Happy New Year!

I know, I know - I'm only three weeks late with that greeting!  I also know I probably lost many of my followers who by now have decided that I'm never going to post again!  I'm sorry to those of you who have continued to look during the last month or so.  Once we were back on the boat after the holidays I just wasn't into writing and I didn't feel I had that much to write about.

We ended up being in Ft. Lauderdale much longer than anticipated due to weather conditions.  The biggest reason weather was such a hindrance was because we knew we had to go offshore from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami because there is a fixed bridge across the Intercoastal Waterway in north Miami that only has a 56 foot clearance and our mast is a little over 60 feet tall.  In the meantime while we were waiting for a nice day we anchored in some beautiful settings surrounded by multi-million dollar homes with multi-million dollar yachts docked out front!

Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera with us one afternoon when we were riding around in the dinghy. We saw a huge yacht named "Sunday Money", which is a very interesting name and upon closer inspection I realized "Dale Earnhardt, Jr." was painted on one of the big antenna balls way up on top of the boat!  Sure enough - once we got back to our boat - I Googled the boat name and found out that it does indeed belong to him and was docked in front of his Ft. Lauderdale house!

The offshore sail from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami was just a little rougher (at times) than I would have liked but the view of Miami Beach, South Beach, etc. from the ocean was incredible!  Here are a few pictures and I am especially proud that I was able to pick out the Fountain Bleu because I know a few of you have actually stayed there!

Here are a few pictures I made once we were in the huge channel (where all the cruise ships and ocean freighters enter) coming into downtown Miami.

We anchored in a beautiful cove just off of Biscayne Bay across from downtown Miami.  It was a spectacular sight both day and night!

  

After spending a few interesting days in this anchorage watching teams of young men and women from all over the world train for Olympic sailing, rowing, etc. (in conjunction with the University of Miami) we moved on to Key Biscayne where we would fill up with fuel, water and groceries in preparation for our run down through the keys on our way to Marathon.  Key Biscayne - a very beautiful and exclusive island where it's obvious that a lot of wealthy people from all over the world live and/or vacation.    

It only took us three days to get from Key Biscayne to Marathon - yes, we finally made it!  We spent the night at Key Largo and Islamorada along the way and here is what we saw as we got close to Marathon - beautiful!

This is where we passed under the Seven Mile Bridge from Florida Bay to the Atlantic Ocean on our way to Boot Key Harbor at Marathon.

Entering Boot Key Harbor

We're planning to stay here for a few months and we have some friends and family members planning trips down to get away from the cold weather back home!  I don't plan to post as often as I did when we were traveling but I will be sharing some pictures as we explore all that the keys have to offer.