Sailing offshore from Stuart, FL to Miami, FL to No Name Harbor.

We were going to head down the ICW today, and instead, decided to go offshore and put our sails up. The weather was in our favor and it had been a while since we had been offshore. If you remember, our last experience was a bit nerve racking, we were hoping for a different experience.

We got up at 6:30AM, dinghy’d to the dock for a doggie walk and hung the dinghy on the davits when we got back. We let the mooring ball go and motored to the fuel dock, got some fuel, filled our water, loaded our bicycles, took the dog for 1 last walk before we caught the 9:30 bridge out of Stuart. We wanted to be at the crossroads by 11AM, so we would still be on the high tide and hopefully not running aground.

The St Lucie Inlet has been known to be a bit treacherous, but after speaking with a few of the locals, as we were planning our departure, they said it had been dredged just last year and was not bad, suggesting we go at high tide, which is exactly what we did.

St Lucie Inlet

St Lucie Inlet

St Lucie Inlet

We made it out safe and sound, we started by putting up the Main sail, then the headsail, then the staysail. This was our first offshore “sail”. We sailed all the way to Miami, it took us about 20 hours, it was beautiful. We did turn our motor on for about 20 minutes to help us get out of the Gulf Stream. We had gotten out a bit too far and it was slowing us down. Remember, if your speed over ground is less than your speed over water, you are probably in the Gulf Stream and need to head inland. We hugged the coast all the way down, and when the sun came up, we were looking at South Beach, Miami.

South Beach, Miami

South Beach, Miami

Once we got inland, we met up with some friends on Tulum III, who showed us the best anchoring space in South Beach, Miami, right off Star Island. It’s about a mile from any dock or grocery, but we loved it, very private and beautiful. We spent a week there. My daughter, Felicia came down to visit for 2 days and we had fun snorkeling and swimming around the boat.

45 Million dollar house on Star Island

Snorkeling in Miami

Love that face

Love that face

About a week later, we said goodbye to Star Island and sailed Biscayne Bay to No Name Harbor.

Miami from Biscayne Bay

It was a beautiful day with winds blowing 8-14 knots. Have you ever seen Stiltsville? I’d love to get a closer look, but interesting story http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiltsville.

Anyway, we spent some extra time enjoying the sail. Even Dusty was relaxing!

No Name Harbor

We anchored our boat. Beautiful little place, so busy on the weekend, but very mellow during the week. We recommend buying the State pass for $60 bucks to cover your stay.

No Name Harbor

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.