Fixin' To Be Fixed

Fort Pierce to Dania Beach  |  18.1 Hours  |  107 Miles   

Much of Sunday was spent waiting for the proper time to depart Fort Pierce for an overnight offshore run to Fort Lauderdale ... with a 9:30 target arrival at our destination. For the first time in a while, there were fluffy white clouds in the sky and noticeable humidity in the air. Finishing up another book on Fiberglass Beach, it definitely felt like summer. We topped off the water tanks again, took out the trash, and returned the marina key fobs all as part of our normal departure routine. New this time, we packed our bags for a few nights off of Crossroads and I consolidated as much of our frozen provisions as possible from our drop-in freezer into the refrigerator's freezer.* At 3:30 it was finally time to get underway. The waterway was busy with every size of watercraft, the beaches were full, and there were even folks cooling off in the water near the shore. It was a smooth and easy exit from Fort Pierce Inlet. I noticed a nice photo-op frame had been erected along the breakwater. Small things make a huge difference. We turned south into the Atlantic and set the autopilot. The waves were once again low swells and it was another great day for travel. We sat back and enjoyed the ride with all the doors open. About an hour into our trip, Barry spotted a balloon floating on the water and we diverted to pick it up. He joked that it was my early Valentine's Day present. The high-rises of Jupiter framed the setting sun.

Barry was able to get the Super Bowl streaming on his laptop in the pilothouse so that I could see it during my watch. My watches were as uneventful as the game. A full moon and the glow from coastal towns gave us great visibility. I easily picked out the illuminated bridges in Stuart and the glowing shoreline of West Palm Beach. Figuring out the odd flash pattern of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse (1.2 seconds on, 6.6 seconds off, 1.2 seconds on, 21 seconds off) took some time, but was interesting. The full moon set to the west while I was sleeping, but the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse was flashing off to starboard when I came back on watch at 6:00 am. The eastern sky began to lighten and my expectations for a dramatic light show were as high as the cloud bank into which the sun would rise. 

The show did not disappoint and I kept snapping photos.

It took nearly an hour for the sun to truly rise above the high clouds. As we neared the inlet at Port Everglades, traffic picked up. Freighters being turned by tug boats, small fishing boats, Coast Guard Cutters, and cruise ships were all vying space in the same channel. What caught our eyes though, was the presence of dozens of Portuguese Man-'O-Wars floating on the water. They look just like those blasted mylar balloons to both us and the sea creatures. 

We turned south on the Intracoastal Waterway and passed alongside a Celebrity cruise ship, one of a half dozen docked in the small area. Port Everglades is one of the busiest passenger ports in the world. Over 3 million cruise passengers passed through this small area in 2023-2024. Air traffic and activity at the container port were also very busy.

Just past the container cranes and tucked back in a basin was the mega yacht Launchpad. The 387-foot, $300 million vessel was delivered last February to its owner, Mark Zuckerberg (Meta/Facebook). Another interesting site was the Bahamas Express mailboat being loaded by a forklift carrying a single vehicle. Who knows? Maybe we'll see that vehicle again in the next few weeks. The industrial zone soon ended and we turned into the Dania Cut-Off Canal. A majestic heron watched as we moved slowly toward our destination of Royal Palm Yacht Basin. We were a bit early (as planned) so we tied up to the face dock and relaxed for a few minutes while waiting for our 10:00 haulout appointment with the Travelift. 

My first thought was, "you want us to go where?" The basin looked oh so tiny, but we were reassured that we would have "plenty of room." Barry did manage to steer us into the slings of the Travelift while crossing against the current. No matter how many times we've been hauled, it is always nerve wracking. Soon we were washed and secured with blocks and stands. Barry took a first look at the gimpiest of our two gimpy stabilizer fins. The techs arrived right on time and quickly got to work while we skipped out to pick up our rental car, some lunch, and check into our hotel. We managed to get all of our frozen provisions from the deep freezer into the freezer in our hotel room. Big victory. When we returned to the yard, Mike and Brian had removed both fins and had diagnosed why our's were leaking after only 200 hours of use. Barry and I feel quite fortunate to have found the experts ... in their home yard. Finally we can say that we're fixin' to be fixed. More on this tomorrow ...

*Our drop-in freezer is water cooled and only works when Crossroads is in the water. Service on the stabilizer fins will have us on land for a few days. It was very important to find another freezer so we wouldn't lose our meals for The Bahamas.