May 19-21 "the crossing" and travel to Anchorage Resort

After a false start the day before to cross the Gulf Stream to Florida  we eagerly anticipate another try today.  The wind direction has changed from the south to more easterly and those large swells that intimidated us the day before are supposed to be gone.  Ideally we would cross over to Lake Worth.  From that point we would head north and then west directly across the Okeechobee Waterway.  However Florida has been extremely dry and the Waterway is too shallow for us to navigate so now we must travel south around the trip of Florida, adding several miles to our trip to get home.

So our destination for our crossing the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream is Fort Lauderdale.  It will be a long day as we must travel a little farther south so as not to let the Gulf Stream keep punching us in the nose to slow us down.  Shortly after leaving port we know it is going to be a great crossing.  Some 1-2' swells and somewhat on our stern.  The seas get even better as the day rolls on.  As we approach Fort Lauderdale the wind picks up but by that time the waves are directly on our stern.  The Gulf stream did not give up its grip on us until  we were some 8 miles from Fort Lauderdale

A magnificent home overlooking the waterway in  Fort Lauderdale

After dodging some huge freighters coming out of the channel at Port Everglades at Fort Lauderdale we travel a short distance up the ICW to a beautiful anchorage in Lake Sylvia which is a small body of water surrounded by some magnificent homes.  Arrival time was shortly before 7pm. Miles traveled today-103.  Miles since leaving Mitch's house- exactly 1200.  A few more to go before we get home

After a very restful night at anchorage at Lake Sylvia we arise early to pull anchor.  Oh I forgot to mention earlier that Mitch's electric anchor windlass gave up the ghost at Great Sale so now he and Barb are chanting "heave ho" in unison to pull up the anchor chain.  Lots of bridges to go under as we work our way south.  Most have restricted openings-so we must time our moves and do some waiting as we approach the low bridges.  The Miami skyline is magnificent as we approach.  Miami is also a busy cruise ship port but our travel down the ICW lets us avoid the the channel where the cruise ships dock.  Good thing as that channel is closed to pleasure boat travel when the cruise ships are docked.  Arrival time at at Anchorage Resort, the very familiar place where we spent considerable time before commencing our journey was 4pm.  I needed fuel at Gilberts which is across the way.  Diesel $4.89 per gallon.

The Miami skyline as seen from the waterway