach walk, about 2-3 miles

The waves were big on Sunday

The girls in the ocean

A fine dinner of Moroccan Chicken Stew by Radeen.  www.BoatRecipes.com

Walking over the ICW to the Hollywood Beach

This is how you wash your 100 foot+ sailing yacht

Washing the bow, WOW

Brickell Point, always a photographic scene

Setting sail again on Biscayne Bay, beam reaching south

ZIP….there goes another 49er at 20 knots!

ahhhh, there goes Island Spirit at 6 knots

Gail is a great sailor, Radeen is a great helper

And what would a trip on Biscayne Bay be without a view of Stiltsville?

Yes, the WASZP sailboat can FLY, see this one up on foils…WHAT? (Photo credit to Radeen)

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…The 50 foot dinghy has 4 outboards 1,400 hp…

We traveled through the mecca of world yachting today. Fort Lauderdale, and then onward south to Miami where we turned east at the Venetian Causeway West bridge to make a stop in South Beach (SoBe) known properly as Miami Beach.  The photos we take in this section are always over the top when it comes to demonstrating wealth. The waterfront “winter” homes are even more massive than what is just north of here on yesterday’s leg. The yachts are the biggest anywhere in the world, and there are many of them. It is surprising to learn that having boat work done is not excessively expensive in Ft. Lauderdale, due to all the competition.

Anchored off Belle Island, South Beach

We have now made it to one of our “happy” places, that of Miami Beach, Florida. We are anchored out off Belle Island, as usual, and we take the dinghy into the Collins Canal and dock at the Publix’s Dock. Construction on the retaining walls is complete and the canal is open. There we climb the tall dock and then onto the street and walk 1.5 miles into Lincoln Road. Here the street is closed off to traffic with coffee shops, ice cream, pizza shops, and everything that the international traveler needs like an Apple Store, a Garmin Store, and upscale clothing lines. It is a great place to walk and to enjoy the many sights and international languages. Lincoln Road leads over to Ocean Drive for a 3 mile walk along world famous South Beach. Several public parks, beach accesses, walking paths, the famous Art Deco buildings and many bars and restaurants are found along Ocean Drive. If you are a cruiser, then Belle Island is the place to drop the hook and explore this wonderful area.

Here are the photos of the day….enjoy…

This is when a smaller boat pays off, We can pass under the Julia Tuttle Bridge. It is 56 feet, we are 49’6″. Taller vessels must go off shore between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.

There it is, our first view of the Miami skyline.

Radeen driving under the Julia Tuttle Bridge

These lift bridges are so interesting to transit.

The centerpiece home in Ft. Lauderdale.

The stern of this yacht opens to lift out the jet boats with a crane. The 50 foot tender has 4 outboards, this is 1,400 hp!

The same yacht as seen from the bow, I am calling this 130+ feet long. That tender is at least 50 feet long.

Here you see a person cleaning the windows on a smaller yacht.

These guys give perspective to the size of the yacht. They are mounting railings on the 3rd floor.

Same yacht as above, look for the guys on the 3rd floor

This one is my favorite, It is called Savanna. Well, it is everyone’s favorite…. winning”Super Yacht of 2016.” She is 274 feet long. See photos here:

Another photo of “Savanna”

This yacht has two staircases on the stern and is four stories tall!

Container ship at dock, notice the underwater bow bulb

These are containers, they are tractor trailer boxes. You see them on the road all the time. 10 boxes across, 5 boxes high, ON DECK

Container ships run at about 15 to 20 mph at sea

Cruise ship getting washed. There was one guy power washing each balcony!

Hollywood Lift Bridge

Condo living on the water, beautiful views

Notice the balcony twisting effect

Notice the specks high on both sides of the building, then look at next photo.

Those specks are window washers rapelling off the roof!

We like the palm trees on these roof top decks.

This is how we get into South Beach, via our dinghy into a canal.

Beautiful steps outside this building

The #1 venue in Miami Beach

Lincoln Road Plaza walking around. This is where the street used to be.

Lincoln Road is right next to the New World Symphony

This is the park where hundreds of people will gather for the Wallcast concert. The projector in the middle and on the sides are speakers in tall tubes.

Our anchorage off Belle Island, Miami Beach, FL

Our view of Miami from South Beach

I shot over 400 photos today. There are always so many great scenes to photograph. We never get tired of running this section of the waterway. Biscayne Bay is just one more hour south to the best place for sailing. We will move over there Friday, for now, it is a day in Miami Beach.

PS:
We are running a LIVE tracking map. When the boat moves, this map is updated. Also our blog home page shows our current position.

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