Last Wednesday our really good friend, Zach Frank, flew from Atlanta to Florida and boarded Adagio to sail with us down the coast to Miami.  Marc met Zach in middle school and they were best friends for two years.  Then Zach moved to Cincinnati and Marc and Zach lost touch.  But Marc and Zach ran into each other at college at Maimi University and picked up right where they left off.  When I started dating Marc, I inherited Zach as a best friend too.  Bonus!  Zach is one of the most energetic person I know.  He is fun and crazy and our kids adore him and call him “Uncle Zach”.  Zach has been on a catamaran before but only for a few hours.  We told him that this sailing would be a little more intense and that sailing through the night was no joke so he better pack some Dramamine.  He told us he was in and ready for the adventure.

Thursday morning was set sail day.  We estimated that it would take us a little less than 24 hours to sail from Fort Pierce to Miami.  The morning sky was beautiful and the seas were predicted to be fairly calm.

We finalized everything on Adagio, filled her up with diesel, filled up our dinghy tanks with gas and headed out.

As we headed out the inlet, the kids and Zach enjoyed some time at the bow taking in the scenes.

As we got out to sea everything was still calm but we had everyone come back into the cockpit and tether in like we always do when we are offshore.  But as the hours went on, the seas got bigger and the waves hit us at our beam.  This means they were hitting the side of our boat so we were rolling and riding the waves versus cutting through them.  We could have changed course to head into the waves and cut through them but it would have taken us a lot longer to reach Miami.  The seas were bigger than predicted but we’ve definitely been through bigger seas.  But this was Zach’s first time sailing in rough seas and also at night so this was a double whammy for him.  But Zach was a trooper and tough as nails.  Marc and I took shifts being on three hour watches through the night.  Zach overlapped a shift with Marc but really wanted to lie down below in the cabin.  Poor Zach couldn’t sleep with all the rolling around and neither could Marc or I when we were off shift.  So it was a sleepless night for most of us.  Then as the sun started to rise, Camden (who was sharing a room with Zach) started to feel queasy and got seasick on Zach.  Poor Zach.  I immediately got Cam up top to breathe in fresh air and to look at the horizon.  When you are seasick the worst place to be is down below.  Cam continued to get sick overboard but with a smile on his face.  He said, “Mom and Dad I’m so sorry I’m sick.  But I’m really happy because I’m back on the boat and I just love fishing.”  That kid is tough as nails!

We made it to Miami right on time, in about 23 hours.  We pulled into No Name Harbor and dropped the anchor.  As we pulled in, we recognized quite a few other sailboats from last year which was fun.  Here we are all tired and windblown but happy to be at our anchorage.

As soon as we pulled into No Name Harbor we all ate lunch and felt instantly better.  Zach and Camden bounced back and challenged each other to games of push-ups, sit-ups, and thumb wrestling on the deck.  Boys will be boys.

We rented a car here in Key Biscayne and drove to Little Havana in the heart of Miami.  We went to a famous Cuban restaurant called Versailles, and ate some of the best food we’ve ever tasted.  I highly recommend to anyone visiting Miami to go to Versailles in Little Havana.  Everyone was speaking Spanish and it was fun.  The kids ordered in Spanish and understood what the waitress was saying.  Coming here to Miami after Costa Rica is like slowly weaning ourselves off of Spanish. We came back to No Name Harbor to relax and catch up on sleep.  Zach said he prefers this anchored part of boating a bit better than the rolly seas..

After a full night’s sleep, we went to mass on Sunday morning followed by a trip to South Beach.  After going to South Beach I felt like I needed to go back to church!  But it was fun to see all the fancy hotels, restaurants, clubs, and crazy people on the beach.  Here we are at South Beach enjoying the beautiful day.

Zach, thank you so much for making the effort to come sailing with us.  I know the first part of the adventure was not easy but you truly were tough as nails.  Those four days you spent with us made memories we will cherish forever.

What’s next: Marc’s parents are visiting us on the boat here in No Name Harbor for two days.  Tomorrow our best friend from Fort Lauderdale, Chip Lumb, is driving down to Miami to go sailing with us in Biscayne Bay.  Then Friday morning at 3 am we set sail for the Bahamas.  We should land in Bimini around 11 am.  We will be buddy boating with about 4 other sailboats that we met in Bimini last year.  The weather looks so calm that we may not even have enough wind to have the sails out while we cross the Gulf Stream.  We will be motoring most of the way probably in flat seas.  We’ll post an update sometime next week in Bimini.