So after a few hours of much needed rest, we pulled ourselves together and began to formulate a plan for our time in Ft. Lauderdale. First order of business, order the parts needed to repair the auto pilot and then coordinate with Jamie to pick up the parts that had been shipped to her as well as the rotary saw that she was kindly lending to us so that we could cut the thick plexiglass that we’d purchased to replace the slat that took a swim in Beaufort SC. Knowing that there were many restrictions on anchoring in Ft. Lauderdale, we decided to avail ourselves of the New River City marina, where the dockage was $1/foot including water, hot showers and access to the city. We called the marina and secured our slip, then pulled anchor and motored along the New River towing our dinghy behind us, coming through the 3rd Avenue bridge to our slip alongside the Riverwalk… right next to the bridge. We got the boat well secured, and went to check in with the dockmaster. Here the confusion begins… we walked along the Riverwalk, finally encountering some folks from Atlas Marina, who told us that no, the slip we were in was theirs, and they weren’t sure that they had room to accomodate us. HMMM this doesn’t sound right, we’d been given pretty explicit directions from the folks at New River and when we called them to inquire (after encountering the folks at Atlas) they told us that no, we were indeed in the right spot, and that they share this strip of tie ups with Atlas… and that it sounded like Atlas was trying to poach footage yet once again… and gave us directions to where the City Marina offices were, tucked in a little alleyway next to the Downtowner Saloon. I have to say that among all of the folks that we have encountered at all of the various marinas and facilities that we have stopped at for one reason or another, ALL of the people that we dealt with at Ft. Lauderdale’s three city facilities were among the nicest, most helpful, and most pleasant folks we’ve encountered! We got ourselves checked in, got directions over to the shower facilities, and checked in with Jamie to arrange to meet up the next morning (Saturday) to collect our parts. We then hopped in the dinghy and motored our way a little further up the New River, all the while taking in the amazing canal system that Ft. Lauderdale has (no wonder that they call it the Venice of America) and arrived at Cooley’s Landing where we took wonderful HOT HOT showers, swapped out a few books, and then clean and contented motored our way back down the river to our boat. Right after we arrived back at our boat, a couple stopped by - Peter and Cindy from Traa Dy Liooar, an Island Packet 38 tied up just a short way down from us in the New River facility. They were on their way over to the Downtowner Saloon to avail themselves of Happy Hour - $1 draft beers, and a $1 appetizer menu that runs until 7PM! We looked at eachother and quickly made the decision that we’d follow along shortly, as we hadn’t had the chance to do much in the way of provisioning yet, and with the freezer out of comission, we’d eaten all that we’d put in there to keep it from spoiling. We had a lovely time with Peter and Cindy sitting at the bar overlooking the river at the Downtowner, ordering and eating a few $1sliders and crabcakes and pulled pork burritos along with a couple of $1 Yuengling drafts. Peter and Cindy invited us to swing by their boat when we were done with our dinner for a little visit, and also to take a look at a windlass footswitch that they had (brand new) that they didn’t need. We wrapped up our meal, and headed over to Peter and Cindy’s boat for what turned into a fun evening nightcap where the guys bonded about electronics and Cindy and I chatted about girl stuff - including weddings and the like - capped off by Cindy giving me a fabulous haircut! (she’s a retired stylist). At about 10 we bid them a fond farewell of fair winds and following seas, as they were planning to depart in the am to catch the weather window that would allow them to cross the gulfstream into the Bahamas.
The following morning, we met up with Jamie 
who came to meet us at our boat, bearing an armful of boxes and the aforementioned tools. She was on her way to run some errands, and offered us a lift over to Sailorman - a mecca for sailors where there are aisles upon aisles of new and used marine parts and supplies, at really reasonable prices. We spent about 4 hours there, exploring the store and finding a bunch of items that were on our list for repairs/projects that we hoped to complete. We had Oscar in tow, and when we left the store, we ended up catching a cab back to the boat, where we promptly set about tackling our many projects until we were meeting up with Jamie and her husband for dinner. Jamie and Jack came and picked us up at about 7, and spirited us back to their place (with laundry in tow!) where we had a lovely, relaxing evening and a fabulous dinner of baked ziti, with a fresh salad and crusty bread… just what the doctor ordered, and capped off with brownies it was absolutely delicious. The company was even better than dinner, and we had just a wonderful evening relaxing and laughing with Jamie and Jack. On Sunday, we headed out of the marina at about noon, and putted back down the New River to the City Marina at Las Olas, where we availed ourselves of their free pump out facilities, before we headed back over to Lake Sylvia, where we dropped anchor for the night - a welcome and peaceful evening after being right next to an active drawbridge for two nights in a row. On Monday AM, we got up and pulled our anchor, honoring the town’s 24 hour anchoring rule, and headed back over to New River, where we were able to tie up back at the same spot where we’d been previously. Still noisy, but convenient to the Publix grocery store, and an easy location for us to get around town. I was able to get an appointment at the vet for Skipper so that we could get the last of her paperwork in order before we head to the Bahamas, and we rented a car for 24 hours so that we could take care of our provisioning needs, as well as take the cat to the vet.
All went well with our errands, including our stop at the Brownie dealership, where we picked up the last of our dive gear, and the vets where we got Skipper all set for her trip into the islands with us. We made one last stop at Sailorman to return one item and pick up a couple of additional parts we neede for our repairs, and then returned the car and caught a ride back (yay Enterprise). We made arrangements with Matt - the dockmaster - to move up to Cooley’s Landing the next evening where we’d be able to get another pump out before we headed out of Ft. Lauderdale. We were anxiously awaiting the parts for the autopilot, which we’d been expecting to arrive on Friday, Monday at the latest. A call to their facilities to get a tracking number produced the upsetting canned message that they were closed due to severe weather - UGH! Finally, we were able to track someone down in the Massachusetts offices, who said yes indeed, the package had shipped out as scheduled, and was able to provide us with a tracking number. A call to FedEx produced the info that the idiot (OK I know that’s not nice but she really was dumb) who helped Brian with ordering the replacement part had shipped the package… via fedEx to Lynne Langlois c/o Jamie Scott Miami FL. No address, no phone number no company name…. so our package had been sitting in Miami since MONDAY with FedEx unable to sort out where it was supposed to go since the company was closed due to bad weather. Sigh. Bless her, Jamie was able to pop over to the FedEx office in Miami on Wednesday afternoon and was able to pick up the part, and she brought that, along with one other package to us at Cooley’s landing on Wednesday evening. In the interim, our neighbor at Cooley’s Landing was kind enough to lend us his car so that I could go and do some provisioning at the Publix (now no longer a short walk away) now that our freezer was FINALLY really working YAY Brian!! I headed over to the store, and did an extensive shopping trip, only to find out when I went to check out, that my credit card number was one of the ones that had been compromised in the latest break-in to Citibank’s Heartland facilities. GRRR! They agreed to send me a new card overnight for delivery on Friday AM to Jamie’s offices, where we could pick the card up on our way out of Miami. While I was at the store, Brian had been working away on getting the autopilot fixed, only to be stymied by a bolt shearing off when he went to remove it… which meant that in the AM, we would have to make a run to the hardware store to get the right screw extractor.
However, in the midst of this, we received an amazing and exceptionally kind and generous offer from Mr. & Mrs. Barker, a two night stay all inclusive at the beautiful resort of Little Palm in the Keys! After some discussion about logistics, Brian and I decided to take them up on their kind offer. A couple of nights in a beautiful location, sleeping in a real bed with fabulous food and an exceptionally attentive staff sounded like an amazing break and a great way to kick ourselves out of the shakedown cruise mode and into the vacation mode that we hope to have for the rest of our adventure. After some discussion with Mr. Barker, and some logistical planning, we set off from Cooley’s Landing on Thursday at about noon for our anchorage in Miami, where we’d put in for the night, and then meet up with the crew at Moran to collect my new credit card before we set off down the Keys.
For whatever reason, and neither of us is quite sure why we decided to do this, we took the Intracoastal from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami, which proved to be a painfully slow route with many scheduled bridges. Ultimately the delays caused by waiting on the bridges caused us not to make it all the way to our planned anchorage , but we made it to a nice little anchorage as dark was falling by the 79th street bridge where we dropped our hook, had a nice roast pork dinner cooked in the pressure cooker (YAY) and tucked in for the night.
