The first photo is not the one I intended to load here. It must be a bridge in the Miami area. The next photo is one of the many mansions which line the waterway from Miami to Palm Beach. The third photo is another house with the huge yacht out front. The fourth photo is Rick and Cynthia and us at their house. The last photo is one of the prettiest draw bridge structures we have seen.

We got away from Crandon Park a little later than anticipated. We were slow getting biscuits made and then we had to get our key deposit back and Shelly went over to buy bait. We got underway about 8:00. As we passed into Miami C-Life called on the radio. They were just leaving the anchorage at Marina Stadium and caught up at the first bridge which we had to have opened for passage. This was a different stretch of water from any other we have cruised. Most of the way was lined with high rise condos and beautiful homes. We passed through most of what is considered the canyon because the waterway is lined on both sides by concrete walls. We encountered very little traffic most of the way but it is easy to see how the wakes ricochet off the walls and keep the water very churned up. We had pretty good luck with timing on the bridges which we had to have opened and made our anchorage at Boca Raton Lake by about 3:30. Shelly got to fish for a while and caught several small fish, (I do not know salt water fish well enough to even guess what they were). On Tuesday morning we will get a leisurely start and get on up to Singer Island by mid-afternoon.
After our “leisurely” cruise up to Palm Beach from Boca Raton Lake, we had a lot more traffic today and a lot more big wakes to deal with, we arrived at Riviera Municipal Marina at dead low tide. There was plenty of water under us but we were so low relative to the fixed docks that it took us most of a hour to get tied into our slips. Then the challenge was to get off the boat. Rick came to pick us up to go to their house for dinner about 5:00. We had a wonderful visit with them and of course, Cynthia had prepared a great dinner. It was great to visit with them both and share our adventures of the past months. They spent the summer in the Bahamas and had shared some experiences with Jeff and Anne. They had also cruised down to Key West for a festival in the fall.
Rick and Cynthia came to the marina and picked us up about mid-morning and by the time we chatted a bit we did not get away from the boats until nearly noon so we made our first stop the Brass Ring for lunch. Then on to the Super WalMart for a shopping fix. By the time we got back to the marina it was way too late to depart today, 5:00, so we will stay again tonight and leave on Thursday morning.
We finally got away from the marina about 9:15 this morning. We had planned to make several short days coming up the coast but since they delayed the space shuttle shot to Sunday we decided to try to make better time up the coast to get a better look at the launch. We made it to Fort Pierce today and called it quits and pulled into the City Marina. We are quite impressed with the facilities and the town here. After we got checked in we stopped at the tiki in the marina for a beer and someone walked up and grabbed my arm. It was Jim and Sue from our marina in Wilmington. They are here on their boat and have just bought a house here, really in Vero Beach. It was neat to see them. “It really is a small world.”