6-28
It is gray and rainy! Harold woke up at 3:30 am when it started and closed what was open on the bridge. I slept through it all. I braved the rain to go to the laundry room to do sheets and towels. Mid afternoon a 45’Formula sedan cruiser came in next to us. Very nice – A Salt Weapon is her name and Pepper Spray is her dinghy (a jet drive with a center console)and she is crewed by two women who are sisters. Late day the rain stopped and we went with the gang to the Hurricane for Taco Tuesday. The whole gang convened on our sundeck until the wee hours. Try as the men might, they couldn’t get to the bottom of the story on the boat next door.
6-29
Another totally gray day, but it isn’t raining! We worked inside most of the day except for trips back and forth to the laundry room, sat with Ken and Diane for happy hour then made dinner aboard.
6-30
Still gray! Orlando weather says the low pressure over Georgia will take the rain out of central Florida, but didn’t show it moving off the peninsula. Even though it keeps the heat down some, the humidity is palpable and you start sweating the minute you step out. So we stayed in. I read and Harold authored and we had Casey for “background music”. We were pretty tickled late afternoon when the judge gave that guy 6 days and $400 for flicking off Jeff Ashton! Guess he learned a lesson! Here come de judge!! We took a dinghy ride to Key West Fisheries for dinner. There you order at the counter and they call you to pick it up. The lady had just put a board out with evening specials, and Harold wanted one of them. So we went to order (it was 4:50), and the kid said he couldn’t get that until 5. And a much louder woman backed him up. So we got a beer and Harold took care of a couple of phone calls and after 5 we went back to try again. The boss hadn’t put it in the computer yet, and we had to stand there for about 10 minutes (holding others up) before this got handled. Those of you in the know will find it amazing that I got dinner at all, but he was very patient. Maybe the Keys are rubbing off on him! Back at the boat we took a swim in the pool and came back for showers and jammies. The guy who was supposed to be fixing the inflatables on our old dinghy showed up this afternoon with good news and bad news. There is no charge, but the dinghy can’t be fixed. One of the sections he could not get to hold air. Harold is trying to make a deal with one of the guys who works here to trade it in return for him waxing our boat. (The boat is usable without the inflatable part.)
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
And the beat goes on....
6-25
Pretty regular day, except we borrowed Ken’s truck and trailer and went to West Marine and bought a new dinghy!
Got her home, waxed the bottom and put the motor on. She was launched and deemed seaworthy
6-26
We went about having our maiden voyage in the dinghy! I am 100% pleased with it – and I guess that is pretty much all that is necessary! We rode the coast all the way to the 7 Mile Bridge and crossed under. Plenty of current right there. But we can say that we have had her in the ocean! Back at the boat we made up to meet Ken, Diane, Biddi and Dan at the Island Fish Co. after their hurricane preparedness meeting. In the meantime we met Diana and Bob and invited them aboard. They have friends coming in to look at a boat this afternoon and then we will go with them by car instead of dinghy to the restaurant. That all worked out and we had a good meal. Back at the marina we gathered at Diana and Bob’s boat for the (non)sunset and the usual cast of characters showed up. Bob and Diana’s boat is a 35’ version of ours.
6-27
Took our walk to K-Mart to get some new water shoes. They had a terrible selection and were all black. Ick. So we went to Publix and the selection wasn’t any better, but they were cheaper and they had both our sizes. The only excitement was this iguana which found its way onto Ken and Diane's boat!
Had a pretty lazy day, but I did some cleaning and Harold sat at the computer authoring. Went for a swim, had supper and gathered on the dock with the gang. There hasn’t been a really good sunset since we have been here.
Pretty regular day, except we borrowed Ken’s truck and trailer and went to West Marine and bought a new dinghy!
Got her home, waxed the bottom and put the motor on. She was launched and deemed seaworthy
6-26
We went about having our maiden voyage in the dinghy! I am 100% pleased with it – and I guess that is pretty much all that is necessary! We rode the coast all the way to the 7 Mile Bridge and crossed under. Plenty of current right there. But we can say that we have had her in the ocean! Back at the boat we made up to meet Ken, Diane, Biddi and Dan at the Island Fish Co. after their hurricane preparedness meeting. In the meantime we met Diana and Bob and invited them aboard. They have friends coming in to look at a boat this afternoon and then we will go with them by car instead of dinghy to the restaurant. That all worked out and we had a good meal. Back at the marina we gathered at Diana and Bob’s boat for the (non)sunset and the usual cast of characters showed up. Bob and Diana’s boat is a 35’ version of ours.
6-27
Took our walk to K-Mart to get some new water shoes. They had a terrible selection and were all black. Ick. So we went to Publix and the selection wasn’t any better, but they were cheaper and they had both our sizes. The only excitement was this iguana which found its way onto Ken and Diane's boat!
Had a pretty lazy day, but I did some cleaning and Harold sat at the computer authoring. Went for a swim, had supper and gathered on the dock with the gang. There hasn’t been a really good sunset since we have been here.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Life's Good!
6-22
I awoke to noise in the engine room. It seems that when Harold awoke he noticed the engine room bilge pump was on, so he was down there investigating. The float switch had died, and, bona fortuna, this is one of the few times he had purchased the extended warranty when he bought the pump! He got everything taken out and borrowed Ken and Diane’s truck to head for West Marine. He got back with a new bilge pump and float switch. By 4 pm it was repaired and all is well. He stopped by to check on the dinghy while he was out and it should be back tomorrow. I am jonesing to get in it and do some exploring. We walked up to the pool and had one of their frozen margaritas and talked to Tom and Harry (whose third brother’s name is Dick). They are the electrical contractors on the new Walgreen’s across the street. In the pool, we met Diana from Two If by Sea and had a long conversation about the differences and similarities of boating and RVing. They (she and her husband George) apparently retired to a motor home and after a period of time and sold it in favor of this boat, which is about the size of ours. They have now been here for some time and apparently do not like waves (it’s a boat, honey!), so are trying to sell the boat and go back to the RV. In the meantime she has found a full time job to supplement their retirement, which is pretty good, because from the look of things between here and Winn-Dixie, our furthest adventure, the economy is pretty dismal. And the people working in the stores are all kind of grumpy. Happily, marina people are mostly fun! We came back to the boat and I fixed some spaghetti and sausage with a salad, a little TV and off to bed.
6-23
Up early again and walked the marina with our coffee. Back on the boat we prepared to take our morning walk (which we missed yesterday because of the float switch). We have to go back to K-Mart because my computer mouse died yesterday. By the time we got there, they were not open yet so we took a tour of Winn Dixie. We finally got a mouse and a couple of other things and headed back. We had breakfast and cleaned up after last night’s meal and I got the frig a little more organized. Harold called me out a little later to meet Bob and Diana from Sea Biscuit. They were waiting for Ken and Diane next door to go to Big Pine to the No Name Pub. I believe I may have been there (probably in another lifetime), but it is definitely a destination one of these days. Had a little lunch, Harold is working on installing our alarm system (thanks, kids!), and I am catching up with Casey. What a train wreck!! We had planned to go out to dinner tonight and after a shower decided just to walk up to the Hurricane instead of calling a cab to go “off campus”. It was 25 cent wing night and they were packed! Back at the boat, Ken, Diane and Bob were chilling on their forward deck, so we chatted until mosquitos started. We had decided there were too many clouds for a sunset, but after a few minutes clouds cleared out so we walked over to the point. There was still one big cloud right in front of the sun. One lady said God put his hand up and said “Not tonight”, but Dan said God was giving us the finger. Ken and Diane caught up with us and Dan invited us all to go on his boat to the Island Fish Co. for lunch Sunday – we’re looking forward to that! Still no dinghy – hopefully it will be back tomorrow.
6-24
Missed our morning walk today pretty much due to laziness. Harold is doing internet research on dinghys. About the time the Casey trial gets really good, our TV starts searching for the satellite and can’t find it. (I call this “Repair O’the Day”) Diagnostics reveal a bad LNB (that is what makes it find the satellite).
Fortunately, we have a spare, so it is only a matter of a hot hour on top of the sun deck to get us back in business and the bad one will be replaced under warranty. With my Casey addiction, I remarked that the thing waited until a really exciting day to crap out – I could have missed a whole bunch of the forensic investigators. Late afternoon we borrowed Ken’s truck and went to West Marine to look at a dinghy and next door to where our present dinghy is SUPPOSED to be being fixed. The guy who is working on it is out of town and the earliest we will get it back is Monday. We have pretty much made up our mind about the one in West Marine and as we were leaving to come back to the boat, Harold’s phone rang and it was Linda, of Jim and Linda, Clint’s neighbors (neighbors from Satellite Beach). She told him she was looking at our boat and Harold asked if she were on Google Earth. She said no, she was standing on the dock looking at it! They are here for the weekend. So we made a quick stop at Keys Fisheries to pick up some mangrove snapper for dinner and hurried home. We had cocktails and camaraderie for a while, then they left. They have reservations on a dive boat to go to Sombrero Reef for snorkeling tomorrow. We grilled our fish for dinner and it was outstanding! After dinner, Ken invited us over to his boat and we shared some more war stories.
I awoke to noise in the engine room. It seems that when Harold awoke he noticed the engine room bilge pump was on, so he was down there investigating. The float switch had died, and, bona fortuna, this is one of the few times he had purchased the extended warranty when he bought the pump! He got everything taken out and borrowed Ken and Diane’s truck to head for West Marine. He got back with a new bilge pump and float switch. By 4 pm it was repaired and all is well. He stopped by to check on the dinghy while he was out and it should be back tomorrow. I am jonesing to get in it and do some exploring. We walked up to the pool and had one of their frozen margaritas and talked to Tom and Harry (whose third brother’s name is Dick). They are the electrical contractors on the new Walgreen’s across the street. In the pool, we met Diana from Two If by Sea and had a long conversation about the differences and similarities of boating and RVing. They (she and her husband George) apparently retired to a motor home and after a period of time and sold it in favor of this boat, which is about the size of ours. They have now been here for some time and apparently do not like waves (it’s a boat, honey!), so are trying to sell the boat and go back to the RV. In the meantime she has found a full time job to supplement their retirement, which is pretty good, because from the look of things between here and Winn-Dixie, our furthest adventure, the economy is pretty dismal. And the people working in the stores are all kind of grumpy. Happily, marina people are mostly fun! We came back to the boat and I fixed some spaghetti and sausage with a salad, a little TV and off to bed.
6-23
Up early again and walked the marina with our coffee. Back on the boat we prepared to take our morning walk (which we missed yesterday because of the float switch). We have to go back to K-Mart because my computer mouse died yesterday. By the time we got there, they were not open yet so we took a tour of Winn Dixie. We finally got a mouse and a couple of other things and headed back. We had breakfast and cleaned up after last night’s meal and I got the frig a little more organized. Harold called me out a little later to meet Bob and Diana from Sea Biscuit. They were waiting for Ken and Diane next door to go to Big Pine to the No Name Pub. I believe I may have been there (probably in another lifetime), but it is definitely a destination one of these days. Had a little lunch, Harold is working on installing our alarm system (thanks, kids!), and I am catching up with Casey. What a train wreck!! We had planned to go out to dinner tonight and after a shower decided just to walk up to the Hurricane instead of calling a cab to go “off campus”. It was 25 cent wing night and they were packed! Back at the boat, Ken, Diane and Bob were chilling on their forward deck, so we chatted until mosquitos started. We had decided there were too many clouds for a sunset, but after a few minutes clouds cleared out so we walked over to the point. There was still one big cloud right in front of the sun. One lady said God put his hand up and said “Not tonight”, but Dan said God was giving us the finger. Ken and Diane caught up with us and Dan invited us all to go on his boat to the Island Fish Co. for lunch Sunday – we’re looking forward to that! Still no dinghy – hopefully it will be back tomorrow.
6-24
Missed our morning walk today pretty much due to laziness. Harold is doing internet research on dinghys. About the time the Casey trial gets really good, our TV starts searching for the satellite and can’t find it. (I call this “Repair O’the Day”) Diagnostics reveal a bad LNB (that is what makes it find the satellite).
Fortunately, we have a spare, so it is only a matter of a hot hour on top of the sun deck to get us back in business and the bad one will be replaced under warranty. With my Casey addiction, I remarked that the thing waited until a really exciting day to crap out – I could have missed a whole bunch of the forensic investigators. Late afternoon we borrowed Ken’s truck and went to West Marine to look at a dinghy and next door to where our present dinghy is SUPPOSED to be being fixed. The guy who is working on it is out of town and the earliest we will get it back is Monday. We have pretty much made up our mind about the one in West Marine and as we were leaving to come back to the boat, Harold’s phone rang and it was Linda, of Jim and Linda, Clint’s neighbors (neighbors from Satellite Beach). She told him she was looking at our boat and Harold asked if she were on Google Earth. She said no, she was standing on the dock looking at it! They are here for the weekend. So we made a quick stop at Keys Fisheries to pick up some mangrove snapper for dinner and hurried home. We had cocktails and camaraderie for a while, then they left. They have reservations on a dive boat to go to Sombrero Reef for snorkeling tomorrow. We grilled our fish for dinner and it was outstanding! After dinner, Ken invited us over to his boat and we shared some more war stories.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Getting acquainted
6-20
What a great night’s sleep – with air conditioning, no less! After coffee we walked to Publix and picked up a few things. I really must get a picture of Harold towing his little granny pull behind cart! It is our vow to walk there every morning just for the exercise, and it is less than a mile one way. We really just vegged all day after that– caught up on Casey and watched some old movies. After dinner, Ken from Savannah came over while his wife was at the movies with Biddy and Dan from Biddy and the Beast. After the movie, they all came on board and we got acquainted. This is Bob, the Great Dane. He did NOT come for a visit:)
6-21
Walked to Publix again, and also ventured across the street to K-Mart. That appears to be the place to shop in Marathon. There are also a couple of very cute gift shops in the Publix plaza. Back at the boat, Savannah has left to go to the ocean side to a boat yard for a short haul.
We get on with taking the dinghy down to try and see what the problem is with one of the sponsons. It appears to be leaking right around the fill valve of the forward port valve. West Marine recommends Shoreline for a repair, but their phone forwards to a 321 number. That’s no help! We finally got a good phone number and they came right to the marina to pick up the dinghy and take it back to the shop and fix it. The guy told Harold that the inflatables were about worn out. They are PVC and apparently they only have a life expectancy of about 3 years and ours are 6, so I guess we have had our use of them. Preferred material is Hypalon (now you know) and replacing the existing ribs is about half the cost of a new dinghy, so I am thinking maybe there is a new dinghy in our future since we have never been a that happy with this one. After a swim in the pool we headed to Hurricane’s for Taco Tuesday with Biddi and Dan from the 37’ trawler Biddi and the Beast. During dinner conversation I mentioned our friend, Izzy, and Biddi said, “Not Izzy of Izzy and Jeff on the Izzy R?” And I replied, “Yes!” What a small world! Izzy and Jeff were introduced to us by my sister about three years ago when they left landlocked life for the boating scene and have rafted up at our dock more than once on their travels back and forth up and down the ICW. They met Biddi and Dan when they did the Great Loop cruise two summers ago. After dinner we were joined by Ken and Diane from Savannah and enjoyed cocktails and the sunset on Dan and Biddi’s “beach” . Shortly after sunset, the mosquitos attacked, so we called it an evening.
What a great night’s sleep – with air conditioning, no less! After coffee we walked to Publix and picked up a few things. I really must get a picture of Harold towing his little granny pull behind cart! It is our vow to walk there every morning just for the exercise, and it is less than a mile one way. We really just vegged all day after that– caught up on Casey and watched some old movies. After dinner, Ken from Savannah came over while his wife was at the movies with Biddy and Dan from Biddy and the Beast. After the movie, they all came on board and we got acquainted. This is Bob, the Great Dane. He did NOT come for a visit:)
6-21
Walked to Publix again, and also ventured across the street to K-Mart. That appears to be the place to shop in Marathon. There are also a couple of very cute gift shops in the Publix plaza. Back at the boat, Savannah has left to go to the ocean side to a boat yard for a short haul.
We get on with taking the dinghy down to try and see what the problem is with one of the sponsons. It appears to be leaking right around the fill valve of the forward port valve. West Marine recommends Shoreline for a repair, but their phone forwards to a 321 number. That’s no help! We finally got a good phone number and they came right to the marina to pick up the dinghy and take it back to the shop and fix it. The guy told Harold that the inflatables were about worn out. They are PVC and apparently they only have a life expectancy of about 3 years and ours are 6, so I guess we have had our use of them. Preferred material is Hypalon (now you know) and replacing the existing ribs is about half the cost of a new dinghy, so I am thinking maybe there is a new dinghy in our future since we have never been a that happy with this one. After a swim in the pool we headed to Hurricane’s for Taco Tuesday with Biddi and Dan from the 37’ trawler Biddi and the Beast. During dinner conversation I mentioned our friend, Izzy, and Biddi said, “Not Izzy of Izzy and Jeff on the Izzy R?” And I replied, “Yes!” What a small world! Izzy and Jeff were introduced to us by my sister about three years ago when they left landlocked life for the boating scene and have rafted up at our dock more than once on their travels back and forth up and down the ICW. They met Biddi and Dan when they did the Great Loop cruise two summers ago. After dinner we were joined by Ken and Diane from Savannah and enjoyed cocktails and the sunset on Dan and Biddi’s “beach” . Shortly after sunset, the mosquitos attacked, so we called it an evening.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
We made it!
This blog is intended to be the memoir of our trip. Some of you may be bored by what we had for dinner or what time we went to bed. English teachers – please forgive mixed tenses, sentence fragments and misplaced or missing commas. To those who are following us vicariously, I hope you enjoy our trip as much as we are!
6-16
Up at 5:45 for coffee. Shirley called shortly after 6 to say she and Judy and Ralph were down the street. We flew into action to disconnect the shore power and loosen the lines. By 6:20 we were off the dock and on our way. We had the water to ourselves. We had just called for Mathers Bridge to open when we heard another boat hail “Indian Harbor Bridge”. Mathers Bridge hailed him and he didn’t know where he was and what bridge he was hailing (need I say it was a sailboat?). After a few more exchanges they figured out that he was at the Lansing Island bridge and that guard was going to go see whether or not the bridge was even operational It was very hazy and smoky all the way to Stuart. The wind picked up all day long. Once you get past St. Lucie Inlet you are plagued with slow speed zones, but it was too windy to go outside. We had to have two bridges open in west Palm and finally made the dock at Loggerhead South at 4:15. Hal and Kim were there to meet us along with a very helpful dockmaster. It was hotter than Hades! By the time we got lines and electricity on, I had packed my bag and headed to the marina shower. It was wonderful! Harold showered and shaved on board, and after a couple of beers/wines, we headed to Outback for dinner with Holly and her boyfriend Pete. We were impressed with Pete – he is a keeper. Back to the boat for more drinks (badly needed by that point), we called Sue and had a good chat, and bid good night to Hal and Kim. Collapsed!!! 105 nautical miles
6-17
Up about 7 for coffee and the morning news. Puttered about a bit, then Harold got busy washing the outside and I got busy cleaning inside. There are always chores – just the venue changes About 10:45 we cast off from the marina and by 12:30 we had fueled up and were fully under way. We had already planned to go all the way to Miami inside, to see how the other half lives. Let me report they are living very well, thank you! And it was quite rough in the ocean, so we were just happy to putter along through slow speed zones and waiting for bridges to open. The latest slow speed scam in South Florida is that when you get in an area where you are allowed to go fast, you can make no more than a 15” wake. Late day we got a bit anxious when we heard a report from the Coast Guard that the Venetian Causeway in downtown Miami was stuck in the down position. Oops! A 12 foot bridge that we HAVE to get through! Not hearing any further reports we forged ahead and, bona fortuna, she opened for us on schedule. About 7:30 we anchored off south Key Biscayne with about a dozen other boats, mix of power and sail. After cocktails and a couple of phone calls, an evening meal of red beans and rice was it before bed time. 60 nautical miles
6-18
Rocking from fishing boats going out the channel to the ocean woke me up about 6:30. Harold was already up and after a cup of coffee, we were under way at 7:10 out the Key Biscayne Channel into Hawk Channel headed south. By 11 am we were at Tavernier where we had planned to anchor out again. We motored in to where the charts and guides suggested and it did not look friendly, so we pushed on. By the time we were at the end of Islamorada we were both pretty tired of bouncing, as the wind had come up pretty good. We came in Channel Five just north of Long Key and navigated the shallow inside water down to Grassy Key where we came in close to land and anchored. We could have easily made it to Banana Bay today, but it is very peaceful here and we are getting ready to go swimming, grill some burgers, and crash. We had our swim and a meal of salmon burgers and steamed veggies on the sundeck, then lit up the generator and the A/C and watched a little TV before an early bed time. I awoke at 1 am in a puddle of sweat so grabbed my flashlight and went to investigate the A/C situation. The forward unit was running and the saloon unit was not. I turned off the forward and turned on the saloon and it immediately kicked off. By this time Harold was awake and, after investigating in the engine room, thinks it must be the pump. So we are A/C less until that can get remedied. I tried to sleep on the sun deck in the lounge chair, but too much sinus action going on. Harold slept on the couch and I finally gave up and went back to bed, where I was able to get back to sleep. Smart money would have gone to the forward stateroom where there is a breeze. Live and learn!! 88 nautical miles
6-19
Happy Father’s Day! Up about 6:45 with Father’s Day cards and Irish coffee. Sky is completely overcast and it is sprinkling on and off. We are in no hurry to leave, since we are only about 15 miles from our destination. We hauled anchor about 10 am and navigated the very shallow water to Banana Bay Marina for about an hour and a half. We were greeted by Larry, the dockmaster, and his girlfriend, Bonnie, and Ken and Diane from the next slip. Ken and Diane are on a boat about the same size as ours and they have a great Dane named Bob on board with them! Just shoot me! The marina is neat and seems well-kept. The resort has a few years on it, and just from outside observation, I can probably believe some of the reviews I have read of it Once we got tied up, Larry walked us around the property so we could get the lay of the land. It is completely overcast today and even so we are sweating our a*%$# off. Shore power is hooked up and we are enjoying a noon Father’s Day cocktail on the sun deck before heading for the pool. We did take a dip in the pool - very warm, although Randy from Alabama said it was cooler that yesterday. Came back to the boat to shower, Harold checked out the A/C situation. We turned everything on and it seemed to work. Perhaps we just picked up some crap in the water intake which loosened on the way here. We left everything on and walked next door to the Hurricane for our Father's Day meal. John likened it to Bizzarro's, but it seems much more fun. Golf and bowling video games and sports TV's, and Harold's cheeseburger and my cajun fried snapper were excellent. We'll be back! Back at theboat, all A/C seems to be in order, and I can tell you that is a very good thing, both monetarily and comfort-wise!
6-16
Up at 5:45 for coffee. Shirley called shortly after 6 to say she and Judy and Ralph were down the street. We flew into action to disconnect the shore power and loosen the lines. By 6:20 we were off the dock and on our way. We had the water to ourselves. We had just called for Mathers Bridge to open when we heard another boat hail “Indian Harbor Bridge”. Mathers Bridge hailed him and he didn’t know where he was and what bridge he was hailing (need I say it was a sailboat?). After a few more exchanges they figured out that he was at the Lansing Island bridge and that guard was going to go see whether or not the bridge was even operational It was very hazy and smoky all the way to Stuart. The wind picked up all day long. Once you get past St. Lucie Inlet you are plagued with slow speed zones, but it was too windy to go outside. We had to have two bridges open in west Palm and finally made the dock at Loggerhead South at 4:15. Hal and Kim were there to meet us along with a very helpful dockmaster. It was hotter than Hades! By the time we got lines and electricity on, I had packed my bag and headed to the marina shower. It was wonderful! Harold showered and shaved on board, and after a couple of beers/wines, we headed to Outback for dinner with Holly and her boyfriend Pete. We were impressed with Pete – he is a keeper. Back to the boat for more drinks (badly needed by that point), we called Sue and had a good chat, and bid good night to Hal and Kim. Collapsed!!! 105 nautical miles
6-17
Up about 7 for coffee and the morning news. Puttered about a bit, then Harold got busy washing the outside and I got busy cleaning inside. There are always chores – just the venue changes About 10:45 we cast off from the marina and by 12:30 we had fueled up and were fully under way. We had already planned to go all the way to Miami inside, to see how the other half lives. Let me report they are living very well, thank you! And it was quite rough in the ocean, so we were just happy to putter along through slow speed zones and waiting for bridges to open. The latest slow speed scam in South Florida is that when you get in an area where you are allowed to go fast, you can make no more than a 15” wake. Late day we got a bit anxious when we heard a report from the Coast Guard that the Venetian Causeway in downtown Miami was stuck in the down position. Oops! A 12 foot bridge that we HAVE to get through! Not hearing any further reports we forged ahead and, bona fortuna, she opened for us on schedule. About 7:30 we anchored off south Key Biscayne with about a dozen other boats, mix of power and sail. After cocktails and a couple of phone calls, an evening meal of red beans and rice was it before bed time. 60 nautical miles
6-18
Rocking from fishing boats going out the channel to the ocean woke me up about 6:30. Harold was already up and after a cup of coffee, we were under way at 7:10 out the Key Biscayne Channel into Hawk Channel headed south. By 11 am we were at Tavernier where we had planned to anchor out again. We motored in to where the charts and guides suggested and it did not look friendly, so we pushed on. By the time we were at the end of Islamorada we were both pretty tired of bouncing, as the wind had come up pretty good. We came in Channel Five just north of Long Key and navigated the shallow inside water down to Grassy Key where we came in close to land and anchored. We could have easily made it to Banana Bay today, but it is very peaceful here and we are getting ready to go swimming, grill some burgers, and crash. We had our swim and a meal of salmon burgers and steamed veggies on the sundeck, then lit up the generator and the A/C and watched a little TV before an early bed time. I awoke at 1 am in a puddle of sweat so grabbed my flashlight and went to investigate the A/C situation. The forward unit was running and the saloon unit was not. I turned off the forward and turned on the saloon and it immediately kicked off. By this time Harold was awake and, after investigating in the engine room, thinks it must be the pump. So we are A/C less until that can get remedied. I tried to sleep on the sun deck in the lounge chair, but too much sinus action going on. Harold slept on the couch and I finally gave up and went back to bed, where I was able to get back to sleep. Smart money would have gone to the forward stateroom where there is a breeze. Live and learn!! 88 nautical miles
6-19
Happy Father’s Day! Up about 6:45 with Father’s Day cards and Irish coffee. Sky is completely overcast and it is sprinkling on and off. We are in no hurry to leave, since we are only about 15 miles from our destination. We hauled anchor about 10 am and navigated the very shallow water to Banana Bay Marina for about an hour and a half. We were greeted by Larry, the dockmaster, and his girlfriend, Bonnie, and Ken and Diane from the next slip. Ken and Diane are on a boat about the same size as ours and they have a great Dane named Bob on board with them! Just shoot me! The marina is neat and seems well-kept. The resort has a few years on it, and just from outside observation, I can probably believe some of the reviews I have read of it Once we got tied up, Larry walked us around the property so we could get the lay of the land. It is completely overcast today and even so we are sweating our a*%$# off. Shore power is hooked up and we are enjoying a noon Father’s Day cocktail on the sun deck before heading for the pool. We did take a dip in the pool - very warm, although Randy from Alabama said it was cooler that yesterday. Came back to the boat to shower, Harold checked out the A/C situation. We turned everything on and it seemed to work. Perhaps we just picked up some crap in the water intake which loosened on the way here. We left everything on and walked next door to the Hurricane for our Father's Day meal. John likened it to Bizzarro's, but it seems much more fun. Golf and bowling video games and sports TV's, and Harold's cheeseburger and my cajun fried snapper were excellent. We'll be back! Back at theboat, all A/C seems to be in order, and I can tell you that is a very good thing, both monetarily and comfort-wise!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Almost ready!
Thursday, June 16, we will set sail (motor, really) for Marathon in the Florida Keys. It will be a different adventure than last year's, since we have secured a slip in the marina at the Banana Bay Resort for a month. We plan to do a lot of dinghy exploring and expect several vistits from family and friends. Thursday evening we will dock in Lantana to have dinner with my brother and his family and meet his grandson, Mason, for the first time! The next two nights we will anchor out, first at Key Biscayne and then at Tavernier, to make the marina in Marathon on Sunday. I probably won't post daily this year, but keep checking in for updates!
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