11th Jan - 24th Feb 2013 - Florida - Part 3
Nimue
Mon 25 Feb 2013 16:41
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Whilst in Palm Beach, we were invited for a meal at some
friends’ of Emmett & Mecca (of Charleston) who we met in Charleston over
Christmas. As we arrived at Ben & Blanca’s we were greeted by 2
German Shepherd dogs and were told specifically not to even look at them, as
they were trained to attack unwanted guests!
 Relaxing after a lovely meal – Blanca
& Ben (2nd and 3rd from the right)
Kenny and Sarah joined us on board Nimue for
the 50nm sail from Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale. Before leaving we went
back into Old Hope Cove Marina to purchase some fuel and fill up with water with
our new hose (a lightweight expanding blue hose), but then had to wait another
half an hour for safe clearance underneath the Riviera Beach Bridge. Once
out of the inlet into open sea, we set the sails for our first really good sail
since we had left Beaufort, NC – hoorah! We made for Lake Sylvia,
but there was no room for our 7ft draft, so made for another recommended
anchorage in the Middle River, just past Las Olas bridge. When we woke the
following morning it was like we had anchored in the middle of an upmarket
housing estate, with exceptionally large houses on both sides of the
river. We had found a brilliant spot, near a good dinghy dock and very
close to the local supermarket, Publix and trolley bus to get us around Fort
Lauderdale for only a dollar a ride!
 While sailing to Ft. Lauderdale we
spotted the beginnings of a ‘waterspout’ (dark line shown to the left of the
rigging and beneath the dark cloud)
Fort Lauderdale has numerous waterways which join up to the
ICW and just a short dinghy ride away from our anchorage, were a number of
privately owned slips at Bruno’s, which were inexpensive to rent and a favourite
place for Bahamas bound vessels. It was here that Kenny and Sarah
introduced us to Lisa and Val off Rising Star (another Valiant),
Sherrie and Joe off Narsillion and David off Blue
Yonder, (yet another Valiant).
 Nimue at anchor in the Middle River, Ft.
Lauderdale
After a couple of days Kenny and Sarah caught the train back
to Windward Passage and Val and Lisa kindly invited us to join them and
Narsillion to go to the Miami Boat Show. We all chipped in
to rent a car for the day and although it was a tight squeeze into the standard
saloon car (meant for 5 adults) we made it to Miami. The rainy weather was
slightly disappointing, but we managed to keep dry by staying inside. Our
only purchase was a manual hand wash plunger, which does exactly as it sounds
and assists with hand washing laundry items.
 Shallow draught vessel seen at the Miami
Boat Show. Not the type of vessel you would see at a UK Boat
Show!
 One of the many Lifeguard stations along
Ft Lauderdale beach (the red flag denotes dangerous seas and the purple flag;
dangerous sea life!!)
  Michael needed a
haircut
Featuring Joe & Sherrie off Narsillion & Val & Lisa
off Rising Star
 Enjoying the best fish taco’s in town
  Cooking steak on the new Magma grill on
Nimue and Sarah waiting patiently in the cockpit!
  Some unusual sites on the water; a water
borne Anglia and airborne man powered by a water jet pack
We treated ourselves to a couple of nights in Las Olas Marina,
so we could do the laundry and provision up for our trip to the Bahamas.
We had always intended to sail directly to Nassau, as we needed a new outboard
engine and it was still possible to purchase 2 stroke engines there.
Rising Star & Narsillion revised their plans and suggested we could
all travel in company to Nassau. This sounded a good plan and the start of
a very good friendship..........
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