Mooring Ball in Dinner Key, Coconut Grove, Miami

We're on a mooring ball in Dinner Key, Coconut Grove, Miami. We have to get to Verizon Wireless, the vet to get health certificates for the dogs and West Marine to pick up a cable we ordered the other day. Once we get all that done, we'll probably head back to No Name Harbor to anchor and be ready to cross to the Bahamas from there. It cuts about 5 miles off on the day we cross.

We pulled anchor this morning around 8:30 a.m. and moved to the sea wall at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. We walked all along the water's edge and through trails in the park. Patti and Wayne decided to have breakfast on the top deck at a restaurant there. Chuck and I had already eaten on the boat.

At left, Chuck walking along the water.

We ended up at the Cape Florida lighthouse. Ponce de Leon named this area "Cape of Florida" when he led the first Spanish expedition to Florida in 1513. The original lighthouse was completed in 1825 but damaged in the Second Seminole War. It was repaired in 1846. It remains the oldest standing structure in Miami-Dade County. It is 95 ft. to the top of the light.

Chuck climbed the stairs to see the view from 84 ft. up. I stayed down with Jazzy and had a nice conversation with the park ranger about his positive experience with community college before transferring to Florida International University. I took photos of Chuck at the top. (See photo of Chuck waving, at left).

Meanwhile, Patti and Wayne caught up with us. Wayne climbed the lighthouse steps and Chuck came down and said the view was beautiful and worth the climb, so I trekked up. It was worth the climb!

Wayne and I took a bunch of photos.

One of the views from the lighthouse.

Below, Wayne at the top of the lighthouse.

We went back to the boats and made lunch. Up pulled Pete and Mary Ann Moxon from MicMac, Williamsburg, Va., in their dinghy. They are traveling on their Hunter 36. Chuck met them in Melbourne when I jumped ship to have hand surgery. So I got to meet them. Nice couple. We chatted for a while and exchanged blog information. They have a great blog: http://www.onboardmicmac.blogspot.com/.

Those who are following us and may want to follow our fellow cruisers, Wayne and Patti Bumm on Bum's Rest can follow their blog: http://www.bumsrest331.blogspot.com/. Patti posts lots of photos of us.

While we had the stability of the sea wall, I boiled lasagna noodles and prepared lasagna for dinner while we moved 5 miles to the Dinner Key Marina mooring field.

While we were on our way to the mooring field, Chuck called me

above to see a group of five guys on little Sunfish sailboats with

their instructor. I took a photo of some of them.

 

Here's a photo of our boats I took when coming back by dinghy from registration at the marina.

Wayne and Patti came over for dinner: salad, lasagna, bread and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Tomorrow, we'll try to get our errands done. Tomorrow night is supposed to be windy with a cold front coming in. It's pretty windy now!

Patti spotted Ben's boat, Loon. He moved here too!