Journey to Florida 2014: Hollywood , Florida

Busy week... 350 miles since last post.
Talk about money down here. The houses ... make that mansions on the ICW, as we have approached Miami are ridiculously unreal... As we ventured down the ICW from Fernandina Beach we saw a change in attitude as to how different States treat this waterway. Florida has freshly painted bridges , manicured lawns and painted houses ...
Here are some of the areas we traveled or anchored in... Daytona, Cocoa, Cape Canaveral, Vero Beach, Lake Worth,Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood. The ICW has little tidal effect , except at inlets to the Atlantic, so anchoring has been relatively easy.
We spent a day in Vero Beach... swam in the ocean... access to free transit... may be worth spending a few weeks here on return. We have been visited by dolphins almost very day and we saw our first manatee ... no gators yet.
We had our first real grounding, unable to get off the sand bar. We were looking for an anchorage , one recommended by Skipper Bob. We grounded in 4 ' of water ... factually having to be pushed off by zodiac... a fellow Canadian from the east coast just happened to be coming down the river , saw our predicament and shoved us off the shoal. .
The "no-see-umps" little fly like bugs have been bad . The little "buggers" are small enough to get through some of our screenings. Nights have been humid and hot... no I don't expect any sympathy.
The last 2 days we have been fighting with rain and some winds, been in rain gear most of the day.
We have also been following a tropical depression off Mexico which may change if conditions are right. This would impact us over the next week and we may need to hole up somewhere. As it is we are in Hollywood, just south of Fort Lauderdale , for a few days to let the rain and wind blow through. We are looking to make a run down the Keys on Sunday ... and hit Boot Key (Marathon ) early in the week... need 2- 3 day good stretch of weather. We are 150 miles to our destination.
Ciao for now