Enjoying a little R and R on board Dream Catcher.  Doing a few small projects that have been on our list, while waiting for the wind to go more south to make our crossing to the Bahamas.  Today it looks like it might be Saturday or Sunday - we'll see.

We start every day catching up on email, checking work, Greg get's as many calls done as possible so that he isn't on the phone much in the afternoon. Then we try to have much of the afternoon relatively free to do boat chores and other things.

After Boca, we continued south on the waterway and ended up at Bill Bird/Haulover Park Marina just north of Haulover Inlet in North Miami.  We were the only sailboat there, and it was pretty quiet.  We imagine the weekends are busy.  There were charter fishing boats coming and going all day and we shared the enthusiasm of the resident pelicans in seeing their catch.

We walked on the beach and hiked to the Publix (the grocery chain in FL) for last minute provisions.  It was warm and humid, but the breeze kept us a bit cool.  The east wind brought hundreds of Portuguese Man 'O War onto the shore, caught up in the seaweed.  Really cool to look at, don't touch!

We also enjoyed the Food Truck Fest on Tuesday night.  Tacos, sausage sandwiches, gelato and the Grilled Cheese Truck!  Kites, music, kid's rides - good clean fun!

Wednesday morning dawned sunny and hazy.  We filled the water tank, the fuel tank and headed south to check out our options for leaving the comfort of the waterway to head to the Bahamas.  Motored out of Government Cut - the huge Port of Miami entry - to see the sea state and the exit.  Lots of barge and ship traffic and we even saw a sea plane take off!

Disney Wonder Cruise Ship

We decided to continue south into Biscayne Bay, hoping if we got further south, the angle to Bimini would allow us to sail with the Southeast winds.  We had a delightful afternoon of actual sailing!  Both sails out, no engine running, blue-green water - our first real sailing since we left the Chesapeake in October!  It was a delightful afternoon, until the Coast Guard pulled up on our starboard rail.....

We are sailing along loving life and here comes this large gray and orange inflatable Coast Guard vessel and he seems to be getting very close.  Don't you know - some guy comes out of the little house and smiles and asks us if we have ever been boarded by the Coast Guard.  NO!  (of course, Sharon is like - why - what did we do??)  Greg suggests that perhaps we first need to take the sails down and get squared away.  They kindly say, no, and suggest they will simply come aboard and be done with their process by the time we get close to our desired anchorage.

So - two guys come aboard with their big honkin' black coast guardy boots and step on our beautiful cockpit cushions and proceed to stomp all over our home.  They wanted to know if we had firearms on board (No), and said they were there to check our documentation and safety gear.

Now we want to tell you that we have spent untold hours and money assuring we have all the proper documentation and safety gear.  We have our lifejackets, a ditch kit (which is in case we have to abandon ship) filled with all appropriate stuff, we have tethers to strap ourselves in while at sea, we have a life raft, an EPIRB,  a throw rope to go with the Man Overboard button on our chart plotter, in case one of us goes in, and we have this cool new MOM 8A which takes the place of a life ring and takes up less room on the rail.

So - they located all of our safety equipment, they checked all bilge access panels to assure no leaks (and probably to look for contraband, but they didn't say that), they assured our holding tank was set to hold and not to overboard discharge, they located and counted our fire extinguishers, and they appreciated that we were a documented vessel and that we had copies of that documentation which made it easier to pass paperwork back and forth to their "mother-ship".  They asked for our ID's as well.  Sharon kept sailing the boat and chatted with the guy in the cockpit while the other guy went below with Greg to help locate everything.  All in all, they were kind and respectful the entire time - except for the boots, which we suspect they were not going to take off, even if we asked them to.

After what Greg says was an hour and Sharon says was a half hour (which means it was probably somewhere in between), they gave us a written warning because our cool new MOM (Man Overboard Module) is not USCG approved (which if it was would have a little notation on the device).  They suggested we get a throwable floating seat cushion (really?!) to toss to someone if they go overboard.  Of course, Sharon wanted to "discuss" this with them, but all it resulted in was a lecture about USCG approval.  So - our next visit to Walmart, we'll just pick up a floatable seat cushion.  An interesting experience to add to out list of interesting experiences.

We both wish we had thought to snap a photo of the Coast Guard vessel, but I was a bit busy trying to keep my blood pressure in line while still sailing the boat and paying attention to them - and Greg was rolling his eyes!  If we see another one in our travels, we will snap a shot for you.

We had a quiet and dark night (oh the stars you see!) anchored just inside Key Largo at Angelfish Creek, waiting for our perfect crossing day.  And we have accomplished our goal of transiting the intracoastal waterway from Newport to Biscayne Bay.  What a great experience it has been.  We loved it all.

PS - for those of you less computer savvy, note where you see underlined copy in blue or purple and click on it.  It will send you to a web link describing that place or thing.  Enjoy!