3/29/05 Key West, FL
After our arrival at Key West (Previous),
We spent several days waiting for east winds to switch before heading
back to Marathon . The outdoor sculpture
show at
Ft.
Zacheray Taylor, while officially over, was still mostly installed and
we enjoyed what remained. Artists from all over the country have
pieces
in the show. We also went to the butterfly nature center which
had more
butterflies and types of butterflies from around the world than I'd
known existed. We spent a lot of time in there enjoying all the
colors.
Sculpture at Ft. Zackeray Taylor
"Cateraptasaurus"
Dragon fly from a beer keg, car bumpers, and an auger
One of the Key West charter schooners returning after a sunset cruise
Exotic Moth
One of the many beautiful butterflies
Papilio Ulysses Autolycus butterfly
It had also gotten hot and humid. Now, instead of being 7-10
degrees
cooler than normal, it was 7-10 degrees warmer, with the humidity
pushing up with the temperature. The shower onboard was really
nice.
There was always a breeze, and by eating a late lunch on shore, I
didn't
feel the need to make the boat hot by cooking dinner.
On Friday, April Fool's day, we decided to spend one more day in Key
West. The winds were fresh and out of the south east, meaning a
bash to
windward to reach Marathon. A cold front was due to arrive on Saturday
and give us more of a reach if we waited. We spent the day
touring the
cemetery which is quite large, and since everything is at sea level, it
is above ground. We walked in some of the older part of town,
away from
the general tourist attractions. Many of the old buildings are
being
renovated and the architecture is interesting.
Cemetery "stack & store"
The wind had died back a bit, so we took a dinghy ride over to explore
Garrison Bight on the way back to the boat. After we got into the
Bight
it was apparent why so many boats came out of that channel in the
mornings. Inside is a huge fleet of charter fishing boats which
tended
to rock us early in the morning. It is also the home port to the
remaining Key West houseboat fleet. There is supposed to be a
dinghy
dock for transients too, but we didn't find it. It would be a
long walk
into town from the Bight. The dinghy ride in from the city
mooring
field is equally long, and the mooring field, while protected from the
west by Fleming Key, still would have problems with wave fetch, just
from different directions. We also discovered the reason why
there had
been occasional whiffs of less than pristine air; the wastewater
treatment facility was on Fleming Key, just east of us.
Key West house boats
Saturday morning we got an early start. With a cold front
arriving, the
wind was predicted to shift to the NW and the anchorage would feel
pretty exposed. We were also due to pick up the Chupacks in
Marathon on
Monday where they planned to join us for a few days. We hoped to
beat the
cold front to Marathon, with the wind out of the SW it would be a fast
trip. We reefed the main, ran out the jib and had a great
sail. The
forecast was for an abrupt wind switch, possible heavy rain and
thundershowers, but the sky didn't look all that threatening. As
we got
further out in Hawks Channel the size of the waves increased.
We'd
pretty much shut the cabin up to avoid the mopping up scene, but we
hadn't taken into account a larger wave slapping the hull and going in
under the dinghy, which is of course what happened. For once
Leonard
went below to do mopping duty.
Cold Front Approaching
We'd been told when we left for the west coast that we were #30 on the
waiting list for a mooring here. The city marina then called us
as we
headed north that they had a mooring for us. We declined, and
were
assured there would be no waiting list for a mooring in April. Of
course there was - we were now #7 on the list, and no one was going
much
of anywhere with the weather not being cooperative. So we
shoe-horned
our way back into the eastern part of the harbor, and with two anchors
set we'd be fine unless the wind came out of the east.
After checking out the local marinas, we managed to get a slip at
Burdine's where we've taken on fuel in the past. They have been
helpful and pleasant on those occasions and having a slip would make
things
easier for getting the Chupacks aboard. (I wasn't too sure how
high our
stock would be when they got wet getting to the boat in the dinghy.)
We'd hoped to do some snorkeling with them, but the conditions remained
too windy to enjoy being in the water. We drove down to Bahia
Honda
State Park for a walk on the beach before heading over to the No Name
Pub for pizza on Big Pine Key. It is another one of those places
where
all the surfaces (except the floor and tables) are covered and layered
with signed dollar bills. The pizza was as good as advertised, as
was
their special house beer.
Yesterday, after laying in a few more provisions, we took them out for
a
sail after deciding to spend a second night at Burdine's dock.
This
time I carefully dogged all the ports and the forward hatch since I
knew
it would be rough once we got past the lee of the island. We had
spent
a long time trying to get the laundry done (including a mile walk on
Sunday to a laundromat that was closed) here in Marathon, and I didn't
want to deal with salty wet stuff if I could avoid it. Of course,
we
hit one wave just right, sending spray over the cabin where it
immediately found its way into the closed, but not latched main hatch!
While I was below mopping up water, Steve came down to find a
shirt. He
said he felt a little queasy, but that he'd be fine. Jeanette on
the
other hand was having a great time. Several years ago they took one of
the ferries out to the Dry Tortugas on a very windy and rough day and
had been two of only a few who hadn't gotten sea sick on the trip over,
so I wasn't too concerned. I got him a pill and some water and we
headed out toward Sombereo Reef.
Steve at the helm with his "No Name Pub" tee shirt
We had discussed picking up a mooring and having lunch out on the
reef.
It was much too windy to consider snorkeling, but there were dive
boats on a couple of the moorings. As we approached the reef it
was
obvious that it would be hard to pick up a mooring in the wind and
waves, and the motion would be unpleasant at best. Just after we
tacked
to head back another wave hit the side of the boat and dumped water
under the dodger and down into the cabin and soaking the chart on the
way.
Steve nixed any notion of anchoring off Key Vaca for lunch. While
claiming to be just fine, he really wanted to step on terra firma, so
we
headed back to the dock. Having left our lines at the dock, we
were
able to gracefully tie up again, especially with Steve's help.
After
rinsing the salt off the boat we drove to Sombero Beach and then took
them for our favorite walk around the golf course.
This morning after the Chupacks left, we picked up a mooring in Boot
Key
Harbor for the week. With the east wind still blowing we won't
get in
any snorkeling, but we want to revisit the Crane Point Museum which we
enjoyed last year. Since the dinghy dock at the Dockside has been
closed under the new ownership it is less convenient and pleasant to
get
to town. We now have to walk along US 1 for about a mile, which
has a
lot of traffic and tends to be hot. The local recreational area
is
supposed to have a trail for walking, so we'll have to check that out.
It's right by the dinghy dock.
Craine Point Museum Bromiliade
The scuttlebutt has it that the new owner at the "Dockside" would
prefer
not to have the transient riff raff at his place. On the cruisers
net
this morning they mentioned even if you go there to eat or drink you
are
not supposed to head toward the store or go for a walk. I guess
he'll
have to do without our business. We checked it out last night
during our walk and it looked much tamer and less interesting than it
did in the past.
4/25/05
Our sailing adventures were interrupted on April 8th by the illness and
sub sequential death of Lynnea's Aunt Elizabeth in Illinois.
After searching out possible methods of transportation from
Marathon, we rented a car and drove while leaving the boat on one
of the city moorings for two weeks. It was a long drive,
but the spring
foliage and flowers; wisteria, red bud and dogwood, made it beautiful,
especially through the mountains. We also saw bits of the Great
Circle Route along the Tennessee River to tempt us on another trip.
We
returned to Marathon on April 24th and have been laying in supplies
for the trip north. The cold front that dumped snow on the
upper midwest arrived just before dawn on Sunday with a brief heavy
shower that had us scrambling to close hatches and ports. It also
brought some hefty northerly winds which have kept us at the
mooring. We are currently waiting for the winds to pass through
the easterly quadrant before heading out to catch the Gulf Stream
north. The winds seem to switch from the north rather
quickly here, and
clock into the northeast for a spell before going to the south ahead of
the next frontal system. So maybe a brief delay will result in a
faster passage in the gulf stream than going back on the Florida Bay
side. We hope to arrive home by the end of May.
5/5/05 From
Whiteside Creek, North of
Charlestown, SC
Sunday was spent reprovisioning the boat, getting everything stowed and
the car returned to the rental agency. It had been too windy to
go
snorkeling, something we hoped to do before starting
north. The
weather forecast wasn't particularly good for doing either when we
listened
that evening, but we've learned they aren't that much better
forecasting
the weather here than at home. The plan was to start heading
north
either Monday or Tuesday.
Since it wasn't as windy as forecast on Monday morning, we thought we'd
get underway. After scrubbing the waterline from the dinghy and
cleaning the knotmeter plug which we'd forgotten to pull when we'd left
for Illinois, we decided to head out. The plug had a nice growth
of
barnacles on it and I asked Leonard if we should contact Diver
Dave, who'd been our emergency contact during our absence, to scrub the
bottom. He figured things would be okay as we'd just had the
bottom
painted in Jacksonville in January. We noticed a bit more
churning
behind the boat than normal as we headed for the bridge, and the
knotmeter still wasn't reading.
After clearing the bridge, taking on fuel and water, and a quick
trip to the fish market we headed on our way. Even after more
cleaning on the knotmeter, it was obvious that the boat speed was
slower than
usual, so we headed out to Sombrero Reef to snorkel and
check
out the condition of the keel and prop. Once in the water with
our
snorkel gear, it was obvious we needed to have the bottom
scrubbed,
as losing a knot per hour over the 1500 miles home was not an
acceptable option. After rubbing on the rudder with little
progress, we
spent an hour enjoying the fish on the reef, including a big barracuda
by the boat, before heading back to the mooring and contacting Diver
Dave.
The diver agreed to meet us at the mooring at 5 PM and spent an hour
with a rubber scraper removing growth. He also replaced our zinc
which
had done duty since February and had disappeared. When
asked about
the
fresh bottom paint, he replied it works great for grass growth, but
nothing really works against barnacles once the water starts to warm
up.
We departed Marathon early Tuesday morning, headed north.
Projections
showed an ETA at Miami in the middle of the night, so we decided to
continue north making use of the Gulf Stream and the reasonable weather
to try to reach Ft. Pierce before the weather changed. We
had
options to tuck in several places if the wind decided to blow out of
the
north before we reached Ft. Pierce.
This time Leonard got to deal with the cruise ships off Ft. Lauderdale
and he found their courses as confusing as I had. On my watch I
had a
problem visualizing a container ship's configuration, passing
closer
to it than desired. The navigation light wasn't on the bow, but
on the
side of the deck house.
Several hours before dawn the wind did switch and come out of the NE
with a rain shower. It didn't take more than 15 minutes for the
wind
against the current to make conditions unpleasant, and enough to
really drop
our
speed. We headed for Lake Worth inlet, one of our options,
and planned to call it a
night.
Entering harbors at night isn't one of our favorite cruising tricks,
but
since we'd been in and out of that entrance we knew we could do
it. A
tug pushing a barge against a piling at the side of the channel as we
entered was
confusing, but we soon sorted that out along with a freighter coming in
the
entrance behind us. We worked our way to the ICW, but before we
got
to the
first bridge we decided we'd just drop the hook to consider our options
as it was just getting light. We'd both noticed the wind had died
back
as we got in the entrance channel and it was early in the day to
stop.
Deciding to continue on, we pulled anchor and headed back out the inlet
for Ft. Pierce planning to pick up a mooring in Vero Beach in the
afternoon.. When
we got
back in the Atlantic, there was still a bit of current to push us north
although we were well west of the Gulf Stream. The wind went back to
the
south as forecast and by mid morning, had strengthened so that we were
sailing with the jib only. Our mid afternoon entrance into the Ft.
Pierce inlet was against a 2 + knot current and we had to rev the
engine
some to make headway. Once through the inlet and in the ICW, we
made
reasonable time heading to Vero Beach and the mooring we had reserved.
We fell in line behind another sail boat as we turned north on the ICW,
just missing going through the Ft. Pierce bridge opening with
them. It was
pleasant
in the waterway and we were enjoying the birds and
shoreline when I glanced up and noticed their dingy was sideways to
their stern, not in line like it should be. The wind which had
gone to
the
west during the morning and was blowing hard enough to nudge them out
of
the channel. As we approached he warned us of an "uncharted" shoal, but
we had 15 ft under us.
There wasn't much we could do to help other than to approach a fishing
boat nearby to see if they could help. It did seem to us that
since
they had a dinghy already in the water, it would make sense to run
a kedge out to the deeper water and try towork themselves off.
We've
done that in the past, prior to the Sea Tow or Boat US tow boat era. It
usually worked like a charm and gave the sense of self sufficiency.
They told us they were also heading for Vero, but it looked like they
would be a while. We continued on our way and were on a mooring
by 5:30
PM. A quick dinghy ride ashore to sign in, a short walk, and we
were
back the boat for dinner to complete another long day.
The next day we ran into the folks from the other boat while riding the
bus. The fishing boat didn't know how to help them and wasn't
able
budge them with 150 horses, so they resorted to Boat US tow service.
Boat US also had trouble and took out 3 stantions on the first attempt
to move them. They finally arrived in Vero Beach after 7,
after
several hours of frustration and damage. They got a free tow due
to the
damage, but needed to file an insurance claim. .
I talked Leonard into spending 2 nights at Vero Beach. It gave me
time
to do the laundry and shopping without rushing, and gave us a
chance to see
the Ansel Adams show at the nearby art museum. Vero
Beach
is very
cruiser friendly in spite of not allowing anchoring in town waters, the
moorings are worth the fee and the staff is helpful.
Leonard has reached his "back to the barn" frame of mind, and after
topping off the fuel tank we were underway bright and early in the
morning. The weather was fine and with a building south wind we
spent
most of the day sailing. He planned on reaching Titusville that
evening, but changed his mind and anchored in the lee of the bridge
that
goes to the space port at Cape Kennedy. We'd heard notices on
channel 16 of a
rocket launch that evening.
Last year we had been anchored south of Smyrna Beach and he missed
seeing the rocket launch overhead. No chance of that this year,
we had
a clear view and a ring side seat. The rocket was fired just
after dark
and really lit up the sky. We could see the various booster
stages fall
off and drop down. Quite spectacular.
Night sky lit up by the rocket lauch
In the morning as we hauled the anchor, the autopilot balked and
refused
to either steer or let us do the job. So far this trip it has
done a
wonderful job and we've been knocking on wood that we'd make it home
with no problems. No so. A connecting pin had sheared,
prompting a
quick redeploying of the anchor so we could remove the wheel and then
the autopilot. Not seeing anything in the tray of spare parts
that
would do an immediate jury rig, we reattached the wheel and continued
on
our way. We would head for Daytona and see what West Marine might
have.
Since it was Saturday, there were no bridge restrictions and
again
we made good time sailing with a stiff south breeze. The islands
just
west of the Haulover Canal were filled with nesting birds; pelicans,
egrets, roseat spoonbills and cormorants. Some islands also
sported
tents and looked like they must be a weekend get-a-way for the
locals.
The Haulover Canal always has fishermen along its banks. It's a
short
cut that connects the Indian and Mosquito rivers and sports a boat
launch. It was packed on this sunny weekend day. There were
several
groups of kayakers paddling about, fishing boats tied to trees,
cruisers, a few sail boats, and the shores lined with fishermen.
The
bridge spanning the canal opened in a timely fashion and we had a fast
passage with the current helping us along.
Great blue heron in flight
A pair of great egrets
We usually stay at the Halifax Yacht Club in Daytona, but they
didn't have any space, so we went to the town marina which covers two
large enclosed harbors with a large park on the river connecting them.
There was still a stiff south wind and we were glad to have a good dock
hand to catch the bowline as we docked. We had the wind behind
us, and the
dock in
front. We managed a very controlled docking, using the engine in
hard
reverse along with the spring line to stop the boat. We are
grateful when
these things go smoothly, but we know that doesn't always happen.
We used the time we saved at the bridge to go for a walk around the
marina and park before the forecast rain began. It was a very
extensive
marina with the West Marine store in between the two harbors. We
were
almost there when the entertainment of the evening took place,
preventing us from reaching the store before it closed.
A large, maybe 110 ft, power boat had been maneuvering as we docked,
heading for the pump out dock. He was now returning to his slip,
right
next to the restaurant as we walked past. He did have two engines
and a
bow thruster, but didn't seem to know how to use them. We learned
it
was owner operated, and his crew appeared to be of the pickup variety.
One dockline had been deployed from the forward side and cleated by a
crew on the dock.
It might have worked, but it didn't since the captain seemed to do all
the wrong moves. The combination of wind and ill use of power
sent the
boat away from the dock at a 45 degree angle, subsequently hitting the
39 ft cigarette boat in the adjoining slip. We learned from the
gathering crowd that it was not a problem, since that was his boat
too.
I don't think the next cruiser was his though, and he slid into
it's
bow sending it careening into the dock.
One of his crew was scurrying about trying to get fenders between
the
boats. The others seemed to be wringing their hands and shaking
their
heads. Leonard suggested getting the spring line to shore to help
control the boat, which
they
eventually did, but with all that windage the deck hand wasn't
able do
much. For a while it looked
like
the one line they had cleated ashore would break under the forces it
was
taking.
Eventually they managed to wrest the boat into the slip and the
gathered
crowd began to disperse. I heard someone comment that perhaps the
captain had had one too many cocktails prior to docking. We
continued
our walk, the store long since closed. When we returned from our
walk
along the river front about half an hour later, they were still messing
with with lines and we could hear the bow thruster whirring
occasionally.
Eagle on a daymark in the morning leaving Daytona
The next day, instead of stopping in St. Augustine as planned, we
continued sailing
with
the jib out until we found a quiet spot off the channel north of
the
Ponce de Leon inlet to drop the hook for the night. We'd had a
few
showers once we reached St. Augustine, but they ended by the time we
were settled for the night. A much better day than what had been
forecast.
The anchorage north of St. Augustine
We wanted to go out the St. Johns River entrance and head for
Charleston, but with the wind now out of the NE we decided to stay in
the ICW. We headed for the St.Mary's River on the Georgia border,
fighting the current most of the day. As we approached Ferdinanda
Beach
we stopped to top off the fuel tank and then decided to stay at the
marina to check out the town. The only proviso was, we had to be
off
the docks by 8 a.m. so the barge could start work on replacing the
docks.
We enjoyed seeing the town we had driven through in February on
our
way to Fort Clinch at the river entrance. We just missed the shrimp
festival by a day and the town was pretty quiet on a Monday night with
most of the restaraunts closed.
The docks, casino ship and the paper mills at Ferdinanda Beach
The plan was to continue north in the ICW this Tuesday morning on a
portion we've never done.. We
were up early (the two paper mills make a lot of noise that woke me up)
and since the morning's forecast was for better wind conditions than
last night's, we went out the river entrance heading for
Charleston. We had a good 4 hour sail before the winds went
light.
They were to go more easterly during the night, but be light, so we
whould be
able to sail or motor sail, not dead into the wind, toward our
objective. Later in the week we were to have stronger NE winds,
so
we may see some portions of the ICW we've never seen before.
We had a wonderful half hour visit by a large pod of dolphins around
noon. There must've been at least a dozen taking time out from
feeding to come play in our bow wake. It's special to have a
private
performance at the bow. Later in the afternoon we had a brief
visit
from a Cape May warbler who took a bit of a rest during her migration
north. I guess we weren't going fast enough for her as she soon
flew off.
Cape May Warbler taking a break
There were some left over NE waves as the wind slowly
clocks around to the east, making for a few lumps and bumps. Our
ETA at Charleston was mid-afternoon.
We saw
very little in the way of boat traffic during the day, a few power
boats
either closer to shore heading north, or further out and heading
south.
A couple sail boats that headed out shortly after we did appeared
to be making a similar offshore hop. I suspect all the big ships
we haven't seen all
day will crop up during the night to help keep us on our toes.
We got a bit of east wind, allowing us to enjoy a sail until it went
light around midnight and we reverted back to motor sailing. We
could
see the running lights of the other two boats all night which felt kind
of friendly. There were several large ships that hove into view,
heading toward Savannah, but it was mostly just a dark, somewhat lumpy
night. The sliver of moon didn't appear until 4:30.
With daylight the wind came back up out of the NE, making it difficult
to sail the course to the Charleston entrance buoy. We headed for
the way
point at
the end of the breakwater, about 4 miles in from the sea bouy, and beat
toward Charleston. If it hadn't been for a 20 degree set toward
shore
it would have been a great sail, but between the set and the wind
switch
it was a hard beat with enough waves to have us splashing. It was
impossible to judge which waves would be the ones to "get" us, it
seemed
to be the smaller ones that sent the spray flying instead of the
obvious
ones.
We made a tack out to avoid some shoals and hoped to reach the end of
the breakwater, but finally rolled in the jib and just went for
it. The
tide was heading in, but at the rate we were going, it would be going
out when we got to the channel. All three sailboats entered the
channel
one behind the other and rode the tide in. It was nice not to
have
spray flying and be heeled at 30 degrees so I took the opportunity to
do
the breakfast dishes (it was 2:00 PM).
We decided to skip Charleston and headed north past Sullivan's
and
Isles of the Palms on the ICW, reaching the one bridge before the 4-6
restricted time. Thursday's forecast called for
20-25 NE
winds and rain, so we headed for the anchorage by Capers Island, about
10 miles north of Charleston.
We had the anchorage to ourselves, so we dropped the hook mid-stream
and
set it. Tired as we were, we launched the dinghy and splashed the
3/4
mile to the park dock. We hoped to see lots of birds and
wildlife
since they should be feeding at the end of the day. We did spot
an
alligator, sitting in the water up to her snout. Several more
viewing
blinds had been constructed since our fall stop. There were lots
of
shore birds, herons and gulls, but not the variety that we saw the
first
time we came visited.
Alligator at Capers Island
The weatherman really nailed Thrusday's forecast. Leonard figured
we'd
have a relatively nice day, but about 5 in the morning we were awakened
with wind gusts and then the splattering of rain which had us up
closing
hatches and checking the anchor. After letting out another 30
feet of
line we went back to sleep. It rained and blew all day. The
tidal current was strong enough to hold us a bit
sideways
to
the wind and keep us heeled except when we pass through slack
tide.
Given the weather we decided to just sit this one out. The
offshore
jump gave us a 2 -3 day lead, and it's more comfortable to stay
dry
inside than to push into the 20 - 30 knots of NE wind we've had all
day.
With the extra line out, the shore looks close, but given the
wind
conditions the anchor must really be buried. We were really glad
we weren't offshore.
During the day the wind ratcheted up a few more
knots,
switched more northerly and prompted us to don our foul weather
gear and
set a second anchor. It took 2700 rpm to edge the boat out into
the
channel to drop the Danforth, but having a second anchor set help us
sleep
better at night. The weatherman upped the wind forecast for
gusts to 40
knots. When it dropped back to 20, it seemed rather calm after
blowing in
the 30's steadily. I guess everything is relative.
The marsh behind the boat at abnormally high water in the wind
The same driftwood the next morning at a more normal water levels
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