Day 267 – 275; 2/10 – 218
Saturday, 2/10 we said goodbye to Jane and Luther as they headed back to Connecticut and the snow! Had a great time in the Keys with them! After they left (after breakfast) we took a little dinghy ride to check out the area and found lots of derelict boats…. Seems to be a FL problem.
Right around lunch time we received word that the Ocean Reef Club, a reciprocal club to AYC could in fact accommodate us for 2-3 nights so we cast off our lines from the Anchorage Resort and Marina in Key Largo and headed north, retracing our steps from the day before and crossing out of Blackwater Sound in to the open ocean north of North Key Largo. Of course we had some amazing dolphins escorts along the way (where were they when Jane and Luther were on the boat?). This never gets old!
On our way into the cove, we passed a huge mega yacht with their jet skis and kite boarding equipment deployed. WOW! Serious toys! We arrived around 3:00, feeling quite small compared to the mega yachts that were docked there!
Ocean Reef Club is a beautiful private club with a marina, homes and condos as well as a beautiful pool right on the beach, beach access with kayaks, sailing and SUPs, multiple restaurants, hotels, and amenities available to members. We were excited to have been extended some of the membership privileges for a couple days, enjoying the pool, an Italian restaurant and Super Bowl Party. Carol had several meetings while there, some that took almost an entire day so Gary toughed it out and went golfing! Someone has to do it!
Alas at $9.00/foot plus power (most transient slip prices range between $3.00 – $6.00 and we saw as lows as $1.00 – $2.00 prior to hitting the Florida coast), we said goodbye to Ocean Reef after having an amazing 3 nights there, heading to an anchorage in Miami on Tuesday, 2/13. Carol had more calls on 2/13, so Ocean Reef granted us a late departure that we were super appreciative of, and we headed out around 2:00 pm, arriving at the Marine Stadium Anchorage around 5:45 pm – a 3.5 hour mostly open ocean run. Seas were calm so it was a pleasant run, and of course we saw more dolphins!
Upon arrival, we weaved our way through the anchorage around other boats that were anchored – some just there for the day and some that had been there for years, looking totally abandoned. It was a beautiful night to watch the sunset over the old stadium and take in the lights of the city. Gary made an amazing shrimp stir fry with the varied ingredients we had on board and of course looper midnight came early!
A little history of the Marine Stadium… it is an interesting structure that looks like a huge set of bleachers under a large roof, only facing the water. What on earth were they watching? The Miami Marine Stadium was completed in 1963 as the first stadium purpose-built for power boat racing in the United States. The venue on Virginia Key, located just south of Downtown Miami, was revered for its scenic views of Downtown and Miami Beach.
In 1979, Miami Rowing Club relocated next door and has been hosting the Miami International Regatta since 1973 with the basin providing a 1,500 meter 7 lane course for practice, training and racing.
From its opening for nearly 30 years, the stadium was used for its intended water sports as well as concerts, sporting events such as boxing (which began in 1972), and even figured prominently in the 1967 Elvis Presley film Clambake, serving as the scene of Elvis’ climactic speedboat race. In the wake of Hurricane Andrew, it was declared an unsafe building in 1992 and sits abandoned, a canvas for graffiti artists and much debate in local politics about its possible restoration and use. The well protected anchorage is a popular weekend spot for day boaters and has clearly also become the home of many derelict boats that have not moved in years!
We enjoyed watching the sun go down behind the stadium, gazing on the lights of the city and imagining this location in its glory days.
On Wednesday, 2/14 we left our anchorage around 9:40 am heading north on the ICW through Miami and Fort Lauderdale headed to another anchorage in Pompano Beach (Lake Santa Barbara). It was a long day with lots of draw bridges (which we didn’t time very well) so had quite a bit of wait time, arriving around 4:00 pm. Each bridge required our attention as to it’s stated clearance on our charts vs. the “staff gauge” which is a large measuring stick in the water that shows the actual clearance. We need 23’ of clearance (also called air draft) to avoid collision of our radar domes with the underside of the bridge (that would be a bad day!) and that is if we have the antennas folded down. Some bridges showed 25’ of clearance on the charts, but their staff gauges only showed 21 or 22’. One bridge operator told us we’d have enough clearance, so we didn’t need to wait until his opening, so come on up and go through now….but we could tell from the staff gauge we didn’t. We respectfully told him we’d wait for the opening! YIKES!
The ride up the ICW was very scenic with Miami and Fort Lauderdale’s beautiful homes, boats ranging from center consoles to mega yachts to cruise ships and everything in between. I don’t know why I didn’t take many pictures… let’s just say there was a lot of wealth on display! It was a beautiful and scenic ride. Gary took dinner duty again as Carol got ready for an evening BOD meeting. It wasn’t our typical Valentine’s Day celebration at Cafe Mezzanotte (Annapolitans know where that is!) but these aren’t typical days! All good!
Thursday, 2/15 we were up and out early again (8:30 am) for our last push to get to Palm Beach on time….’on time’ meaning we were pushing to get to Palm Beach Yacht Club (PBYC) to join other AYC-ers for a Cruising Fleet Snowbird’s Happy Hour. Carol had yet another BOD meeting from 12-2:30, so she took that one underway. We arrived around 2:15 and Gary just circled the marina for a while until Carol was done and we were ready to don our headsets and dock Legacy.
PBYC was another lovely club with reciprocal privileges to AYC – apparently, there are a few members at AYC are also members at PBYC. PBYC is a lovely and very traditional club requiring jackets for men while in the building and appropriate dress for women. If you know Gary, you know how much he LOVED having to wear his jacket for both Happy Hour on Wednesday and again for dinner on Thursday. Regardless, we met many of the PBYC members as well as visiting AYC members, enjoying the beautiful facilities and surrounding area. Quite a few of the members there have captains to run their boats. We enjoyed chatting with the owners and captains, getting their insights re: places to go and things to do in the Bahamas.
Friday we broke out our bikes, rode into town for lunch and found the local grocery store for a few provisions. The weather was finally warm and sunny, making it a glorious day! It was an early dinner at the club and then more meetings for Carol. The good news is we are hopefully seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for the need for all these meetings!
PBYC has a very small footprint and we thought it was so cool how they used “office/house boats” to satisfy their need for office space with their land space so limited.
Saturday, 2/10 arrived and it was time for Legacy to move north again, working our way to Burr Yacht Sales in Stuart, where we will leave Legacy for a week of scheduled maintenance and tune ups. Next stop along the way: Jupiter, FL. We took our time in the morning, leaving around 11:00 am (Carol had a turkey in the oven!)
Why a turkey in the oven in February? Deli meats are so full of sodium and unhealthy, we’ve been doing our own roasted turkeys, roast beef or chicken as our lunches instead of processed foods from the deli packed with blood pressure elevating sodium. Did you know that sodium and potassium are electrolytes that help your body function normally by maintaining fluid and blood volume? Consuming too much sodium (which is highly prevalent in processed food like luncheon meats) and too little potassium can elevate your blood pressure? Potassium can help lower your blood pressure because it relaxes the walls of the blood vessels whereas sodium provokes water retention which can increase the fluid volume of your blood and raise blood pressure. Potassium is naturally found in foods like bananas, spinach, avocados and potatoes. We now use a potassium substitute for regular table salt. Hey – a little effort, like roasting your own turkey, and you can stay more healthy!
Back to the loop!
Reed Burke took these awesome photos of us on our way to Jupiter and posted them on a Fleming FB group; pics are from Sand Mountain in Jupiter, just south of JIB club. Thank our Reed! People have asked why are our antennas down? Because we were going under bridges that otherwise we would have been too tall and they would have hit.
It was another very easy cruise up the ICW, navigating under lots of drawbridges and enjoying the sights. We arrived to a very fun marina in Jupiter around 1:30 pm where we docked right at the pool and outdoor bar. It’s not a bar that sells drinks, but you can buy a single or a 6 pack inside the ships store or bring your own. We enjoyed hanging out with the regulars, again gaining insights into their experiences in the Bahamas.
The highlight of the night though, wasn’t Carol’s turkey soup….even though it was good….. it was the Baltimore Blast (5th place) win over Utica (2nd place) by a score of 13-6! It also wasn’t just the win, it was Michael scoring 3 goals as a goal keeper – a new Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) record. NEVER before has a goal keeper recorded 3 goals in one game (a hat trick) achieving it with his arm, meaning he threw the ball the full length of the field into the opposing net. Arena soccer is unique where, like ice hockey, you can pull the goal keeper and add an extra player on offense. In the MASL, this is known as the 6th attacker. The risk of this strategy is that you leave the goal unattended and exposed. Utica did this and 3 times with the 6th attacker on the field, Michael made a save, was able to keep control of the ball and launched the ball down field to score. Congratulations Michael for making MASL history!
Hope these embedded links works!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/wzMx4is4DSy1kJ3q/?mibextid=K35XfP
Needless to say, the fans in the arena in Baltimore went wild, but so did Mom and Dad on Legacy. What a night for Michael – so proud of him and his journey from Broadneck High School soccer to Clemson Collegiate soccer and now to the MASL Baltimore Blast. He’s been patiently learning the arena game for 4 years and gaining experience as the number 2 guy behind an amazingly talented goalkeeper, but this has been his year. Just wish we had been there in person to see it and celebrate with him….The ups and downs of the loop!
Sunday, 2/18 is forecast to be rain, rain and more rain…. So we will stay in Jupiter and have a good cleaning day of the boat. Then it is off to Stuart.
Jean Wagner
We have been to Hope Town