November 13, 2004 - Myrtle Beach, SC

In the morning we head south from Wrightsville Beach to a small anchorage called Pipeline Canal in Southport.  I also needed to pick up my mail waiting for me at the local post office.  We arrive all the anchorage at around 2:00 and rode into town on our bikes.  Mark stopped at al Pizza Hut for lunch and I continued on another couple of miles to the post office.  I got back to the boat at around 3:00 and saw that no other boats had arrived and began to think that we might have the small anchorage to ourselves when 5 other boats suddenly pulled in.  It was a group of Canadian sailboats that we had seen at every anchorage we stopped at in the last week or so.  They some how managed to squeeze in with out crowding us and the owner of the largest boat, a C&C 38 called Raft, rowed over and invited us over for drinks at around 5:00.  We accepted and at 5:00 met the group which consisted of two boats from Midland, Canada, two boats from somewhere else in Canada and a Catalina 36 from New Hampshire which had met them along the way.

They turned out to be a fun group and we had a very good time.  Someone pulled out a book called Muskrat, which was a very funny story about some skipjack sailors from the eastern shore of Maryland who try to enter the Americas Cup.  They read several passages from the book, which they do every night when they meet for drinks.  I laughed so hard at times that I had tears in my eyes.  I've got to find a copy of this book.

Thy next morning the Canadian group left at sunrise.  They said that they were going to try to make Barefoot Landing in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Mark and I left about an hour later and decided that we would probably stop at Calabash Creek on the border of North Carolina and South Carolina and try for Barefoot Landing in the morning when we would have a better chance of finding a spot at the very popular free dock.

We anchored at Calabash Creek, loaded our fuel cans into Mark's dinghy and motored up the creek to the town of Calabash in search of fuel.  Skipper Bob's had said that the Calabash Marine had cheap fuel prices in 2003, but when we got there we discovered that the marina had gone out of business.  We stopped for pizza and then walked a few blocks into town.  Later on Mark invited me over for real tasty steak dinner.

In the morning Mark, who had been having trouble with his starter, said that it was making a grinding noise when he started it this morning.  He wanted to get over to Barefoot landing where he could tie the boat up at the dock and try to troubleshoot the problem.  The forecast was for rain all day and I started out about a half hour behind him after studying the gray skies.  I put on my foul weather gear pulled up the anchor and headed towards Barefoot Landing.  After about 15 minutes it started to rain.  After about an hour I felt my back getting wet.  It seemed that my West Marine foul weather jacket, which was advertised in the catalog as water-proof, suddenly was not.  After about three miles I decided to turn back and spend the day at the the anchorage I had just left.  If I didn't find a spot at Barefoot Landing, I would have to continue on in the rain another 30 miles to the next anchorage with a leaking foul-weather jacket.  On the way back the rain let up for a while and I stopped for fuel at Cricket Cove Marina.  I anchored in the same spot as before and spent the day reading.  It rained all day long.

The next morning I left at around 7:30 for Barefoot Landing.  I arrived at around 9:30 and found a spot at the south end of the dock.  Mark was still here and I walked over to his boat.  There was a group of cruisers who were going to take the shuttle bus over to the Wal-Mart and the West Marine so I joined them.  After we got back I walked around the mall and stopped in a few stores and bought a baseball cap.  Later on, Mark and I stopped at Damon's restaurant in the mall for dinner then headed back to our boats.  I caught the last hour of a Prairie Home Companion and got to bead early.

November 17, 2004 - Charleston, SC

We left Barefoot Landing around 8:00 a.m.  Our nest stop would be Bull Creek off of the Waccamaw River.  We arrived at around 1:30 p.m. and anchored around the second bend.  It's a beautiful anchorage and I was able to spent a few days here last spring.  Tom and Patty on Swan, who I was traveling with at the time, stayed at the Bucksport Marina a few miles up the river.

We took Mark's dinghy ashore and walked the nature trail on Sandy Island for a couple of hours then headed back to our boats.  We saw a lot of animal tracks but very little wildlife during our hike.  It must all come out at night.  I did see a few interesting birds however.

In the morning we headed to Minim Creek.  We arrived at around 2:00 p.m. and anchored just around the first bend in about 8 feet.  Several more boats arrived shortly afterward and by night fall we had about 10 boats in the anchorage.  After anchoring I replaced the line for my radar reflector which had chaffed through and fallen out of the pulley up on the spreader.  I had to threaded the line through the pulley from down on the deck using a method that I had used before, which consisted of two poles attached together with the line taped to a nylon tie-wrap with a loop threaded through.  I won't go into the details (I described the process in Chapter IV), but I was able to thread the line thorough the pulley and reattach my radar reflector.

I the morning we left for Charleston.  To arrive there before dark we had to make the Ben Sawyer Bridge, which is seven mile from Charleston, before 4:00 p.m.  The bridge does no open during rush hour, which is 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.  I arrived at the bridge at 2:00 p.m. and called the bridge tender.  She said that she would open the bridge for me shortly.  Tem minutes later she called to tell me that she was having electrical problems with the bridge and would not be able to open it again until the electricians arrived on scene.  I asked how long that would be.  She said that she wasn't sure, but that it usually takes the electricians 30 to 45 minutes to arrive after she calls.  An hour later she called to say that the electricians hadn't  yet arrived.  By this time there were several boats gathered around the bridge waiting.

After another half hour with the electricians still not on the scene, Mark and I decided to head back a few miles and anchor for the night because it did not look that they were going the open the bridge anytime soon.  Two other boats that were waiting followed behind.  as  we made out way to the anchorage.  I monitored channel 9 in case the bridge tender announced that the bridge would be opening.  No such announcement came.  So we continued on to the anchorage.  At 3:55 I looked back and saw the bridge suddenly open with no word from the bridge tender.  By this time we were too far from the bridge to turn around so we just continued on.  We anchored in a small creek in Hamlin Sound with four other boats.

In the morning we left the anchorage at around 7:45 to make it back to the bridge for it's first opening after the morning rush hour restriction.  We got through with no problems and arrived at the anchorage in Charleston at about 10:00 a.m.  The group of Canadian boats we had seen last back at Southport were hear, and I anchored in the same spot as I had last spring, right between the two range markers for the channel in about 12 feet of water.  Raft, the C&C 38 was we had drinks on several days ago was about 60 yards away.

November 21, 2004 - Beaufort, SC

Charleston is a great city to visit, so we stayed for a few days.  We rode around and toured the city by bike for a while.  There are so many beautiful and historic homes scattered throughout the city that you could spend a day just taking them all in.  We didn't do that though.  Mark went back to the city marina to do laundry and I stopped at the library.  Latter that night we stopped in at Salty Mikes to have a few beers and shoot some pool.

The next day we stopped at Norm's for lunch.  Norm's serves some very good pizza and is popular with the College of Charleston students.  Later that night we went downtown and stopped at Cumberland's for there happy hour.  While the Simpson's are on TV starting at 7:00 p.m. they serve 50 cent Duff Drafts.  Well, it's not really Duff, but it's a pretty good beer just the same.

Saturday morning we left Charleston and headed south towards Beaufort.  The Canadian group also left Saturday, but they went offshore at Charleston for a 30 hour non-stop trip to Jacksonville, FL, skipping Georgia all together.  They're used to sailing the Great Lakes where there aren't any tides, and said that they didn't want to deal with the 8 to 9 foot tidal ranges in Georgia.  I didn't see why they they wouldn't put up with a tide that was only 2 to 3 feet higher that than Charleston.

The trip to Beaufort was 67 miles from Charleston, so we decided to break it up into two days.  We had planned to stop at Tom Point Creek the first night, but that would give us 26 miles the first gay and 41 the next, so we continued on and anchored in the South Edisto River making both days trips more or less equal in length.

We arrived in Beaufort at around 1:00 p.m. and passed through the Ladys Island Bridge to check out the anchorage next to the city marina since it did not appear crowded.  We scouted the anchorage and found it too deep which would have required a lot of scope.  We called the bridge again and asked for another opening so that we could go back to Factory Creek (the bridge opens on request on weekends).  I thanked the bridge tender for opening a second time for us and promised that it would be our last time through today.  I anchored just past the Ladys Island Marina on two anchors because the creek is somewhat narrow.

After we anchored I rowed to the marina and tied up my dinghy and walked across the street to do laundry.  While I was waiting I got lunch at the Sonic across the street and then walked over to the Publix.  Mark walked over to the Publix and stopped by the laundromat on his way back.  On the trip back to our boats, we were treated to a sunset bagpipe medley performed by someone standing on the end of the docks.  He was quite good and got a round of applause from the boaters at the marina.  He even did and encore of 'Amazing Grace'.

November 26, 2004 - St Simons Island, GA

From Beaufort we headed down to the New River at mile 570 to anchor for the night.  We got a late start because of the restricted bridge opening and got through at 9:00 a.m.  When we arrived we anchored in the New River and a large shrimp boat anchored right behind us.  He left most of his deck lights on all night and could probably be seen for miles.

In the morning we crossed the Savannah River into Georgia.  As we entered the river I noticed a container ship approaching from the distance.  He seemed to be far enough away, but when the strong current hit us head on, he was upon us in no time.  I slipped by with no problem, but I was sure that the catamaran behind me was going to slow down to let the container ship pass before continuing across the river, but he kept on coming and just squeaked by before the ship on him (see picture below).

We headed down to Kilkenny Creek and anchored around the bend past the marina in about 11 feet.  There was a cold front approaching and we had good protection from trees along the bank.  After we anchored we took Mark's dinghy over to the marina.  I bought 6 gallons of diesel fuel and we asked if the restaurant nest door would be opened tomorrow, which was Thanksgiving.  The marina called the restaurant then told us it would be closed.  We decided to head back to the boats then come back and have dinner at the restaurant that night.  As we were about to head over to the restaurant, the first line of showers hit and we decided to forget the idea.

The next morning it was cool and windy so we decided to stick around for the day and try to find a restaurant that was open in a nearby town.  We docked Mark's dinghy at the restaurant's dock and asked for directions to town at the marina.  We were told that the nearest town with a restaurant was about 13 miles away and he wasn't sure if there would be a restaurant opened.  We decided to ride over anyway since we had nothing else to do.

The ride into town was against the wind and slightly uphill and after about a hour and about 8 more miles to go,  we decided to abandon the idea and head back.  As we riding back I spotted what looked like an organizer on the side of the road.  I was riding about 20 yards in front of Mark and pointed it out to him as I passed it.  Mark stopped and picked it up as I circled back.  He opened it and found that it contained a woman's drivers license, credit cards, etc.  There was also a broken calculator inside, so I figured that it must have been run over by a passing car.  I guessed that the owner probably had taken it out of her handbag, placed it on top of her car and driven off forgetting it was there.

We rode back to the marina and gave the organizer to the owner.  He  looked at the license photo and said that he knew the woman and that she lived a few blocks away.  He said that she was also a waitress in the restaurant next door and would be thrilled that we found her organizer.  One of the customers that were in the marina at the time looked at the license photo and recognized the woman as their waitress form last night.  We never got our Thanksgiving dinner but at least quest to find it turned out to be worth the effort.

We left the next morning and headed towards the Frederica River.  It was cold and blowing about 15 knots.  I was supposed to warn up in the afternoon but never got past the the mid 50's.  We had a nice but short sail down the Sapelo Sound and later arrived at a very shallow portion of the ICW, the Little Mud River and the Altamaha River, at dead low tide.  As I rounded a bend and entered the Little Mud River I saw a sailboat aground near the starboard bank.  As passing trawler stopped and pulled him off.  I stayed far away from the starboard bank and called Mark, who was behind me, and advised him to do the same.  I squeaked through the Little Mud River with just inches below my keel and Mark did too, but later as I was crossing the Altamaha River, I heard Mark call me on the radio to tell me he was hard aground by marker 208.  I was well past him at this time and didn't think I could get close enough to him to throw him a line since I draw almost a foot more than him.

An approaching sailboat called him on the radio and asked if they could help, but Mark told them to stay clear since he thought that they would also run aground if they came near.  They took his advise, but tried to pass him between his boat and the marker instead of going around the outside of him.  They went hard aground also.  After a few minutes a small sport-fish came by and the wake bounced him off and he was on his way.  We got to the Frederica River shortly before sunset and anchored just passed the Fort Frederica National Monument.  Since it's supposed to be cold again and blowing 15-20 knots, we decided to stay here for a day and visit the fort and nearby St Simons Island.

November 30, 2004 - St Augustine, FL

We took the dinghy over to the small dock at Fort Frederica.  The sign at the dock said that it would be dry for two hours on either side of low tide, but we said 'what the hell' and tied up the dinghy and rode into town.  I turned out to be a beautiful day with plenty of sun and warm temperatures in the high seventies.  We stopped for lunch in town and walked around Fort Frederica on the way back.  When we got back to the dinghy it was sitting in the mud, so we had to wait around for about an hour before it was afloat again.

In the morning we left the Frederica River and entered St Simon's Sound.  From there we passed Jekyll Island and then crossed St Andrews Sound.  We anchored for the night at Drum Point just across from Cumberland Island.  I could see wild horses grazing along the shore.  They were close enough that I could get a picture without leaving the boat.  There were about 20 boats anchored here this afternoon, but there was plenty of room for all of us.

In the morning we left at about 7:30 and crossed the St Mary's River into Florida.  Mark left about an hour earlier than I, as he usually does because I have a much faster boat and will usually catch and pass him before we arrive at the next stop.  I stopped at Fernandina Beach for fuel and then continued on.  Along the way I go a call from 'Rag Time', on of the Canadian boats that we had met further back along the way.  He said that he heard me calling the dock at Fernandina Beach and called to say hello.  They were going to stop at Pablo Creek for the night, but we already were set to stop at Fort George which is a much better anchorage.

After anchoring at Fort George, I noticed a crab pot float near the port side of the boat.  I thought I was far enough away, but kept an eye on it any way.  I read for a while then decided to check on the float again.  I couldn't see it anywhere.  Just then Mark came by in his dinghy on his way to shore.  I asked him to look for the float as I pulled in my anchor rode hoping that the float would pop up from under the boat.  The float did pop up but moved along with the boat as I pulled on the anchor rode.  It was caught on something under the boat.

We tried hooking it with the boat hook and untied the line from the float in an attempt to pull the line through, but still couldn't get the line free.  I decided that I would have to go over the side to free the crab pot.  I put on my wetsuit and climbed down the stern ladder.  The water was much colder than I had expected and it took my breath away for a few seconds.  I caught my breath and dove under.  The line had somehow gotten wrapped around the prop.  I freed it, tied the float back on and Mark pulled it back away from my boat.

The next day as we were motoring on toward St Augustine, I spotted 'Rag Time' as I passed Pablo Creek.  They were in the process of pulling in their anchor, so I decided no to bother them with a call on the VHF for a while.  After about 20 minutes I gave them a call to say hello.  They told me that they had used a trip line on their anchor that night and the boat had floated over the line when the tide changed.  The trip-line  was wrapped around their prop.  He was about to go over the side when I called.  I told them about my experience last night and to be prepared for the cold water.

I got to St Augustine at around 2:00 p.m. and found a spot on the north side of the bridge.  Mark arrived at 2:30 and decided to try the south side as the north side had gotten very crowded.  After anchoring and making sure that I had enough swing room as the tide changed, I rowed over to the dinghy dock.  Mark and I walked into town and has a pasta dinner in a small pizza restaurant in town.  When I got back to the boat I noticed that a boat anchor nearby named 'Meteor', a Pearson Invicta I believe, was sailing around on it's anchor and coming pretty close to me.  I'll have to keep an eye on him.

December 6, 2004 - Indian Harbour Beach, FL

We stayed in St Augustine for two more days and then headed to Daytona.  While we were there we met Don and his family.  Don is traveling on a Gemini 34 catamaran named 'Calypso', with his wife, Melora, his two daughters, Savannah and Ginny Cate, and their dog Rugg.  Don had been moving their car south in short hops as they made their way along the ICW.  Don was driving up to Brunswick, GA to pick up the car and kindly offered to drive us to the supermarket, West Marine, etc.  The next morning Don was driving over to St Brendan's Isle in Green Cove Springs to pick up his mail.  Since I use the same mail service, I called them and asked them to give my mail to Don when he arrived.  That saved me sometime and a few bucks as well.

The night before we left I met up with Sy at the A1A Ale Works in town.  I had gotten their just after happy hour and had missed some good free food and their half-priced micro brewed ale.  I talked with Sy for a while then went back to the boat at around 8:00 pm.  I needed to get up early the next morning to beat the opening restriction at the Bridge of Lions.

We arrived at Daytona and anchored across from the Halifax Harbour Marina where I anchored with Tom and Patty from 'Swan' this past spring.  We went ashore and walked into town for dinner.  They were having a holiday festival that night with free music, some free samples of food, and free admission at the town museum.  We had dinner in a small Italian/Greek restaurant, hung around town for a while, then headed back to our boats.

From Daytona I headed on to Indian Harbour Beach.  Mark stopped at Cocoa since he had never been there.  I had just been there in the spring and there isn't too much around town.  Most everything is in Cocoa Beach on the other side of the river.  Unfortunately, you can't walk or ride over the bridges that connect the beach side to the mainland.

I arrived in Indian Harbour Beach at around 2:30 and called the Mathers Bridge for an opening because I wanted to anchor on the north side of the bridge where there is less local boat traffic.  The bridge tender told me that he was having electrical problems with the bridge and that it would be about an hour before the electricians arrived (a familiar story).  I decided to anchor at Dragon Point which is a little more exposed.

After I anchored, I rowed over to Telemar Bay Marina and tied my dinghy up the dock next to Matt's boat, said hello to Matt and Jarett and walked over to Swan to say hi to Tom and Patty before dropping my clothes off at the laundromat across the street at the apartment complex.  After the laundry was done I walked back to Swan for drinks with Tom, Patty, Doug, Gus and Matt.  After drinks I enjoyed Patty's delicious Rice and Beans (Hers always tastes so good.  When I make it, I always need to add a lot of hot sauce).

In the morning I rowed back over to Telemar Bay Marina and tied my dinghy up behind Swan and rode the bike over to the library and Wal-Mart and had lunch at Wendy's.  On the way back I talked to Tom for a while.  Tom was in the process of applying three more coats of varnish to Swan's rub rails.  About an hour after I got back to the boat, Mark arrived and anchored behind me.  I took a dinghy ride ashore with him and walked back to Wal-Mart and then stopped at Publix to pick up some steak or dinner.  I'm planning to leave for Vero Beach in the morning or for Rock Point, which is half way between here and Vero, in the afternoon.  It all depends on what time I get up in the morning.  I'm not in much of a rush anymore since I'm pretty far south now and the temperatures have warmed up quite a bit.

December 11, 2004 - Vero Beach, FL

We left for Rock Point in the afternoon and arrived at the anchorage in about two hours.  There were three other sailboats already anchored here on the NW side of one of the spoil islands.   We left early the next morning hoping to arrive at Vero Beach early enough to get a mooring without having to raft to another boat.  I called the Vero Beach Municipal Marina about 30 minutes before I would arrive at about 12:30 p.m. to reserve a mooring, but when I got there they had me raft to another boat anyway.  The mooring field was very crowded even though they have over 50 moorings.  Almost all of the boats were rafted two or even three to a mooring.  I found out that the only boats that would not have another boat rafted to them were the few that had long term contracts with the marina.

I rafted up to a Hunter 30 named 'Gladys Marie' and called the owner to let him know that I would be tying-up to him.  He wasn't around so I maneuvered alongside and tied my lines to his cleats and then ran a line from my bow to the mooring.  Later on the owner arrived and we talked for a while and had a few beers.  he told me that the last guy that had rafted to him tied his lines to his stanchions instead of his cleats.  It turned out that that guy was Butch on 'Elvin Magic' a J-28, who had been traveling down from Annapolis with Tom and Pat.

The next day as I was rowing ashore I spotted an Island Packet with 'Snark' on the transom.  I wasn't sure if it was Hampton's boat because the canvas was a different color.  I rowed over and sure enough it was him.  I didn't expect to see him here because he had left a lot earlier than I had and he had told me that he was heading to the Keys.  It turns out that he had been there for about a month and Jack who had been aboard as crew had gone back home a few weeks ago.  We talked for a while and later on Hampton came over to my boat for dinner.  Hampton brought the beer and I made linguine and clam sauce, one of my favorite dishes.  Hampton was my first taker on this meal.  I had offered it before, buy no one took me up on it because they had not liked clams.  Well, I made a double portioned and we finished it all.

I have the mooring reserved for four days right now, but I may stay longer.  They have almost everything you need here, including free bus service all over town.  It's a very nice area and is sometimes referred to as 'Velcro Beach' by cruisers because many of them stop here planning to spend a few days and end of staying a few months.

January 12, 2005 - Miami Beach, FL

After a month in Vero Beach, I finally untied the boat from the mooring and headed towards Miami.  Over the holidays there were at least one hundred boats in the mooring field.  For Christmas everyone got together for a pot luck Christmas dinner at the marina facilities.  The marina was closed for Christmas and the marina staff was off, but they had been nice enough to leave the facilities open for the boats staying in the marina.  Everyone brought some food and we all had a nice Christmas dinner.

While in Vero Beach, I ordered an outboard motor for the dinghy from a store that sold on eBay.  They had the bet prices on outboard engines and guaranteed to match or beat anyone's price.  They also offered free shipping and they got the engine to me the next day.

I left Vero on a Saturday morning and headed down the ICW and stopped in Jensen Beach for the night.  The next morning I headed to Lake Worth.  After passing the St. Lucie Inlet the ICW became very congested with pleasure boats since it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  The boat traffic was like nothing I had seen before.  It seemed like there were hundreds power of boats out on the water that day and they all seem to be passing me at top speed from both directions.  The waterway looked like a washing machine from all of the boat wakes, and in the middle of all of this traffic, kids were wakeboarding, which I thought was truly insane since they often fell off right in front of approaching boats.  On top of all this I had to stop and wait for bridges to open for me to proceed.  Thankfully the areas around the bridges were slow speed, no wake zones.  I got to Lake Worth anchorage at around 3:30 p.m. and dropped my anchor among 30 or 40 other boats.  It had been a long day and I was glad to finally drop anchor for the night.  I will definitely avoid this stretch of waterway on a weekend next time.

I stayed in Lake Worth fro a day to run some errands and left on Tuesday towards the Ft Lauderdale area.  Being a weekday, the boat traffic was light and the trip was pleasant even though there were many bridges to pass through.  The bridges opened o schedule, but were timed well so that you didn't have to wait long at the next bridge.  Along the way I passed many multi-million dollar homes along the waterfront.  There are not many anchorages along this stretch of the waterway, and I had to choose between Boca Raton, Pompano Beach and Ft Lauderdale.  The anchorage at Boca Raton looked small, and there was a large shoal in the center of it, so I continued on.  I wasn't sure if I could make the Lake Sylvia anchorage in Ft Lauderdale by sunset, so I stopped at the Lake Santa Barbara anchorage in Pompano Beach just north of the Ft Lauderdale area.  I had heard that a cruiser anchored hear before was asked to leave, so I was concerned about anchoring here, but when I arrived there was a police boat sitting at the entrance to the anchorage and he said nothing, so I proceeded in and dropped the hook.  There were a couple of boats anchored here already so I felt comfortable that we wouldn't be bothered.

We weren't asked to leave and in the morning I headed out towards Miami.  The trip was nice and along the way I passed Jim on Savannah, a Cape Dory 30 that was rafted to my boat over the Christmas holiday ay Vero.  He was also headed to Miami.  As I entered Biscayne Bay the water turned a beautiful turquoise color, and was much clearer than it was further north along the Florida coast.  After passing under the last bridge draw bridge, I turn east and traveled alongside the Venetian Causeway toward Miami beach.  I dropped anchor across from the Miami Yacht Club.  I was given the GPS coordinates for this spot from Don who I had been rafted alongside back in Vero Beach.  He said that he had stayed here for several months and that it was a good anchorage which wasn't exposed to boast wakes on the weekends since it was in a slow speed zone.  I also have a great view of the cruise ships that come into port and the Miami skyline.  The only drawback that I found so far is that it is a long dinghy ride to the dinghy docks at South Beach.  I may move closer in later on.  Brad and Joyce also pointed out a house across the way that supposedly belongs to Jackie Chan.

As I arrived I got a call on the VHF from Brad and Joyce on Desta.  They were friends of Don's and he had called them to let them know I was coming.  I anchored near their boat and talked with them for a short while and then settled in.  A while later, Richard from Slow Dancing, the  boat on the other side of me came over and told me about a cruisers get together over on Monument Island at 4:30 p.m.  The cruisers in the area get together every Wednesday for drinks and snacks.  I took the dinghy over and saw several people I knew including John from back home in Huntington, NY.

The next afternoon I took the dinghy over to visit Bill on Magnolia who I had last seen almost two years ago back in Ft Myers Beach.  I've kept in touch with Bill by email and he had told me that he was going to be here for a while.  After visiting with Bill for a while we headed in to South Beach.  Bill had found a spot where he could get free wireless Internet access.  I wanted to walk around South Beach and take in the sights.

January 25, 2005 - Miami Beach, FL

I'm really enjoying South Beach even though I have a 20 minute dingy ride to get into town.  I could move closer in, but I like the spot where I am anchored now.  A few boats will pick up and move close to town for the weekdays, and move back where I am for the weekends to avoid all of the boat wakes near town.  I may try this next week.

February 1, 2005 - Miami Beach, FL

This morning I woke up to a dog barking and another boat anchored too close to me.  I decided that it was time to move.  The dog belongs to the owner of another boat on a mooring about 100 yards away.  He always barks when his owner leaves him alone on the boat.  The sailboat that was too close to me, came in yesterday afternoon while I was ashore and squeezed into a tight spot between and two other boats.  He was fine for the time being, but when the wind shifted to the SE as it was supposed to on Wednesday, I would be right on top of him.  I had convinced two other boats to move from the spot in the past two weeks and was getting tired of it.  This and the baring dog finally got me to move.

I pulled up the anchor at around 8:00 a.m. and moved over to Belle Isle and anchored behind Bill's boat and left myself plenty of swing room.  As I paid out the rode while setting the anchor, I scrubbed it with a brush to get all of the crud that had accumulated on it during the past two weeks.  I was glad to be over here.  I cut about 30 minutes off my round trip dinghy ride to shore, and I can go back to the boat easily any time I want.  As I got into shore I stopped and talked with Bill.  He was doing his morning Internet session.  He found a spot where he gets free wireless Internet right where everyone ties up their dinghies.  The only problem with this is that he has to sit on the ground while he uses the computer.  I usually go over to the Van Dyke Coffee shop where I can sit down and have breakfast while I surf the Net.  This afternoon were going to meet after lunch and walk along the beach and check out the beautiful women.

March 19, 2005 - Miami Beach, FL

I'm still here in Miami Beach.  I had decided not to go to Marathon after hearing how crowded it gets there.  I've moved the boat a few times to different anchorages in the area trying to get away from noise, large wakes, etc.  I found a real nice anchorage betweem Palm, Hibiscus, and Star Island.  Right now I am anchored in front of a house that belongs to Julio Iglesias (click here to see a picture).  I found that out from one of the tour boats that passes by.  I know that there are several other celebrity homes nearby because I can faintly hear the tour boat guide talking about them after he passes by.

I'll probably be leaving here and heading north around the 1st of April.