Sail Miami Transit Lounge  May 10, 2001

	Just about to shove off from the dock at Sombrero Key Marina are Lauri and Jose, who own a trimaran sailboat and teach fishing, snorkeling, and scuba in Marathon.
Bruce and his wife Marcy had just sailed into their slip at Sombrero Key Marina after checking out anchorages around the Keys and doing a bit of reconnaissance for their charter sailboat business, Florida Keys Sailing. We showed up in time to wish him Happy Birthday and check out his cool 30' J-boats, which he bareboat charters, as well as uses for sailing instruction under the auspices of US Sailing.
	Claude, Fany and their 3 children are from southern France and have been anchored in Dinner Key anchorage the past three weeks. They live and sail aboard a 40 ft. catamaran called Crin-Blanc that Claude built three years ago. The boat is made of Carbon & Kevlar. The family is sailing this morning to Port Camargue, on the Mediterranean, where they will store it and put the finishing touches on it.
We met Steve, Maria, Max, Stephanie and Julie aboard their 63' sailing catamaran Dulcinea while docked at Dinner Key Marina. Having just sailed her over from the west coast of Florida, they are preparing for a sail around the world. The boat, a 1990 John Shuttleworth design, is constructed of foam, carbon, Kevlar and e-glass. This picture was taken on Max' 6th birthday. Happy Birthday Max!!
	Can you imagine owning a boat that has a hull speed of 20 knots? According to Otis and Sue, their Condor 40, Thunderbird, anchored off Dinner Key Marina after a trip to Boca Chita, is capable of speeds up to 27 knots. Originally from Long Beach, California Otis and Sue are hanging on the hook over by Venetian Causeway. Otis searched high and low for his boat, and finally found Thunderbird in Stuart, Fl. Now he is doing day charters with a company called Yachts of Fun. They are returning to Venetian Causeway today.
Martin & Tracy Fraser on Oasis and Dave and his wife on China Moon are friends who are cruising together around the Keys and up to the Bahamas. Both couples are from the north eastern US, and recently anchored off of 195 near Miami Beach. They sailed up from Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, where Dave says, "In five years, nothing has changed." The group has been cruising for five years full time.
	Todd, from New York, sailed from up north to Miami a year ago, where he purchased Fujin, the Newport 30 he lives aboard . He shares accommodations with Cochise, a friendly but very serious watchdog. Todd, works in the neighborhood around Sunset Harbor Marina, off Venetian Causeway.
Bill & Linda Pickering, from Sault St. Marie, Ontario, Canada,  spent 4 months in the Bahamas, and anchored off Venetian Causeway a few weeks ago. Linda had to return north unexpectedly, and Bill is "Just hanging around here," until she returns. They are heading back north to Canada on their C&C 37 Blue Teal, which according to Bill has "nice lines, it's a quick boat, easy to sail." Bill expects to be back in Canada by late May of this year.
	Ron & Terry have been cruising since Summer of 1998. They have been all the way to Venezuela and stayed mainly south of the hurricane zone. They arrived in the anchorage near Venetian Causeway in late January aboard their 35 foot Island Packet, Odyssey. Originally from New Bedford, Mass., Ron & Terry have stayed in the Venetian Causeway anchorage before, and advise others to, "stay out of the channel and watch out for the shallows." "It's not buggy, and it's convenient," adds Terry. "It's amazing," jokes Ron, "It's the sort of place that you say 'In two days I want to be long gone.' But months later you're thinking, "Hey, this isn't that bad."
Also from Sault St. Marie, Norm & Ellie sail aboard Walkabout,  a 1977 36 foot Cheoy Lee, a clipper ketch. They are refitting their boat and arrived in Biscayne Bay four days ago and are anchored off of Venetian Causeway. They have owned Walkabout, since 1985 and have sailed all around the north coast of South America, including Venezuela and Trinidad.
	Dan Davidson, a.k.a. Capt. Dan, the Caribbean Sea Wolf, is a Privateer Captain of the Conch Republic, under the Command of Admiral Finbar. He sails Dreamchaser, a Formosa 60 which flies the Conch Republic flag alongside the Jolly Roger, and sports two cannons. Up from Key West, Capt. Dan anchored Dreamchaser to "get the boat back in shape," in the Dinner Key Anchorage a few nights, stopping while on his way to St. Augustine, Fl. He was in 18 foot seas in the Gulf Stream, when suddenly he split the mizzen sail and lost stability and speed, and decided to head inshore. In St. Augustine she'll be berthed and commissioned to fire cannons against the Castillo de San Marcos. If you see Capt. Dan on the high seas, or in St. Augustine, be sure to give him a "Har dee har harr!" for us.
We caught up with Roger, Merilee & Dennis relaxing on Anak, a 41 foot Transworld while at anchor in Dinner Key Anchorage. Roger, a local contractor manager, and his crew sail Anak around Biscayne Bay, although their last long passage was to Marathon.
	James left Cape Fear a month ago and sailed offshore to points south on Bird, his 49 foot Custom sailboat. He's anchored for the first time off of Dinner Key Marina while working on the electrical systems on his boat. James is trained in oceanography and is a delivery skipper who also crews on other yachts.
Richard, seated to the far right, was the only English speaker in this crew of sailors from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. They anchored off of Dinner Key while waiting for a friend to arrive. They chartered this catamaran from Go Native Yacht charters and plan to sail for one week to the Keys.
	Donna & Greg, the owners of Whisper, a Freedom 40, hail from Massachussetts and have been on & off of their mooring at Crandon Marina on Key Biscayne for the past 3 months. They recently sailed to Boca Chita Key and have been cruising since October. In a few weeks they will be taking the boat up to Titusville for the summer, and returning to Boston themselves. Comments on Crandon Marina, "The music is very loud on weekends, because of Sundays on the Bay (a restaurant)." The marina has many facilities, except for showers. Also, weekdays are quiet on the water, but weekends have a lot of traffic.
We met Tania & Greg anchored south of Fisher Island right after they returned from savoring smoked fish at JimBo's on Virginia Key. Greg is from Connecticut and owns Esprit, a C&C 38, and Tania is from Australia but was born in New Zealand. Greg had a shortened sailing season this year thanks to a dislocated shoulder, and has been keeping the boat at Consolidated Yacht Corp. on Miami River. He'll be sailing the boat back north in 6 weeks.
	Felipe lives alone aboard Gisele, a 45 foot fishing boat that we thought was super cool. He has lived 20 years aboard his boat, but does not fish commercially with it, strictly live aboard. He is originally from Cuba and does work at a local yacht club. He was anchored south of Government Cut, near Fisher Island.
This is Peter and his boat, Awab. It is a 42 year-old, one-of-a-kind 55 foot motor sailer that he purchased two years ago. He now lives on it with his wife and Nico, the black dog. They were recently anchored in Dinner Key Turning Basin after returning from Mexico & Cuba, via Bimini, Bahamas. They only spent a few days in Bimini, and were kind of disappointed about the bread, which people had built up to be really good. Peter is originally from Munich, and is now taking his boat up the Miami river until the end of April.