We were able to
find a very nice spot to drop our anchor in an area called Belle Island. It is at the end of Collins Canal, a main
waterway for dinghy’s traveling the city of Miami Beach. From this anchorage you can see several large
cruise ships leave daily for the Caribbean. They leave every afternoon at around
1600. At night you can see the Miami
skyline lit up with different colors of lights on the tall buildings. Very beautiful !!!!
I forgot to
mention that while in Fort Lauderdale we ordered more medications as we had some
due to renew before we switch to Medicare.
They didn’t arrive before we left but did the following day. Bill and Terri on Second Option brought them
to us as they had rented a car to drive home.
We met them at a place called Burgers and Beer, just a short walk from a
dinghy dock by the Marine Police station.
The following day we and Sweet Chariot took off for a long, over 7 miles
and 2 ½ hours, dinghy ride thru the
canal system of Miami Beach. Later that
day I went to Publix for our final grocery shopping before we left for the
Bahamas. That evening we met with Laura
and Graeme to decide when to leave the following morning and head to a place
called No Name harbor for the night.
During the night Lynn started to develop a rather high fever and was
having shortness of breath. We carry an
oxygen generator on the boat and promptly started it up along with doses of
Tylenol. We listened to a local Weather
Guru called Chris Parker in the morning as this guy seems to be the one people
rely on for accurate forecasts. If there
is such a thing as an accurate forecast !!!!
He said that the window to cross to the Bahamas was closing and to do it
now or wait at least a week. We radioed
Sweet Chariot and told them that Lynn wasn’t feeling up to leaving and they
made the decision to leave by themselves.
Wildlife on the canals on Miami Beach
After 4 days of
feeling lousy and using all the meds we had on the boat that were supposed to
treat Lynn’s condition, we decided to pull into a marina. This way we could plug the oxygen generator
into shore power instead of running it off our batteries and also be able to
turn on the air conditioning. Two days
in the marina and Lynn’s still not feeling well. Time to seek professional medical advice had
arrived. We took a taxi from the marina
in Key Biscayne and went to Mercy Hospital in Miami. After 4 hours in the emergency room she was
admitted. If this flare up runs it’s
course she will be in for 5-7 days.
We have decided to cancel our trip to the Bahamas and at this time aren’t sure what we will do after she is discharged. Options are to stay in Florida where medical
assistance is readily available, should it be needed again, or to find a place
to leave the boat for the winter and drive home. We, or I an another able body, would come
down in the Spring and take it back north.
I’ll be posting
more as soon as we have figured out what we’ll finally do. If I don’t send another post before, we would
like to now wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.
We'd wish you a Canadian Christmas, but right now that would be sloppy wet snow and 30 degrees & you don't need any more challenges. So Pam and I will wish you a Canadian Christmas hug in hopes it will provide support & strength.
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