January 21

January 21. Taking the dogs out for their morning ritual was an exercise in patience. We couldn’t go cut through the yard of the home under construction as there were people all about. So we went on dinghy about for a couple of miles until I came across a mooring field and took the dinghy through the field until we got to the dock set aside for the mooring field guests. Nobody was any the wiser.

So needless to say, over an hour had passed before we got back to Veranda. When we got back Christy says to hoist the outboard and dinghy as we are leaving as soon as we finish breakfast. John over on Non Linear had contacted the Riverwalk Marina and there were 3 spaces available on a first come first serve basis. The boats are side tied to a wall on a very busy canal that runs through the heart of Fort Lauderdale. It’s a very cool spot as there are shops and pubs along this beautiful stone promenade. John also says arriving at this spot should only be attempted at slack tide.

Turns out he was right, we got there right on time and I wouldn’t have wanted to do that with any type of current either with or against us. Holy crap, what a nightmare. We come through a drawbridge and the marina has a long wall of slips on our left side. The canal is lined with boats on both sides and there’s not 75 feet of water in between either side with a constant flow of boats transiting this tight space. We pass every boat until we get to the far end and manage to turn both boats around and pull into a space that will accommodate both boats. Once we’re safely tied up (no small feat) a dock attendant comes over and tells us that we are in the wrong marina. There’s room for 12 boats on the wall and we need to move forward several spots to be in the right (cheap) place. So we untie and redock 500 feet forward of where we just were. It was busy as hell with boat traffic with barely enough room for them to pass around you as you were parallel parking, god forbid they wait 30 seconds to make life easier for everyone involved. Its like trying to parallel park on the Parkway.

We’re going to be here for 2 nights as there are supposed to be several places here in town that we would like to go shopping for a new dinghy . Our dinghy has been treating us well and the patch I put on in Oriental, N.C. is holding up well. It just that it too small. With Christy and I with the dogs it can be a very wet ride if there’s any kind of chop on the water. The dinghy is just so important to our every day routine that this is no place to cut corners. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.