November 14   We have had some adventures on our way down the ICW.  One of our stops was in Vero Beach where we spent some time with Nancy Jo.  She had us over for dinner on her ocean view patio on the 13th floor.

Then on to West Palm Beach where we met our great friend Cathi for a quick visit.  Our travels on the ICW from here took four days and 27 lift bridges.  Some opened for us on request, others we had to wait for their scheduled openings.  Captain Will navigated through all of them with ease...except for one!  The
Spanish River bridge south of Del Ray beach was a challenge.  We were ready to pass through the bridge at 10:30 but as the bridge tender was opening the spans, one of the spans was stuck.  Will put
the boat into reverse, and as we tried to shift to forward the gear shift was stuck.  We drifted towards
some mangroves and stuck in the mud.  Will was able to fix the gear shift problem within a half hour, but the tide was falling, and we called Tow Boat US to help us off.  At 2:30 we passed under the bridge.

We continued on to Gilbert's in Key Largo to spend time with our Bahama cruising friends Nancy and Andy.   We spent four days at this Tiki resort and enjoyed every minute of our time with them.

Now we are in one of our favorite anchorages in South Miami.  We enjoy going into town in our dinghy and exploring many of the canals in the area.  We are in a large body of water near Sunset Lake and are surrounded by very large luxurious homes and yachts.  This is one of our neighbors.

We have been having some strong north and northeast winds, but we are well protected.  We have enjoyed going to shore in the dingy and exploring the many canals that run through this area.  Next stop will be the Abacos in the Bahamas.  We just need to have the right weather window to cross over