Spoonbill had arrived in Pompano on Wednesday evening after a 350-mile run from her winter berth up the St. Johns River in Green Cove Springs, Florida. My wife, Cinda, and I - along with friends Kemp & Teri Howell - had made a nice 5-day trip out of it, giving us a chance to shake down some of Spoonie's systems, which had been mostly dormant for the past 6 months. Thursday morning, my "delivery crew" headed home and I spent the next few days making numerous trips to West Marine, Publix, and Lowe's readying the boat for the arrival of our charter guests.
The Mass Family has chartered with us numerous times; In years past, they bareboated aboard our N37, Semper Fi, but over the past few years, they have enjoyed great captained charters aboard Spoonbill as we have done some much more adventurous trips. In fact, last year's two-week exploration of Eleuthera and the Exumas provided many amazing and memorable experiences for all. So we were all very much looking forward to Summer 2012's planned exploration of the "near" Bahamas.
Once the Mass's arrived, the frantic provisioning began. Stocking an already well-stocked boat with enough food, drinks, sunscreen, snacks, etc. for 6 people onboard for a two-week trip means every nook and cranny of every cupboard, shelf, cubby hole, and refrigerator is stuffed to overflowing! After a nice farewell dinner at Chez Porky's, we all went to sleep early, anxious to begin the adventure in the morning.
The forecast for the next few days was ever-changing due to the recent passage of Tropical Storm Beryl. Initially, it was looking like we would be able to leave right out of Port Everglades on Saturday evening for a night crossing to Cat Cay. But that plan evaporated by mid-afternoon with a two-day forecast of 4-6 foot seas in the Gulf Stream between Florida and Bimini. So, at 7 o'clock, Sunday morning, we cast off and headed south down the ICW for a relaxing cruise towards Miami and the Keys.
Even though I lived in South Florida for 10 years, I am still amazed by the sheer cubic dollars on display as we passed one multi-million-dollar home or yacht after another. The plan for today was to head down to Key Biscayne and a reserved dock space at Crandon Park Marina on Key Biscayne. We would continue to move south for a few days in anticipation of a weather window that would allow us to cross.
We tied up at Crandon Park and spent the rest of the afternoon in the skiff exploring the nearby sandbar along with nearly every semi-inebriated person in Miami with access to a boat. Afterwards, we walked about 2 miles to the Rusty Pelican Restaurant - purported by my trusty Florida Cruising Guidebook to be "right across the street" from the marina. Ah well, an excellent meal was followed by a taxi ride home - with a short detour to the Key Biscayne Winn-Dixie for, yes, still more provisions.
When I checked the weather before bed, it had changed yet again. The crossing would be tomorrow morning.
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