Hiatus in The Bahamas

Venice of America We cautiously entered Lake Sylvia.  Hug the left shore of the entry channel until you are abreast of the No Wake Zone sign, then cross over to the right shore to avoid the shoaling as you enter the Lake.  We circled around the perimeter and found a niche among the boats at the south end to poke our nose into and drop anchor. There are precious few locations to anchor in or near Fort Lauderdale.  In a way, it's remarkable that there are any.  Lake Sylvia is the primary anchorage.   There are a few liveaboards here, but most of the boats are doing what we are doing, waiting for a weather window to go somewhere offshore. Lake Sylvia is surrounded by mansions.  You can't dinghy to shore.  The nearest dinghy landing is a mile away at Southport Raw Bar.  You can tie up to their dinghy dock for $10.00 a day, redeemable in food or drink.  It's a good bar/restaurant, so it's an OK deal.  To get there, head out of Sylvia, du...

Down to Fort Lauderdale The end of the year brought the end of our time in Fort Pierce.  On Thursday, December 31st, we said our goodbyes and lifted our dock lines from their cleats.  We were bound for Fort Lauderdale, to wait out a weather window to cross over to The Bahamas.  BTW, it is T he Bahamas; it's official. We chose to go south through the ICW, the Intracoastal Waterway.  Why?  Well, we have never done it before.  It's protected.  We will see how people live along the way.  We ignored the advice of our pilot guide that advised against cruising this section of the ICW on weekends.  It was time to go.  Yes, the weekend was coming, New Year's Day Weekend. Our first leg took us to, arguably, the nicest anchorage of the South Florida ICW, Peck Lake.  The bottom had good holding.  The anchorage had room for dozens of boats (which it had).  But, its charm is the short walk to the Atlantic.  The beach is part of t...

Where to Begin. Probably at Fort Pierce. We rented a car in Appleton and drove to Fort Pierce.  We kept the car for a few days for running around and getting stuff.  We drove straight through on election day. We were supposed to launch Hiatus the day we arrived.  The wind was up.  The dock master was hesitant to let us launch.  The weather would be better next week.   The dock master is a nice, thoughtful guy.  His name is Dan.  What more can I say?  We started working on him. The wind was worse our second day, but we had convinced Dan we could get Hiatus into her slip.  We did.  BTW, the wind was the approach of HURRICANE IOTA .  Good timing, huh? We spent roughly the next two months doing  planned and  unplanned upgrades to Hiatus. What's it like being in a Florida marina for two months?  Get real.  Florida.  Marina.  Pool.  We had manatees and dolphins - egrets, ibis, great blue herons, and...

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