The week in review

I won't bore you with a year end review, but I will catch you all up with what's been going on since Christmas.  First, we're still waiting for the health certificates from Dr. Don - not really sure what the hold up is.  But since the winds have been out of the north the last week or so, it hasn't really mattered, as we don't want to try to cross the Gulf Stream with the wind against the current.


For any of you familiar with Parkinson's law, "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion", we're finding a corollary to be true.  Our "To do" list seems to be expanding to fit the time we are spending in Marathon.  Though if we had a car and my shop for tools and supplies, we could be finishing several projects a day.  Yesterday we decided we don't need 3 or 4 cubic feet of refrigerated space to keep 6 or 8 containers of yogurt and half a gallon of milk cool.  And if we were cooling a smaller volume we wouldn't have to run the refrigeration (our biggest battery drain) as long.  We didn't have any suitable materials on board to wall off the ice box, so I took the dinghy ashore, walked to Home Depot and back, and then dinghied back to the boat.  Then we fired up the generator to run my saber saw.  The project  ended up taking most of the afternoon, instead of a couple of hours.  Today we decided to get diesel fuel and fill up the water tanks so we will be ready whenever we get a favorable wind.  By the time we left the dinghy on the mooring ball, motored the mile to the fuel dock, filled the diesel tank, 2 gas tanks, all our water tanks, and motored back to our mooring it had taken an hour and a half.  And in the process I noticed a water hose on the diesel is dripping so now I have to replace two short sections of hose.  (Add another project to the list.)  We also changed the oil in the generator so we can get rid of the old oil here.  We then walked to a local bank to get more cash, but got there after they closed, so we have to go back tomorrow.


We have made friends with people on two other boats.  The other day we were sitting on one of the boats talking when we heard an explosion, and then all kinds of sirens.  It turns out a teenager was gassing up the family boat and neglected to run the blower.  The explosion threw him 20 feet into the water and sank the boat.  Luckily he wasn't injured except for some singed hair.  This happened at the marina where John G. took us to eat when he was visiting.  Allen, on another boat, used to be a farrier, which is not too common of an occupation.  Today they didn't notice us leaving to get fuel and thought that we had left Marathon without saying good bye.  I think they were glad to see us come back.  Tomorrow there is an appetizer get-together around 5:00, and then we will probably go out to eat with some of the other boaters.
(A farrier shoes horses.)


We all hope everyone reading this has a happy and healthy new year.

A Keys Christmas

Our friend John decided he didn't want to spend Christmas with us - apparently something to do with how we spent Thanksgiving.  He made it safely back to Naples to celebrate his birthday on Saturday.

John G, getting ready to drive back to Naples.
The sign sums it up for Sue and me.

We got up early (the cats make sure we're always up early) Christmas and dinked ashore for showers.  Then back to the boat for breakfast before Sue started baking sweet potatoes and apples to take to the marina Christmas dinner.  We got there a bit early, not a bad thing in this case, and spent the time talking with a couple from Maryland we had met earlier in the day - he had noticed Fluff in the cockpit and stopped by to chat.  The marina staff prepared several turkeys, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, and pumpkin and pecan pies.  The boaters  all brought dishes to pass, so there was no shortage of food.  We ate until around 2:30, so we were all as stuffed as the turkeys had been.  We didn't do much the rest of the day.




The food table was 30 or so feet long,
plus a separate dessert table.



There were more people eating outside.



Our fare, Sue was bringing back the pie.



Half of the dinghy dock.

Today we went ashore mid-morning.  By the time we came back to the boat the wind and waves were really up, even in the harbor, so we ended up getting soaked.  The wind is forecast to be strong and out of the north or east for the next 4 days at least, so we might not be going anywhere soon.  Because the Gulf Stream moves north, if the wind is out of the north it makes really big, uncomfortable waves because the wind is running into the current.  As long as we have to wait for a weather window, Marathon, with showers, shopping, sightseeing, and other boaters to compare notes with, is a good place to wait.

A week in Marathon

We have been back in Marathon for a couple of days now.  We left Key West way too early Monday morning after our anchor dragged again.  We had a nice sail to Newfound Harbor with no wind when we anchored - what a change.  Tuesday we sailed to Marathon.  At one point we had 3 dolphins swimming off our bow with 4 or 5 more following our wake - way too cool!!  For a little while 3 dolphins were doing synchronized leaps out of the water in a little circle right near the boat.  It was sort of like sailing through a Sea World  show.  We are stopping here for a week.  We were waiting for mail from home (it came today, Chris - Thanks) and today Dr Don, the critter doc came out to the boat to give Zim and Fluff their health certificate exams.  They both passed, and it was really great not having to take them ashore in the dinghy, and then drive them to a vet's office.  They don't know how lucky they are.

Fluff, getting his physical from Dr Don.

Yesterday our Friend John arrived from Naples, so of course we we had to drive to the local grocery store and buy up a dinghy load of food.  We drove down to Big Pine Key to get our propane tank filled.  Big Pine is the home of Key deer which are about the size of a large dog.  We saw half a dozen or so, but didn't have our camera so you'll just have to imagine what really small deer look like.  John also treated us to lunch AND dinner at two local places that we probably never would have found on our own.  Thanks, John - good meals both.

Today Sue did 2 loads of laundry while I waited for Dr Don, and then took him to the boat for the cat exams.  Then before we had lunch John, Sue, and I took the dinghy through the mooring field to look at all the boats, and to see where they are from.  After lunch we drove to the local hardware store - 7 out of 10.  We considered checking out the Turtle Hospital, but their 4:00 tour was all booked up so we went to West Marine.  After dragging our anchor twice Sue and I decided maybe we should consider a different, larger anchor.  West didn't have what we were looking for on Tuesday but ordered one for us.  It arrived today but Sue didn't think she could carry 44 pounds a mile back to the boat.  (I told she wouldn't know if she didn't try, but she didn't bite.)  Once again John helped us out with his ultimate driving machine.  I'm sure anyone watching us go back to our boat wondered why we would possibly need a 44 pound dinghy anchor!

I think if I wrap it carefully Sue will never guess what she's getting for Christmas.

Tomorrow we plan to relax a bit and check out what else there is to see and do around Marathon. Saturday we are attending the local cruisers Christmas dinner.  A local family/group supplies turkey, ham, and pumpkin pie.  All the boaters bring a dish to share.  At last count some 200 people were signed up.  It promises to be interesting.

Here's a link to what I hope Sue is getting me for Christmas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk1qFaaq4q4

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday - Best wishes!

Return from Fort Jefferson

The wind was forecast to shift to the south or southwest Friday night, which would be favorable for us to sail back to Key West. When I got up at 6:00 to check it looked like the wind had not shifted so we went back to sleep. Around 7:30 it looked like our shift had come so we got ready to leave. We were underway by 8:00, a little late for a 60 plus mile trip. But what the heck? Initially things didn’t look good, with wind and waves right on the nose. We were almost ready to turn back, but then we got a wind angle that allowed a close reach. Not only were we sailing, we were making better speed than the trawler that had followed us out, also heading to Key West.
We were feeling pretty good, especially as the wind lightened enough for us to roll out the entire head sail, and take out both reefs. But (there’s always a but, isn’t there?) before we could finish tidying up the reef lines and main halyard the first line squall hit. We were in 30 plus knot winds with our full sail plan. I won’t bore you with a minute by minute replay, but some of the high lights were:
Driving rain, a tenth of a mile visibility (we didn't even see the big ferry boat that brings all the tourists over to see the fort), thunder, and of course lightening, big waves, confused seas from the new wind.  We didn't even see the big ferry boat that brings all the tourists over to see the fortEventually the wind went behind us, and went light. Too light to sail, with left over waves that made it almost impossible to motor. We were pretty much stuck heading east, and we weren’t even half way back. We sailed as fast and as well as we could, but our speed kept dropping. Eventually the sea flattened out enough, and the wind almost disappeared, so we were able/forced to motor. That ended our streak of having sailed pretty much all the way from Palm Beach.

Our last hurdle was the innumerable lobster buoys. These are 2 or 3 Styrofoam floats attached to a rope and a lobster trap. In daylight you can see to avoid them. After dark, not so well. The problem is motoring over one and having the rope wrap around the prop shaft. The engine stops, and you might damage the prop or shaft - neither being good things. There was almost a full moon so I thought we would be able to see all the floats. Problem is the moon was right ahead of us so it was kind of like driving into the sun with frost on your windshield. Eventually we changed course enough so the moon wasn’t straight ahead, but the lights of Key West were. Sue ended up on the bow with a flashlight for the last hour or so. We were safely anchored by 8:00, and for once it wasn’t windy, and our anchor didn’t drag. Earlier in the day I was remembering the bumper sticker slogan, “A bad day on the water is better than a good day at work.” All I can say is, I’m glad I didn’t have that person’s job! And to think, we do this for recreation.

We are spending the day in Key West so I can take one more trip through my favorite hardware store Monday morning. Then on to Marathon. We plan to be there for Christmas (and dinner) unless another big project materializes. We are also going to meet up the first friend we ever met when we started sailing.  John G is another former Toledoan who now lives in Naples. I’m sure it was the red bathing suit that Sue had in 1980 that first caught John’s eye, or maybe the fact that he conned me into building a cradle for his boat, but since then we’ve shared lots of experiences.

Sailing to Fort Jefferson

We got up way too early Wednesday morning with every intention of getting an early start out to Fort Jefferson. If you recall we had to use a second anchor to keep our boat from hitting one of the boats on a mooring. During the night the boat did a loop-de-loop because of the changing tide and a new wind, resulting in one anchor line running behind the boat and on top of the rudder. By the time we had the lines untangled and both anchors on the boat the sun was already up - so much for our early start. We did see dolphins swimming through the anchorage though, which I took to be a good sign. We motored for about an hour, mainly to put some charge back in the batteries. By then the wind had filled in nicely and we had a nice sail all the way to Garden Key, 63.5 nautical miles. On the way we saw half a dozen sea turtles. They were around 2 feet in diameter, and swimming just at the surface. They would dive as we got close, so no pictures. We were surprised to find no other boats when we arrived and we had seen no boats coming back from Fort Jefferson. We had the place all to ourselves. That night the winds switched around and created a nasty swell in the anchorage that made us roll back and forth all night long. 

Some of the 16 million bricks, and the wonderful details.

First thing Thursday morning we noticed that a trawler had come in after dark and within the next 2 hours 4 more boats came in. The trawler had come down from Naples, FL, and one of the sailboats had come non-stop from Marathon. We took the dinghy ashore before the tour boat arrived so we had the fort to ourselves for a while. Then we tagged along on a tour once the paying tourists got there. We figured we saved about $300 by bringing our own boat down from Michigan. There was lots of coral washed up on shore from all the big winds that had kept us wind bound in Key West, but no Cuban boats this time. When we were here in 2007 there 4 or 5 “boats” on shore that people had made to cross over from Cuba, about 90 miles away. Pretty amazing that they had made it and pretty sad that they had felt the need to take the risk.

These boats made it the 90 miles from Cuba.
You have to wonder how many didn't.

We had planned to come back to Key West Friday, based on the weather forecast. But by now you know how that often works. Winds were 15 to 20 from the east. We spent the day doing a few projects we have been putting off, reading, visiting the other boats, and going back in the fort for a good SPOT fix.
　

Key West update

We actually slept most of last night, only getting up every couple of hours to check that we were still attached to the same part of the bottom.  Around 7:00 the wind started to shift around to the north, signalling the start of decreasing winds which had been forecast.  There are a few local boats moored by us. 
(For non-boaters, a mooring is a heavy weight or anchor with a short line or cable attached which a boat can tie to.  "Short" being the operative word here.  A total mooring line might be 10 to 20 feet, so a boat would swing around a 20 to 40 foot circle as the wind changed direction.  An anchored boat puts out an amount of line determined by the depth of water it is anchored in.  In general terms you let out 7 feet of line for every foot of water your boat is in - 10 feet of water, 70 feet of anchor line.  In light wind, or with a really good anchor you might use 4:1, or 5:1.  In heavy wind you might use 8 or 9 or 10:1.)
Because of the high winds the last two days we had about 120 feet of line out, in about 12 feet of water.  So of course as the wind shifted 90 degrees we were ending up right next to, and almost touching, one of the moored boats.  We spent about an hour shortening our main anchor line a bit, and then taking a second anchor out in the dinghy at an angle to the first to limit the swing of our boat.  It all sounds so simple, I can't imagine it took an hour.  I did learn that an eleven foot rubber boat with a 5 horse outboard can't drag 100 feet of anchor chain straight upwind.  At any rate, everything turned out alright, and our boat is holding it's position.

Mid morning we noticed the 26 footer from Indiana that has been sharing our windy anchorage was moving.  We thought maybe he (a single hander) got tired of bouncing around and was going to get a dock, but the last we saw he was sailing west.  We think he might be heading to the Marquesas or Mooney Harbor, which is on the way to Fort Jefferson.  We plan to leave early tomorrow morning for Fort Jefferson, so we hope to see him again.  Our 5 and 1/2 foot draft limits getting in either place, so we need to do the whole distance in one day.  We're also hoping tomorrow will be a bit warmer.

Sue called around to find a vet to get the health certificates we need for the cats.  She found one who will come to the boat in Marathon.  He charges less than one we found in Miami (imagine that!) and more importantly, we won't have to take the cats ashore in the dinghy or make them ride in a cab or bus. This afternoon I was able to take the dinghy ashore, and more importantly get it back to the boat.  Key West has a really nice hardware store.  I also found a nice grocery store so we have a couple more days worth of yogurt.

Visiting Key West, or windbound yet again.

Yesterday we went exploring and sightseeing historic Key West.  We saw Mallory Square (well before sunset!), the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum, the southern most monument in the US, plus Duval Street and lots and lots of people.

Here's Sue trying to cut in front of all these other people who are waiting to have their picture taken in front of Mile Marker 0.

Here I'm trying to chat up Marilyn - she didn't really have a lot to say.  For all you youngsters, this is from the scene over the subway grate in the movie Seven Year Itch, also starring Tom Ewell.

Here's the local Tow Boat US trying to help the Disney cruise ship Magic warp into their dock.  I wonder is Disney sprang for unlimited towing also?

On the way back to our boat, after having ice cream, we were going to stop and talk with the people on the boat from Sydney, Australia.  The first thing we noticed was that the people weren't on the boat.  The second thing we noticed was that their boat appeared to have dragged it's anchor.  Since heavy winds were forecast for last night and on through Wednesday, we decided to set a second anchor.  And just to be safe, we decided to set a different type second anchor.  (The holding around Key West is only rates a "3" out of "4".)   Around 6:30 the wind shifted and started to build in strength; the boat seemed to be holding fine. 
Thinking we might have an uncomfortable night ahead if the wind built as predicted, I decided to take a little nap around 9:30.  A quick last minute check revealed that we were dragging, two anchors, very quickly towards the main Key West channel!!  We fired up the diesel, pulled up the first anchor by hand, pulled up the second main anchor with the windlass, and motored up to what we hoped would be a better spot.  We dropped the main anchor again, only to realize that we were once again dragging, FAST!  We pulled up the main anchor yet again, pulled out our third anchor and put it on the anchor rode (rope and chain) that we had tried to set our second on and  dropped the anchor again.  The anchor finally seemed to be holding, but just to be sure we decided to keep an anchor watch.  I slept for a couple of hours while Sue sat in the cockpit reading and watching bearings and distances to make sure that the boat wasn't moving.  Then we switched, keeping that schedule up until daylight.  So far we haven't dragged again.
If you looked at the SPOT location we're anchored between Wisteria Island and where the wind is coming from, so we get protection from the waves  and a little protection from the wind.  There are whitecaps rolling through most of the other anchorages because there is no land mass upwind.  Probably the worst part, after moving the boat around in the dark to re-anchor, is the wind noise.  We're wearing ear plugs when we try to sleep.  And on a bright note (no pun intended)  I saw 5 or 6 meteors while I was up for my stints.  Sort of odd, considering all the ambient light from the city lights.

The last time we were here with our little boat we were windbound because we didn't have a dinghy to go ashore.  Now we're not sure how safe it might be getting the dinghy upwind back to the boat.  We haven't seem many boats, large or small, moving today.  Looks like a good day to nap and read.  Sue just washed a few unmentionables - hope they don't blow away before they dry.

Key West update

We just looked out to see a lighted boat parade.  There were 12 or 15 boats with all sorts of lights strung out motoring around the harbor.  I'm guessing we wouldn't have seem them Thursday night or Monday night, so once again timing worked for us.  I just don't understand why they don't have a holiday light, boat parade on Lake Erie.

Key West again - third time by boat

We had a short sail today from Newfound Harbor to Key West.  Blue skies, a nice breeze, and 70 degree temperatures - not too bad for mid December.  We are anchored right behind a boat from Australia.  If we see them around we'll say hello. Tomorrow we plan to do a little exploring ashore.  We might be here for a day or two longer, as strong winds are predicted for the next few days.  Our next stop is Fort Jefferson which is about 60 miles due west of Key West.  The two keys there are rather small and don't offer much protection from the northerly winds which are predicted.  Once we leave Key West we will be out of cell phone and air card range, so no updates.  I do think the SPOT will continue to show our position.

In the next couple of weeks when we leave Florida for the Bahamas we will no longer have internet everyday, so the blog will be hibernating.  We hope to have minimal e-mail some of the time by way of our Kindle, and some full blown internet access when we are in bigger towns.  We plan to send e-mail updates whenever possible.  The e-mail list so far is people who have left comments, and people who have kept in touch by e-mail and have mentioned that they are following our blog.  If you want to receive the e-mail updates let us know.  And again, I hope the SPOT will continue to show our progress when we are otherwise out of touch.

Old & new

Our tax dollars at work - these guys circled the waterfront all afternoon.

These two gave us a nice sunset airshow, complete with smoke contrails.

With 70 to 80 degree temps, clear blue skies, and not a speck of snow it seems pretty odd to hear holiday music in the stores, and people in Santa costumes.  I guess we'll just have to get used to it. 
The other odd thing is almost every store having a "Fishing" department.

Sue's early Christmas

Yesterday we walked to the local West Marine in Marathon.  They had one water heater in stock; the exact one we were hoping to find as a matter of fact.  With a couple of discount coupons from West that Chris had e-mailed us, and a page from a competitor's catalog with a much lower price that West matched, we were on our way back to the boat.

Here's what the factory thinks a water heater should look like.

This morning, (cold, grey, and windy by the way - Chris doesn't want me to complain about our weather, so I'm just mentioning the conditions) we got right to the project du jour.  After removing the access panel, taking apart the fresh water system and sink drain, it was time to see if we could make a 13 inch appliance fit into a 12 inch opening.

Heater core, sink drain, and fresh water system (in background)

All you have to do is take off the cover, the ends, and the bottom.  I'm not sure, but I think this voids the warranty.  And if that doesn't, when you cut the cover in half with a saber saw you can pretty much forget about getting a refund from West Marine.  The rest of the project went surprisingly well, with very little creative language.  We were able to get the bottom, the two ends, and the top and one side back into place.  The local Home Depot didn't have the plumbing bits I wanted so we have a small leak, but Sue was able to wash dishes with hot water!  I'm hoping there will be a better hardware store in Key West.

Marathon update

Yesterday when we got up it was 48 degrees.  Once we started sailing - 15 to 20 knot winds - the wind chill was between 35 and 37 for the first hour or so.  Sue had on her fleece pants again, and I had to get out my fleece gloves and stocking hat!  We thought we had put them away until next fall.

This morning when we got up it wasn't quite so cold, and the wind was down a bit.  We were still a little bummed by the weather until I checked out the temps around the rest of the country.  It turns out the temperatures in the Keys were almost the warmest in the entire country.

We are now on a mooring in Marathon.  This gets us a dinghy dock, showers, and trash disposal.  There are also some stores within walking distance.  And we are looking for a veterinarian so we can get health certificates for the cats.  Sue might do laundry tomorrow, but I think she should wait a week and do it just before we cross over to the Bahamas.

And I almost forgot to mention, last night Sue made a wonderful chocolate cake, from scratch no less.  She did cheat by using frosting in a tub.  Now if we could just get ice cream to the boat at supper time!
Also, we saw our first manatee today.  He/she surfaced just once while swimming through the mooring field, so no pictures.

55, 65, 75

Wind chill today was 55, air temp was 65, and gulf water temp is 75.  I know you northerners won't be too sympathetic, but Florida is having a cold snap.  Apparently near or below freezing in central parts of the state for multiple days, which is pretty unusual.  Our forecast for the next 5 or 6 days is north, northwest, or northeast winds, in the 10 to 20 knot range.  It makes for fast sailing, but rather lumpy anchorages.

We left Key Biscayne this morning and sailed the whole way to Key Largo.  About an hour into the sail we picked up an escort.

There were at least 4 dolphins swimming right ahead of the boat.  The water is so clear you can see them underwater.  I don't know if they actually are, but they look like they really enjoy playing next to the boat.  They swim right next to the boat and right in front of the boat - so close that you think the boat will hit them.  Between being able to sail 40 some miles at 6 to 7 knots and having the dolphins for company made for a pretty special day.

We anchored in the lee of Rodriguez Key, near Key Largo.  The water is so clear you can see the bottom at 7 or 8 feet.  When we anchored the winds were down to 12 or 15, with pretty flat water.  Of course now as it's gotten later, and dark, the winds are in the 20's with small waves pushing the boat around.  The wind noise also gets quite tiring.  It probably won't be a real comfortable night.  Tomorrow we'll probably stop in Marathon, and then on to Key West. 

Yesterday coming out of Miami we saw this race boat.  We saw several high tech race boats from

other countries around Ft Lauderdale and Miami.  Anybody know what race might be going on?

And I can't figure out why this guy didn't want to sell us 15 gallons of diesel.

Finally, Chris suggested and then helped me add a SPOT link to the blog.  Now from this site you can also check our daily location.  Look for the "SPOT" link near the upper right portion of the blog.  I have also included a link to Kitty's blog, though she doesn't seem to post too often.

We're not in Kansas (or Michigan!) anymore...

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0AKNRe4cVYivOrbeVu0cp1zBcthxdkh4K

Today we explored South Beach, not to be confused with South Park.  To get there from our anchorage we followed one of the skinny little canals that are all over coastal Florida cities.  You can see them in the Google satellite view of our blog.  The canal goes almost to the ocean.  To get us in the right frame of mind for Miami sightseeing, as we were tying up our dinghy a guy says, "You're going to lock it up, right?  And be sure to take the key!"  With those words of encouragement we were off.  Pretty much right across the street from the canal is a board walk that goes along the ocean for a couple of miles.  I can't remember the last time I saw bikinis in Michigan in December, but I'm pretty sure it was never!

After Sue got tired of me looking at all the sand, we turned inland.  Lots of art deco buildings, clothing stores, restaurants, and people.

I told Sue maybe she should stock up so she wouldn't have to do laundry as often.

And for you busy ladies (or guys, I guess) think how much time you could save with permanent makeup.

Lincoln Street is pedestrian only, which is pretty neat.  Restaurants, clothing stores, you name it...  And up in many of the trees were hundreds of wild parrots.

And even though the street was posted for no skateboarding...  He's using the stick to push himself along, quite fast.

On our way back to the dinghy we ran across this knit project...

...so now Sue is thinking about knitting a cover for our outboard.  And yes, our dinghy was still locked up safe and sound when we returned.  What a hassle that would be if it got stolen!!

And for Doug and others who might be wondering, we are doing without hot water.  After checking various sources no exact replacement water heater is available.  For over $700 we could have a smaller capacity heater that would fit.  I called one of the more reasonably priced manufacturers, and have come up with a plan.  When we come up with another mailing address, or know we are going to be some place for a few days, I am going to order the smallest heater available (1 inch too tall).  Then I'll take the outside case off and install just the guts of the heater.  It's in an enclosed cabinet so it shouldn't really matter.

Miami

Today we had a short sail to Miami.  It's a good thing too, as the wind was pretty light.  But it was warm and sunny, and pretty cool sailing half a mile off the beach in front of all the condos and hi-rises between Lauderdale and Miami.  As we were sailing along I noticed the Goodyear blimp.  Apparently it is here for the Super Bowl, which is held in Miami every 7 years.  If Sue and I liked hockey a bit more I would try to get tickets.

The cruise ships have pretty much taken control of the main channel, Government Cut, coming into Miami.  We had heard that private boats are sometimes stopped and turned back if there are cruise ships docked in the cut.  As we entered the cut we called the Coast Guard twice to try to find out if the cut was closed to pleasure craft.  Getting no response we motored on through.  When we got almost to the first cruise ship a voice on out radio (luckily we had it on) told us the cut was closed and we had to turn around.  Luckily we had only come about three quarters of a mile - still it would be nice if the Coast Guard actually responded when you try to call them.




As close as we got to being on a cruise ship.


Tomorrow we are going to explore South Beach, which is supposedly a pretty interesting part of Miami Beach.  Then on Sunday, or maybe Monday, we are heading out the Keys to Key West and Fort Jefferson, which is 60 miles west of Key West.

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Mile after mile of this sort of stuff - these are a couple of the more interesting ones.

This is typical of the pleasure craft you see...

...in front of a typical house in south Florida.  Sorry, I couldn't get far enough
away to get the whole thing in the frame.  The low thing on the left is a swimming pool.

No more ICW!

We still have a mainsail, and it still works!!  Today was the first time the mainsail cover has been off since Norfolk, VA.  Between having a nice wind and weather forecast, and not wanting to wait for 20 bridges to open for us today, we decided to go "offshore" between Palm Beach and Ft Lauderdale.  The wind was forecast to blow from 15 to 20 knots, pretty much behind.  As we started sailing our GPS ETA was around 2:00.  A couple of hours later I noticed our ETA was around 5:30, even though we had pretty much the same boat speed.  It took a few minutes to figure out that we had sailed too far offshore and were sailing against the Gulf Stream.  "Too far" in this case was about a mile and a half!  We turned back towards shore and when we were about a half mile off the beach our ground speed once again improved.  There were several other boats going outside, one motoring without an ounce of sail out. Tomorrow on our way to Miami we have to go outside again - there is a fixed bridge that has only 56 feet of clearance.  Every other bridge on the ICW has a 65 foot clearance - we're not sure what they were thinking.  Maybe the engineer was dyslexic and got the 6 and the 5 reversed.

A fellow sailor today

We saw three schools of flying fish - good thing the cats weren't on deck then.  Almost as soon as we started sailing Zimmie was seasick.  And since the diesel wasn't  running Fluff came out in the cockpit several times to keep us company.  We have a sailing cat and a motoring cat.

Sailing, with Florida condos in background.

Lauderdale is surrounded by mega-mansions and mega-yachts.  Even the lift bridge has a fancy art deco look.

Ft Lauderdale inlet bridge with cruise ships behind.