trip planned, 1 month out and counting

Richie89

Richie89

Active Member
Aug 20, 2012
599
Miami Beach, FL
Boat Info
450 Sundancer
Engines
Twin Cummins 480 Zeus
biggest boat trip for us so far, 8 days and very excited!
trailering boat to Lake Park Marina in WPB, cruising to Bahia Mar in Fort L, then to Miami Beach Marina.
traveling south on the ICW slowly, but will jump off shore for the cruise back to Lake Park Marina if weather is nice.
we plan on at least one day trip out of Miami Beach exploring Biscayne Bay to Boca Chita.
thanks for the help,
and the week before we leave i'm having my bow thruster installed. so that will hopefully keep my bouncing off other boats in the marina to a minimum. (in reality i haven't touch any other boat, but boy i've come close in my short time boating)
wish us luck and that i won't make too many bonehead moves.
 
good luck. sounds like a fun trip. of course let us know what you think about the bow thruster. not just yeah a new toy but a serious review of it's worth when you get used to having it.
 
Have fun, enjoy, b safe and really watch for those tricky Florida thunderstorms. I've been cough in a couple off shore and in the icw of boca and they r brutal and pop up out of nowhere. Reduce visibility to about the front of your boat at timesbest of luck
 
Mind the speed limit signs on the ICW and make sure all of your safety equipment is up to date. There are always boats pulled over near Hillsboro inlet by the Broward Sheriff boats.

Enjoy.
 
Pull over to Le Tub for burgers on the way down from Bahia Mar - you might smell them on the grill before you see the restaurant

Don't forget to explore the Miami River. Casablanca has a lot of wall space.

Bayside is worth a stop - it's a tourist trap, but as long as you're expecting that...

You can swing into No Name Harbor to walk around, go to the beach or eat at Boater's Grill, and you can check off one more lighthouse tour from your list. (good position for a tour through Stiltsville too)

When is the trip? You might have time to get a Car2Go (Smart-car sharing) membership. There's a designated parking area within walking distance of MBM, which could drastically simplify provisioning / parts fetching / getting around Miami.
 
Good luck and have fun! I'm looking at installing a bow thruster on my 290DA as well. Found a kit for $1200. Going to be a good off-season project.
 
Our storms are pretty predictable now (meaning just watch the news and you'll know). Now, if it were summer I would say defiantely watch out for strong stroms that pop up out of nowhere. You'll be OK as long as you check the weather beforehand. Enjoy the trip and be safe!
 
Richie, not to second guess your plan, but have you considered launching in Stuart at Sandspirit Park? LPM will be very expensive to leave your truck and trailer parked.
 
Don't forget to take lots of photos. We all like to see where others do their boating. Also pics of the thruster install would be fun to see.

Have a great trip!
 
Have a great trip! If you are on the ICW between Delray Beach and Boca Raton, you are welcome to stop by and have an adult beverage.

Located @ 26-25-8N, 80-3-58W. I'll PM you my cell number.

Good luck, Art
 
Just wanted to give you a heads up about going offshore, if there is anything from the north, northwest, or northeast, be mindful as they will produce large seas. Also, if you have an opposing wind to the direction of the tide, i.e. tide is going out (moving east) and you have an easterly wind, seas at most inlets can pick up to 6-8 pretty quickly. Of course once you are out the inlet it can be calm as a lake. Just be mindful of these things especially if you are coming down in a month (April I assume). Seas can pick up quickly and make inlets a ***** down here.
 
Have a safe and enjoyable trip. We're really interested to know how the bow thruster goes too please.
 
trip was awesome! great weather and water. only regret is didn't make it by Art's. we made great time getting to Palm Beach and got the boat in the water so early that we went ahead and headed down to Ft. Lauderdale a day early late in the afternoon (reason for missing Art's). wife wanted an extra day on beach. Bahia Mar was great, stayed at Haulover Marina next night and dinner in Bal Harbour, then on the Miami Beach Marina. Took day trips to Boca Chita and Elliott and Soldier Key. For our trip back, we planned on going offshore to make it quicker, but a rain storm set in for our final day so we stayed in the protected waters and made a long day of Miami to Lake Park. The speed zones were kinda vague, so got fussed at twice by police, but just warned. boarded by the Coast Guard for going through a security zone, and had a blast the whole time. bridges didn't give us much trouble as we only had to request about 4 openings. and came home with a new sig pic. thanks for the help, planning next boat and boat trip. (want about a 36 foot sedan bridge next). and bow thruster made docking almost too easy.
 
It's great that you had a good trip!

Great upgrade to your signature picture also! :wow:
 
She would look even better on the bow of a 410 Dancer!
 
Glad you had a great trip. It's amazing how quick the upgraded boat makes you want to upgrade again! Those DB's are very nice.
 
unfortunately it's gonna be a while before the next boat though. we still want to explore different areas and trailer there before we decide on a 'home base' to keep a bigger boat in the water full-time. our next step is a bigger boat in south FL, where we can spend most of the winter, but not gonna be in the next couple of years. gotta get the kids off to college first!
 
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