Tuesday - 6/9/20 - Key Largo to Ft Lauderdale Hall of Fame Marina

Neither of us slept particularly well last night even though the temperature was comfortable at anchor even without the AC on.   We were both up and out of bed by 4am.  We did some blogging and some miscellaneous stuff around the boat for a couple of hours.

It was a beautiful sunrise to enjoy with our coffee from the bow.... A new day begins!

Here comes another day of looping

Beautiful morning sky

Our plans for today were to cruise approximately 85 miles to make it through Miami (no real desire from either of us for the big city) and on to Ft Lauderdale where we had reserved a spot at The Hall of Fame Marina which is adjacent to the swimming and diving hall of fame.  In addition to a museum of swimming and divers it also has an Olympic sized pool and dive platforms that you can use if you stay in the marina.

We departed our anchorage at 7:30am and headed for a small marina/gas station about 6 miles up the waterway where we topped off our fuel tanks at a whopping $4.29 per gallon!  ouch.....that hurts the pocket book.   We then set out an made good time on fairly smooth waters of the ICW that included several large bays.   We picked up our pace across the last bay the was leading into Miami because the waves were coming at us from behind and to our starboard side making it difficult to stay on course.....nothing that some additional speed cannot rectify :-)

Downtown Miami skyline as we approached 

Things got big and busy entering into Miami

Enjoyable sites from the water but we had little desire to stop in Miami

As we entered into the Miami area the high rises of downtown Miami, Miami Beach and surrounding suburbs took over the skyscape.   It really is quite impressive how large this area is.   Our traveling speed slowed significantly as we cruised the next 20 miles or so because of many no wake/minimum wake zones.    We also traversed under many bridges only two of which we were too tall to get under without it being lifted.   Fortunately for us the first one we came to was scheduled to open just one minute after our arrival so we almost went right through.   The second one that required being lifted had a boat already waiting and we only had to wait there for about five minutes.   The last 10 miles or so to the marina was all 'no wake' zone and the HOT afternoon sun was beginning to get the best of us.   The last mile or so was cruising through what many call 'millionaire row'.   The houses are ridiculous and the boats are immense yachts.   As we turned the corner and approached the marina we had reserved it was apparent we would be the little guy again....lol.

It is totally amazing how many multi million dollar yachts are in this area....hundreds if not thousands of them everywhere.   Financial wealth obviously abounds in this area.   Wonder if they are really happy folks? 

Aquaholic amongst the big boys 

We saw literally thousands of 60-140 ft yachts today

The 100' Yacht 'Caron' in front of us was all lit up at night

Upon backing gently into our slip we received help and advice on the area from a nice dock hand.  We did ask him immediately where the Hall of Fame Pool was and we were very disappointed when he pointed next door to us stating, "right there...you can even swim in it if you come back next year when it is finished".  :-( :-(    It is undergoing a major renovation and is not scheduled to reopen till next summer.   Oh well.   Instead we got the boat plugged in and AC fired up.  We were both exhausted from not getting a great nights sleep and being out in the hot sun all day so we took a nice little nap before dinner.

After dinner Renee worked on some school stuff while Erik gave the boat a good spray down to remove all of the salt we had accumulated over the last two days of cruising the open waters.  Rested up some and cooled down we took a nice walk on Ft Lauderdale beach which was located directly across the street from us.   The sand here is TOTALLY different sand than we had been experiencing on the gulf side.  It is a browner color and much grainier, however, it is definitely much better than the rock and coral beaches of the keys to walk on!  Of course we managed to find an ice cream shop on the way home.

Not sure what kind, but some sort of fish seen from the dock at the Hall of Fame Marina

Tranquil sunset this evening over the Atlantic 

We are getting plenty of sun...maybe too much! 

Our plans are to stay here just the one night and to move up the coast tomorrow toward Stuart which we have heard good things about.