Varuna's Travels

Jan 27/07

South Beach, Miami

At anchor in a great protected area (see chart) just a short dinghy ride to where the action is.

From my cockpit, I see the cruise ships come and go, the homes of the rich and infamous, and we are now about 20 boats that have assembled and are awaiting the famous “weather window” to cross the gulf stream.

So far, Chris Parker, the weather guru, does not anticipate anything in the next few days, so we are doing the tourist bit.

Pics enclosed of the beautiful art deco buildings.

BTW, from my vantage point, I count 10 hi-rise buildings going up. This place is not suffering! It is a boom town.

# posted by Varuna's Travels : 11:44 AM

Indiantown to Miami Jan 8-23/07

We arrived at Indiantown Jan 8/07 and worked like dogs for a week, from sun up to sun down, getting Varuna ready for her 6 month cruise. Washing off the storage dirt, waxing the hull, putting the engine and generator back together, installing a new wind generator, and buying and storing 6 months (approx) of food.

Finally the day came to launch, Varuna. Would she float? Would the engins start? All the usual questions. Well, everything worked properly, so after a day at the dock, we left Indiantown and spent the next 2 days at Stuart at the anchorage, getting use to being at anchor and finishing up on the storage of odds and ends.

Then it was off to West Palm to anchor at the north end of Lake Worth ( just beside Tiger Wood's yacht “Privacy”) and wait for the appropriate weather window to cross the gulf stream to the Bahamas. We needed at least 2 days of calm winds that do not come from any northern direction, as a north wind causes huge breaking waves if it hits the north bound direction of the gulf Stream, making it dangerous for a possible capsize.

Through the ham radio, we can access NOAA weather charts and forecasts from trained specialists on the marine conditions. After a few days, a window appeared. It would be nice for three days. Perfect!

We moved down about 5 miles and anchored just beside the opening of the inlet, so in the morning, we just had to pop out and go. Upon waking and getting a updated reassuring forecast, the winds were still very strong, so we decided to wait until noon. Well, the winds got stronger and it blew like stink for the day, so by night fall, we canceled our plans to leave.

Lesson 1: If the weather is not behaving as the weather man says it should, something is wrong! At midnight, all of a sudden, the winds died, so the following morning, we decided to go further south to Miami by way of the ocean (not the intercostal waterway, were there are 30 bridges that have to open), and had a great sail, arriving at 17:00.

We anchored in South Beach, and from our view are right beside the cruise ship terminal were we have taken a few cruises from. A short hop in our dink, takes us to a Publix and a 3 min walk to Lincon ave and Ocean drive, were art deco reigns. This morning the weather turned from 90o to 65o as a cold front came through. An other front is forecast for this week-end, so there will be no crossing until next week (maybe). Not a bad place to be. Everything we want is at hand, fine shops, beautiful (and weird looking) people abound, the beach is a short walk away, and the anchorage is good holding.

# posted by Varuna's Travels : 11:37 AM