24 March 2014
The overnight winds had calmed down, they were less than 5kts when we got ready to leave. At 8:30 AM we could see that it was going to be a very nice day.
We headed north and admired the growing Miami Skyline. At the northern end of the Biscayne Bay we entered into Miami. Off to the fart right is Miami Beach, connected to the mainland by a series of causeways.
We take a short detour into the Miami Marine Stadium. It was built years and years ago to be able to watch boat races, ski shows, etc. It’s now in disrepair and is primarily a free anchoring location. It has an amazing view of the Miami skyline, at night it is pretty amazing.
While turning around I noticed that the boat was acting weird, it wasn’t really turning like it should. I wrote it off to tides and currents and was able to keep on going.
In this section of the ICW there are a ton of low bridges that need to get opened. Some open on the ½ hours, some open on request (never, ever use the word demand with a bridge operator). When we got to the West Venetian Bridge, it was closed for repairs. So we went east down the canal to the East bridge. On the way we saw a cool floating bouncy house, it looked like it was part of a park.
Lots of boats, some expensive, some cheap and some derelicts. I can see how boaters can get upset by having an abandoned boat next to them. It’s hard to track the owners down to make them move them. When we were in Tavernier we heard that a common problem is the owner died and there isn’t really anyone that owns the boat.
When we got to the dock at Pelican Harbor Marina, I had a tough time backing in. It felt really weird and unresponsive.
While I was up at the marina office checking us in, Susan took a gopro video. Our starboard prop was gone! The shaft had broken just past the cutlass bearing!
I was able to get a local diver that came, and confirmed the shaft was broken and gave me some local places to try to get it repaired.
Looks like we will be here for awhile.
Hi. We are from Toronto and bought a 4788 in fall of 2013, and bringing her to Florida in 3 weeks. Last year took her from port Severn to Belleville and starting south in 2 weeks.
Some questions..
1. We only have 3 weeks to get south and think that Myrtle Beach would be a good spot to leave her til October, as will go the rest of the way to Florida in the fall.. Is this reasonable?
2. Did u go south on the east coast or inside? We are thinking of bypassing Delaware/Chesapeake and going “outside” to save some time. Do u have any experience with this?
3. Once we get south of NYC, can we go inside through New Jersey, or too shallow?
We have enjoyed reading your entries on AGLCA and know you’re a fellow pilothouse guy so any info would be helpful.
Peter
Lets see, I’d go from Belleville Ont to Oswego NY directly across the lake. I’d wait for a calm day, but you can do it a day. From there you will go East on the Erie Canal. Depending on the weather and the locks (broken or not) this could take a week. From there you go down the Hudson to the NYC Harbor and then down to Cape May. My log shows 9 travel days and we did the outside of NJ since we had good weather.
You can go on the outside of Delaware if you want. Once you leave Cape May NJ, your next stop in Ocean City MD. From there you need to go the entire way down to Norfolk. Your 4788 has the range, you just need to get the weather for the outside run. That’s going to get you into Virgina in about 17-18 days of travel time.
Next part it the 250 miles from the top of Virgina to Myrtle Beach, at 50 miles a day it’s another 5 days. So you are now up to 22-23 days, slightly over your three weeks.
You could plan on longer days of travel, but this also says you’ll get all good travel days.
Plan B would be to take the boat into the Chesapeake and leave it there, then start the 1000 mile run to the keys from there.