A week in the Keys

We decided to rent a car for a week so we could get all of the Christmas stuff done and not wear ourselves and the bikes out.  It has been really nice to have a car.  Both Michelle and I thought that it would be difficult to drive, but it really was not an issue, it was harder driving coming back from driving for years in Europe than not driving at all for a couple of months.  We took a night and went to Key West, staying at the Westin.  Its right in the heart of old Key West, and could not be nicer. 



View from our Hotel Room

 We had a sloppy joe at Sloppy Joes of Hemmingway fame (just like every other bar in the world).  We saw the sunset at Mallory square, along with all of the street performers.  It is considerably better than the one in Clearwater. 

We then topped off the evening with a nice glass of wine in the hot tub.   We went to the "little white house" which was interesting because I had just completed the Candy Bombers, a book Mary bought me about 5 years ago, about the start of the cold war and the Berlin air lift.  They talked about the little white house several times in the book.

We also toured the Mel Fisher museum, he is the man that hunted down a sunken treasure ship, where he found about $400 million in treasure, which the government promptly claimed as theirs.  He fought them in court, and got it all back, including what he had given to them to preserve.  Good to see the little guy can win.

During one of the windiest and perhaps coldest days on record, the film crew and actors filmed a portion of an episode that I believe will air in January of the Amazing Race.  They came in on speedboats at the fuel dock of the marina we are in, and ran down the dock to the end of the road.  My understanding is that the majority of the episode was filmed on Pigeon Key, which is about 2 miles from here, you can almost see it from our slip.  Michelle and I may be in the background, but we did not have a camera with us to take pictures.  All of the marina staff had to sign secrecy agreements, and could not say a word, not that anyone would have come out in that weather anyway.

We got the engine seal leak fixed and began stocking up for the Bahamas run.  We met up with Texas Dreamer again, they are here in Marathon.  The marina they are in had a big grill, so we bought some ribs and had a cook out.

We were able to get up in the middle of the night and watch the lunar eclipse, I did not have the excuse that I had to work in the morning.  For those of you that did not see it, it was pretty incredible.

We took the new dingy out to the seven mile bridge where I caught a mango snapper and some other very ugly fish that jumped off the hook right as I got it next to the boat.  I'm glad it got loose, I would have hated to try and get the hook out of that thing. 

To Marathon

Marco Island
We had to grab a different mooring for the second day in Fort Meyers Beach, as we were aground in the morning.  We switched to #12 and had plenty of depth.  We took the dingy to the dingy dock, which is under the bridge.  The ride was wet, the wind was coming in and the tide was working against it.  We had some bad Mexican food for lunch, and basically froze our rear ends off walking around town again.  I thought it would be warmer in south Florida.  Need to go further south. 

At first light, we headed out of the harbor, the winds were still pretty strong so we elected to sail with just the jib.  It was a nice day.  The Marco Island inlet was a little funky, the channel appeared to be on the beach, but we navigated through it without incident.  We stayed the night at the Marina at Factory bay, which was very nice (and had FREE laundry).  Condos were going for about 1.5 million in the height of the real estate bubble, and were going for about $800k now.  That's quite a hit if you bought on the high end.   Marco island was very nice, it reminded me of Hilton Head island in SC.  All of the signs for businesses were in a certain format, everything very neat and manicured. 

That's one of the things about cruising I did not envision.  We go from places where the wealthy have million dollar second or third homes, and everything appears perfect to public places where the homeless congregate and collect aluminum cans.  That change takes place within a 24 hour period, a walk through a gate, or a trip to the laundry mat.  We are living a little in both worlds, no car, no washer and dryer, so we walk with the homeless - and dine with the wealthy (some days). 

Last Leg to Marathon
We left Marco Island at 7am, which is about as early as we can and still see the channel markers.  I retraced the path I came in on, and bumped a little coming out of factory bay.  The tide was running out at about 2.5 knots, so it was going to be a little tricky.  We came to the marks that appeared to be on the beach, and I turned back towards the inlet so that I would not be pulled out of the channel.  While I was clearly in the channel, we hit the sand hard enough to bring the back end up about a foot and turn the boat sideways.  I reved up the engine and push hard up current, and managed to free us.  It was the hardest grounding we have taken to date.  Michelle later said that she was certain we would deploy the unlimited tow feature of our Boat US membership. 

Once we cleared the furthest the main channel mark we headed due south, to avoid the shoaling in the 1000 island area.  The day was supposed to be 10 knot winds so we put the main up, and part of the jib.  The wind continued to build to about 20, so our leisurely day on the water turned into an aggressive run.  We were doing at least 9 knots for the first five hours of the day, even though the knot meter is not working, presumably due to fouling.  The wind died down later in the day, to the point were we had to motor sail to get to Little Snake River by nightfall.  It was a long day, almost 60 nm, in about 9 hours.  We were concerned about depth in the river here, but at high tide, it was not at all an issue.   The little snake river is "the entrance" to the Everglades, and it is as untouched as I have seen, nothing but mangrove trees line the river, no civilization anywhere close, and the only place to put in between Marco Island and Marathon.  The boat is covered in salt, and somewhat of a wreak, we need some time to recover.  Marathon tomorrow - I think both Michelle and I will have a great feeling of accomplishment when we get there. 

Marathon (not really)
The forecast looked good when we went to bed 10 knot northerly breeze warming temperatures, but in the morning...  The weathernator (as we call the automated weather service over the VHF) Wind at the Dry Tortuga's is 35 knots, Marathon, 20 knots and very gusty, rain small craft advisories for the entire region.  We decided to stay put one more day.  Emily and Hannah had a good day of school, and we will make the final passage tomorrow.....the forecast sounds good.

Marathon.
We set sail out of Little Snake River as soon as the sun came up with a nice fresh breeze at our backs.  Once we rounded the mark due south we were able to set a course for the first mark at Marathons north entrance.  We were able to set the cruising spinnaker for the first time this trip, a beautiful sight.

 I was a little concerned about the depth, which has become a bit of a neurosis, but no problem today.  We went through he section of the bridge where they filmed True Lies, and under the new bridge.  We have a good slip in a nice marina, The Marathon Marina and Boat Yard, and we will be here for the holidays. 

Removed section of the old Seven Mile Bridge

Dolphin Watching

It is a bit of a bike ride to the store, but we can make it.  They had a nice wine tasting Friday night, and we met some other cruisers.  The girls have cable, with all of the stations.  Saturday evening was the boat parade, some really creative designs, after the lead boat went past all of the boats turned down and went past our boat, in the wrong direction.  We watched the remainder of the parade from our cockpit, and the boats were only about 20 feet away.  We decorated the Diamond for Christmas.  We have been watching the weather on the TV, the metro dome in Minneapolis collapsed, I think the keys will be OK for Christmas. 

View from Diamond in Marathon, at the dock

Sarasota to Fort Meyers Beach

Sarasota
The anchorage at Sarasota was very nice.  It was a short dingy ride to the beach, and the Tiki bar, O'leary's, allowed boaters to use their beach and dock, provided you made a purchase.  We got into a routine of dingying in, having a cup of coffee in the morning.  There was a large park surrounding the marina, Marina Jacks.  I must admit, I developed some boat envy.  There are some beautiful boats there.   There is a very nice downtown area, more art shops than I have seen since we were in Venice, Italy.  A nice Whole Foods where we got a few things, kinda expensive, but high quality.

The second day we went to the Ringling Museum, I had been there as a child, but it was a very different experince.  The girls loved the miniature circus, which was an enormous model with about 2" figures of every concievable detail of the traveling show.  It took up at least 4,000 square feet. 

The gardens were beautiful, and we saw banyon trees with roots growing down from the branches.  Most people know these kinds of trees from the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse at Disney, which is constructed from this image. 

John Ringlings house overlooks Sarasota Bay (where we passed the day before).  It was unbelievable, it was the envy of everyone in the day.  He donated it in death to the city, along with his art collection.  The circus was the entrertaiment of the day, about 15,000 people traveling from one destination to another by train.  The charge was a dollar, which meant he grossed about $25,000 a day, or $9 million a year, Not bad in the early 1900's. 

He ammassed a huge collection of primarily 17th century European art, and most of the works were more vibrant that what we saw when we lived in Europe.  There was also a large exibit of tapestries on loan from an Italian museum, and we got a detailed explaination of Reamus and Romulos, whose story was woven into the works, no pictures.

After we got back to the boat, we put on one of our favorate CD's, Natalie Cole, doing remakes of songs her father, Nat King Cole sang.  We got a glass of wine and began to wind down.  She got to a line I had not paid much attention to before in Paper Moon.  "It's a Barnum & Bailey world, just a phony as it can be".  It may have been phony, but he did well by it. 

Venice
There was a front coming through the day we wanted to leave, but we were going to be in the ditch all day, so we did not think it would be an issue.  We weighed anchor, well almost, and the hose from the washdown pump knocked the chain off the windlass at the same time the wind picked up to about 35 knots, so we were not anchored, and not freed.  Michelle took the wheel, and I hoisted the anchor manually.  We could not be even in the intercoastal with these winds without an anchor.  We head for $2.25/foot/night, Marina Jack, and tied up.  Just one little scratch from the 35 knot cross winds. 
Venice (really this time)

We left in the morning from Marina Jacks, and headed to Venice.  It was a very nice trip.  The bridge tenders are significantly better here than what we had been dealing with.  They answer on the radio, and give clear, good instruction.  We had dolphins swimming so close to the boat we had to lean over the rail to see them.  We tied up at the Crows nest, and walked to the beach.  Our cruising guide said there were sharks teeth on the beach here, but we did not see them.  Edisto Beach, South Carolina its not.  The girls had cable again, so we told them we were going to the pub for a drink.  They had two guitarists playing who were really good, and we struck up a conversation with some of the locals.  They insisted on buying us some key lime pie, which was excellent.  We had a very enjoyable evening.

To Pelican Bay (Not really)
We headed out with Second Wind, to Pelican Bay.  We had some leftover seas to contend with, but it was a good day sailing.  We went through the pass, and entered Pelican Bay.   We got pretty deep into the bay before we hit ground, I managed to get the boat turned around and tried to retrace my steps, but I must have been perfect on the way in, and I could not find that water again.  I decided to employ full horse power prior to using the unlimited tow feature of my Boat US membership, it was enough to get us out of there.   We left Second Wind behind.

Plan B, was Cabbage Key, a small island which a couple of slips,  They lied about the approach depths, so we bumped along to the slip, but with low tide in the morning, we were not going anywhere early.  They had a nice hiking trail and a little pub that doubled as the dockmasters office.  About $50k in one dollar bills on the walls.

They had a sign prohibiting almost everything but spending money. No Pets, No unfolding of T shirts unless you are buying it, No refunds, No trash, No etc.  There was one I could agree with in principal.

 St. James City
We set out for a short trip at about noon to St. James City.  The trip was uneventful, and there was tons of room in deep water to anchor.  With three boats in a two mile stretch, one of the local power boats made it very clear they did not want us there, by passing all three boats including ours within about 5 feet throwing a huge wake.  Apparenty this gentelmen felt that he owns that patch of water.  I was prepared for another pass with a jug of sour milk, but he did not come back.  There were a lot of dolphins all around, even at night you could hear them breathing and splashing about. 
Staying put (Not Really)

The plan was to stay put for a day or two and wait for a cold front to blow through, we had a significant debate about going on to Marco Island.  There was no wind, and it was only about 36 miles.  We decide to go, we could always stop at Fort Meyers beach which is what we decide to do.  We got assigned a mooring inside the harbor, and went for a nice walk downtown.  The current here is even more than the Riglots, so I am glad we have a mooring rather than anchoring.  When the front passes, we will be heading to Marco Island, the Little Snake River, and then Marathon for the holidays.

Clearwater to Sarasota

We spent two nights at Treasure Island Yacht and tennis club.  The place was really nice, Emily worked on her ping pong skills, and both of the girls enjoyed cable TV for the first time since we left.  The most memorable line to me was "Didn't we just see this ad?"

Emily's birthday started early on the 22nd, when she opened presents, a cam corder, all of the necessities for a spa treatment, and the treatment from her sister.  Oh yea, and CHOCOLATE!  We really are taking some wind down time, it has been very busy getting here, which is not what it appears like when you see the boats anchored in the harbor. 

Need to get haircuts, and look into a nagging oil leak on the engine.  We found a stylist for the girls, and got a ride with from the marina, nice new full size van.  Apparently "The Club" at Treasure Island decided to build a mega club house for 5 million dollars, and when it got to 10 million the membership fell to 10 members, who did not want to foot the bill.  Then a billionaire, not sure which one, bought it and he keeps adding on.  While we were there they leveled the area around one end of the Olympic to put in a Grata with a bunch of hot tubs.  They had a free arcade, ping pong tables, a spa and workout area, etc.  The girls were sad to go. 
We motored to an anchorage off of Gulfport, a little town nestled between Treasure Island and St. Pete, with a nice wide open anchorage. 

They have a dingy dock for the mutt, and we can dingy to Publix supermarket.

Publix Parking Lot

  The engine leaked about a 1/4 cup of oil.  Everyone at Honeywell knows how I feel about leaks.  I think I found it!  It appears the rear camshaft seal is leaking, Lakewood Yacht Services (NASA Road One, Clearwater, Texas) had just totally rebuild this engine and they said, "you don't really need a special tool to put those rings in like is says in the manual...sometimes they just leak"  I believe they used channel locks (adjustable pliers) to install it.  I would fix it myself, but I don't carry channel locks on the boat. 

We went to the beach and played sand volleyball, had someone gotten a video of that, I am sure it would make it on U tube as a national favorite.  We played against some local folks, and we were significantly out weighed.

We had a great Thanksgiving on the hook at Gulfport, we had the usual fair, turkey, dressing, beans wrapped in bacon, rolls.  Michelle did as good as she did last year for Thanksgiving, when we were on the boat going the other way. 

We passed the Skyway bridge, which was the replacement for the old one that was hit by and ship and collapsed into the bay, killing quite a few people.  Note the huge bollards to prevent this from occurring again.

Saturday we motored to Sarasota, and anchored, staying in a marina around here is just a bit pricey, $2.25/foot/night.  Makes the dingy ride to shore a little  more pleasurable.  We had some rough looking weather come trough, but it ended up not being so bad, nothing like the Rigolots. 

To Port Saint Joe and Clearwater

Port Saint Joe to Flordia's West Coast

We spent several days in Port St. Joe.  The marina there is the nicest we have seen so far, and the customer service was excellent.  We used the marina tricycles to get to the grocery store, which was only about 2 blocks away. 

Everyone in the town was nice.  We did a lot of laundry, and took care of some of the projects we needed to complete.  We went to Radio Shack to look for a gift for Emily's birthday, and the owner tried to sell us the store.  He was very insistant that it would be a great deal and Port St. Joe would be a great place to live.  The pressure got to the point we had to leave.  Then we waited for what we thought was the perfect weather window. 

On the 18th we left at about 8, for a 200 mile trip across the gulf.  The weather was perfect, a north wind at 5-10 and a forecast to stay that way, or drift  slightly to the east.  The autopilot failed, so we were going to have to hand steer the boat across the gulf.

By nightfall the wind had shifted to due east, and picked up to about 15-20 knots, Michelle came down with an illness, and I was getting tired.  Hannah stepped up and took the wheel and drove for three hours while I slept.  That is quite a way to learn to sail, darkness and seas on the nose.  The night continued to get worse as the seas grew.  At daybreak it was tough, we had limited sleep and the seas were really choppy 5'at the upper end.  It did not appear we were going to make Clearwater, we looked at heading further South so that the wind direction would help us rather than hurt us.  So we cracked off, and got the boat up to about 7 knots.  After a prayer from Michelle, the wind shifted back to the north, and we were headed to Clearwater again.  We made it by about 4pm, 6-8 hours longer than we had planned.  We settled in, and had a good nights sleep. 

Clearwater beach was very nice, we were about two blocks from Peir 60 which is a really nice area.  The marina accomidations were marginal, and the most expensive so far.  We went to the sundown show, and saw a couple of street performers. 

The water is so clear that it is hard to see where the beach ends and the water begins. I spent part of the day trying to diagnose the auto pilot issue, along with an oil leak from the diesel.  With possible solutions to both problems we set out for the Treasure Island Yacht and Tennis Club, where another cruising family is located.

Mobile to Port St Joe

We had a fun evening in Fairhope the night before heading out.  We spent the evening at John and Donna Ballard's beautiful home on the bay, Michelle's friend Trisha's Parents.  Michelle was able to visit with Trisha as well as another close friend Ashley.  It was fun to see all of our kids get to know each other.  We had a very enjoyable evening!

We left Mobile early the next morning, even though we did not need to, kinda a habit.  I think a good one. Just before we entered the Intercoastal, the engine oil pressure spiked up, and the only thing I could think of was that there was an oil viscosity problem because the engine was doing it when we entered mobile. We paid a mechanic there to tell us, "gee I don know".  I thought about changing the oil, but it just didn't make sense.  I opened up the engine compartment and checked the connention to the pressure sending unit and tighten up the connection, wala, perfect oil pressure.  Lakewood Yacht Service had failed to tighten them properly.  With the oil issue behind us we were on our way.  We past Lulu's, which is Jimmy Buffet's sisters place, we are getting into cruiser territory.  The intracoastal opens up into a bit of a sound then.  We anchored with several "loopers" in Ingrams Bayou for the night, I would say the best anchorage of the trip to date.  There were dolphins jumping around us, and a great place to take the mutt to the beach.  The girls made sea turtles in the sand, and we had a very restful night on the hook, and a very happy 20th anniversary.

We left a little later in the morning, with only about 20 mile to get to Pensacola, and planning on spending a couple of days there.   We anchored in about 15 feet of water, well away from the cut, where there were about 50 boats anchored.  Our cruising guide said "local knowlege" is needed to get in there. 

The knowledge we have determined is to look for darker water and stay there- not to go to the shallow areas.  The Pensacola air show was going on.  We saw the Blue Angels perform two days in a row, and got to see a lot of the other aircraft from the boat.  Hard to get pictures

 We also toured Fort Pickens, making a lesson of it for the girls.  The interesting thing was not the barrel vaulted ceiling, but the fact that the floors are barrel vaulted as well to keep the fort from sinking into the sand.

The water is getting pretty now, and you can see about 5 feet down. 


We left early for Destin, which also requires local knowlege, but we were confident.  The trip was fantastic!  Emily wanted to fish, so we through out some mega jig, no luck, so we changed to a big lur, and within about a minute she had cought a fish.  We needed to determine what kind of fish it was, so we looked at all the books and determined that it was a Blackfin Tuna.  I butchered it immediately, and we put it in the fridge for the evening.  I use the term butcher, because it was not a Wallyee, or Northern Pike like I was used to cleaning. 

The wind and out speed picked up, so the lur would not stay in the water any more, so we switched to some tackle my brother sent me as a parting gift.  We left it out even though it did not appear to be doing anything.  Just as Emily got her lunch fixed, bam, another hit and another Blackfin Tuna. Plenty for dinner.  We blackened half and grilled the other half with a tereaki merinade.  We all agreed the blackened was the best!  

We got into the busy harbor early.  It was the busiest anchorage we have been at, and we had to anchor closer than I ever have, but I had confidence in the weather forcast of south winds, 5 mph all night and the next day, how could they get that wrong?  We awoke to north winds at 5 mph, but the 180 was not a problem. 

We left for Panama City early in the morning, and were making good time.  So about a third of the way there, we started considering Port St. Joe, another 20 miles down the road, so to speak.  We went for it, and ultimately, I think it was the right choice, even though you second guess yourself coming into a port in the dark with the minor problem of having to go to a backup running light.  The marina is great, and cheaper than Panama City.  We can walk or take one of the several courtesy bikes provided by the marina to the Piggly Wiggly!  We are contemplating our crossing to St. Pete from here, rather than a 100 mile trip to Caribelle.