Publish Date: Thursday, November 27, 2008
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Coordinates: 26° 07.2′ N 80° 06.55′ W
An Unexpected Gift
Our journey continues to be filled with magical moments and surprise gifts, often from people we
don’t even know. We received just such a gift in the form of a place to dock our boat in Ft. Lauderdale.
For those of you not familiar with marina rates, Ft. Lauderdale is one of the most expensive ports on the East Coast with rates ranging from $3 to $6 a foot, plus electricity and water. For our boat that would range to between $150 and $300 per night. There are very few anchorages, and most are not great, or you can only stay for two days. We were perplexed as what to do, as we needed to stay for several days to provision and do some boat maintenance; and it could be longer based on waiting for the right weather window to cross the Gulf Stream for our first trip over to the Bahamas.
Just prior to leaving Cumberland Island, I exchanged emails with someone who was kind enough to write me a wonderful note about our blogs and our upcoming adventure. Through our email exchanges we came to find we had many things in common, from boating courses we had taken to cruising many of the same spots in the Chesapeake this past summer. I also learned they lived in Ft. Lauderdale, where we were heading too.
Without ever meeting us, or knowing anyone who knew us, Anita and Kal decided to offer us the dock in front of their beautiful home on a canal just off the New River in the heart of Ft. Lauderdale. Unfortunately, they would not be there, but their dock was wide open. They were actually on their way back to Solomons, MD (where we had just been a month ago) to pick up their boat and bring it back to Florida.
So on a gorgeous Thanksgiving morning at 9:00 we tied up to their dock, where we spent the next 9 days preparing for our crossing to the Bahamas. Not only did we have their dock; but they turned on the swimming pool heater for Ayla; had family check on us to see if we needed transportation and anything else; and, gave us advice on where to procure things from fuel to charts. Words can never adequately express our thanks to Anita and Kal for this generous and gracious gift. We look forward to meeting them one day soon, and hopefully being able to return the favor in some way, or to “pay it forward”.
We continue to be awed and ever so grateful for these angels we are fortunate enough to encounter along our way.