Vero Beach, FL // Back in Cincinnati!!!
Well it was time to leave the City Marina in Vero Beach and head to Grand Harbor Marina in Vero Beach which is where we'll be leaving Early Out for the month of December while we go back to Cincinnati.  Grand Harbor Marina was a great, very reasonable place to store the boat for the month and Sally, the harbormaster there, was terrific.

Early Out in her home for the month - Grand Harbor Marina
 

To get back to Cincinnati we did a one-way rental thru National.  Great deal on the car.  Only problem was figuring out how to pick it up.   We had to get to the Melbourne Airport - some 33 miles away.  The cost of a cab or shuttle was outrageous.  Greyhound bus service was about the only good/cheap option.  Just a hassle.  But thanks to Don & Rosemary on the boat next to us - Lady Rose, getting the car turned out to be no problem.  They had a car and offered to drive us to the airport to pick ours up.  What a great couple.

After about a 16 hour drive we arrived in Cincinnati.  It was great being home.  Getting together with family and friends was wonderful!

I have to share with everyone something special I (Debbie) got for Christmas.  My sister, Diane, along with her daughter Annette have been taking quilting classes.  For Christmas, Diane made a quilt for our berth on the boat.  It's gorgeous.  And the work that went into it...oh my!   Its such a special gift that I want to share it with everyone.  So here are some pictures for all to enjoy....

This is the sailboat side - notice all the different boats, material, pieces, etc.  Lots of work!
 

This is the other side of the quilt -- showing my favorite thing -- Dolphins!!
 
 

Back to Vero Beach, FL:  12/28/01 - 12/30/01
It was hard leaving all our family and friends back in Cincinnati, but the fact that it was turning quite cold and snowing made leaving a little easier.  We arrived at the marina around 10pm to find Early Out in great shape with the exception of a few bird deposits.  We had brought groceries, mainly canned goods, with us from Cincinnati.  So we loaded all those on the boat that evening so that we could make room for more provisions.  The next two days was a flurry of activity.  We only had a limited time to shop because of having to return the rental car.  So from sun up to sun down (thank goodness Walmart superstore is open 24 hours) - we were either shopping or trying to figure out where to store everything on the boat.  People have told us that everything is so expensive in the Bahamas and to bring as much as you can carry on the boat.  It was so hard trying to figure out how much of everything to buy, let alone where to store it.   Fred and I were both exhausted between all the trips to Sams, Walmart, & Publix.  After not getting much sleep for the past couple days, we did achieve success though.  We managed to find a spot for everything.  In fact we have so much on board we've developed a slight lst to starboard.  I'm sure the 5 cases of beer and 4 cases of pop we have on board doesn't help our lst problem.

This is just the stores under the seat in our salon - you should see our aft cabin!
 

New Years Eve - Overnight sail from Vero Beach to Ft. Lauderdale, FL:  12/31/01 - 01/01/02
It was time to get underway.  After testing all our "systems" to ensure everything working, we tossed off the dock lines and we were back on the water again.  It was a great feeling being back on the boat - listening to the water rush by the hull - such a relaxing sound.   It was a beautiful day and the wind perfect, so we were anxious to hoist the sails.  As we headed offshore out the inlet at Ft. Pierce, the wind was coming offshore....perfect.  The offshore breeze made for very few waves.  After hoisting the sails, we were visited by dolphins playing off our bow.  I kept thinking it couldn't get much better than this!    This passage was a special one for Fred in that he was able to test the watermaker he's been working on.  We turned it on and soon we were making fresh water from the salt water out of the sea and filling up our tanks.  WOW!  I took the 10pm to mid-night watch and woke Fred several minutes before mid-night.  We toasted in the New Year with a cup of coffee (saved the champagne for after our arrival).  We had a great view of all the fireworks on shore.  The night was perfect.   Morning came and we were close to our destination of Ft. Lauderdale.  We were having such a great time we almost thought about continuing south, but we were to meet up with our friends on Significant Other, so onto Ft. Lauderdale.  We found a great anchorage in Lake Sylvia, fixed a couple of egg and cheese sandwiches and toasted in the New Year with some mamossa's (champange & orange juice).

Dolphins!!
 

And MORE Dolphins!!
 

Fred celebrating the watermaker working with his first drink of water made from the sea.
 

Ft. Lauderdale, FL -- 1/1/02 - 1/4/02
Here we hooked up with our friends, Mike & Jan from Significant Other.  They had access to a car, so they were kind enough to run us around for a couple hours so we could do some last minute errand running.  The rest of the time we spent getting projects done on the boat as well as exploring the different canals in the area.  So many gorgeous houses most of which had a big boat parked in front of the house.  We especially enjoyed seeing the houses at night because everyone lights up their house.  WOW!  Wonder what their electric bill is.  We did manage to find a dingy dock you can use that is within walking distance to West Marine, Village Marine (the water maker people) and a grocery store.  Friday Mike & Jan brought their boat over and joined us in the anchorage.

Facilities we found near the anchorage in Lake Sylvia:
* Dingy dock - at the Ft. Lauderdale Municipal Marina and at west end of canal that parallels 17th Street at the Raw Bar.
* Winn Dixie, Publix, West Marine, Village Marine and Blue Water Books all close by
 

Ft. Lauderdale to Miami Beach, FL -- 1/5/02 thru - ???
We were planning on going to the art festival in Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday but when we looked at the weather forecast the conditions we perfect for going outside to Miami Beach.  After getting out there, it turns out the wind direction was off by about 45 degrees - now right on our nose - so we couldn't sail even though we had a nice 15-20 knot breeze. However, we did have a nice sunny day and only 2-3 foot seas so it was a nice passage. Coming into Government Cut south of Miami was very impressive indead. We couldn't take the short route past all the cruise ships for security reasons, but seeing all the huge ships lined up in a row was pretty impressive.

We ended up in an anchorage just north of the Venetian Causeway off Bell Isle in Biscayne Bay. This is a large anchorage and has a canal near which you can dinghy up to go to the Publix Grocery store or further to get to the hot spots on Miami Beach.  The four of us  walked around the art deco district, enjoyed the shops and had lunch at one of the french bakeries. Lots to do here and a nice wide open anchorage with good holding. If we are going to have to wait a while for a weather window, this is not a bad spot.

Facilities we found near the anchorage in by Venetian Causway:
* Grocery, liquor and gasoline all less than a block from a dinghy dock
* Laundry about 4 blocks from a dinghy dock
* Library near Miami Beach - corner of Collins & 21 st Street
 

Bahamas - January thru April<
Web updates will be added upon our return to the states.