Heather and Christine arrived in Nick's dink and after lunch we headed back to the Coral Reef YC in Coconut Grove. There was plenty of wind but most of the nine mile passage was in constricted water though we did put up the small jib and cut the engine for about four miles of it in open water. Arrival in our narrow slip was a problem because the dockmaster, who had promised to help catch our lines in the narrow high, non-floating, concrete slip was not in sight requiring me to back out with the wind pushing us from behind. But it got done without harm to persons or property for which Lene now considers me some sort of an expert and hero. Nice to be admired by a loved one.
This 1970's single-owner beauty was docked two slips away. The owner says he used to enjoy the varnishing, but that joy has rubbed off (as does the varnish each year).
There was a farmers market celebrating local grown food on the Club's grounds, complete with petting zoo, followed by a delicious locavore dinner at the club. We also dined at Monte's with the girls and had a poolside lunch with them and Janet and Ed. The girls used the pool.
Lene and I watched the Oscars in the Club. Boring to me but Lene views my enduring Hollywood's self absorbed, narcissist love fest convention as an annual test of my love for her.
Our new dink was delivered with her new four stroke Yamaha 9.9 hp engine. I rigged the lifting straps and hoisted it which shows that the straps need a bit of adjustment. Because the new dink is six inches shorter and a bit narrower too, it fits better -- without extending past the sides of the transom, which is good for avoiding the problem we experienced back in Cambridge MD. But the bad news is that it does not fit as snugly against the davit bar and transom as the old one did, which means a few more adjustments need to be made. The engine starts easily and runs quietly and its gear shift lever is on the throttle tiller, which is a nice feature.
And while in the Grove we finally got to use our stand up paddleboard, all of us mastering the ability to actually stand up on it without falling off of it.
Heather and Christine even figured out how to do a dual sit down paddleboard on it and circumnavigated the nearby island.
Heather made washing the boat much easier by manning the hose. All I had to do was keep scrubbing.
While in the Grove we took time to smell the roses -- and the coffee!
We motor-sailed tacking east across Biscayne Bay to No Name Harbor on its southern side. This is a nice little harbor though crowded with 13 boats on anchor, on a Tuesday night. On weekends it would be too dangerous with more boats. Here next morning there is plenty of room, view toward entrance, with Coconut Grove across the Bay.
Lene elected to stay aboard and prepare our delicious dinner while I explored the southern end of Key Biscayne with the young ladies. We dinked to shore and I paid the $20 anchoring and access to the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park fee by putting the cash in a blue envelope into the locked box. It is an honor system. Then we walked the path around the south end of the Key
and saw out to the fishing shacks that are on pilings on both sides of Biscayne Channel, through which we came into Biscayne Bay. Cape Florida Light is a tall, slender, tapering, brick beauty, but decommissioned long ago.
They have tours but alas, not on Tuesdays. The beach is reputed to be one of the ten best in the USA. The girls sat and rested while I walked north along its coast past its easternmost point and saw the high rises at the south tip of South Beach, Miami. A nice enough beach, but nothing to warrant such a high rating.
The ironic thing is that during the period we were snugly secured to a dock and in No Name. the winds were quite light, with stronger winds predicted for the days ahead when we will be on anchor again.
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