Waiting out weather in Sunrise Bay...

We have been anchored in Sunrise Bay since December 8th. It’s a nice secluded, small and quiet anchorage in Fort Lauderdale, surrounded by high dollar mansions, and a fancy yacht club & marina, which is off of the ICW just north of the Sunrise Bay Bridge.

For the first few days here, the sun was out most of the time and the winds were bareable. On these quiet mornings and evenings, I would put Harley on the SUP board with me and paddle him to the yacht club nearby and sneak him though the parking lot over to a little patch of grass off to the side (even though ‘private property’ signs were posted). Since I was only using a small patch of grass for Harley to relieve himself on, I didn’t really think the rules applied to us. I was never noticed until one evening two yacht club members approached me and I got the ‘boot’ and never returned. Fortunately there is a park directly across the ICW from our anchorage…Hugh Taylor Birch State Park where Rick would drop us off and Harley and I could take long walks. It’s a beautiful park with it’s lush green landscape, lots of trees and mangroves along the small creeks that flow throughout the park. There is a bike trail and also nature trails to explore. There is even a trail that takes you straight through to the beach. Harley and I walked there almost daily until the winds got too crazy and we could not even take our dinghy to shore.

The anchorage was like the ocean at times, choppy along with a very swift moving current! On top of that, it rained several days in a row and we still could not get off of the boat. We were boat bound for at least a week. It became depressing. One evening in particular was quite scary! The wind was in the high 30’s-40’s with gusts up into the 50’s. The rain came down sideways along with the winds. Around midnight we noticed that an abandoned sailboat anchored next to us was on a collision course with us. The boat kept swerving closer and closer to our boat and when it appeared to be only 3’ away from hitting our boat, Rick told me it was time to move! ‘What?! In this weather??!’, I was thinking to myself! It was dark, wet and the winds were at gale force. I said OK and got into action! We had to do this no matter how challenging it would be. So I quickly scurried up to the flybridge half asleep, stood at the helm, started the engines and waited for Rick’s instructions while he was at the bow ready to start pulling up the anchor. I was holding my breath and clenching my teeth the entire time. I could not see very well it being pitch black out and that I left my glasses down inside the boat. The winds were howling and the boat was being blown backwards and sideways as I tried to maneuver the boat. It was very hard to steer with the winds working against me. I had to give enough gas to move the boat forward but so much that I would drive over the anchor. By some miracle, we were able to get the anchor up and move a safe distance away from the abandoned sailboat and re-anchor. We have not moved from this spot since!

At times when the weather was not so bad, Rick and I managed to get some things done on land by way of Uber. We took a trip to West Marine..actually two trips together. And I alone took a trip to Target, Sam’s, Trader Joe’s, Publix (a nearby grocery store) and Aldi’s (a German owned grocery store with great produce, some organic items, and great prices) all in preparation of the day we can cross over to Bimini. We also were getting provisions at all of these places for our friends on Hope that are patiently waiting for us in George Town, Exumas.

Today is Christmas Eve and it’s a grey and windy day. But the good news is we are closer to making that dash over to the Bahamas. We have been waiting for the safest weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. Rick has been checking the marine weather app, ‘Windy’, several times a day since it is always changing. The Gulf Stream is virtually a river within the Atlantic that is about 45 miles wide and flows swiftly North at about 2.5 knots. If you choose the wrong time to cross when the wind is out of the North blowing against the current, it can be a ‘sporty’ and dangerous ride! So with careful planning and patience the trip can be safe and comfortable.

By the next blog post we hope to be in the Bahamas safe and sound!