South to Key Biscayne

The two day sail from Beaufort to Fort Pierce had plenty of wind, although not always in the right direction. We made our sea rendezvous with buddy boat, Sand Castle, skippered by Luke and Jan Sand. At sunset, we jib sailed and I caught this view of their boat. We arrived in Fort Pierce, refueled, and anchored for the night in a cove south of the Fort Pierce inlet and under the bridge. The second day was to take us to Rodriguez Key. However, we didn't count on 15-20 knot winds on our nose, hitting the full 3.5 force of the Gulf Stream, thunderstorms, and waves slowing us to a crawl after just four hours of great sailing. At the Fort Lauderdale channel at 4 am, we encountered several cruise liners in the process of entering the harbor. The situation had us doing a sudden reversal of course as one behemmoth, accompanied by a pilot boat cut across our bow. We may have had the right of way, but demanding your rights is not always the best plan. After just over 24 hours of slow going, we welcomed this gorgeous sunset near Miami and opted to bail out at Key Biscayne to avoid the 25-30 knot winds scheculed for the next day. As we sit at anchor and feel the blow here in No Name Harbor, we are happy with that decision.