Hallendale Beach, Florida

We sat in our anchorage from last night all day today.  The wind was up too much to make it a comfortable ride to Miami today so we decided to stay here.  It's a nice anchorage.  We did decide since we're staying here and not doing anything else, to try and make a "run" to West Marine.  There are some items we still needed so we pull out the handy iPhones and get busy tracking down West Marine.  It's about 4 1/2 miles from us and since we have a perfectly good dinghy, we decide to take D-Time for a long ride.  4 1/2 miles took us between 20-25 minutes to get to where we thought there was a marina close enough to West Marine so we could dock and walk.  But when we got there, there was no marina.  So, back up plan was just to look for a favorable docking spot.  We ended up going under a roadway with about enough clearance for us to sit up straight in D-Time without hitting our heads.  It covered 6-8 lanes of traffic so it was a long ride under it to get to the other side.  I could just feel the spiders falling on top of my head as we went through and the monsters! there must be monsters and snakes everywhere (apparently I've seen too many scary movies).  Anyway, we make it to the other side and right in front of us is what looks likes a brand spanking new dock.  No one was tied up to it, it kind of looked like a nature preserve or something.  So we tied up, hopped out and headed to the main entrance and saw that it was a restaurant, that was shut down (locked up) behind a locked gate - and we were on the wrong side of it.  Did I mention that we are carrying our 5 gallon propane bottle with us to have it filled?  Daniel finds a way around the gate (it only goes "so far" into the woods, and we just slip around it).  I feel so guilty - and I haven't really done anything.  We walked to West Marine and the place to fill the propane bottle, which turns out wasn't but a few blocks, made our purchases and made our way back to D-Time. 

Docking place

Scary bridge with potential spiders, snakes and monsters.

 



 

 

When we arrived at the place where we left D-Time, the gates to the place had been opened so we walk right in.  There are no cars around but there are big signs (that I see now) that say "under 24 hour surveillance".  Daniel, the honest one in the group, goes in search of someone to pay for letting us use the dinghy dock.  Me, the "not nearly as honest as Daniel" person, high tails it for D-Time.  I put my packages in, me and my purse and start drumming my fingers waiting on Daniel.  (No, I didn't leave him, but I was ready to make a speedy getaway if needed.)  Daniel finally made it to D-Time and said he couldn't find anyone, so we completed loading and just left.  Whew! 

 

After we left the docking place, Daniel took a different way back - through the state park where we were supposed to take D-Time on it's first trip last February.  This was the place where I had my slip and fall, nearly killing myself.  To say the least, it was a much nicer place to visit this time.