2020: Pumpkin Key Anchorage to Pompano Beach Florida

2 May 2020

Depart: Card Sound, Pumpkin Key Anchorage 9:00

Arrive: Pompano Beach Private Dock 4:55

Distance: 63 nm

Traveling along this morning, I found nothing but “water, water everywhere”, i.e. no interesting views. I decided to go below and do a blog update to pass the time. After lunch I made my way back up to the upper helm to check out the sights as we passed through Miami.

One of the first things Clark pointed out to me were the “Snow-capped mountains” in the distance.

Sand-capped hills outside Miami, FL

 Soon thereafter, the skyscrapers of Miami came into view.  Clark decided we needed a “Hello Miami” – “Goodbye Miami” set of photos.

“Hello Miami”

 Clark was impressed by a wind surfer he saw speeding along.

Wind surfer

We saw 3 cruise ships docked in Miami. Two of them just looked like tall buildings to me until Clark pointed them out.

Cruise Ships at dock

Oceania Marina Cruise Ship at dock

Miami

 Next we saw ...

Container ships docked in Miami

 One of them hales from New Jersey!

A container ship coming into Miami –
“Babun Express”

being directed by a clearly-marked Pilot boat

After our oh-so-brief visit, it was time for the “Goodbye Miami” photo

Leaving Miami

Then, we passed through Government Cut into the Atlantic Ocean to start our way north towards home! As we moved along, we could see some ships anchored out in the ocean. One of the things floating out there looked like a Japanese pagoda.

Floating Pagoda??

Upon a closer look, we saw the word “Virgin” in large letters across the structure.  As we neared, the identifier “Virgin Voyages” became visible. Eventually, the vessel’s name, Scarlet Lady, was revealed. Given the shape and height as well as the atrocious colors of this ship, I decided to do a bit of research.

Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady

Note the size difference to the other cruise ship

 Compared to the other cruise ships anchored nearby, the Scarlet Lady appeared huge and top heavy.

Virgin’s vessel compared to Oceania’s

Company	Name	LoA	Beam	Draft	# of Decks
Virgin Voyages	Scarlet Lady	909 feet	125 feet	26 feet	17
Oceania	MS Riviera	785'	105'	25'	15
Oceania	MS Sirena	594'	98'	20'	11

The Scarlet Lady’s story is a somewhat sad one given the poor timing of this vessel. According to the internet, Wikipedia, the Scarlet Lady is the first of three ships commissioned by Virgin for their brand new cruise line. Construction completed, she was delivered to Miami on the 14^th of February 2020 with her christening scheduled for 19^th March. The christening has been postponed until some yet-to-be-determined date. Her first ever cruise is scheduled for 7^th August 2020. Talk about bad timing! Meanwhile two more vessels are part of the contract with the boat-building company overseas!

We saw some activity around the ship. Clark noticed one of the lifeboat pods being lowered into the water. We then noticed that another one was already down.

Lifeboat in the water

Lifeboats out and about

 Later, near Fort Lauderdale waters, we saw not cruise ships but freighters anchored near the Port Everglades inlet. 

 Ships off Port Everglades Inlet

 After passing by the ships, we heard a boater on the VHF radio haling one of two freighter ships. Earlier we heard the same boater calling for Sea Tow saying he had lost both engines as he exited the inlet. He haled Europa first and explained that he was drifting without engines in water too deep for him to anchor towards Europa. The radio operator on Europa said he would throw out a fender.

The owner of the powerless boat then haled the vessel Caribe and told them he expected not to hit them but wanted them to know he was there. He did not expect Sea Tow to arrive before he drifted into trouble.  I had to wonder how much anchor line this 45-foot “luxury yacht” (as he described himself) carried that he could not drop an anchor in 50 feet of water and expect to at least slow his drifting.

Big ships were not the only vessels on the water today. Being a beautiful weather day on a Saturday, lots of little boats were out enjoying the relatively calm ocean waters as well.  We saw lots of boats that had “feelers” out and looked like bugs approaching.

bugs on the water

with long feelers!

We saw lots of dive flags on boats and on floats warning of divers down.

Diver down marker

We got quite a scare at one point. I was piloting (that’s scary enough right there), and Clark was reading next to me. I heard a couple of kids on a small boat yelling, so I looked over and waved hello. As we motored by, Clark saw a dark shape in the water to our port side – someone snorkeling in a wet suit. On closer inspection, we could see no less than 4 adults, all in black, swimming / snorkeling in the water. No dive flag!! A few feet different and the results would not have been a pretty sight. By the time Clark saw even the first person, we were already passed them!

Besides big ships, little ships, and scary swimmers, we saw several sea turtles happily swimming along. They were smart enough to dive when they saw us coming, so capturing evidence on camera pretty much did not happen.

After more than 60 nautical miles of travel, we arrived at the Hillsboro Inlet where we planned to stop for the night.

Hillsboro Inlet and Lighthouse

Hillsboro Inlet Bridge

Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse

We called ahead and got the thumbs up from our friend Steve that we could tie up at his dock for the night. Steve was not home when we arrived. However, since we stayed here in November, we knew how to position ourselves and tie up next to his boat / dock without his assistance.

Later, we got together on his patio overlooking the waterway (socially distant of course) to chat. I had brought the plane picture with me as a gift since the plane I painted belongs to Steve.

Around 8:30, we said our good nights as Clark and I had yet to eat our dinner.