November 22, 2011.

We've arrived in South Beach after 2 long days. We left Vero Beach with the intention of heading out the inlet at Fort Pierce for an overnighter to Miami. Just as we were nearing the inlet we heard a few sailboats heading in after a night on the ocean heading south. I chatted them up on the VHF and they seemed pretty pleased to have survived the inlet. Our worst ass kicking in the inlet category was right there in Fort Pierce a few years ago. It seemed that the inlet was a little whipped up so I was hesitant to head out. I've never been a big fan of having my ass kicked. The topper was when I asked about their point of sail. Apparently, the wind was close enough to their nose that they had to motor sail all night. If I'm gonna have to run the engine I might as well stay in the ditch.

So we barreled along as best we could with the 8 bridges and all and arrived in Lake Worth 45 minutes after dark. Sneaking down the channel and around Peanut Isle in the inky darkness made safely dropping the hook a welcome respite from the tension of the day. And then I hatched a new plan......

I woke at 0340 and checked the engines fluids, strung our jacklines, woke Christy and pulled the hook. We were headed out the Lake Worth Inlet into 4 foot seas with 15 knots a wee bit too close to the nose. We had to motorsail for the first 2 hours before bearing off just 10 degrees. Then the engine was off and we had ourselves a very nice sail down to Government Cut in Miami.

So, as I write this we should be outta here around 0900 tomorrow and headed for The North Rock entrance onto the Bahama Bank. After that, who knows.....