March 7 to March 22, 2005

March 7th – March 8, 2005

Location: Galleon Marina, Key West Florida

We spend our last few days in Key West enjoying the warm weather and preparing for our departure. “Spring Break” along with the remnants of “Biker Week” have roared into town causing a veritable cattle drive down Duvall Street.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast for our planned departure on Wednesday is less than favorable, but the marina can no longer accommodate us in our current slip and we don’t want to move again.

It’s simply time to move on….

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Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Location: Galleon Marina, Key West FL
Destination: Marathon Marina & Boatyard, Marathon, FL

After getting an updated weather report, we prepare the boat and get underway at 8:45 a.m. bound for Marathon. Skies are overcast with light winds as we thread our way out of the crowded harbor and past the remaining cruise ships and dredging barge.

Once we round the southern tip of Key West, the winds are on our nose N/NE at 18–25 kts. with periods of rain and drizzle. Under the calm gaze of our mermaid, we motor sail under reefed main and staysail making between 6.5 and 7.0 kts. All the while, the decks are awash with surf. We keep the dodger open and remain vigilant in order to dodge crab pots. We share our course with only one other sailboat that eventually turns off before reaching Marathon. Dave is quite happy with how steadfast our vessel makes headway up the coast. I spot my first flying fish while looking for crab pots. I can’t believe how high those fish jump out of the water.

We finally arrive in Marathon late afternoon and contact the marina for docking instructions. Unfortunately the marina staff fails to mention that the fairway they sent us down is very shallow close to the channel markers. So, needless to say, after a long and cold day at sea, we go softly aground just 50 feet away from the docks. How frustrating! We hail Sea Tow. Fortunately, since the tide was coming in, we were able to free ourselves and continue to the dock before Sea Tow got back to us. As we tied up to our slip, we notice the entire deck of the boat is covered in a layer of sea grass. We look like a giant Chia Pet!

While we’re tying up to the docks, Aloahilani hails us on the VHF. As it turns out, Greg and Susie also have a slip at the same marina and will be staying here until the beginning of April.

I take the dogs ashore and get us registered at the Ships Store while Dave secures and rinses down the boat. Tonight we are expecting high winds that will push us onto the docks. We do our best to secure fenders between us and the pilings.

We stop by Aloahilani to invite Greg and Susie over for spaghetti dinner tomorrow night. Dave and I then head over to Cabot’s for a quick dinner. We’re both far too tired to deal with the galley tonight. Our meal was okay but the bill far exceeded the value.
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Thursday, March 10, 2005 to Saturday, March 12, 2005

Location: Marathon Marina and Boatyard, Marathon, FL

The winds blew pretty strong throughout the night and caused some minor damage to the teak rail, but Dave says he can fix it. We decide to hang out here for a few days while we wait for a good weather window to head over to the west coast of Florida for a little more cruising. The marina says they can accommodate us, but we’ll have to move to another slip.

Once we get settled in our new slip, Dave fixes the teak rail and we head to the store to pick up some bread for dinner. We enjoy a wonderful evening trading sea stories with Greg and Susie. Once again, Dave outdid himself in the galley and the sauce was absolutely delicious. Greg and Susie were kind enough to bring a wonderful carrot cake for dessert which we all enjoyed.
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Friday morning found us both feeling like we had caught a little bug. Neither of us felt very well but we decided to hike it out to the Publix for a few provisions just the same. We took the dinghy over to the Marathon Boatyard and tied up at the dinghy dock. We were happy to discover a nice park there where we could return with the dogs for a little ball throwing time.

When we returned from shopping, we spent the remainder of the day in the salon watching the new videos we picked up at K-Mart. Hopefully we’ll feel better tomorrow.
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Saturday morning we load the dogs into the dinghy and take them over to the park. They enjoy a little ball catching time and then we take them for a nice long walk.

When we return to the boat, we pass a few hours looking at the charts and creating routes in the chartplotter for our trip to the Gulf side.

We decide to give Cabot’s another try and both of us enjoy our dinners much better this time around. Still, it’s a tad too expensive given the menu selections.
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Sunday, March 13, 2005

Location: Marathon Marina and Boatyard, Marathon, FL
Destination: Anchorage in Cape Sable, FL

We got underway at 9:15 a.m. after stopping by the fuel dock for dinghy gas and a pump-out. The day ahead promises bright sunshine, warm temperatures, and calm seas. Today’s route takes us through Moser Channel across Florida Bay and over to the gulf coast.

By 2:00 p.m., the temperature reaches the mid 80’s. Along the way, we see two very large dolphins leap high out of the water at the bow of our boat. It was an exciting moment.

We arrive in Cape Sable around 3:00 p.m. and have a very hard time trying to get the anchor to hold. We tried four different times to anchor just north and outside of Middle Cape Sable with no luck. When we looked at the chart again, we noticed that this area had a hard bottom. I looked over the anchoring information in the Waterway Guide again and noted that it suggests anchoring closer to East Cape where the bottom showed sticky on the chart, so we picked up the anchor and moved closer to the east side. Finally we were able to get the anchor to set. I was starting to get a little worried because it was getting late in the day. If we had to move on, we would have to travel to an unknown anchorage in the dark.

Once we finally got the boat settled, we took the dogs ashore on the beach. The beach is gorgeous and primitive camping and campfires are allowed along this stretch of beach. After some ball-playing and shell collecting, we hop back in the dinghy to return aboard for dinner.

Anchor Notes: This is a fair weather anchorage; very exposed. We anchored in position 25 08.99 N, 081 08.00 W in 10.7 ft. depth at high tide. Good holding with a sticky bottom.
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Monday, March 14, 2005

Location: anchorage at East Cape Sable, Cape Sable, FL
Destination: anchorage at Indian Key, Everglades, FL

This morning we awake to a hot and hazy day. We take the dogs ashore and get an early start for Indian Key leaving Cape Sable at 7:10 a.m. with calm seas and south winds of only 3-5 kts. It was a relatively calm, uneventful, and nearly boring trip before arriving at Indian Key at 2:15 p.m.

Upon arrival, Dave decides that Indian Key pass is just too risky to take without local knowledge so we decide instead to look around for a safe anchorage on the outside of Indian Key. We first tried heading up a little closer to the island between Indian Key and Stop Key before the thin water turned us back.

Finally, we decide to anchor just outside the key since we are expecting calm winds and sea conditions to continue throughout the night.
Indian Key has a small beach where we can land the dogs so we head over to explore the area. Upon landing, we quickly realize that this beach is no place to be without some serious mosquito repellent in tow. (This is the Everglades National Park after all.) Always searching for the positive; we find that the real benefit to anchoring off of the island is that we escape the serious influx of bugs.

Anchor Notes: We anchored in 10.5 ft. depth at high tide in position 25 48.19 N, 081 28.31W
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Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Location: anchorage at Indian Key, Everglades, FL
Destination: anchorage at Factory Bay, Marco Island, FL

This morning we awake to foggy conditions but expect the fog to clear out by midmorning. We get underway from Indian Key at 8:25 a.m. bound for Factory Bay anchorage in Marco Island. The anchorage at Indian Key had good holding but the wake made for rolly conditions. We made a note to call Tow Boat US for local knowledge regarding Indian Key pass before our return trip.

Our trip today requires us to stay several miles offshore to avoid the shoals at Cape Romano. The seas are flat with hazy, hot conditions throughout the day. The most notable moment was when we spotted a large stingray jump out of the water beside the boat. Very cool!

Before we left Indian Key, I called TowBoat US and SeaTow for local knowledge of Capris Pass. We are told to favor the green side of the channel upon entrance and to keep G9 and G11 on our port as we enter into the bay area. Even with some local information, we still find the entry way a tad confusing. Thank God for the chartplotter route.

As we enter the channel into Factory Bay, we notice that no other boats our size are anchored here. We pass by the green channel markers and then turn up into the area on the chart that clearly says it’s the deep-water designated anchorage. You guessed it; we immediately ran aground. (What was that I just said about the [expletive deleted] chartplotter?) Dave manages to get the boat off and we decide to anchor outside of Factory Bay near marker G15 where the depth shows 12 ft.

Once we get settled we head over to Marco River Marina to use their dinghy dock to land the dogs. As we get close to the marina we notice a sailboat our size anchored just outside of the red markers. We find out that the “designated anchorage” has shoaled in so everyone now anchors outside the channel. They also told us that some strong weather conditions were coming in.

After we walk the dogs, we immediately head back to the boat for an updated weather report. We couldn’t believe it. Our fair weather report was now calling for strong southerly winds in the 35–40 kt. range with severe thunderstorms and possible waterspouts over the next few days. Feeling a little trip weary, we quickly decide to call the marina to see if they have a slip available for the next few days. Fortunately they do, so we head directly to the marina and tie up to the dock. After hearing about what is available in town, we decide to stay here at the marina for a week. After that we’ll decide whether to continue north or just head back to Marathon to prepare for the start of our return north.
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Wednesday, March 16th – Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Location: Marco River Marina, Marco Island, FL

My sister Sue was planning to meet up with us in Ft. Myers on Saturday so I called her to say that we’d be staying here in Marco Island instead. Since Marco Island is only a half hour further south by car, she agrees to come and visit us here instead. I’m looking forward to seeing her.
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Thursday is St. Patrick’s Day. Since the weather report is calling for thunderstorms all day, Dave and I hike to the Publix on Wednesday to buy our corned beef and cabbage. Lacking a good old Irish pub, we plan our own boat-side celebration with a traditional dinner and celtic music broadcast on the XM satellite receiver.

Thursday does indeed bring strong thunderstorms, lightening, wind, and heavy rain throughout the day. Tucked inside, we enjoyed our corned beef dinner and hung out watching “The Road to Perdition.” Overall it was a very calm and relaxing St. Patrick’s Day by our standards.
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As we walk around to check out the area, we spot a seafood gourmet shop. Dave and I purchase some frozen Florida lobster tails to go with our steak dinner Friday night. The meal was outstanding. Unfortunately, it didn’t agree with me. Around 10:00 p.m., I woke up feeling very sick and spent most of the night throwing up my fabulous dinner. So much for the gourmet lobster tails.
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Saturday afternoon my sister Sue arrives for our visit. She looks fabulous and I’m so happy to see her. We spend the afternoon catching up on things and enjoying some appetizers in the cockpit. After that we head into town to check out some of the boutiques.

Dave has prepared a great chicken cacciatore with whole-wheat capellini which we all enjoy for dinner. After dinner, Sue and I attend a show in town, “A Tribute to Patsy Cline.” The show was simply terrible. It was like attending a really bad karaoke show with the same person singing every song. We left at the intermission and enjoyed the rest of the evening chatting away in the salon and enjoying a few drinks together.
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Sunday morning we all enjoyed a nice breakfast before Sue had to head back to Palm Harbor. In the meantime I got a call from our friends, Karen and Peter, who are here visiting relatives in Naples. They plan to stop by the marina tomorrow for a brief visit.

Sue gives me a ride to the Publix so I can do some provisioning for the boat while Dave tends to some boat maintenance chores. So far we are planning to leave here on Tuesday to head over to Ft. Myers for a few days. We’ll see; our plans are still up in the air.
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On Monday we head over to the West Marine to pick up a few things and stop by the bank to get quarters for the laundry. On the way back to the boat we stop by Al’s Deli and buy a nice lunch.

Around 2:00 p.m. Karen and Peter arrive, along with Peter’s brother and his wife. They stay for a few hours and we enjoy a really nice visit with them.

Dave then prepares an awesome roast beef dinner before we settle in for the night. We’re still undecided about whether to leave here tomorrow or not.
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This morning we catch an updated weather report and talk about our plans for moving forward. We mutually decide that we’d rather wait for a weather window and head back to Marathon. I think we’re both ready to start our trek back north. We arrange to stay at the marina for another night. Weather permitting; we’ll head back to Indian Key tomorrow.

Our mermaid 

Hemingway's Writing Desk 

Dan and Anita in Key West 

Tarpon Feeding Frenzy 

Returning from Dog Beach at Key West 

January 31 to March 6, 2005

Islamorada
We enjoyed another sunny week in Islamorada, with the exception of one stormy night, before we moved on to Marathon. We had a cold front come through--with northwest winds up to 30 kts and 4-foot seas. Around 1:00 a.m., I awoke, dressed, and went up on deck just in time to see that our anchor was starting to drag and that we were being pushed toward other anchored boats and, just beyond, the shoals that would spell certain disaster. With no moon, it was pitch black and I could just make out the shadowy forms of other vessels that we narrowly missed as we drifted. Crab pots, which could tangle our prop, were on all sides of us. In a near panic, I started the engine and luckily, just managed to slow the boat enough for the anchor to reset.

Sandy noted our position to ensure we were staying put, while I made a pot of coffee for the long night ahead. While we were having our first cup, we saw a large 60-foot trawler dragging her two anchors move quickly past us with no one at the helm. I flashed a spotlight on her and blasted the foghorn several times to alert the sleeping owners. Finally, they awoke and expressed initial disbelief before the stark reality set in that they were dragging. They bumped up on at least one other boat before they managed to reset their anchors.

On To Marathon
Once the storm passed and the seas settled down, we departed Islamorada and headed 40 miles south to Marathon. We anchored outside of Boot Key to avoid the mass collection of closely anchored boats inside the harbor. We spent a few relaxing days there and enjoyed a few late afternoon lunches at Burdines Waterfront, where the dogs were allowed to accompany us.

Key West Bound
On Wednesday, Feb. 9th, we headed south for Key West. Although it's a tad expensive here, we managed to find two berths (the first at Conch Harbor, and the second at The Galleon) that will allow us to remain here in Key West for a month-long stay. Thereafter, we plan to head back to Marathon and take Moser Channel over to the west coast for a few weeks of cruising before we begin our slow ascent north.

A few days after we arrived, we had a chance meeting with Andy Connelly from Manana, whom we met back in Wrightsville Beach. Andy hails from Michigan and single-handed his boat all the way down the coast. He told us he had just spent a great week sailing with his kids over to the Dry Tortugas. He was now awaiting the arrival of his girlfriend who is coming down to meet him for the week.

In celebration of our 8th wedding anniversary on Valentine’s Day, we procured a beautiful mermaid, hand glazed on tile, that I mounted on the bulwark above our galley to bless our continued safe voyage. It's inevitable, idolatry and paganism eventually find their place in the hearts of every mariner. That, we hope, in addition to a lot of good praying, will safely see us home.

After a few weeks tied to a dock, we begin to feel like a true Key Westers, especially after spending a late night at Schooner's Wharf drinking many shots of straight dark Patron Anejo tequila, meeting lots of great folks, and listening to fine rock music. This bar is famous for allowing pets, so of course, we brought the girls.

Tula acted the shameless hussy and reeled in the babes with her coy performance of seductive wiggles and winks. Perhaps, I should consider renting her out as a chick/guy magnet alternative to the ubiquitous escort services being touted from every corner, if not to cover the high costs of our dock fees, maybe at least to defray our bar tab. In Key West drinking is considered a professional sport.

Week 3, Key West: It’s easy to see why people just end up staying here. It's a good place to hide out from the rest of the world and still have lots to do. We had a surprise visit from our friends back home: Sam, Patty, Abby, and Aaron Booth, whose cruise ship docked in Key West for a brief visit. We also had our close friends from Bristol, Dan and Anita Randall, come and stay with us for a few days. We had a great time and we're now in the process of recovering from too much food, fun, and drink. It was so good to see friends from back home.

It's not all fun and games however. Last week, Tula got very sick and after staying up all night up with her, we made several frustrating calls in an attempt to get her an appointment with a veterinarian. Finally after walking several miles before getting a cab and then sitting in a waiting room for three hours at the "All Animal Clinic," we were able to have her checked out and put on a regiment of rest and antibiotics. She is now fully recovered, and has been ordered to stay out of the bars on Duval Street.

During the week we had another chance encounter with a few fellow cruisers we had met back in St. Augustine, Greg and Susie from Aloalani. I just happened to hear them talking on the VHF radio so I hailed them. After a brief chat, they agreed to stop by our boat for a visit before they headed back to Marathon. Like us, they arrived in Key West and stayed for an entire month.

This week I started on the obligatory boat maintenance chores that must be done before we can start our almost 2,000 mile return trip north. I installed a new Balmar 100-amp alternator, replaced the sea pump impeller and fuel filters, replaced the hydraulic motor and control switch (under warrantee) for the navigation table chair, and in the process of checking the heat exchanger, discovered that one end of the cast aluminum housing had suffered salt-water corrosion to the point that it was leaking. The first mechanic I hired had never seen it happen before and wanted to try gluing it back together. I sent him packing and hired a Yanmar diesel mechanic, who looked like the real deal. I'm hoping he knows his stuff since he quickly stripped down the engine and left with a big bucket of parts. On Thursday, our venerable mechanic returned with new parts, put the engine back in order, and left us with a fat $2,200 bill and the tip for me to always use Permatex High-Temperature Red gasket sealer next time I service the heat exchanger.

Even though Tula can no longer hang out on Duval Street, she is now content to hang out on the Dog Beach oceanside. When Dan and Anita took the trolley tour, the tour guide pointed out the Dog beach to them so they told us about it on their return. After a hellish week of boat maintenance, we loaded Joop and Tula in the Burley stroller and hiked out 2 miles to the beach. The girls had a great time playing in the sand and surf with about a half dozen other dogs. I swear you could actually see the big smiles on their faces. Joop declared that this day was the highlight of the entire trip. Upon our return to the boat, we hosed down the sand covered and sunburned girls and they quietly slept away the remainder of the afternoon.