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We have now been in the Miami area for three weeks waiting for our weather window to cross to the Bahamas. Although it has been a long wait (and is continuing!), it has not been boring. We are here with our great friends on Tekana and every day is a wonderful menu of fun things to do. Oh and, yes, we throw in a few necessary chores every day too, like making water or doing laundry. Adding to our days is constant weather watching. Not only are we looking for our weather window to cross, but we have also had to dodge and endure a few systems coming across our region.
Mostly, the days have been hot and sunny, making it easy to get things done. We have managed to get Ocean’s international papers and all our last-minute stocking up provisions for a few months in the Bahamas. We have done a few fix-it things on the boat but we have really used these days to relax and enjoy the Biscayne area. Immediately adjacent to our anchorage is the Cape Florida State Park which houses miles and miles of nature walking trails, a scenic waterfront seawall trail, the historic Cape Florida lighthouse and a few restaurants. This park is a real destination for tourists and locals alike so it is often busy with people walking, biking and running on the trails, and fishermen camped out along the sea wall. Weekends here are especially a flurry of activity with boaters packing into the inner lagoon area. The outdoor restaurant near the lagoon plays live music and ends up packed every night with people trying to catch the incredible sunset over Biscayne Bay.
For us, we have enjoyed easy access to shore via dinghy so we get to take advantage of all the park offers, plus we have an easy 20 minute walk into town to the hardware store or for groceries. Oh, and even better, the grocery store here hosts an actual bar inside with a never-ending happy hour. Patrons grab an inexpensive beer or glass of wine and do their shopping. Weirdly enough, it seems the bar is usually full of men enjoying the beer while the grocery aisles are full of women actually doing the shopping. I guess they found a way to make everyone happy! Another lovely bonus is that dogs are allowed in the grocery store. It is a fun time going through the aisles with Ocean!
The latest weather system that came through the region this past weekend threatened strong west winds and a very unsettled sea state to our anchorage in No Name Harbor (Key Biscayne) so we moved 5 nautical miles west to Coconut Grove, where we could anchor close to the western shore of the bay alongside Miami. Even better was that our friend Dale on Mokacat and his pup Josie were already anchored here. We haven’t seen these two for almost two years so it was a great reunion for us, and also for Ocean who just adores Josie.
This latest weather system, although strong, was short lived at just 12 hours. Our anchor held well at our Coconut Grove anchorage, as did the anchors and moorings of all the hundreds of boats here. And, being close to land, the sea state was a gentle roll. It was definitely more comfortable than if we had stayed in No Name Harbor. While we received sustained winds of 17 with gusts to 29 and waves/swell of 1 foot overnight, No Name Harbor was far more impacted with sustained winds of 20 with gusts to 32 and waves/swell of 3 feet. That higher sea state is the kicker. The extra 2 feet means lots of rolling, bucking and fishtailing in a sailboat. Very uncomfortable to say the least! Post-winds, this system dropped the temperatures around here to near freezing. It is currently a very cold 2 degrees here which is shockingly cold for the Miami area. No worries though – the temperature is forecasted to return to normal tomorrow. We also have a possible crossing window this week. In just a few days we will not only be warm, we may be in the Bahamas!!
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AuthorVictoria is a hiker, dog-lover, blog writer and planner extraordinaire. Oh, yeah and she is kind of fond of living on a boat. Categories
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February 2026
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