tadhana: cocoa to miami.

we spent two months in cocoa, FL and are now on the move again. tom was gone a couple of times, once to annapolis around christmastime to see about his house which he is putting on the market, and the other time to chicago (brrr) for the chicago boat show. i think it's safe to say he's not doing that one again! i got to spend some quality time with mikey and family and we are now beginning to think of cocoa as "home" just like we did deltaville. it really is a nice little town to call home. my brother is a bad influence - his phone was acting up so we went to best buy to check out iPhones. he got a 6S and i ended up going home with a 6S plus - i love it...!! but man oh man, they are expensive! at the same time, i feel like i'm finally catching up with the smartphone world :)

when tom got back from chicago, it was time to do the boat projects that he had been putting off and boy, did he have his work cut out for him because all of a sudden things started breaking down right and left - it was insane! HOWEVER. things got done eventually to his satisfaction and certain mysteries were solved. our original plan was to do a little cruising from cocoa but that never happened and TADHANA basically just sat for a couple of months - sad... obviously, she did not like that and acted up.

also, aurora finally got spayed. apparently, the whole experience was traumatic for her. although the surgery went well, she was a nervous wreck for a few days afterwards, very needy, and with some serious separation anxiety. we had some sleepless nights as she kept trying to climb up on the bed with us and then howled all night when she got locked out of the forward cabin. no more dogs on the bed - been there done that, not happening, sorry.

just before we left on february 5, 2016, tom and i had an early valentine's celebration and watched the musical "cats" at the cocoa village playhouse. it was a local production but it was surprisingly good! the historic theatre is tiny but very elegant. the singing was excellent and the music was live - no taped music for these folks - and the house was packed. we enjoyed the show very much. tom had actually never seen "cats" before and did not know what to expect. he said his face was starting to hurt from grinning so much :)

when we finally left cocoa village marina the next morning, it was pretty obvious that we hadn't moved in a while - we were out of practice! preparation took a little longer and a few minor things were forgotten, sequence-wise. and the worst thing, our little boat dog had turned into a land lubber :( oh, she shook and quaked with the rumble of the engine and all when tom accelerated to blow out the turbo. the problem was that she was all alone - tom was at the helm and i was up on the bridge putting lines and fenders away. when i finally got to sit with her, she stayed on top of me the whole time until we finally docked at fort pierce municipal marina - it was really pathetic. passage was uneventful and we decided to pass on vero beach, our original destination, and keep going. the weather was not great and we were expecting a front to come through so instead of anchoring, we opted for a marina stay. quite frankly, i wouldn't have minded staying at fort pierce one more day - that place warrants a little more exploration! but we got in before the downpour at least and even managed to get aurora out for a decent walk before it arrived.

from fort pierce, we headed to palm beach and, again, because of the weather, tom opted to make a reservation at riviera beach municipal marina. i do not think we will be back to that place. it will be a very nice marina once they are done with all the construction BUT... $15 a day for electricity??? i don't think so. needless to say, we did not plug in. also, the dock layout was confusing, the staff indifferent, and no internet out on the docks! it was a hike to get to the marina office, too. anyway, tom was pretty upset with that place. we might as well have saved our money and anchored. never got to see palm beach either.

the next day, we went out into the atlantic through the lake worth inlet - it was a +/- decision with the intention of taking a look and possibly heading back and doing the ICW route instead depending on what we saw. it was "okay." the waves were four to five footers coming at the port quarter but they were far apart - big rollers - so it was "okay." again, aurora did not move AT ALL. our original destination was fort lauderdale but when we got close to the inlet, we just decided to keep going for miami. we had made really good time with the waves and wind pushing us from behind. well, the waves got bigger - i am talking some 10-footers here! a little disconcerting, but, again, they were far apart so not a bad ride. BUT... we could see the waves breaking on the shoals and really, it was not pretty. it was a relief when we finally got to government cut, the entrance to miami. those were some BIG waves!

we ended up anchoring next to watson island which has a public boat ramp. it's a huge anchorage with lots of what we call the floating homeless - some of those wrecks haven't moved in years and are unoccupied, judging from the amount of bird poop :( but it was convenient for us for the doggy run to watson island and to bayside marina which was the "strictly sail" venue where tom would be giving his seminars. the main show had been moved from the convention center at miami beach to marine stadium and i think that messed up a lot of people because marine stadium is another good anchorage that cruisers rely on and everyone got kicked out february 1 to make room. we arrived miami on monday and the show started thursday so we had a couple of days to get settled and work out some kind of routine. aurora's morning walk is at watson island. we discovered that we could walk around the outside grounds of "jungle island," one of the miami attractions, before it opened for the day. peeking through the fence, i could see flamingoes! in the afternoons, we headed to the public ramp in miami beach by the police station which is where we go to fill up our water jugs. there is a publix nearby as well so it is very convenient.

on day #1 of the boat show, aurora and i dropped tom off at bayside and went home for the day. he took the water taxi to marine stadium. i, all of a sudden, got reminded of last year when we were anchored at sunset lake and the main show was at the convention center. things were so much easier then with consuelo who knew the routine. aurora has to be tied to a cleat on the dinghy when i am single handing. i just don't trust her yet. of course, at the time, consuelo was 14 - an old hand. aurora isn't even a year yet! i guess she'll get there eventually but for right now, she is just a royal pain in the butt, albeit a very cute one :)

in any case, here we sit in miami until monday and then we will move on. internet is via our data plan and we had a lot left over for this pay period. starting tomorrow, we tighten our belts. no more watching downton abbey :(