Day 93-95 - 8-10 March

There were welcoming signs posted all over the anchorage and we certainly felt like guests...all we were missing was for the mayor to come out to the boat and offer us the key to the city. Seriously, cruising sailboaters are finding Florida less and less a friendly place to visit and the state and local communities are doing their best to force everyone into marinas which are becoming more and more expensive...similar to what the luxury tax did for boat sales a couple of decades back!

We awoke at daybreak to winds gusting to 40 knots and heavy rain that continued for an hour or so. After the front passed, the sun came out and even with a brisk wind from the northwest, the crews were able to get a full day of racing in. We didn't have a program so we don't know who was racing, who won, or who lost. But it was interesting to watch in between reading, relaxing and just taking it easy.

There are some boats and boaters that probably should be kept out of an anchorage and we noticed about one third of the boats in the anchorage appeared to be legitimate cruisers. The other two thirds looked a lot like this boat. Despite the presence of the Miami Marine Police, the only boats they were herding around were the boats with people on them. They were ignoring the abandoned boats and boats with no one on them...strange...and we have to say that Miami is the only location on the ICW where we were made to feel less than welcome.

Despite the noise and commotion of the weekend at the anchorage, we were protected from the wind and weather and our anchor only dragged once...a first for the trip! We recovered easily and no damage was done either to Windreka or any other boat in the anchorage.

The skyline was interesting both during the day and at night. Note the Florida colors on the building to the right of center!

No, it's not your eyes...the Miami skyline at night is difficult to capture with a slow shutter speed on the deck of a sailboat bouncing around at anchor...at least that's our story and we're sticking to it!