April 29th

Did a few jobs in the morning, started on fixing the rear hatch. I took the guarding painters tape off only to realize how bad the fiberglass surround of the hatch really was.

Left a little after one. The tide was right, the wind was right, got the boat out of the hole, solo, and looked like pro doing. One guy even added "nicely done". Glad he didn't see me leaving Adam's Creek.

Wind was out of the North, may be a little easterly in there. Figuring I needed to be gybeing most of the night, I headed out to sea. I could not get any speed worth a damn (2 knots). The sails we're drawing well the boat felt like it was moving well, but without having a working paddle wheel I could only guess it was current. An internet search revealed the Florida Current, damn! Wasn't expecting the Gulf Stream until at least 10 miles offshore.

April 30th

Bitch of night, no sleep. Boat rolled with the easterly Atlantic waves all night. Velcro-ed the table leaves so they don't bang at about 3 in the morning.

Dawn came at the mouth of Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale). Boats everywhere, big boats mostly. Was even joined by an aircraft carrier. He asked the same question I asked Maersk Subarayma - "What are you doing?". Got the same answer as me too, "Drifting, waiting on a pilot.". The aircraft carrier had at least 3 different people working VHF. Guess they've beefed that area up after their recent crashes.

Just 20 miles to Miami from Port Everglades, I go for it. Moved much closer inshore and finally lost the current heading north. I was within a mile of the shore when my speed came back up. I actually saw a sea turtle just off of Miami Beach.

Came in to the back bay through Government Cut only to find the channel closed farther in because of security concerns. They do this whenever 2 or more cruise ships are at the cruise ship terminal. I had planned to anchor north of the Venice islands but changed my mind after having to use a different channel. Ended up picking up a mooring buoy at the city marina at Dinner Key. Stayed for 2 nights when I found out they had a shuttle. Yay! No need to put the dinghy together yet. It was very narrow and shallow to get here. I gather the ICW is like that a lot from here. The guy in the boat next door just came in after 7 weeks in the Bahamas.

May 1^st

Real high wind for this part of the world. Shuttle boat not running today. Just as well, I didn't wake up until 10. Then I added another layer of fiberglass to the rear hatch. Wow! Where did today go. Spent a nice easy day on the boat hanging on the mooring buoy.

Could not get hold of Sea Isle Marina. Tried all bloody day. Guess it will have to be Miamarina tomorrow.

Also need to decide on whether to go inside or outside the keys.

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