Day 40 - May 9

We leave Marine Park Stadium after a not so great night.  The air was still after the rain and some kids were playing in the stadium for a while.  They left and then the fire department decides to practice their fire fighting drills from the water, until 1 am.  ARG; with all the commotion, I read another hundred pages in the Clancy novel. 

We are going to sail on the outside and avoid the Miami and other bridges up to Ft Lauderdale.  We leave out of Fisherman's channel, which eventually connects with the main channel.   Even at 8 am it is busy.  We pass a large cargo ship being towed and pushed to its berth with 3 tugs.  Off Singer Island we run into several ferries moving commercial and personal vehicles off the island.  We pass another inbound freighter with no tugs, and then pass a flying bridge motor yacht towing a submersible.   Yes, we all live in a yellow submarine. 

We make it outside the channel and start the cruise north.  Like yesterday, there is a following swell, but the 8 to 12 knots winds did not show up.  We pass South Beach and Miami Beach, and the perspective is totally different from the water.  With no winds, we end up motoring the entire route to the Port Everglades inlet.  Just like Miami, this is a busy inlet. 

We get a slip at Las Olas Marina in Ft Lauderdale, and we go and take real showers.  After my shower, I am getting ready to go back to the boat when the skies open up.  We run into a couple we met in Boot Key Harbor, and chat during the deluge.  They invite us for cocktails on their boat, and we discuss our pending itineraries.  We note that we are planning to go to little Lake Worth tomorrow. Afterwards, Beth and I go have pizza at a restaurant we went to a couple of trips ago.  The place is stilll there and the food is still good.  After dinner we wander down the walk by the beach amazed at all the people out on a Wednesday night.