Vero Beach to Coconut Grove

Pierre and Caroline toast us farewell

Its 136 nautical miles from Vero Beach to Coconut Grove, Miami, FL. From Vero Beach most cruiser's take the ICW south to at least Lake Worth (West Palm Beach). White Pepper, however, did not want to wait for all of the bridges and anchorages along the way. A weather window seemed to open up that allowed a direct sail or motor to Miami. The weather predicted mild wind and flat seas. The wind was from the south but White Pepper's stout motor should be able to deal with these conditions.

The autopilot's linear ram had been refurbished in Vero and this would be a good sea trial. It soon became obvious that the autopilot was not going to work, and we would have to hand steer all the way to Miami. This is no problem during the day but at night it means that at night you can not leave the helm even for moment without waking your partner for relief.

First time offshore in 3 years

We cleared the Fort Pierce jetties about noon and soon were motoring hard into a head wind. The wind was not problem but the seas were not as advertised. The prediction was for 2 foot waves at 8 sec. Intervals. This is a benign condition, but we were faced with a chaotic lumpy sea state. We had become lazy after months in the harbor and had neglected to adequately stow items below. Almost everything below ended up on the floor with the rolly conditions. Later that night the roll knocked over a diesel can spilling 5 gallons all over the port deck. What a mess! The anchor slipped it's chain lock and jumped the roller. It would have headed for the bottom except for a safety line that I always attach to both anchors.

At the beginning of a beautiful sunset the boat speed began to drop although the RPMs were a steady 2500.  This is a sure sign of a clogged fuel filter.  The rolly conditions had stirred up debris (really just dead bacteria) in the fuel tank.  Jan quickly and expertly changed out the dirty filter in less than 10 minutes.  Off we went at a steady 6 knots.

I had expected more traffic, but we saw few ships along the way. We got to West Palm and Lake Worth jetties about 9 pm. The only ship leaving was a tug named Pops, towing a 2000 foot  line with a barge at the end. He swung around to the south so we were trapped between him and shore. This is not such a bad situation as there is counter current to the Gulf Stream flowing South inshore. About ½ mile off of the beach we were making 6+ knots. This course forced us close to the shore and close to Mar-a-Lago. I noted a well lit boat passing between us and the tug. It did not have AIS (automatic identification system). I thought that it must be some poor fishing boat not to have AIS. Then it swung around and followed us. Now it was obvious that this was a patrol boat protecting the President's compound. It fell back as soon as we were well clear of the property line.

White Pepper crossed the Fort Lauderdale shipping line at 3 am without seeming a single moving vessel. We were now only 20 miles from Miami. Not wanting to arrive before light I slowed the motor down 3 knots. But now a new problem emerged. The roller furl-er came partially unrolled and would not furl. The cause was an excessively loose furl when we put the sail on in Green Cove Springs. The wind had gotten under a loose wrap and pulled out about 1/3 of the sail. With diesel on the deck and in the dark and rolly conditions I felt that it was to dangerous to go forward in the dark. Even in the daylight the problem proved too difficult to tackle. Only at anchor was the problem solved by completely unwrapping both sheets and re-leading them. I did not know this potentially dangerous situation could even happen, but I will be quite careful to check the roller furl-er before White Pepper sets sail again.

As the sun rose we were treated to the Miami skyline which is impressive. Along the beach were miles and miles of tall steel and glass buildings. Pictures do not do the magnificent scene justice.

Picture does not even do justice to the actual scene

About 9 am we came to the Miami sea buoy which is only a few miles offshore. There was only one very large container ship coming out. Conspicuously absent were the cruise ships. Not one was seen all night which is something of a record for our travels in Florida waters.  Jan and I speculated that this might be an effect of the novel coronavirus that was in the news. The jetties of Government Cut are short. All that we saw between were a few work boats and a dozen speedboats going too fast. We saw only glimpses of Miami Beach.

Government Cut ahead. Miami Beach is on the right.  Note the tangled sail and the speedboat.

The turn onto the ICW running across Biscayne Bay was easy enough following the chart plotter but was not well marked at all.

Downtown Miami, the ICW and the Eddie Rickenbacker bridge in the distance

In Biscayne Bay our goal was the Dinner Key channel. Dinner Key Marina did not have any slips available nor any mooring balls. A new friend, Alex, showed us a hole close to the mooring field where we could anchor in six feet of water. A mild cold front blew through that night but we were snug on the anchor. Sixty feet of chain in 6 feet of water should have held in hurricane.

Dinner Key mooring field, not a happy place to be in a strong wind

The next day with the help of our friend Lorie Messer we were able to secure a mooring ball in the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. This area must be the most protected area in all of Biscayne Bay.  It would be a delightful place of refuge during the unusually wintery weather in Miami this season. Jan and I could finally sleep soundly after almost 48 hours of conditions we were not ready for.

Lorie and Jan