Cocoa Beach to Ft. Lauderdale

December 13, 2006: Well, we finally overcame the “dock-monster” and headed out of Manatee Cove Marina for points south. Dolphins followed us for miles, and we saw beautiful homes and a lot of wildlife along the way. We headed down the

Banana River about 5 miles to the Indian River, and retraced our trip back down to the St. Lucie Canal. We crossed our wake at that point, and continued south for another 10 miles or so to an anchorage recommended in “Skipper Bob’s” books. It was “as advertised” in his book, and we anchored for the night along with about 20 other boats, mostly “rag boats” – or sailboats – as their owners like to call them. It was a windy night, with winds gusting to 20-25 knots, but our trusty Delta Anchor held, and we had a fairly good night’s sleep.

Since I mentioned Skipper Bob, let me say that we learned this week that the “Skipper”, whose real name is Bob Reib, and is well known in cruising circles, passed away this past Monday. He has written about a dozen cruise guides that he updated regularly, and to those of us who leave our home waters to cruise, his books are almost mandatory. They are very well written, concise without a lot of fluff, and worth every penny they cost. I can tell you that two nights that we didn’t have to stay in a marina because of his anchorage location advice more than paid for the whole set of his books. More than that though, was the man himself. Although I had never met him back in 2001 when Pat and I began to seriously consider making this trip, I emailed him with a cruising question, not really expecting a response. Not only did I get a response, I got his wisdom, his advice, and an invitation to email or call him if I had more questions. I was amazed! Pat and I had the opportunity to met Bob in 2005 and again in 2006, at Great Loop Cruisers’ Rendezvous, where he was a featured speaker. There, I discovered that in a previous life he had been an Army Aviator as well. He was more than approachable, never turning anyone away. His sense of humor is legendary to those who have met him. Sadly, he passed away on Monday morning as he was putting up Christmas decorations at home. Those of us who have been privileged to meet him, and the thousands of us who have benefited from his writing, will miss him. He was a very good man.

Now, back to the trip. After our windy anchorage, we headed out the next morning, December 14th, for the worst day of cruising we have had to date. Believe it or not, we headed into the worst rainstorm in the history of this part of south Florida literally. Previous to this date, the record rainfall was 3.7 inches. Today, it rained 6.1 inches in about 6 hours, with more on the way. It was miserable to say the least. Pat and I could barely see 25 yards in front of the boat, and finding channel markers in that kind of weather is a challenge. Thanks to radar, a great chart plotter (a Northstar 6000i), and good eyes on the part of the crew, we made it safely to Sands Harbor Marina about 15 miles north of Ft. Lauderdale.

Getting our boat into the slip assigned us at this marina was a challenge, with very little maneuvering room. Thankfully, with no wind to speak of and very little tidal current, the Captain made a great landing.

On Friday, December 15th, we made our way to Marina Bay Marina, about five miles up the New River in Fort Lauderdale. This is a great marina with floating docks, a workout room, pool, bar, restaurant, and all kinds of neat stuff. The trip up the New River was a wonderful experience, with all kinds of interesting things to see on both sides of the VERY narrow river. Again, there were beautiful homes and large boats docked along the way. There is a lot of real estate for sale in this area, if anyone has the inclination to buy property here, and also has a few million dollars to spend.

On Saturday morning, December 16th, there was a free brunch at the marina clubhouse, and all transient boaters were invited to attend—and we did. This free brunch/breakfast is done monthly for all residents who live on the premises, and it was very nice. Surrounding the marina is a community or hundreds of rental condo-style apartments that are also very nice. The clubhouse is decorated beautifully for Christmas, with a huge live tree and lovely decorations throughout. A racquetball court; fitness center; movie room with theater chairs, large screen and popcorn machine; a coffee bar; showers and laundry room are also part of the club. There is also restaurant/bar/grill located on the premises that has great food, serving both lunch and dinner. Local bands provide entertainment Friday and Saturday afternoons/evenings.

We met our friends from Tennessee, Ted and Linda Jones, who are here in Ft. Lauderdale today (Saturday), getting their US Coast Guard Captain’s licenses renewed, which they have to do every five years. We went to dinner and then to the annual Fort Lauderdale Boat Parade. After the boat parade we went to Los Olas Blvd for dessert and walked around town for a while, then back to the boat. We enjoyed having Ted and Linda stay with us on our boat while they were here and look forward to them joining us for a while on another part of our trip.

Monday (December 18th), we will continue the trip south, headed for Key West.

More to follow, so stay tuned.