While we were here, our boat registration decals for 2017-2018 came in at home. We had our daughter overnight them to us via "General Delivery" to the nearest Post Office. Today's expedition was to retrieve them.
Bill used the dinghy to ferry us to shore at FIU's beach, and then returned the dinghy to Dolce Vita, as you're not allowed to tie up at FIU. From there,we walked to the road and summoned an Uber ride. This time there was no problem. At the Post Office, we encountered that rarest of entities: a friendly, helpful postal employee! She took us out of line and fished through a bin of general delivery mail until I pointed out that it was probably that FedEx envelope lying on the table behind her. Mission accomplished!
Since we were already out, we took advantage of it to have lunch at a Chinese restaurant, and then walked to the nearest Walmart for more provisioning (mostly single-ply marine TP). Another Uber ride, followed by a dinghy ride back completed things.
I reflected on the fact that between the overnighting, and the Uber rides, we spent twice as much as the registration decals cost! But we needed to have everything legal and in order before we departed the country!
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Well, our long but delightful wait here at Oleta River Park looks like it's finally coming to an end .
A very nice weather window for crossing to the Bahamas is shaping up to open up this Wednesday, and last potentially until mid-Saturday. Many of the boats anchored here (at one point there were 27), moved on this morning.
Our plan is to spend one more night and leave Monday morning. We'll travel to Dinner Key Marina in South Miami, do our final provisioning, our final pumpout, and take advantage of the hot showers and laundry! A departure late Wednesday night will get us into Bimini mid-day Thursday, giving us good light to navigate the entrance channel into North Bimini.
We've really enjoyed the last 10 days (has it been that long already?!) we've spent here. This has been a really wonderful spot, a worthy destination all on its own.
Today, I dropped Joanie off on the shore where she rented a kayak and went paddling around the mangrove creeks with our friend Heidi from the m/v Victorious. Rather than poach her pictures, I'll let you see them on her blog.
By way of celebrating our final night here, we had a blowout dinner of grilled steaks, tuna (the last of our fresh buy a few days ago), deviled eggs, cauliflower, and Margaritas. Nobody left hungry!
It's now Tuesday here and I just read your post above. I'm glad things are going well. It is nice to not have had any boat issues given that you are (have already) embarking for a passage. I'll look forward to hearing how how your crossing went. I looked at the charts to see where you were when you wrote this and where you plan to leave from. You are inspiring me to follow in your footsteps!
ReplyDeleteFair winds.
Thanks Ron. We're getting pretty excited! This morning's weather net confirmed that the window is holding.
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