Chapter 40: Last Day in Ft. Launderdale

Log 40
Last Day in Ft. Lauderdale
5:20 am
Saturday, May 13, 2000
Pier 66 Marina

Day 41

By all rights, this should be a short log. We haven’t moved the boat yet, and so how much can there be to write about. Let’s see.

The day started out, and stayed the same. Hot, and sunny. I took my coffee, and did my dock walk, and there were several boats heading out. And a few of them were heading for the Bahamas. I was envious, because you knew they were going to have a great ride. All reports of the Atlantic were to be flat. Dead calm. I hope there that way today.

Most of yesterday was spent cleaning, fixing, and rearranging. Deb cleaned the entire inside of the boat, and did laundry. (Now you may be asking, like me; what laundry could there be to do? We just got on the boat. Deb said that she needed to clean sheets, towels, etc.) Anyway the inside of the boat is spotless. Me? After spending a good portion of the morning on the phone, I fixed the stereo, and arranged the engine room. I also got all of the charts ready to go. In general we were getting ready to get underway.

Deb was like a little kid yesterday. Several times during the morning she would come up to the fly bridge, and hug me, or give me a kiss, and tell me how excited she was. She couldn’t wait for Darrell and Donna to get here, and she was so excited about what was coming. I was playing the tough guy, and said it was no big deal. Right!

Darrell and Donna arrived almost on schedule. They got to the boat about 2:30. The first thing they did was put their shorts on, because it was hot out, and then we all broke out a beer to toast the beginning. Not much time to waste though, because Deb and Donna needed to go get groceries. They caught a taxi, and it took about 2 hours for them to return. Darrell and I caught up on what has been happening.

The day ended with the 4 of us going to the Pelican Bar for drinks and dinner. It was a beautiful evening, and we sat on the deck, overlooking the harbor. Yes, Deb had a Pina Colada. In fact she had two of them. (You see the second one was only 66 cents, so she had to.) We also had a first. Darrell had his first margarita. And his second margarita. (How can you be that old and have never had a margarita?) After dinner we took a walk up and down the docks to admire the boats. I’m going to miss this place.

Today is going to be near perfect for this part of the world. As I have been writing this I have been watching the Weather Channel, and listening to the weather on my marine radio. The temperature is 74 degrees (at 5 am), the winds are calm, and the waves are predicted to be 2 foot, or less. Yes!!

My plan is to leave at first light (about 6:45 am) and head out into the Atlantic. We will take a hard left, and head almost due north. The thought is to make the most of the calm conditions, so we can make some time outside (verses the Intracoastal) and try to make it about 100 miles, to Ft. Pierce, FL. If the seas change, or if we get tired, we can always go inside, and have our pick of many different places to stop. In this part of the country it is no problem finding a marina.

So that’s the plan. It’s now 6:05, and the sky is just starting to show the slightest sign of getting lighter, so I need to get busy. This is going to be a great day!

BK.