Coconut Grove: that's a royer

See the big smiles on the faces in the first picture. That's us (still on the boat) as we sail into the entrance channel for the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. The next picture is a little boutique in the hip/funky/slick Coconut Grove shopping district. The last picture was provided by Doug - what he saw on arrival back in Canada. I am sure the UP looks very similar. You don't have to guess why we are smiling.

Our last day sans Doug was a challenge for Claude, as he not only had to do all the driving but all the talking to the bridge tenders as well. We knew we were in Miami about half-way through, when one of the bridge operators - in replying to my identification of our boat - said, "that's a royer". That's a royer...hmmm...oh yeah - "That's a Roger" in spanglish. Between Claude's delightful French accent and the bridge tender's pronounced Spanish accent, we could only imagine what fun they had communicating! At any rate, the nice bridge tender told us to stay about 200 yards away from the bridge due to strong current. He was right, and when we were able to go through about 15 minutes later, we were suddenly swept up into a nice rush of current which carried us swiftly - about 6 1/2 knots - to any number of the remaining bridges. We anchored outside the Miami Yacht Club at first- just near the Government Cut - but re-anchored elsewhere later so that we could dinghy to a grocery store. It was blowing quite a bit, the current swift, and the wind was due to switch in the middle of the night. Claude put out a second anchor - so did we. The next morning, Wayne tried to lift the second anchor. No luck. It was stuck. Or the line was stuck. Something was stuck. Claude and Wayne took the dinghy to explore. No luck. We had to cast off our primary anchor and tie it to a fender so the line would float. Claude climbed aboard, and used Cassie's big diesel to try to unstick the anchor. He got us moving, but both guys realized the anchor was not stuck - the line was wrapped around something mighty heavy! Claude went back to Merope to tie the boats together just as Wayne dove to check out the situation. Wayne was so excited to be able to free the anchor line that he unwrapped it and surfaced - just as Claude was trying to throw me the line from Merope. Now it's better but Cassie is basically just floating free. Wayne says, "start the engine!", Claude jumps in the dinghy, speeds over to Cassie carefully avoiding Wayne who is still in the water, leaps onboard and takes the tiller. Boy I never saw Claude move so quick! We take Cassie back to the first anchor, pick up the line, and secure her. Then the guys pick up the second anchor, bring it on board, and life is back to manageable. Wayne gets on Merope to muscle Claude's auxilliary anchor onboard ( both of them hoping it's not wrapped around another monolith) and success! Wayne's back on Cassie, Claude's anchor winch works perfectly and we are off for the 6 or 7 mile trip to Coconut Grove. It rains along the way but WHO CARES? We get there just as the sun is peeking through and are greeted by Claude's utterly charming brother-in-law, Bill. Bill is recovering from a knee replacement, and is still in painful rehab. He discovered he was allergic to Codeine (always a bad thing to discover in the hospital) but thank goodness is still able to drink beer. So, we all sat down to a real Coconut Grove Sailing Club welcome over many, many beers. We met so many fascinating people I cannot do them all justice in this long entry, so I'll start with Bill. He is a mighty sailor, having sailed his boat Finesse (Tartan 30 I think) in myriad races from Miami to Bimini and many, many others. He speaks with a prounounced West Virginia accent and an extraordinary command of English vocabulary. He speaks like a gentleman, and is very fun to listen to. He has the usual assorted salty stories to tell, but more than that he offers genteel opinions in silver tones reminiscent of the State of Virginia Attorney General of our Solomon's Island blog. I am mesmerised listening to him speak, it's just so fun, and the beers are starting to take hold. His nemesis is a fiery little Canadian lady aptly named Pepper. She has sailed with him many years and is a mighty sailor herself. She has piercing blue eyes and a mane of blond hair, some short shorts and a great laugh. Pepper and Bill get into it about any number of things, and the action heats up. Other Club members come to join us, and join in the fun! Among them were the incredibly gorgeous Karen Stene and her cuddly teddy-bear husband Dr. Wayne Tepper (more on them later). Canadians are not in short supply at the CGSC, and the discussion heats up nicely. The afternoon simmers down, and we trundle off to Cassiopeia, nicely moored a stone's throw away from the dinghy dock. What a great arrival.