Double Life is comfortably docked at Bahia Honda State Park for the winter. We arrived the day before Thanksgiving in very high winds and could not get into the employee marina until Friday afternoon when a window of relative calm and more clear waters arrived.

                                                 our narrow entrance to the marina

                                                                   Double Life at dock

The trip down from Ft. Pierce had a mix of weather so it was an interesting trip.

On Nov. 20^th we bid adieu to the nice folks at Riverside Marina, the boat was put back in the water and we were ready to set sail once again. 

Weather was not great with clouds, wind and chilly temps, but it was nice to be moving down the ICW once again. The route this time took us to an anchorage on Lake Worth at West Palm Beach then down to Port Everglades passing through 12 bridges. 

                                            the Ocean Ave bridge, one of my favorites

The wind finally died down enough to head out to the Atlantic skirting Miami and avoiding 20-some more bridges.  The water was beautiful and we saw a few dolphin enjoying the day too. 

                                            beautiful early morning entrance to the Atlantic

                                         this dragonfly took a long rest with us during the day

Going back inside at Biscayne Bay, we ended the day at Biscayne National Park on Boca Chita Key where there are remnants of the mansion Mark Honeywell built in 1937 after buying the island. Pictured below are some of the coral rock structures that remain. Honeywell sold the island in 1945 and it became a national park in 1985, but there is disappointingly little interpretation and no NPS presence at all. After a short dip in the ocean and we discovered what the island is truly known for – mosquitoes and no-seeums! Did a quick escape and anchored about a half mile off shore. 

A lovely warm Florida day on Tuesday gave us motor-free sailing a good portion of the day into Upper Matacoumbe.  It was a nice anchorage and a short dinghy ride into Lorelei restaurant on the beach where we met the couple from cat Toucana whose boat we’d seen and been in radio contact with over the past couple days.

Wednesday began sunny and calm as we dodged many, many crab pots for the first 5 miles. Passing through the Channel Five bridge at Long Key we went out to the ocean again and the clouds gathered.  The wind picked up and by 10am we were in occasional rain and winds that ultimately topped out at 33 knots (about 40mph). 

            

That afternoon we easily reached Bahia Honda State Park, our final destination, but due to the wind and murky waters were unwilling to try to get into the narrow entrance of the basin where we’d need to dock.  So we anchored off Sandspur beach at Bahia Honda the next two nights making for one of the more unique Thanksgivings.