Miami is right there, but we can’t touch it

Sunday 29 Dec, Biscayne Bay, Miami FL day 1: We wake up to yet another cloudy, windy day and rain showers. Over breakfast we are still thoughtful and if feels a bit gloomy that we can’t make a decision whether we go to Cuba or Bahamas. And we definitely need to reach a decision as we must get moving if we want to have any hope to make it for a NYE party somewhere.
One more look at the PredictWind forecast reconfirmed we must get going now towards Marathon Cay if we head to Cuba, and if we head to Bahamas we should leave tomorrow mid-day. I don’t remember ever feeling such pressure on making a travel plan.

After yet another long debate looks like we head to Bahamas. Not towards Nassau as initially discussed, but towards Chub Cay. A sudden relief descends on us once we voice our decision. So the Bahamas pilot book comes out once more. A phone call later we are booked into Chub Key Marina & Resort for the night of Dec 31st, which gives us access to the NYE party they organize. We have a plan!

Once relaxed, Glen jumps in the water to give the bow toilet a bleaching. It’s started to get a bit smelly each time we flush. The routine is that he sticks a bottle of bleach into the inlet while I run the toilet. As soon as I smell bleach I stop, and we let it soak for an hour or two. While there he checks the bottom of the boat and the waterline. Verdict: it’s rather grubby after all our time planted in warm Florida duck ponds!
Here we are, anchored next to Miami, with a full day and a half ahead of us but with no possibility to go ashore. As in we could take the dinghy to a nearby dock which is in a national park, but the park gates close at 5pm and we can’t get back in after that. Plus, on this peninsula we are 30 mins drive from Miami, so not easy to get an uber to pick us up.
This is one of the parts that suck (in my case) about living on a boat: we can only go where the boat can go. And in lots of interesting places the boat can’t go. Which really gets to me. So close, yet so far. Seems like each time we are in (what I call) civilization and I would love to spend most of the time ashore, feeling human, 80% of the time we can’t do that due to various factors, mostly related to the boat restrictions.

At least we can do something useful with the internet we have left (tomorrow onwards the lack of internet will add to the living onboard frustrations). We spend most of the day on our laptops. Me downloading and archiving photos from my phone – now that I won’t have a decent camera till I return to Europe in March, I’ll have to use my phone to take pictures. And Glen mostly reading on GEOS SAR and Medvac as we currently don’t have this coverage with our medical insurance, and it will be a “piece-of-mind” addition.

Despite being so cloudy and dull, the bay is busy with boats which came out for the weekend. We hear their music, and most of all feel their wake. I envy them, they can go back to the city at the end of the day.