After almost 2 months of being at anchor or on the hard in the greater Fort Lauderdale area, this morning we left our anchorage in SouthLake, Hollywood, motored to the fuel dock in Dania Beach. We took on diesel, gasoline (for the dinghy) and water, and headed back out into the ocean. We tanked up everything we could because diesel at the dock on Florida is about $3.60. In the Bahamas it is over $6.00.

A perfectly reasonable question is why we spend so much time in, and around, Fort Lauderdale. The answer is best delivered by a picture. It’s not the most interesting photo you will ever see:

This large industrial building in Pompano, FL is FULL of nothing but bolts, nuts, screws, and related products. You walk in, hand the guy behind the counter a sample of what you need, and–like magic–more appear. No matter how odd, they can be replicated.

Now, by itself, this is not really magic. But this repeats over and over for every kind of boat part imaginable. No matter what you need for your boat you can get it in Fort Lauderdale, or have it made. Somebody here actually had an exhaust elbow for our Dutch made generator on the shelf. Surprising, and very helpful.

Well, almost everything.

Just before we are ready to leave, we sheared the valve stem on a critical part of our toilet plumbing. We have a European boat, with European parts. The only place I can find a replacement valve is from… Europe. Well, the UK actually, but close enough. While bemoaning this state of affairs to a friend on another Amel, he replies with, “We have four of those, if you need one…” So here we are at Key Biscayne with the part we need waiting for us to pick up.

We re now anchored outside of NoName Harbor on the southern end of Key Biscayne. This is the traditional place for many boats to wait for a favorable weather window to cross to the Bahamas. Which is what we are doing now.