The Journey Ends

Diane here: I think we have left some of you hanging. Know that we are home, safe and sound. We left the boat at the Burnt Store Marina and rented a car for the return trip. On our return we visited many of the ports that we had stay at . . . amazing how close they are by land!! As I prefer e-mailing to blogging, I sent out an e-mail before we left and it has been suggested that I put it on the blog. (See below). I know Dave will also write again.

My e-mail:
How did this trip go so fast and at times seem so slow??? After 4 1/2 months, we have covered 1700 miles, crossed the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas, continued on another 100 miles east of Bimini to the Berry Islands, crossed the Gulf Stream again returning to Miami. We then cruised the Keyes then back up the West coast of Florida. We stayed in 46 ports (marinas and anchorages), made numerous friends and learned more about ourselves than we ever imagined . . . . and those are just the statistics. I have conquered fears that were overwhelming to me - sailing out of sight of land, doing overnighters and crossing the Gulf Stream. I still don't think two 60 somethings should be doing all-nighters . . . .thanks Buffalo Joe and thanks Chuck for being with us on those adventures.
Dave and I have become experts on weather and tides and currents and moon phases . . . amazing what you learn when you live outside most of the time. I will say we only had two scary moments due to weather. Our sailing skills have improved immensely. We have learned patience (let's see how long that lasts??). This life is like camping, you have to be completely self sufficient; yet, there is a simplicity and beauty to it that is hard to describe. Don't get me wrong . . . I can't wait for a "real" refrigerator, a king size bed, unlimited water, my own shower and a washer and dryer that I don' have to drive or dingy to.
I know some of you have followed us on the blog. You know that there have been trials and tribulations. We thank all of you for your prayers, your encouragement and support. We feel very blessed and thankful for a safe trip and a fabulous experience.

That was basically the end of the e-mail. Know that our plans are to go back to Florida for the month of November, return to Kingwood for the holidays, then set off again in February for the Bahamas and the Exumas.

On our way home

We left Miami a day late and many dollars short after it took an additional day to obtain, by overnight shipment, the parts needed for the engine repair. We thought we had it completed around noon on Tuesday but discovered that the entire water pump needed to be replaced after we had replaced the impeller and cleaned up all the fittings. It had to be ordered from somewhere in Florida (It's difficult to believe that it wasn't available at a Miami Westerbeke dealer, but such is the nature of marine engines). It did arrive on schedule, Wed. morning and Terry came right over and installed it. After some anxious moments when the thermostat stuck and the engine started to overheat, we figured out the problem, spit on it, kicked it and it finally opened up and the engine cooled perfectly. After letting the engine run for about an hour as we prepared to depart Dinner Key Marina, we finally left around 2ish and motored over to our earlier anchorage off of Key Biscayne, near No Name Harbor. After a beautiful evening and a great nights sleep we set out early Thursday for Rodriguez Key, about half of the way to Marathon---around 45 miles. Once again, the wind was on our nose (what there was of it) and we motored all the way to Rodriguez where we anchored just off the north end of the island in its lea. Another restful night until around 2 AM when the wind shifted and picked up to a steady 13 knots. We were no longer in the lea of the island and the boat commenced the rocking and swaying motion that makes staying below at anchor somewhat uncomfortable. Still, we got a fair nights sleep and the wind changes meant that we would probably be able to get some sailing in the next day. We were right. We had one of our best sails without the noise of the engine, all day, and 45 miles to Marathon. The wind was pretty much on our port beam, out of the south southeast all day, blowing between 13 and 17 knots-----Perfect!! We made excellent time, averaging around 6 knots, and arrived in Marathon at around 4PM. We proceeded to our mooring, put L'il Liv in the water, dinghied over to the office, checked in, paid "da money" and proceeded directly to a cold and super refreshing shower. Life is good!!!! We returned to the boat for a cocktail before setting out in the dinghy for the Dockside Restaurant on the east end of the mooring field. They had a 2 man band playing--pretty darn good---and real good food. I had the mahi mahi with habanera cream sauce and Diane had an excellent cheeseburger--and a couple of beers-----Life IS good!! Today, Saturday the 16th, we cleaned the boat up a bit and walked to the Publix for our last reprovisioning before the long trek back north to Charlotte Harbor. We leave tomorrow morning and will most likely retrace our track coming down--about 150 nautical miles---Little Shark River tomorrow night; Everglades City, Monday night: perhaps Naples Tuesday night and home on Wed. I heard from cousin Jane in Ft Lauderdale and she is going to come over again and join us for Easter weekend--hopefully with her son Todd and his new bride. I almost hate to spell out the planned schedule as it never goes according to plan, as you've seen from our experience recorded in this site--but that's the plan. We hope to pick up our rent car right after we get in and plan to drive back to Houston with the car loaded down with stuff we need to take off the boat. I've got to make a business stop in Destin and we're going to try to return through Apalachacola just so we can enjoy the oysters once more. We should be back in Kingwood, if all goes according to plan, around the week-end of the 1st of May. Wish us luck and fair wind--we soooo enjoy sailing over the sound of a diesel engine throbbing beneath us.

Miami

Or as Uncle Bob says it, " Miama".

WE've been here two days longer than we wanted. I obtained the name of a highly regarded diesel mechanic but he couldn't get here till Tuesday, so we've made the most of our time here in this very pretty place.

We have strolled through the Coconut Grove area---very nice--lots of bars, restauraants, shops, etc in a very picturesque setting. Walked the other way--toward Miama----and checked out the mansions and parks of this part of what I believe is referred to as northeast Boca Raton.

We had a wonderful time with Anne Sheldon and Randy and Judy McKeen. We had dinner together on Sunday evening. Anne seems to be doing quite well despite the circumstances and we had a great time catching up and reminiscing about Marvin. (I used to be a very good speller)

I'm sure Anne benefits from just getting out with people and trying to be " normal". We truly had a wonderful time with her and look fiorward to seeing her and the McKeens again this summer in Vail.

Last night we walked to the Grove and caught a taxi from there to a fabulous Cuban restaurant--Habana Vieja-- where Diane had the classic flank streak, I had a lamb shank osso buco type dish, with plenty of sangria , fried plantains and Cuban coffee. It was incredible --and cheap!!

The mechanic is working as I write and we're hopeful we'll be able to get underway this afternoon and get at least part way down the coast. (If it wasn't so expensive in this marina I could stay a few more days just to enjoy the area) We're thinking about just anchoring off of Key Biscayne tonight and then sailing down to Rodriguez Key tomorrow with arrival into Marathon on Thursday. That would put us underway up the west coast by Friday and into Punta Gorda and Charlotte Harbor by early next week.

WE have the usual mixed feelings right now. We're sad the trip is essentially over, or at least days away from being over, but we're anxious to get back to our home and friends in Kingwood and, hopefully, to our loved ones in Colorado soon. We have decided to leave the boat in Punta Gorda until we have time to come fetch her and take her home to Kemah. It may be that it will stay temporarily until we return to go exploring again next winter, but I can't see living in Houston without her on any permanent basis. Meantime--Charlotte Harbor is a pretty nice place to have her stuck.

Pics of Chub Cay

OOPS !!

Main Street

WOW!!!!

Diane and Assisted Living at Chub Cay Marina

Back in the US, Back in the US, Back in the US of A

We made the crossing from Bimini back to the USA at Biscayne Bay on Friday, the 8th after a very nice several days in Bimini. This time we crossed with a "buddy boat"--Jerel and Tammy Roe of Kokomo, Ind. aboard their center cockpit, Pearson 385, "Osprey". Again, we crossed on advice from the weather guru, Chris Parker, and encountered very benign conditions. Thanks Chris!!!

We had departed Chub Cay on Sat, April 2nd and motored, with a very light following wind, westward, across the Bahama Banks, toward Bimini, again, spending the night on the hook about 25 miles east of Bimini. This time we bounced and rolled all night long--very uncomfortable ---and couldn't wait to get back underway Sun. morning. We pulled up the anchor at 5 AM Sunday and continued on to Bimini, arriving at the Bimini Blue Water Marina at around 11 AM--tied up--turned on the A/C, took a nap and spent the afternoon watching Phil win the Houston Open (We could pick up the three networks out of Miami on our powered TV antenna at the top of our mast----And Diane calls this "roughing it"??) Once again we were waiting in port for a good crossing weather pattern so we ended up staying 5 nights in Bimini. This time we really enjoyed this quiet and quaint island. We met other cruising couples--Gerald and Tammy, from Indiana; Bob and Sally from St Augustine Florida and others including a young couple on a sail cat who have been out for the past 10 years. We enjoyed a $10 seafood platter dinner at a little local dive run by Aaron, a bimini native and enjoyed the company of other locals who kept us entertained with their descriptions of all the celebrities that frequent the island (including Tiger Woods, who the locals do not like at all because of his arrogance.) Of course, the $10 per person dinner turned into a $50 dinner for Diane and me after partaking of several ice cold Kalik's. We dined another night at the Bimini Big Game Club where the photo of the 6 of us was taken. After dinner, we walked over to the beach side to watch yet another sunset (and enjoy some more ice cold Kalik). I guess the difference this time is that we enjoyed what this island has to offer in the company of some very nice and fun people. We're learning to "come out of our shells" more and more on this trip and opening ourselves to new acquaintances even when we know that the relationship will probably be short lived--although it's our plan to keep in touch in the hope that we'll link up some time on a future trip

. Oh yeah!!!! Finally!!! I found the d%^##%% fluxgate compass while in Bimini and was able to recalibrate it so that we had the aid of our auto pilot on the way back across the stream. What a difference!!! But then---we sprung a raw water (cooling system) leak in the engine on the way over. A small leak that didn't effect operation--no overheating at all--but it has to be repaired and I've called in a mechanic to make sure it's done right. Considering that we've motored over 200 engine hours on this trip and about 75% of the miles we don't want to take a chance that the engine might fail at some critical juncture.

We arrived at Biscayne Bay and anchored off of Key Biscayne at around 4 PM on Friday and spent the night at anchor in a beautiful lee with a view of the Key and the Miami skyline beyond---BUT--Saturday we motored across to the Dinner Key Marina where we could plug in and watch the Masters in A/C'd comfort. It is finally starting to get hot here, and a bit humid, so we'll take our pleasures where we can, while we can. This marina is in the Coconut Grove section of Miami and is a huge municipal marina with 500+ slips and a 250 boat mooring field. I called cousin Jane who is home sick with a cold and couldn't make it down to see us again--perhaps back in Punta Gorda---but we also arrived to some terrible news about a very good and dear friend

Our friend and Vail neighbor, who lived here in Coral Gables, died unexpectedly and very quickly after a cancer diagnosis. Marvin and Anne Sheldon were our duplex neighbors in Vail with whom we have maintained a very close friendship. Marvin apparently had experienced some symptoms in his throat and medical attention resulted in a thyroid cancer diagnosis. 7 days later, before any meaningfull treatment had started, he passed away at the age of 76. We hope to see Anne while we are here. Marvin was one of my favorite people. I am not alone as he had a huge circle of good friends because he is just one of those people that you can't help but love. I know his family is devastated as he was truly a good and loving patriarch. Diane and I, needless to say, were completely floored by the news. I really hate to end this post on this note but felt it needed to be mentioned here.

Photos of the Berry Islands

Vista from White Cay looking north

Lion's Head?

A very private beach we found on our stroll to the Blue Hole

We hated to leave this place but leave we did, on Tuesday. We motored on back down to the Berry Island Club mooring field where we stayed an extra day because of some wicked winds. There were some other anchorages we wanted to visit but needed to get into the marina at Chub Cay in advance of the northern front that is heading our way leaving a path of destruction in its wake. We'll stay here another day to allow the weather to settle before heading back to Bimini on the start of our return trip.

Chub Cay Marina is quite nice--floating docks--the only ones we've seen since Pensacola, a nice little restaurant, pool, laundry service and a grocery store. The weather has turned quite still and hot in advance of this front so we are enjoying FREE electricity(contrary to prior reports) and our air conditioning. The water is free but I haven'tfilled up yet as I want to see how long we can actually go on our inboard water tanks. So far we've made it since the day before we left Bimini, 9 days ago. I think that's pretty good although we have been quite conservative in our water usage--salt water baths with a fresh water rinse--using liquid Joy dishwashing soap--It works well and is actually quite refreshing---Diane thinks this is roughing it--where was she when I was living in a 2 man tent made from 2 rain covers (buttons or snaps?), eating c-rations and swatting mosquitos and sweeping away scorpions---Ft Hood, Texas--1971? We have both decided that 9 days out away from the amenities of a marina is about 3 days too long---but hey!--This whole thing has been a learning experience, hasn't it?

The Berry Islands

We passed by Chub Cay at the southern most point of the Berry Islands at around 2:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday, Mar 23 and had a nice sail a bit to the north and on up to Frazier’s Hog Cay to the Berry Island Club where we tied up to one of their moorings. The “book” said they charged $15 a night but we found that they had raised the price to $25 and that that the place was under renovation—no bathrooms, but a quite primitive shower. Still, it was nice to have some shore side facilities, especially the shower. Oh yeah, the restaurant was closed because they had no rest rooms—oh well. The anchorage was quite pretty and we were surrounded by different water colors from the deep blues to the very light, light blue that the Bahamas is so famous for. We dinghied around a bit, found a nice white beach, but nothing particularly noteworthy other than a lot of very shallow water. We spent that night and the next day and night on the mooring as we contemplated our next destination and made friends with the Mainiacs (from Maine) aboard a nicely restored 1976 Morgan Out Island 41 center cockpit sloop, “Door # 3” It was owned by Lee and his wife, Susan, and they were accompanied by Lee’s sister Lynn and her friend Sharon who had flown in to Bimini and joined them for a trek on down to Nassau. Fun people!!
Next day it was on to our present anchorage about 25 miles north in a little cove between the north end of Devil’s Cay and the south end of Hoffman’s Cay, bordered by small White’s Cay and Fowl Cay. This is truly one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been. I hope the photos do it at least some justice. Each of the surrounding Cays is a little bit hilly providing beautiful vistas of both the cove and the Atlantic, leading down to gorgeous white sand beaches. The waters are fairly well protected and the holding is good in patches of sandy bottom about 9 feet deep. The best part is that there are very few other boats here.
There was a beautiful power cat anchored here when we arrived but no one else. We got to know the couple aboard her. They are Glen Cooper and wife, Pam Rickard. They have been cruising a variety of vessels for many years and just took delivery of this one just a couple of months ago. In addition to getting to know them, which was treat enough, they also invited us to conch fishing/diving/snorkeling in the shallow waters of the banks just off to our west. We spent the morning gathering 6 quite large conch and the afternoon learning how to clean them---we are now experts. We had planned on going after some lobster (diving with a weapon called a “Hawaiian Sling”—kind of a sling shot that shoots a 4 foot spear---but ran out of time---perhaps another day. I’m sorry to have missed the opportunity to go with someone experienced. I’ve got all the equipment, just need some instruction.
Later that evening Glen and Pam invited us aboard their boat “Cacique”for fresh conch salad, prepared by Glen and topped off with fritters prepared by Diane. The conch salad is made with raw conch, diced, and mixed with fresh veggies, orange juice, lime juice and a bunch of other stuff-kind of like cerviche. It was incredible, as was Diane’s conch fritters—they were unquestionably the best I’ve ever had—anywhere---or maybe it was just the over-all ambiance of the day and the evening. The whole thing was a perfect example of what we have been looking forward to on this trip. Thanks, Glen and Pam for a magical day and evening.
The previous day Diane and I had dinghied around to the various beaches and islands on a mission of discovery and enjoyed a couple of beautiful and very private beaches and a walk up one of the islands to the “Blue Hole” pictured herein—very kewl. This is truly an idyllic place.
Today, after 3 beautiful days in this gorgeous spot we tried to venture out into the Atlantic to return to Chub Cay where we plan to rent a slip for a night or two to reprovision and refuel in preparation for our last few days here and the return to Bimini. We’ve been virtually on the hook for the last 7 days and six nights and we need to top off the batteries, get food and refill our water tanks—we’re down to our last 20 gallons of water plus the emergency 5 gallons that I carry on deck. We poked our nose out into the Atlantic and turned south to encounter strong winds—again on our nose---and 4 to 5 foot seas opposing us, so we turned around and came back in to wait for some smoother conditions. Glen has offered to help us with water if we run out—they have a 40 gallon per hour water maker on their boat. Unless we’re delayed any longer than this one day we should be all right—sure could use a good, long, hot shower though. So, we’ll suffer through this one more day and evening in Paradise, before we start heading back toward civilization. It’s a tough choice---let’s see---paradise—shower; paradise—shower; paradise—shower---Paradise wins!! Life is indeed good!!

The Bahamas Banks

Chub Cay and rush hour on "the Banks" We left Bimini on Tuesday, March 22,, motored south a bit to the Cat Cay area and then turned due east into a 12 kt wind directly on our nose—so, no sailing again today—and entered the Bahamas Banks at around 10 AM. The Bahamas Banks is an area of shallow water—12 to 20 feet deep—that connects the interior of all the various Bahama Island chains—the Berrys, the Abacos, the Exumas etc—surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a huge area of thousands of square miles and when on them it’s awesome to consider that you are sailing over 15 feet of water depth in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s quite hard to describe but you can Google it to get an idea of its dimensions and area of coverage. We spent all day motoring due east across the banks. We knew that we would not be able to make it all the way to the Berry Islands that day and would spend the night on the banks. Along the way I tried out my new heavy duty fishing pole and reel with 40 pound line. I hadn’t had it in the water a half hour before I had a hit and something started peeling off line at an incredible rate. Not being a fisherman, needless to say I was quite excited. Once I grabbed the pole from the rod holder I knew I had something big on the other end. It was a chore reeling it in and much to my amazement and disappointment, I had about a 20 pound Barracuda on my lure. After deciding that I was not going to stick my hand in its mouth to retrieve my lure, and Diane got a couple pictures, I pulled it up tighter to the stern of the boat and it finally flipped the lure out of its mouth and took off---a relief—I wasn’t sure how I was going to get it off my tackle without killing it. The 20 pounds is an estimate—could have been more---all I know is it was a struggle landing it. I put the lure back in the water and sure enough within another hour or so I had another strike. And sure enough, another Barracuda, about the same size but a real fighter. This one went airborn a few times as I was bringing it in and also bit through the line once I had pulled it up on the swim platform for its photo op, and took off with my lure in its mouth. At this point I concluded (and verified later in talking with others) that about all I was going to catch on the banks was Barracuda and put my gear away. At about 6PM that evening we pulled off the rhumb line by about ½ a mile—to get out of the way of other boats following the same course that might sail or motor by during the night—dropped the hook in about 20 feet of water, had a nice hot dinner of barbecued chicken, and turned in for an early start the next morning for the Islands. ( The “rhumb” line is a straight line of travel between waypoints. Since the Banks are littered with shallow areas previous navigators have determined safe lines of passage across them and have published a list of waypoints to plug into your chartplotter in order to transit the area with out running into anything. You simply input the waypoint latitudes and longitudes into your GPS Chartplotter and then tell your autopilot to navigate to them and sit back and enjoy the ride---Not exactly that simple but pretty close except for the sit back and enjoy the ride part—you still need one person on watch at all times.---Yes—I was able to repair my autopilot while we were in Bimini, the day we left.) The wind was light and so it was fairly comfortable despite a bit of a roll from side to side due to the small waves. The next morning we took off across a flat, beautiful blue and clear sea to the Berry Islands. Instead of going into Chub Cay we went on past and up a bit north to Frazier’s Hog Cay to a mooring ball area called The Berry Island Club, arriving there around 3 in the afternoon. The facilities were under renovation so we were a bit disappointed, but they did have a shower area that was usable. More on the Berry Island club later. We have concluded that we will not be able to get all the way down to the Exumas this time around. So, we have decided to explore the Berry Islands--a small group of islands about 70 miles east of bimini and 40 miles northwest of Nassau. There are supposed to be some very pretty anchorages there that not so many people have experienced. The most notable destination is Chub Cay at the very southern tip of the chain---it is a popular stopping off and customs clearing place for the faster boats that don't need to stop n Bimini to clear in. We understand they charge boaters $100 kjust to tie up your dinghy in order to provision or clear in--unless of course you pay to stay in a slip at their marina and pay the exhorbitant $5 a footfor the privilege. Although we will take a pass this time, we will probably stray there in order to rewater, refuel and reprovision as well as do a bit of laundry before heading back next week. I’m drafting this post as a Word document as we are truly out of touch at the moment. We are in an incredibly beautiful anchorage about 25 miles north of Chub Cay, surrounded by blue water and white beaches. Since I’m not able to post, I will simply copy and paste this post (I hope) and then try to add some photos. More later---It’s time to go exploring!!

Yikes!!! Sharks!!!

I have determined that sportfishermen are the unfriendliest people. Bimini is full of them. On boats of all sizes, from 18 feet to 100 feet They don't care that their wake will rock you to death. They'll aim right at you when there is a whole ocean to use. I've tried to engage 2 sets of them here at the marina in conversation. They don't want to visit. If forced to talk to you, as in answering a simple question such as, "How was it out there?", they won't even look you in the eye. There's something wrong with these people.
I'm going to keep testing my observation, but for right now --I don't like them.

One of the groups is in a 45 footer on the other side of the pier. Last night they came in and were cleaning their (meager) day's catch at the fish cleaning station and tossing the scraps in the water next to the pier. Shortly several of them go running back to the boat and grab gaff hooks and fishing poles and start fishing right by the cleaning station. We went over to see what was going on and saw these three sharks--nurse and bull---swimming around with a number of large bonia. After fishing unsuccessfully at this location, the sharks and bonia moved out to the tee head and our heros ran out there with their rigs and eventually caught a large bonia and dragged it back down the dock to the cleaning station. So much for the evening's excitement.

Later Diane and I walked over to the beach on the west side of the island to watch the sunset and then back again to enjoy the lunar apogee and spring solstice new moon rising over the water on the east side--kinda like that beer commercial without the loud music. We were joined by our new Canadian friends, Paul and Caroline and enjoyed a couple of hours of excellent conversation---nice people.

We decided to just sit and read and nap today, instead of going sailing. The wind came in early and it's probably a little rough out there.

A couple couples from Texas just stopped by the boat having seen my National Flag of Texas flying from the flag halyard. They had a bunch of questions and were amazed that we had sailed all the way over here. I am too, when I take time to think about what we've done.

It's been great and will soon get even better. More later.

Mo Bimini Pics Mon!!

Yep----definitely waited a day too long. Would like to get moving on again.

We've met some very nice and helpful people here, though. There are 2 boats parked next to us--from Ottawa--2 couples traveling together. They've been to the Berry Islands and have some local knowledge for us. I've even gotten to practice my French with them. Bought a dozen lobster tails our first day here--for 40 bucks--and gave them 4 of them for their help and friendliness. They're on their way back over there--(I added the "over there" so I can claim to have authored a sentence with three versions of the word there, or is it their, or is it they're?)

A big catamaran pulled in today while we were exploring in L'il Liv. A family of five from Long Island living aboard their 53 foot Cat. They home school their three kids--about 6, 9 and teen-age. Very nice people who also had some local knowledge re the Berry Islands and fun things to do there

Stopped at the bar at the Big Game Club yesterday for a cold rum drink and chatted with three Floridians who had just flown oveer for the day in their plane. One of them, obviously the guest, was carrying a guitar case on his back and spoke with a British accent. As they were leaving I asked him what kind of guitar he was carrying and he proceeded to tell us about his experience as a student of Andre Segovia--famous classical, esp. Flamenco style, guitarist that played and performed until his death a few years ago at the age of 96. I didn't even have to ask--he just offered to play for us and did--2 tunes--one classical spanish and one Flamenco. It was really kewl!!! Remember? You never know who you're talking to. These are fabulous experiences that will be remembered and cherished.

Sooooooo---I guess we'll just hang out here for another couple of days--maybe have dinner with the Frenchies. I think we'll go for a day sail tomorrow and enjoy these beautiful waters---do a little exploring. Take some pictures of the islands from a distance.. More later.

Bimini Pics

Bimini's nice, but not great. I expected it to be a bit more up-scale but, oh well. Like Mexico, the Caribbean just doesn't quite get it. If they'd just clean the place up a bit--get rid of the litter, plant a few posies, paint and maintain their homes--dress it up a bit, I'm confident more people would come--spend more money--create more jobs, etc, etc, etc--but they just don't get it. While most of the natives are nice and friendly, it's the slovenliness of the rest that is such a turn-off.

BUT---Perhaps I'm too harsh. We are having a very nice time here. We probably waited 1 day too many before moving on. We were planning on leaving tomorrow, Sunday, to head for the Berry Islands to some anchorages and harbors and beaches there--but we planned to spend one night on the hook on the Bahama Banks---out in the middle of nowhere--in 12 feet of water ---clear as tap water and bluer than blue-- an overnight, 1/2 way to the Berry's and then on to the islands on Monday---but---there's a wind event coming in the wee hours of Monday morning and we don't want to be "out there" when it hits with wind in the 20's and gusts into the 30's. So, looks like we'll wait it out---so what else is new??

Went for an exploratory ride in the dink today---across to the other side of the channel to the flats, at low tide.

Cracked my first coconut yesterday. Used the milk in our rum drinks later on. Yummy!!!!!

Here's our boat at the marina at low tide. You can get a feel for the clarity of the water. Our first day in I was on deck tidying up when a 10 foot (at least) shark swam, liesurely, by our boat. Yikes!!

That's "L'il Liv" tied to our stern.

A view of marina row. We're in the one in front of the blue buildings on the left.

This program only lets me post 5 pics at a time----maybe more if I shrink them?? So see more pics above.

Bimini Bound

The "Tree of Knowledge" in Marathon. Each day all the "old salts" gather here to solve the world's problems or just complain about them.

Boats at rest in Marathon Harbor---actually Boot Key Harbor.

One of two huge and crowded dinghy docks at the marina in Marathon. This was taken early in the morning before it began to fill up. The 12 shower/rest rooms and the laudry facility are here as well as the parking lot and the "Tree". The other dinghy dock, twice as large and just as crowded is at the other end of the building, closer to the office , day room, TV theaters and library.

We are sitting in a slip at the Bimini Bluewater Marina. Whodathunk???

After spending almost an entire week in Marathon watching the weather and looking for a weather window that would allow us to cross the Gulf Stream comfortably, we are finally here.

We had a good time in Marathon--rented a car and took a road trip to Key Largo and another one to spend last Sunday in Key West, but we were anxious to get on with the journey. Monday we subscribed to a weather service run by Chris Parker. He is the recognized weather guru for Gulf Stream passages and Bahama weather. He and his wife run this weather service where you can get their reports by FAX, cell phone, internet or email, and by single sideband (shortwave) radio.

He'll also accept your phone call, fax or email for a personalized report. Diane, my weather officer and navigator, called him on Monday and he gave us a green light to cross over to Bimini, Tues night and Wednesday, further indicating that the farther north we started from, the more benign the conditions.

Thus, we left Marathon Tuesday morning at around 10 and motor sailed to Rodriguez Key, which is just off of Key Largo. We arrived there and dropped the anchor around 7 PM, had supper and took a brief nap. At 1AM we weighed anchor and took off across the Hawk Channel, through the reef and out into the Atlantic. We encountered exactly the conditions predicted by Chris Parker (making us true believers in his skills). It started out fairly calm as we motored into the wind almost directly on our nose--no sailing today--. Conditions built a bit and the wind was still on our nose but blowing about 15 as we entered the Atlantic with 2 to 3 foot waves but built to 4 to 5 foot waves for several hours as we entered into the stream. Still, not too uncomfortable. As predicted by Chris the wind and waves subsided during the day and we spent our last several hours motoring over fairly calm and flat seas with very little wind--over the bluest water I have ever seen---a deep, dark blue---we were in 900 feet of water depth. WE arrived in Bimini at around 2:30 PM and were comfortably tied up at our slip with the air conditioning on by 4 PM. After clearing customs and immigration--a not too unpleasant ordeal--the customs house was a very short walk up the street---I returned for boat drinks and a hot shower--MAN!! That felt good!! WE had dinner that night at the Big Game Club (excellent Mahi, O-rings,conch fritters), and hit the sack, exhausted, at around 9:30. What a day!!!

Diane is the on top of the world, with a huge sense of accomplishment--not just for the journey, but for having overcome her fears. We are truly excited to be here and ready to continue on around and down the islands.

(I must note here that we had a bit of a problem as we set out for Bimini. Our auto-pilot started working erratically. It has a built in electronic compass (the fluxgate compass) that sends signals to the auto-pilot as well as the GPS chartplotter. It bounces around all over the place giving false readings. It effects the chart plotter in the same way---you can tell exactly where you are, but you can't tell where you're headed. The auto-pilot steers an erratic course as a result, so it was unusable on the way over, not to say a bit unnerving to not have this fabulous navigational tool to rely upon. Still we had our regular magnetic compass on the binnacle and a hand held one as well as the satellite based Seaclear navigation software as back-up. I also have a hand-held GPS that I really haven't had to try out yet. So, we hand steered in 1 hour shifts all the way over. I've spoken with the manufacturer and I may not be able to fix the problem until we're back in the states. I have one more possible cure to try but if that doesn't work we'll just continue on with the tools we have--after all--they got us safe and sound and accurately to Bimini across 100 miles of ocean. It will just mean we will have to hand steer most of the way----annoying and tiring, but doable.

We have come to the conclusion that we will not have enough time to see all the places that we wanted to see or go all the places we wanted to go to. We probably will not get to the Exumas, as we need to be back home by the first of May. That means planning for at least 2 weeks to get back to Punta Gorda, counting weather delays and rest stops, and that's from here. We do plan on heading farther west and hopefully south to see some of the other islands and so we have to factor in returning from as far as we are able to get. We'll just take it a day at a time. While we won't be able to join the Texas Navy in the Exumas maybe we'll run into them on their way back. What this really means is--we'll be back, with a whole lot more time on our hands, experience and confidence, ready to explore farther destinations. No disappointment here.

Chuck took the ferry over to the airport to see about a flight back to Miami or Ft Myers tomorrow. He has been a huge help and we will truly miss him and hope that this experience has given him the knowledge and confidence so that he and Nancy would buddy-boat with us next winter. We'll probably relax here the next couple of days before moving on. I won't have internet access for the next several days so keep following us on the SPOT link at the left hand side of these pages. Life is very good!!!

Diane here. Yes, life is good. I still can't believe we have made it this far and as I look back on all

that we have seen and done, I have a tremendous sense of accomplishment. I was telling Kristin that I don't think I will fully appreciate this experience until I get home and "process" it. As with most of our travels, I wonder "Where did the time go" I am anxious to explore the Bahamas but this will be the condensed version. Then it's back the way we came. Very excited to be leaving the boat in Florida and as Dave alluded to, we will be doing this again!

So I finally allowed Diane to post on the blog---What a guy!

Marathon !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're here !!! Marathon Harbor, On a mooring in Marathon City Marina. Along with about 250 other boats. This place is amazing. A huge mooring field full of every kind of boat you can imagine--sail and power, big and small, immaculate (like ours) and derelict. Some coming back from the islands--some waiting to leave for the islands--some just sitting here gathering barnacles and weeds and waiting for some dream to be fulfilled or forgotten. Today we rented a car-- a familiar pattern, eh?--so we can explore the area as we wait for a weather window to open so we can cross to the Bahama Islands comfortably. That may not happen for another week or more. Never let it be said that I'm not a patient man.

We are approaching "7 Mile Bridge" ---We are still in Gulf waters, but as soon as we pass under this bridge we will be in the Atlantic Ocean for the very first time. This is a huge thing for us. (Note the name on our dinghy---"L'il Liv")

No Caption Necessary

He just shat on our boat !

Meet Chuck

I apologize to my faithful followers for the lapse between this post and the last----we have been busy, to say the least. After spending 2 nights in Ft Myers Beach we exited the protected waters of the ICWW, sailed out through Matanzas Pass and into the Gulf of Mexico and turned south toward our first overnight in the Barron River just outside of Everglades City. We had a wonderful sail although we kept the motor running in order to pick up an extra knot and 1/2 as we needed to cover almost 60 miles. Our original intent was to pull into Marco Island for the night but we made such good time motorsailing that we decided to go on to the Everglades City area for the night. We had had fabulous conditions all day--fairly flat seas and 13 kts of wind on our port beam--until we got just south of Marco Island when the conditions turned to sh..... The wind clocked around to on our nose and built to 20+ kts with bigger gusts. The waves built to 4 and 5 feet on our nose--just as we entered into the shallow and shoaly waters south of Marco. It turned even more uncomfortable when we turned to port (east) and headed into the Barron River mouth where we planned to anchor for the night---plus night was rapidly approaching (Remember---Never enter a strange port at night) When we turned to port, now the wind and waves were on our starboard beam and with every 7th or 8th wave that hit us broadside the boat would roll violently from side to side (We were never frightened--just very uncomfortable, tired and anxious to get into some protected waters). Finally, after dodging 3 and 4 foot shoals and rolling back and forth for a couple of hours we entered the mouth of the river and headed upstream about a mile to a wide spot where we could drop the anchor and get some rest. By this time it was completely dark on a moonless night in totally unknown waters---but at least the water was calm and there were a few other boats that had preceded us to this refuge. We anchored succesfully on the first try and prepared for the evening-----beginning with a Stoly martini---stirred, not shaken. We were whipped!!

Having checked the weather well ahead we knew that a northern front was expected the next day so we decided to motor up the river about 3 miles to the town of Everglades City, to the historic "Rod and Gun Club". This beautiful and well maintained resort has hosted celebrities, presidents and other notables for decades and was really quite charming. My pictures on the inside did not turn out but this is the site of a couple of the pics above. We spent the next night tied up to their marina dock, had dinner--quite good- at the Inn, and departed the next morning, early, for "The Little Shark River", the last stop before crossing the Florida Bay and our arrival in Marathon.

Our sail down the coast to The Shark was fabulous. We made excellent time without running the engine and anchored about 1 1/2 miles up the river in completely protected waters. This place is very remote--and quite beautiful, and quiet. It is clearly a very popular stopover as there were about 15 other boats at anchor along the river. The evening was clear and cool and bug free, although we lowered our screened side curtains as we had read that the mosquitoes can be extremely pesky in this part of the Everglades-----So far, bugs have not been a problem--anywhere other than my very first night on this trip (see previous post)

The next morning we planned to get a very early start as we were very excited to finally be headed for a huge waypoint in this journey---Marathon, in the Florida Keys! But---what's that I said about the best laid plans?? We could not get the anchor up. We tried for 45 minutes and it would not budge. Finally, as a last ditch effort and before cutting about 35 feet of chain and leaving a very relaible 45 lb. CQR anchor on the bottom of the river I gave it one last nudge---actually, it was quite a bit more than a nudge--the bow dipped and then rose up into the air---we were free, free, free at last!! and on to Marathon.

There are very few times in a sailor's life when he can honestly say that he experienced a "10". Either the wind is too light or too strong, the seas too rough or too flat, the temperature too cold or too hot, the water too murky, the sky too cloudy---but this was one of those few times. The trip across Florida Bay was PERFECT. We didn't crank up the engine until we were passing under 7 Mile Bridge in Marathon-----OK, OK, OK, there were too many crab pots along the course---so it wasn't a "10". It was a "15". What a fitting climax to our southward journey along the beautiful west coast of Florida---and entree to what lays ahead for us.

So now we are tied up to a mooring ball in the City Marina, Marathon, Vaca Key, Florida. WE signed up for a week as the weather is not at all promising for our departure over the Gulf Stream. So today we rented a car to do our usual exploration. We'll probably run up to Key Largo for a day and then out to Key West to watch the freak show there. We're thinking we might sail on up the coast and prepare to cross over out of Key Largo or even Miami, as it makes the hop over all the shorter. Who knows?? We're just enjoying every minute and every place and every experience. We're talking to everyone we can and adding to our information banks and getting more and more excited about what awaits us.

Das Boot

Ther nerve center----The Galley

Here's the boat. You've seen a lot of the top sides, but here's how we live down below. The galley---2 burner stove, microwave, toaster oven, oven, double sink, top loading pantry and top loading refrigerator with a small freezer.

The "Vee Berth". This is where we sleep. it's in the front of the boat and makes a horrible place to sleep when underway as it feels every movement and sound of the boat. But it is wonderful when at a marina or at anchor. Just before we left we replaced the foam padding of the matresses with a firmer foam---good move--I sleep better here than any bed in recent memory. There are shelves and storage here as well as a hanging closet for our extensive wardrobe of T shirts and shorts. We sleep backwards---feet toward the front of the Vee and head toward the back of the boat. This is one of the features of this boat that I'm not too fond of. Every time you have to get up---frequently---hey! I'm old, damnit!!---you have to swing your feet around and try not to kick the other person---that would be Diane---in the head.

Port side of the salon. Very comfortable., My seat is right in that corner to the left. Best addition to the boat is the round hassock in the middle of the floor--excellent foot rest, but also stores all of our vast collection of shoes and sandals. Note the cooler--beer and white wine.

Starboard side of the salon. This is where we "compute" and also where we eat dinners--sometimes pretty darn fancy. You can also see a part of the galley (kitchen) in the foreground.

A fancy meal. This was grilled porkchops with risotto and grilled vegetables, served with a bottle of 1990 vintage cabernet. Roughing it, eh? Life is Good!