SUNDAY FEBRUARY 21ST

It was a calm, picturesque morning as we traveled up Biscayne Bay. The skyline of Miami was left behind, to be replaced with condo after condo.





This was one of the many bridges we had to wait to have raised for us today. They open on either the half hour or the quarter hour so we usually didn’t have to wait for too long.







We passed through Ft. Lauderdale today. This is the cruise pier. We counted 6 ships that were busy cleaning and reprovisioning for the next group of passengers. All these ships will most likely depart later today.





The day got sunny and warmer as it went on. It was the warmest day in this area so far in 2010. And I think everyone who had access to a boat was on one. It was absolute chaos as we traveled up the ICW from Miami to Delray. Our 44-foot boat is pretty puny compared to many of the boats in Florida. The ICW in many of these areas is not very wide and the boats were flying. Their wakes would bounce off the seawalls and back across the canal making waves go every which way. It was nuts!!!







We saw a couple of people in kayaks and wondered if they even survived. I think they were crazy to even be out in that kind of boat traffic. Sitting so low in the water makes it very difficult for boaters to even see them.

Visiting with my mom the other day she asked whether we had noticed the homes with large yachts docked in front of them? She and my dad had taken a boat trip with friends years ago in this same area. I told her we’d seen some large homes and boats but nothing out of the ordinary. Well, today we discovered what she meant. We passed mile after mile of mansions, and many had boats docked out in the front of them valued at over a million and up.The photo doesn't really give the perspective of how large the boat or the home is. Ross guessed this boat to be around 150 feet long.


A couple of other biggees was saw.









Okay, I realize if you can afford a house like this, you can afford a cleaning lady. Or a crew of them. But I bet everyone would still end up hanging around in the kitchen, if they could find it.




We did notice that many of these grandiose places where for sale.






It was good to finally arrive at a marina for the evening. It was a nerve wracking day for all of us, especially Ross. Too much traffic in too small a space. When we attended the Looper Fall Rendezvous we listened to speakers who gave us good advice as to anchorages and marinas. One excellent bit of advice they gave us, which we had forgotten until yesterday, was don’t travel on the weekends up the ICW on the east coast. Lesson learned!!!!