West Coast: Second attempt.

We are under way westbound across Lake Okeechobee, headed for the west coast for as long as the lake level allows -- we've come an extra 280 nautical miles by this route, and we don't want to repeat that in the other direction. The lake is quite calm, and we are having a good crossing, waving at all the Great Loopers going the other way.

Vector anchored off the Key Biscayne Yacht Club. The sunsets from the club patio are legendary.

After we made the eastbound turn into Hawk Channel just off Marathon last Friday, we found ourselves in sea conditions that would let us anchor just south of any of the larger keys. We pushed all the way to Long Key and tucked in as close as we could to the beach (map), a new spot for us. The water here is so clear we could easily see the bottom, and watch the anchor set in the clear sand.

We favored the west end of the beach, which let us splash the tender and run the mile around the west end of the key to Lick It BBQ & Wood Fired Pizza, basically a Cuban food truck next to a tiki pavilion at the Edgewater Lodge. The food was quite good and they even had bottled beer, which was a nice end to an otherwise difficult day. After dinner we had a nice walk around the property and out to the historic Long Key Viaduct, the former Overseas Railroad bridge that is now a pedestrian and bike trail.

Cubano dinner under the tiki at the Edgewater Lodge.

Saturday was another fairly calm day on the Hawk Channel, and while there was weekend traffic, it's nothing like the hustle and bustle of the ICW through Miami. We had an easy day all the way to the Cape Florida Channel, bypassing a stop at Rodriguez Key for our first time ever. We had planned to anchor off No Name Harbor and maybe tender in to the Boater's Grill there, but arriving so close to sunset we reasoned they'd be packed on a Saturday night, and we opted to just stay aboard.

That let us continue around the corner to a familiar anchorage off the old Nixon helipad (map), which we knew would have less ocean swell and fewer sportfish wakes than No Name. That turned out to be a mistake; on a nice Saturday night, the anchorage was full of party boats, both private and charter, blasting loud music well into the wee hours of the morning.

Vector looking diminutive from the Long Key Viaduct.

We knew we did not want to slog through Miami on the ICW in weekend traffic, and we did not have the weather to run outside, which was why we pushed all the way to Cape Florida on Saturday in the first place. So Sunday morning I called the Key Biscayne Yacht Club, a stone's throw away, to see if they could fit us in for one night. They could not, so instead we arranged to come in by tender to dine.

With the anchorage now mostly empty, we weighed anchor and moved north, as close to the yacht club as we could get (map), in hopes it would be just a bit quieter further from the main party area. In the afternoon Esmeralde flew by us, waving from about a mile off, on their way to an outside run to Fort Lauderdale via Government Cut. I worked on Louise's new scooter for the afternoon, and at dinner time we splashed the tender and headed ashore to the Chart Room at the club for a nice dinner. Afterward we walked to the nearby 7-11 for milk, which we needed before the morning. We had a much quieter and calmer night.

A distant shot of Esmeralde whizzing by on plane.

I spent a considerable amount of time Sunday with the bridge schedules, working out a plan to minimize station-keeping. We weighed anchor Monday morning to arrive at the Venetian Causeway, about an hour away, right at the dot of 9:30, and we had a good run with no serious waiting all the way to Fort Lauderdale. We arrived at high tide in the early afternoon, and decided to see if we could find a spot in Lake Sylvia to anchor.

Sunset from the tender heading home from Long Key. People line the beach and the viaduct to see this

We need tidal help to get in here, and we seldom arrive at the right tide and early enough in the day to monkey around. We're glad we did this time, because now we have a good track, but there was no room for us inside, so we turned right around and headed up to our old standby, Sunrise Bay (map). We would have instead stopped at the yacht club right next door, except they are closed on Monday and they had no way for us to get out and back in the front gate to leave the property.

At dinner time we splashed the tender and ran the couple of miles south to Bahia Mar, to meet up with Dorsey and Bruce on Esmeralde, notwithstanding having already said our tearful goodbyes for the season down in Key West. We were greeted by terriers Maisie and Ollie, fresh from the groomer and looking and smelling great. Bruce and Dorsey had a rental car and we all piled in and went to Serafina for dinner, a first for them. Ironically, we passed right by Vector coming and going.

Poorly aimed and focused shot of Dorsey, Bruce, me, and Louise at Serafina. Bruce is showing off his profiteroles.

They were kind enough to swing us by the grocery store on the way back, and after taking our leave we tendered over to Coconuts to pick up our requisite slice of coconut cheesecake to go, for the following night. We had a fast ride home in flat calm but a light drizzle.

I had once again hammered out the bridge schedules, and Tuesday morning we weighed anchor for perfect timing, with minimal waiting, for an exactly seven-hour cruise to our usual spot in West Palm Beach. Things were going swimmingly and we were right on track, but halfway through the morning we learned that set-up had already started for the Palm Beach Boat Show. Rats; that would mean most of the anchorage would be closed, with all the usual denizens scrambling for other spots nearby, and the dinghy docks were closed.

Sunrise over Hawk Channel as we got underway from Long Key.

Normally this would not be an issue for us, and we'd just continue another hour to an anchorage closer to the inlet. However, not really thinking about the boat show that always happens around now, we had both placed Amazon orders to the locker just south of town. We needed an alternate plan, and we spent over an hour underway working on it, no small feat while also driving the gantlet of bridges.

We finally settled on stopping short, at an anchorage I've been meaning to try anyway, in Lantana, just south of the bridge of that name. There is a free dinghy dock nearby, a number of restaurants, a Walgreens, and it's even just a two-mile walk or bike ride to Costco. Google said it was a 40-minute trip to the locker on the county bus, or we could drop a lunch hook in the morning across from the El Cid dock and tender over to get our packages.

Sunset from Key Biscayne Yacht Club with Vector and her first mate.

That took the pressure off to make a tight bridge opening at the Lantana bridge, and I dialed it back at Boynton Inlet, where the channel has shoaled. We had the hook down in light rain just south of the cable area in Lantana (map) just after 1 pm, calling it an early day. The anchorage was crowded, with some boats likely relocated from West Palm for the easy dinghy dock and a bus ride to work. We waited out the rain aboard.

By dinner time it was mostly dry and we tendered ashore for dinner. Not wanting to venture far, in case the rain started back up, we went to the nearby Old Key Lime House, which is a typical waterfront tiki joint, where all the seating is open-air but mostly covered, and they have live music on the deck. The food was OK but I suspect there are better options in the neighborhood.

Dinner at Old Key Lime House. Note the pair of upright masts just over Louise's shoulder, at right.

At one point early in the meal I looked up from the table and saw a large sailboat aground in the anchorage, leaned over by nearly 45° with its gunwale in the water. I could have sworn it was afloat and upright on our way to the restaurant, and sure enough they had literally just grounded, swung into a shoal by a sudden gust of wind. The crew was scrambling about, and a couple of dinghies came by to offer help. The entire restaurant staff filed out over time to have a look.

I snapped this picture less than ten minutes later. That same pair of masts, no longer upright.

Before dinner we had received two out of four delivery notices and were hoping the last two would come in while we ate, but no such luck. We were already home when the last came in, or so I thought, and I tendered back ashore stag to go get them. I missed a bus by mere seconds, watching it go by as I came up to the stop; it turned out to be the previous bus, considerably delayed. The next bus was already a half hour late, according to the tracker, and I would have a 40-minute wait in the rain for a half hour bus ride. I called an Uber.

Arriving at the locker I found only three of the four deliveries; evidently I only imagined the final notice. I walked across the street to the Publix and dollar store for a few items and the last notice came in while I was shopping. I was able to grab the bus back to Lantana, not an unpleasant ride at all. It was a long evening, but we got everything and would not need to horse around in the morning trying to land ashore in West Palm.

Miami skyline at night, from the Nixon anchorage, Key Biscayne.

In the morning we weighed anchor for the 8 am opening at Lantana, setting us up for good timing through the morning lockdowns in the Palm Beaches. The show buildout was in full swing, but it turned out that "our spot" in the anchorage would still have been available, just without shore access. We had a very slow roll north of Flagler bridge in order to time the Parker bridge, the first time we ever got that timing correct.

The timing put us at the tricky Jupiter Inlet crossing at a high tide of 2.5', and we needed it, as our sounder dipped below 8' at one point. Until they dredge this again we will continue to need tidal help here. The new Jupiter Federal Bridge is now in operation, but this new one is high enough we no longer need it to open for us.

The new Jupiter Federal Bridge, still under construction. We go right under it.

The early start got us all the way to Stuart, where we dropped the hook just east of Arbeau Point (map) for protection from westerlies. It's an easy tender ride to shore from here, but heavy rain kept us aboard for dinner. At least the boat got a good rinse. Instead we went ashore in the morning, as we were completely out of beer, and could use a few more items from Publix as well. We stopped in to Three Little Birds Cafe for breakfast, complete with a mimosa.

We decked the tender as soon as we returned and weighed anchor on a rising tide for the run to the lake. We were delighted to have a different and much more pleasant lockmaster at the St. Lucie Lock than on previous transits. Late start notwithstanding we made it all the way to the lake, albeit after the locks closed for the day, and we spent the night tied to the Port Mayaca dolphins (map). We arrived in 15-20 knots of wind, which made lassoing the pilings without hitting them with the boat a challenge, but the boatswain was up to the challenge and we landed the boat without incident.

Sunset from the Nixon anchorage, Key Biscayne.

Once tied to the dolphins, the lines were creaking horribly in the strong wind. It did not help that they were stiff from the last dock. Realizing it was going to be a challenge sleeping with all that racket, I went in search of a solution, and we've learned a new trick: dish soap in warm water, poured directly over the cleat knot and the touch points with the hawsepipes, quieted the lines right down. The YouTube clip wherein I learned this claims the solution works for a good 6-8 hours. By the time I turned in, the wind had dropped to just 2 knots, rendering it moot.

We had a relaxing evening on board, at least right up until shower time. Louise marched upstairs after her shower and started the generator, even though we had full batteries, announcing that she had a mostly cold shower. Apparently we once again have an air bubble trapped in our water heater coolant loop, likely the result of my having changed the pump and coolant in Marathon. Odd that it all worked for a good week after leaving Key West, but sometimes entrained air takes a while to find the high spot in the system.

Transiting Port Mayaca Lock this morning. At this lake level they open both sides and we drive right through.

Update: we are tied to the city dock in Moore Haven, Florida (map), a familiar stop. I had to stop typing a few miles east of Clewiston to drive through some skinny stuff, and then we were in narrow canals the rest of the day requiring steady focus. Once tied up we had to deal with various dockside errands, and then we walked down to Joey's Pizza & Subs for dinner, alas sans beer. Moore Haven, which auto-complete keeps wanting to finish, appropriately, as Moore Haven't, is a culinary wasteland, with nothing but a pizza joint and a taco stand.

I now have a very nice oatmeal stout in hand, courtesy of our Publix stop yesterday, as I wrap up the blog. In the morning we will drop lines and continue toward Fort Myers, stopping somewhere along the Caloosahatchee for the night.