Stuck in Sunny Miami

February 20th finds us still anchored in Sunset Lake, Miami with many other cruisers almost all of whom we have met along the way. The boat show was this weekend and it was huge. They had many venues and we decided on the Strictly Sailing venue. There were some beautiful boats and all very big and expensive. The booths were informative, especially the Yanmar engine section.

We met an interesting young couple from the very huge yacht Magic while waiting for the boat show shuttle. He is the first mate and from Miami. She is a crew member and from the Abacos. Magic stays here in Sunset Harbor in the winter and in the spring makes it way to Charleston and then on to Southwest Harbor ME for the summer. They are both sailors and just wanted to talk about Maine. They guided us around the boat show.

Fred, our neighbor in the $11,000,000.00 house who doesn't like sailboats anchored in the lake, has been creating havoc since all the cruisers have arrived for the boat show. He launches his boat playing rap music and tells the cruisers he wants them to move in foul langage. The use of a gun was mentioned this weekend to one of the cruisers. A boat with two small girls had to leave because of the language. The other cruisers are not moving, as he would like. There are only so many openings in this anchorage. The police were called twice on Saturday. We dealt with him on our previous trip here, and this time he has circled us but left us alone. Of course, we are not anchored in "his zone" now.

We have done some work on the bright work this past week. It was really looking bad. I'm not sure how much work will get done, but the deck rails and doran boxes that we sanded and put three coats on look great.

A couple from Middlebury VT on a 20 foot Pacific Cruiser just stopped by. They have an inflatable kayak they use to get to shore and yesterday they tore holes in it at the tie up. They bought a new one at the boat show. He is on a sabbatical and they hope to cross to the Bahamas. And I thought we were small!

We did the fresh market today on Lincoln Road and had lunch in the market place. That is the happening place on weekends.

February 22nd, and still here in Miami. We've been doing some of the bright work on Snow Goose and once all that work stuff is done heading for the beach. We have gotten the attention of the Yanmar reps from the company where we bought the engine and we are communicating with them. Through email and pictures, he has identified our engine installation issues, which are many. He has given us some recommendations as to places to be fixed.

March 2nd
We had decided to leave Sunset Lake and go to Ft. Lauderdale to a mechanic there with our installation issues. However, we just about got out into the harbor when the engine overheated. Decision made. We were towed to Anchor Marine on the Miami River. Doug from Yanmar has contacted Mike and his team at Anchor and together they have identified our issues and we are essentially being re-repowered. Mike is from Castine, Maine and still owns a family farm there.

It is difficult to live on a boat while they are repowering the engine - and we are in a boatyard, not a marina, at that. Bill loves being in the boatyard. Anyway, it is now very obvious we definitely made a bad choice in a mechanic to repower initially. As the engine is pulled and remounted and then reinstalled, more and more is discovered.

Since we can't get on and off the boat while they are working on the engine, Bill and I have been exploring. We have taken the dinghy up and down the Miami River and discovered a great fish market and good seafood restaurant. The shrimp are outstanding and so fresh!

We also have taken the Metrorail to Coconut Grove and explored the seashore and downtown there. The bus system also takes us to downtown Miami, although we weren't impressed. Miami Beach is definitely better and we have been back there a couple of times for the beautiful park walk along the channel.

Yesterday, March 3rd, we went to the Miami Zoo via the Metrorail. The zoo is beautiful - no fences to speak of. They use moats to enclose the animals. The animals had so much space amount the trees, rocks, etc.it was sometimes hard to find them. We watched the giraffes with their long black tongues and long eyelashes being feed by the kids - they were so gentle. I thought of Erik and the pet frog in used to have as we walked through numerous frog aquariums. That red headed kid Skipper would have liked all the lizards we encountered. Gus would have appreciated the size of the porcupines and the fact that they were huddled up in a cave -- he could have barked and barked until they were mad and then run like the devil, hopefully Oskar with him.

March 4th we have spent the day on the boat deck sanding and painting brightwork. Tomorrow, Saturday, they plan on working aboard again, so I guess we will have to find some activity to take up the major portion of the day. As I said, living aboard while the work is being done is not easy, and the work is taking longer than the mechanics expected. However, we can't go anywhere until this boat is fixed.