Last night’s anchorage featured boats very closely anchored and moored together, nice breeze, and pleasant temperatures. All these factors led to our decision to sleep in the cockpit, and we both got good, although interrupted rest.

We were able to leave the anchorage just after it was light, and had just turned the corner to be able to visualize the inlet when we were hailed by a tug holding position in the center of the channel. He advised that a large container ship was about to enter the inlet from sea and take up almost the entire channel. We turned south to wait for the behemoth to pass by, which it did in a big hurry. This minor delay afforded us the chance to see another behemoth since while we were waiting for the container ship, a manatee surfaced just to our port!

Once on the ocean, we encountered water much bluer than we were used to. The waves ranged between periods of 2-4 feet, and 5-6 feet, so we had a comfortable ride, especially once the main sail was raised. The winds remained too close on our nose (from the south in today’s case) to put up the jib, as it would have as it would have flapped about a lot and not helped our speed. So we motor sailed with just the main, which was fine. After a little maneuvering, we found a small band of southward current just between a mile and a mile and a half from shore, which allowed us to make about 7 knots. We let the autopilot do the steering for most of the day and it worked superbly, even in choppy water.

The coastline featured many tall buildings that from our distance looked as if they were constructed of Legos (it was condo heaven). We saw many commercial and private fishing boats, a fireboat spraying its fountain of water near the shore (probably a drill-no smoke or flaming vessels nearby). We did hear VHF traffic regarding a grounded vessel in the Hillsboro Inlet just north of Pompano Beach.

We saw a few fish jumping, and several Portuguese Man-of-War. These are notorious for a very bad sting from their long trailing tentacles. They were hard to photograph as they, the waves, and our boat were all moving. Below represents the best of several efforts.

As we approached the entrance to Fort Lauderdale inlet, Tommy dropped the sail and we re-entered the ICW, only to be immediately confronted by yet another restricted bridge-the 17^th St. Causeway Bridge. Fortunately, we only had six minutes to wait before the opening. There was a lot of boat traffic around us and a following current, so it was with relief that we saw the bascule arms start to rise.

The turn for the marina was after the very next marker, so very quickly we found ourselves negotiating a narrow fairway marina with mega-expensive boats on every side. We got into our slip safely with the help of a marina dockhand, a few blasts of the bow thruster, and some application of muscle against the mid-ships piling. A safe docking is always a blessing.

Now fatigue started to set in. We considered eating out, but as it’s Valentines Day, the local restaurants are packed, and liable to be hectic. We will have steak, ravioli, and green beans on board. After all, we’ve already had our Valentine’s Day gift: our first ocean passage in C Ghost together.