Chickadee had her first offshore romp today, and Lordy, it was beautiful. We woke to chilly temps in the 60s after the front last night, and set off after ‘school’. On our way out of Ft. Lauderdale we passed Steven Spielberg’s yacht, and other subtle pieces of property, yacht and otherwise:
We had the wind behind us with enough of a wind angle to sail comfortably, and we surfed our way south to Miami.
While Andy and I had a grand old time sailing, watching flying fish, watching serious windsurfers training for something (presumably serious) while completely rejuvenating our love of offshore sailing, the girls enjoyed the day like this:
Zombies, really, but we’ve made it a point to let them have fairly free reign on board down below when we’re underway. Lily had a knockdown scare on an Opti during her first year of sailing camp a few years ago, and while she’s happy to be living aboard, her fear of heeling is a thing she often talks about. The practice of heeling in reality has proven to be much more manageable than what she imagines (surprise, surprise), which has been huge for her. We figure that any way she can learn to enjoy, and feel more comfortable with the inevitable, the better. (In fact she barely mentioned the motion at all today, and V is as oblivious as ever to any change from anchor down to rail down.)
We oohed and ahhed at the crazy scope of Miami harbor, with its island full of Coast Guard cutters, the Port of Miami unloading huge Maersk container ships at warp speed, car carriers running to and from Fisher Island, float planes taking off and landing, jet skis and cigarette boat tours (crazy and deafening but true), and glittering condo high rises all around us. So much to look at it.
We’re now safely on a mooring on the outer fringes of Dinner Cay Marina’s vast mooring field, and we’re sated from the often searched-for but not-always-found cheap street tacos (CHECK!), and a nice stroll around Coconut Grove. Nighty night!
Okay, I give up – what’s a slanket? And Lily, I’m with you kid – heeling over is not my favorite thing either. So happy you have nice weather down there. We spent the day with sideways rain, wind and 55 degrees. SO weird for February with not much ice on the ponds, no snow and no cold weather. And my garden is waking up only to be nipped soon, I’m sure. Love you SALVIO.
A blanket with arms for easier wearing! The Dudleys gave them each one, and their eyes widened in pure glee when they saw them! Yesterday my legs were cold, so I adjusted use a little…