After we left Normans Cay we entered the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park (ECLSP). It’s a national park thats 22 miles long and 8 miles wide and the entire park is no-take zone. The park had mooring balls in popular areas that are reasonably priced and they also charge for anchoring in the park.

The first night we anchored off of Shroud Cay, which offered mangrove streams and coral reefs to snorkel on. There are currents in the area so we decided to explore the miles of mangrove streams running through the cay. Sue used the stand up paddle board and I followed her in the dingy. We had a great time exploring the mangroves. We saw lots of turtles and baby sharks in the streams. It was low tide so there were a couple of spots too shallow for the motor and I had to row.

The next day we headed to Warderick Wells Cay where the park’s main office is located. A west blow was heading our way and they had a mooring field that was protected. We tried calling in for a reservation, but part of the park’s charm is no cell coverage. I should have called on the satellite phone, but didn’t think about it. Of course, when we got there all the moorings were reserved, probably by folks who did think of using their sat phone. For punishment, we had a rocky 24 hours in a mooring field that didn’t have adequate protection from a west wind.

We ended up spending three nights at Warderick Wells. The second day was a wash since it was too rough to take the dingy to shore. The other days we walked the numerous trails on the island, always on the lookout for poison wood trees.

We were running low on supplies so we left the park for Staniel Cay. We had internet and it was time to recharge our Bahamas cell phone. That’s when I realized I didn’t have my credit card. I called the restaurant where I last used it and they had it. So, Sue and I got up early and back tracked over 40 miles to Highbourne Cay.

Tomorrow were heading back into the park to visit a couple of spots we missed.

Today we left Allens Cay for a short 10 mile sail to Normans Cay. The conditions were perfect and we were able to comfortably sail at 7 knots.

Getting into the anchorage looked tough on the charts. We had to go through a shallow area that showed 5 feet of water and, we were at low tide, I think. There are no tide stations so I split the difference between the Eleuthera and Nassau stations.

The other aide I had was the new Garmin chart plotters record the depths along with coordinates. Those breadcrumb trails with depth readings then get uploaded to Garmin. I downloaded someone else’s trip with depths and followed their path. The depths were pretty accurate and I was able to make it into the anchorage without issue.

In the 80s, Carlos Lehder, partner to Pablo Escobar, ran a drug smuggling operation out of Normans Cay. The operation was shut down long ago but many of the artifacts are still here. The most popular is the DC-3 that crashed just off the Cay.

Once we anchored and had an early lunch, we loaded up the dingy and headed to the DC-3. The wind and current was strong so Sue stayed on the dingy while I swam on the wreck. I was surprised at the condition of the wreck. It has been sitting in saltwater for over 30 years.

After the the plane wreck, we went to check out Normans Pond. It’s a large pond with deep water inside. Well, deep water for around here. 15 to 20 feet deep. The problem is getting into the pond. The entrance is narrow and shallow. We have a west wind coming soon, and Normans Pond would be an excellent hiding spot, so I wanted to check it out in the dingy to see if I could make it in. Well, I’m not doing it. I could probably get in at high tide, but I’m not going to chance it. There are other hiding spots out there.

Tomorrow, Sue and I will be entering the Exumas Cay Land and Sea Park for several days. Its a national park and there are no developments. No towns, stores, or cell service, not even a gift shop. So, our position map will update since that uses satellites, but no blog posts or phone calls for a while.

Note: The following underwater shots are provided complements of Sue’s friend, Kim-lien, who left us with an underwater camera when she came to visit in Norfolk.

We left Rock Sound Wednesday morning, along with more than 10 other boats. The winds that we all took cover from finally broke and everyone was on the move. Sue and I were heading west for the northern tip of the Exuma’s chain.

The waters to the west of Rock Sound are shallow with moving sand bars and coral heads. There are several channels cutting through the bank, the primary being the Davis Channel. As we were heading through the Davis Channel, the lead sailboat announced on the radio he hit a coral head and was aground. He was able to free himself before we made it to him. Since he was on AIS, I had his breadcrumb trail on my chart plotter and knew where not to go. We later found out he had over a 7 foot draft, so I’m sure this wasn’t the first bump he’s had down here.

Once we got out of the Davis Channel we entered the Exuma Sound and deep water. Over 5,000 feet deep.

The wind was directly behind us and I was able to run wing on wing for a while. The waves were still large, left over from the week of heavy blows. Eventually, I had to bring the jib in. Without a wisker pole, it was too difficult to keep it filled. On the main only, we were doing 5 knots and we’d make it to the anchorage in plenty of time.

During our crossing, we had a real treat. A pod of dolphins came by to play in our bow wake. There was more than a dozen and they stayed for about 20 minutes before moving on. We didn’t get any pictures because we were enjoying the moment. But, we’ll get the camera out if it happens again.

Once we crossed the sound, we went through the Highbourne Cay Cut and anchored on the west side of Highbourne Cay.

Just north of us is Allens Cay, which is home to a variety of iguanas only found in the Bahamas. Just like the pigs, these guys expect to get fed when you visit. The guide book warns they can get aggressive if you come empty handed. So, I brought plenty of broccoli, lettuce, and oranges.

As soon as we pulled the dingy up to the beach, they came out looking for food. We had a good time with the iguanas and we’ll see how they compare to the swimming pigs.

Another cold front is scheduled to come through Friday. We’re at a nice protected anchorage so we’re planning to ride it out here. This one is only going to last a day instead of a week like the last one. Then we’re on to Normans Cay and the start of the national park.

Again. One thing I was looking forward to on this trip was not having a schedule to follow. I might not have a work schedule, but I do have a schedule I have to follow; the weather.

During winter, cold fronts come through The Bahamas regularly. They bring cooler dryer air and high winds. Before you start feeling too sorry for us, the temps are in the low 70s instead of the low 80s when these fronts come through.

We came back to Rock Sound on Wednesday knowing a cold front was coming on Thursday. Rock Sound has protection from any wind direction. So far, no swells have made it into the bay, and the sandy bottom provides excellent holding for the anchor.

Rock Sound is a town with restaurants, two grocery stores, hardware stores, and several liquor stores. One of the dingy docks we use is next to the town gas station.

As much as we’ve tried to be self sufficient, we need gas for the generator to make fresh water and to top off the batteries on cloudy days.

At this time, it looks like the winds are going to let up on Wednesday. Tuesday, we’re going to the immigration office at the airport to have our visas extended. We’ll also do our final provisioning at the grocery store. Sun up Wednesday morning we’re going to pull anchor and make way towards the Exuma’s. And it looks like another cold front will be coming on Friday.

That’s why we back tracked and haven’t moved in almost a week.

We had been on anchor for a week. The high humidity and salt in the air made everything feel damp. We started looking for a marina so we would have power to run the air conditioner for a couple of days to dry everything out. Plus, there was a blow scheduled to come in so we used that as an excuse too.

We found the Cape Eleuthera Resort and Marina only 10 miles from where we were anchored. And, we discovered the tourism board was giving $300 credit if you stay at least 4 nights. Sold. It’s actually cheaper to stay 4 nights than 2 nights.

It felt so nice to turn the air on. What a difference it made. The first night, the cold front came through and brought strong winds out of the north. At 2AM I was woken up because the boat was rubbing on the dock. The fender kept popping out so I had to drop the dingy and row an extra dock line out to a post. That fixed the issue so I went back to bed.

When I woke up in the morning and went outside to check on everything, the humidity was gone. The cold front brought in cooler and dryer air. It was still windy and the extra dock line was doing its job.

The weather patterns this time of year is nice weather for 3 to 5 days, then a cold front comes through and brings high winds for a day or two. It’s like playing musical chairs. You’re cruising having a great time, then the cold front comes, the music stops, and you had better find somewhere to hunker down.

Our 4 night stay at the marina started on a cold front. While we were here, there was very nice travel weather. We leave on Wednesday, and Wednesday night the music stops and the winds come in. So, we’re leaving here and heading back to Rock Sound to ride out the blow.

This resort is built atop the ruins of the Cape Eleuthera Golf Course. Back in the 70s this was quite the high end resort, here is an article that descibes it. The new resort is tiny compaired to what it once was. Sue and I spent the last 3 days exploring the private beaches, miles of trails, old grounds and buildings. The roads and golf cart trails are over grown but still usable. If you look hard, you can make out old sand traps and tees from the course. Many of the buildings are still standing, minus roofs and internal walls. The old Club House was the most impressive. I wish I could hop in a time machine and see this place in all it’s glory.

As the article points out, the new owners of the resort are starting out small and hoping to grow it. The old owners started out HUGE and watched it collapse. It’s a nice resort and is now my favorite and top recommendation in the Bahamas. If anyone wants to meet up this is the place.

We’ve spent the last 2 nights on anchor in the town of Rock Sound. It’s one of a few anchorages on Eleuthera where you have protection from any wind direction.

When we first arrived in Nassau another boater told us about My Island WiFi. It’s a company that rents MiFi devices by the week or month to tourists. Unlimited, un-throttled, high speed internet using the local cell towers.

Typically, they ship the device to your US address and you ship it back from your US address. They do offer pickup, but only on Grand Bahama or the Berry Islands, both locations are out of the way for us.

I called to see if there was any way to get one of their devices. Good news is they ship to any airport in the Bahamas. Bad news, due to the holiday’s they’re out of devices. They said they’d contact me as soon as one was available in country. I kept contacting them every couple of days to see if one came in.

Finally, one was returned. As for getting it to us, they put it on a Bahamian Air flight. Freeport to Nassau to Rock Sound International airport. The plane was scheduled to arrive at 4:30, so we’d still have sun to make it back to the boat.

I was surprised to see the airport has a dingy dock too. It was about a mile away from the town anchorage, so it didn’t take us long to get there. We arrived early with the hopes of meeting with immigration to extend our stay.

In Bahamian style, the immigration officer said were here too early. They wont extend stays until you have less than a week left.

The flight from Nassau was delayed almost an hour. When it finally arrived, parcels were the last items processed. It was getting dark and the no-see-ems were coming out in force. That was probably the fastest we got the dingy untied and launched. I did bring navigation lights for the dingy, but forgot to turn the anchor light on at Odyssey.

We found our way back, dropped everything off and the took the dingy to one of the town restaurants for dinner. They’re big on frying things around here, and this is one of the few places that actually grill fish, so I wasn’t going to pass that up.

The next day we went grocery shopping. Oh my, the prices keep going up as we get further from Nassau. A bag of Tostitos corn chips was $7.50. A can of DelMonte corn was $3.50. It’s time to start fishing or try catching one of the wild chickens running around town.

After shopping, we went to the Ocean Hole park. It’s a park with a large blue hole that’s on the edge of town. There are picnic tables, trails to the cliffs, and a ladder to climb out. It looks like the stone quarries I used to go swimming in, except it’s salt water and the fish are more colorful. Green turtles instead of snapping turtles.

I read the fish enjoy being fed, but they didn’t like the crackers I had brought. Another family at the park had bread, which the fish were all over. Picky eaters, I guess.

Today we head off to a marina for 4 days of unlimited power and air conditioning to dry the boat out. It’s humid here and at night the temperatures drops down to the dew point. There is salt in the air and we have cotton everything that suck up the moisture. Everything feels damp all the time. We like running the air conditioner regularly to dry the boat out.

We were predicted to have a wind out of the south, so we had to find a hiding place. The bank side of Eleuthera has very limited protection from the south, so you always have to watch the weather and have a game plan.

The closest spot for us was Hatchet Bay at Alice Town. From looking at Google maps, the town has several restaurants, a couple of bars, a grocery store, and a clothing store. So, we planned on staying a couple of days before moving on.

We arrived on Monday, and it seems all restaurants are closed on Monday’s in The Bahamas. Tuesday was New Years eve, and the restaurants that were opening, only had dinner. We prefer not to dingy in the dark, so no dinner.

The wine store had the open sign lit up both days but the door was always locked. No answer to any knocks. The main liquor store had no wine, some beer, and some rum. The store also has a bar, and the rum they had left were open bottles they’ve been using at the bar.

The clothing store was also closed. The only place open was the grocery store. It reminded me of a very rural IGA. It had everything you needed and nothing that you wanted. Well, we did pick up a couple of oranges and a Klondike Bar. They even had limes.

The other place that was open was “Da Spot” bar. We stopped and had a beer with another cruising couple who were anchored next to us. They were telling us they spent New Years at Staniel Cay last year and the mega yachts were putting on a big fireworks show. There are no mega yachts here, and it was just another evening for everyone.

I apologize for the pictures. The sun always seemed to be facing me. I can always get your money back if you don’t like them.

We left the marina today and headed back out to anchor. Our goal was to make it to the Glass Window Bridge and the Queens Bath, two of the most popular tourist sites on Eleuthera. Lucky for us they’re next to each other.

The only challenging part of todays sail was going through Current Cut. It’s a narrow channel between 2 islands. Outside of slack water, the current is fast, and slack water doesn’t last long. A boat 15 minutes ahead of us reported no current over the radio. When we went through, we had a 2 knot current behind us. I guess we missed slack water. The current was opposing the wind, so large chop was already starting to form.

We got to the anchorage without any issues. Once there, we had to spot out an area to drop the hook. Sue was on the bow looking for a sandy area for us to drop on. We’re trying to avoid grass, rocks, and coral.

We found a large sandy spot, but it must have been shallow sand on top of rock. We dragged anchor for a good 40 feet before it finally grabbed and held.

After lunch, we jumped into the dingy and checked our anchor. The water is so clear, I just follow the chain until I find the anchor. It, and most of the chain, was buried deep in the sand. It looked good so we headed to the beach. When you beach your dingy, you want to make sure you drag it past the high tide mark. We were near low tide so I had to drag it pretty far. Yet another reason not to get a bigger dingy or larger motor.

First, we stopped at the Queens Bath, which is a tidal pool. I was pretty impressed with it, but I did make 2 mistakes. I should have worn shoes, not flip flops, and I should have put on swim trunks so could have gone deeper into the bath.

The Glass Window Bridge wasn’t as impressive. The wind and waves were not right to give the best show. When the conditions are right, dark blue waves from the deep Atlantic side crash into the turquoise water on the bank side. And, the blow holes are shooting water high into the sky. All we got out of the blow holes today were a couple of belches.

Standing in the tidal pool. It looks like I’m about to get soaked, but it doesn’t make it.

The Animal Farm anchorage is about a mile or so from Spanish Wells. We were hoping to leave the boat there and dingy into town to explore, have dinner, and buy some fresh veggies. We’ve been having high winds since we’ve arrived and its been too rough for us to take the dingy into town. We didn’t want to skip Spanish Wells and we didn’t want to sit and wait a week for the winds to die down either. So, after 2 days on anchor waiting, we decided to call the marina and see if they had a slip available, and they did, so we headed in on Friday.

We’re staying at the Spanish Wells Yacht Haven and Resort. It’s a very nice resort with docks, pool, restaurant, bar, and several cottages. The folks staying here are either cruisers like us with family flying in to visit, or fisherman who don’t have living areas on their boat.

It’s a great place for anyone looking to get away for a week or two. Very laid back and easy going around here. The only difficulty is getting here. Fly into Nassau and then take a 2 1/2 hour ferry ride. If it was easy, everyone would be here and that would ruin it. If anyone wants to meet up and you don’t want to stay on the boat, we’d be happy to come back here or Atlantis.

Today we went grocery shopping at the islands biggest grocery store. I thought Nassau prices were high, but they’re cheap compared to prices on remote islands. And, I do most of my grocery shopping at Whole Foods and I think the prices are high. Everything has to be shipped in. Can and dry goods are not too bad, but anything that has a short shelf live and needs refrigeration is very high. The worst are frozen items. 1.5 quarts of Bryers ice cream was close to $20.

The other issue is availability. There isn’t a lime available anywhere on the island. Nor cilantro. So much for the salad dressing I was going to make. When I asked the clerk they said the boat might be in on Thursday. There may be limes on it.

Sunday, we’re moving on.

We finally left Nassau on Christmas morning and headed towards the northern tip of Eleuthera, near the town of Spanish Wells.

The first half of the trip was great. We sailed across the bank and were cruising comfortably at 7 knots with only 1 foot waves. The half way point to Eleuthera, we had to leave the bank and head to the ocean through Fleeming Channel. About this time the wind shifted and increased, making sailing impractical. I started the motor and beat into some sizable waves. Before the day was over, I was seeing wind speeds over 30 knots and large waves.

We were heading to Royal Island and were planning on anchoring in a bay with a narrow entrance. The wind and waves kept us from getting there before sundown, and I wasn’t going to try and enter the bay in the dark, so we anchored about a mile to the southwest, which gave us enough protection from the winds.

The winds were predicted to shift from the north to the east on Thursday, so in the morning we moved to an anchorage that provided better protection from east winds. It’s also closer to Spanish Wells. I was hoping to take the dingy to town, but a neighbor in the anchorage reminded me its Boxing Day and everything is closed.

In Staniel Cay, in the Exumas, there’s an island where a farmer keeps pigs. Over the years cruisers would stop by and bring them food, scraps actually. Eventually, the pigs started to swim out to the dingy to get the food first. After a few big YouTubers showed this, its become quite the attraction. Big enough that one of the excursions at Atlantis is to fly to Staniel Cay to see the swimming pigs.

Locals not wanting to miss out started putting pigs on every cay they can and bringing tourists out. Well, Meeks Patch, the island we’re anchored off, is one of those islands.

Tour boats came all day today with tourists ready to swim with the pigs. The only problem is, from reading the reviews, these pigs haven’t learned to swim yet. No worries, the guys running this pig island added chickens and ducks. We’re anchored next to Old McDonald’s Farm, with oink oink here and a quack quack there…

Hmmm… how can I bring this back to Chicago and make a living off it?

For those of us old enough to remember this American Express ad campaign, we’ve re-discovered the importance of making sure we have everything we might possibly need before leaving the good ol’ USA — at least anything that can’t be easily obtained from a local Bahamian store.

As mentioned in my previous post, I had replaced two of my sacraficial zinc anodes while we were anchored at Rose Island. The boat has a third anode that also needs to be replaced, but I didn’t bring a replacement, and none of the local marine supply stores carry it. Since we ended up extending our stay in Nassau waiting for weather conditions to improve, we decided this might be a good time to try and order the replacement zinc and have it shipped to the marina. But, when we mentioned our game plan to our boat neighbors, their jaws dropped in disbelief as they exclaimed, “You’re going to have something shipped from the US?? Have you ever done that before?!” In a bold display of our naivete, we stated that we should probably be able to have it shipped by FedEx next day or second day. We were sadly informed that such a plan simply wouldn’t work.

Our neighbors then proceeded to share their experiences with attempting to have items shipped to the Bahamas. Even though they paid the premiums to have things shipped via FedEx, both attempts took over eight days, several hundreds of dollars, and several days wasted in bureaucrats office before they actually got their parcels — one of which was a small replacement part that was only worth a few bucks. And, they considered themselves lucky to have gotten the packages at all since many are not so lucky. The only reason they managed to get their stuff was because they refused to leave one of the bureaucrat’s office at the airport and camping out stubbornly until they were finally able to bribe someone to get their package. Oh my. This explains why the boat supply store was unwilling to order the zinc I needed. It appears to be nearly impossible to navigate the quagmire of customs, bribes and red tape associated with shipping in merchandise. I spoke to one of the local dive operators and found out they will make a special trip to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale if they need to pick up something that can’t be easily purchased here.

Needless to say, we were starting to panic because the zinc anode had to be replaced soon or we’d have bigger issues from damaging corrosion. I started pulling everything out from storage to see if I might have saved the old zinc annode that we replaced before we left Winthrop Harbor. Fortunately, I found the old zinc that should work. Even though this zinc was used in freash water for 3 years, it’s in much better shape than the zincs we’ve had in salt water for just a few months.

So, we’ve decided to stay here at the Nassau marina until Christmas. The winds should die down by Wednesday, and we’re hoping to have a nice sail heading up to Eleuthra. And, I’ll wait until we’re at a nice calm anchorage before I try to replace the third zinc.

Christmas came early for us when Miriam, Melissa and Allison flew down to visit with us for a few days. We moved our boat to the Atlantis Marina last Saturday so we could join them at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. It was a real treat spending time with them — enjoying the lavish waterparks and beaches. On Monday, the girls even got to interact with a trained dolphin in one of the lagoons.

On Tuesday, Miriam and Melissa flew home and Allison moved onto the boat with us. We were hoping we’d be able to take her to Eleuthera for a couple of days but the weather wasn’t cooperating. The sail to Eleuthera would have been perfect, but a storm was moving into the area and we’d have to deal with 25 to 30 knot winds, large seas, and rain coming back.

Instead, we went to Rose Island, which is about 8 miles from Nassau. Far enough away to have a little remoteness, yet close enough to run home in storms. We anchored in 12 feet of water with a picture perfect sand bottom. Shore was on one side and a coral reef was on our other side. There was one other cruising boat and a couple of excursion boats from Nassau.

We took the dingy to shore to explore a bit. There wasn’t much around, so we headed back to the boat and got the paddle board out to explore and get more practice.

The next day I put my mask, snorkel, and fins on to check the underside of the boat. Both of my sacrificial zincs were worn down and needing replacement.

After replacing the zincs, we took the dingy to the other side of the reef and went snorkeling.

In the afternoon, we headed back to the marina to take cover from the approaching storm.

Here are some pictures from our last week in Nassau.

Miriam, Allison, Sue, and Melissa

We left Alice Town Bimini Tuesday morning. And, we needed to be in Nassau by Friday because Miriam, Melissa, and Allison are flying in on Saturday. Thursday was going to be strong winds, so we planned on sailing overnight to arrive on Wednesday.

There are three routes we could have taken to Nassau. The shortest is south of Bimini and across the Great Bahama Bank. This is shallow water and we were not comfortable sailing it at night because we’d be unable to navigate around coral heads or shoals in the dark. It was too far for us to make it across before sundown and we would have had to anchor in open water with no protection. The strong east wind would have made it very miserable.

The next route is north of Bimini and cuts across the Bank and end up on the south side of the Berry Islands. Again, more shallow water and we wouldn’t have made it to deep water before sunset.

The third route was to head north and go around the Grand Bahama Bank and end up on the North side of the Berry Islands. It was a longer route but it was all deep water so we wouldn’t have to worry about running aground in the dark. Since this is all new to us, we decided to take the safe deep water route.

The sail north to the Great Isaac Light was perfect. Winds out of the east and the waves were very manageable. Once we hit the Great Isaac Light, we had to turn into the wind. Sailboats can’t sail directly into the wind, so we had to zigzag our way east towards the Berry Islands. This is also a high traffic route with cruise ships, cargo ships, and Mega yachts.

The private islands owned by the cruise lines are in the north Berry Islands. A couple of them have popular anchorages. You can anchor, swim, fish, and paddle board, you just can’t go to shore.

From the Berry Islands we turned to head south towards Nassau. The wind had been blowing out of the east for a few days and the waves were larger than we like, but we made it into Nassau Harbour by Wednesday afternoon.

On Saturday, we’re moving to the Atlantis Marina on Paradise Island. Three nights at the most expensive marina we’ve ever stayed at. But, it includes access to all the water parks and other perks at the resort. Still cheaper than a slip in Boston.

We left the Las Olas Marina in Fort Lauderdale after spending a week getting ready for the Bahamas.

As I was disconnecting the shore power line, I dropped our 50 Amp to 30 Amp converter in the water. They cost around $200, so I didn’t want to leave it. I was scared to dive for it because the tidal current was strong and it was up against barnacle laden posts. I was worried I’d get cut up trying to get it. So, I called a professional diver. He was able to get it and didn’t even use a tank. And, he also inspected my bottom and tightened the zinc on my prop shaft while he was in the water.

Once we got out of the marina, we did 2 bridges and then hit the ocean. The sailing was perfect. 20 knots on the beam and we were in Miami in no time.

We came in the Government Cut from the ocean and anchored on the back side of Stadium Bay. There was a concert going on and Stadium Bay was packed. Since we’re leaving at 3AM, so I didn’t want to be in a crowded anchorage trying to find my way out in the dark.

The next day, we got up at 2AM and started making our way out of Miami and back to the ocean. The winds were going to be out of the east so we didn’t think we’d be able to sail. But, the gulf stream was strong and I had to head South East instead of East to compensate. It was enough of an angle for me to sail some of the way.

We made it to Alice Town on Bimini by 1:30. I spent an hour at customs and another 30 minutes at immigrations. Tomorrow, we head to Nassau.

Sue and I spent the last three nights at Lighthouse Point Yacht Club and had a great time. The facilities were top notch and the staff and members were friendly and helpful.

During the days we’d use the swimming pool, which I found out, was heated or cooled, depending on the weather. In the evenings, we’d meet others at the Tiki bar next to the pool for drinks.

It was difficult for us to leave this morning. Especially after the dock master told us there was an open slip for the next month. He also offered us a great rate if we’d stay. Very tempting, but we wanted to press on. And, we already made reservations in Fort Lauderdale and had 6 packages from Amazon waiting for us.

We did our 5 bridges and made it to Las Olas Marina. It’s a city marina in downtown Fort Lauderdale. We’re 2 blocks from the beach and once we got checked in we took a walk on the beach.

The docks here are fixed, meaning they don’t move up and down with the tides. And, there is a three foot tide so the lines need enough slack to handle the water level changes, but not too much. It gets a little nerve wracking cause the docks are made out of concrete and can chew up a fiberglass boat quickly if the fenders and lines are not set just right.

We’re planning on staying here a week while we prep to cross over to the Bahamas.