We were up at 6:15 and had left the mooring ball by 6:50. We had a long trip ahead of us...40+ nm. I made one last check of the marine forecast before losing our internet. The predicted winds had changed to 10-15 kts from the SE. That wasn't bad, but Blue Moon would have liked the 5-10 kts that were originally forecast.
We headed out of the harbor and immediately turned north and went under the 19ft bridge. This short cut saved us about 5 miles. Once we got to the Florida Bay side, the waves decreased and we had a very comfortable ride. The tide began to push us along and we were doing 7+ kts. It was a nice day to be on the water. We have done this trek many, many times and 75% of the time its not a good ride. Today was a good day. At 11:30, we could see dark clouds hovering over Little Shark River, our destination. But when we arrived, an hour later, all the clouds were gone and the sun was shining. We were the first boat to arrive for the evening and we had the pick of the anchorage. We dropped the anchor and it immediately caught. We lowered our screens on the back deck and were ready for the bugs (which this anchorage is know for). It was a very peaceful place to spend the afternoon reading. Throughout the afternoon, a 3 ft sea turtle would occasionally surface around Blue Moon. At 15:00 or so, the sailboats arrived and picked their spots. By nightfall, there were 11 boats anchored here...7 from our group and 4 others. Matt and I enjoyed Happy Hour in our bug-free zone, then Matt barbecued some chicken for dinner. This was the last of our frozen raw meats, which means more room in the freezer to super chill the beer. After sunset, we went inside and closed up the boat. Our screens work for mosquitos and horse flies, but are useless against no-seeums. We have found that if we close the boat up before they have a chance to invade and turn on the fans in the v- berth, we can have a very comfortable night. The remainder of the quiet evening was spent reading before drifting off the sleep.
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Wanted to post this before we lost our service. Will edit later
We woke up to lots of wind but as strong as we've been seeing in recent days. Both Matt and I were still full from last night's feast so we limited breakfast to OJ and coffee. It was a nice morning to have coffee out on the back deck. Once Blue Moon was finished with her morning battery charging. We went ashore to fill our water containers again. We had put the 10 gallons that we got yesterday into Blue Moon's large tank, so we needed to refill the drinking water containers. That should give us enough water to get us home. The sky was beginning to darken and it was looking like we would get some rain. As soon as we got back to Blue Moon, it began to rain. It didn't stop for several hours. We wasted the afternoon reading and playing on the computer. We even put on our French music, poured some red wine while we reminenced about cruising on the Canal du Midi Finally at about 3:00,the rains stopped. Matt and I headed ashore for showers, then back to Blue Moon. At 5:00, it was time for Happy Hour. The group met at the City Marina's chickee hut for heavy appetizers and drinks. The whole group was there except for Fancy Free who started their trip home this morning. We had thought that that would be the last place that the mini-loopers would be all together. Most of us were heading home, but English Rose and Lady hawk were going to stay in Marathon a couple more days. But before the Happy Hour was over, they decided to stay with the group and leave tomorrow. We were back on Blue Moon by 8:00 preparing for an early departure tomorrow. We have over 40 nm to travel to Little Shark River. We won't have internet or cellphone service until we get to Naples. Today was to be a day of play. We slept late this morning...until 7:30 and went to "The Stuffed Pig" for breakfast. This little restaurant is very "Keys like". We sat under a chickee hut, had a wonderful meal and felt like stuffed pigs when we left.
Back on Blue Moon, we turned on the generator and I used this time to do some boat keeping chores. With the boat batteries charged, we went back to shore to refill our water containers. There is a spigot with drinkable water within dinghy reach where we could easily refill our containers. It is metered and you pay on the honor system at the rate of $.05/gallon. We took 10 gallons of water and I went to the office to pay our $.50 fee. After stowing the water on Blue Moon, we set off for some dinghy exploration. We went through Sister's Creek to the beach side. As we were exploring the various canals and checking out the waterfront homes, our engine died . I took the oars out and started to row as Matt tried to get the motor going, but no luck. We were about a mile from Blue Moon. Finally, a young guy fishing from his dinghy came by and offered us a tow. The timing was good because my arms were getting tired. It took about 20 minutes to get us back to Blue Moon. Once back on board, we offered our new friend, Logan, a beer. We chatted for an hour or so. He and his new wife are traveling in their recently purchased Tartan 37 which he bought in Port Charlotte. They are taking a year or so off and planning to sail the Carribean islands, then will return to a "normal" life of having a house and kids. After Logan left, Matt went to work on the dinghy motor. He took the carburetor out and found more white jelly-like material. Matt is guessing it is coming from some bad fuel that he had bought at the Marathon gas station in Port Charlotte. Once he had that cleaned out, the motor started up. At 5:30, we headed to shore with our dish for dinner. We were having a potluck dinner at the marina chickee hut. There were now 20 Punta Gorda Sailing Club members moored in Boot Key Harbor and we were all at the dinner. The food was delicious but the strong winds made keeping the food on the plates difficult at times. It was nice to be able to visit with everyone. After dinner, it was shower time, followed by wine and sunset time, then bedtime. We awoke at our usual time and had breakfast. At 8:15, it was time for our morning radio chat. The group decided to leave at 9:00 to go the Jewfish Hole, but after looking at the chart and seeing the weather forecast, Matt and I decided to go on to Marathon.
We upped our anchor at 8:45 and were on our way, We had over 30nm to go. The wind was blowing 15-20 kts on our stern. It was a sunny day which made the surroundings even more scenic. While underway, we heard on the radio that English Rose got a polypropolene line wrapped around her prop shaft. Frank had to dive the boat to free the line. Also, we heard that Blown Away had been flying her spinnaker and suffered a knockdown. Later, we heard the Tigger lost a chuck of her prop and it had teeth marks on it?? Finally, we heard a May Day from a 22 ft runaboat with 2 adults and 4 children onboard. They were five miles offshore during small craft warnings and it was taking on water. We saw the two coast guard boats go off to assist them. Never a dull moment today. When we got to Vaca Key (where Marathon is), Blue Moon was able to get under the 19 ft bridge and avoid that 3 mile trek down to the bridge opening and 3 miles back to Marathon into the wind. We arrived at Boot Key at about 13:00. We got our mooring ball assignment, and were quicky tied up. We were moored directly behind Fancy Free (from Punta Gorda). We also saw Dora Lee and Fantasy, both from Punta Gorda, when we entered the harbor. We went ashore to register, take showers and do a load of laundry. In the meantime, the sailboats had decided to skip Jewfish Hole and come to Marathon. They arrived and found their moorings. Ladyhawk managed to find the one shoaled spot in the mooring field and went aground. They contacted Tow BoatUS, but they were hard aground. They would have to wait for the tide to rise. The rest of us met for Happy Hour under the Chickee Pavillion at the marina. We ordered pizza and enjoyed our dinner in the 20 kts of wind. A local policeman joined our group and had his sushi dinner in the pavillion with us. He was surprised that we were returning to our boats so early on a Saturday evening. I explained to him that Punta Gorda midnight was at 9:00. Back on Blue Moon, Matt and I had a glass of wine and watched the sunset. As darkness set on the anchorage, Ladyhawk was finally freed by the rising tide and was finding her mooring. It was windy outside. A good night to be on a mooring. Both Matt and I didn't sleep well last night. I can't blame it on the weather conditions, it was just one of those nights. I awoke at 5:00 am and watched the light from the full moon dance on the water. It was very calm out there.
Matt got out of bed at 6:15. We had breakfast and waited until 8:00 which was "anchors up" time. At 7:50, as we were preparing to bring up the anchor, we heard on the radio that Wanker was unable to start his engine. The guys gave them advice on the radio on what to check, but soon Bob, Ken and Matt were on Wanker trying to figure out the mystery. Matt returned to Blue Moon an hour later and reported "no luck". BoatUS had been called and Wanker would be towed to a marina where a mechanic would look at it. Blue Moon and the rest of the fleet would go to Islamorada and wait for word. We left at about 9:30 and traveled southwest on the ICW. The seas were fairly calm considering the forecast was for 10-20 mph winds. Matt and I stopped at Plantation Harbor Yacht Marina for fuel, pump out ($10 for pump out) and water. We decided to get fuel here rather than Marathon because of the $.70 per gallon price difference. That would pay for tonight's dinner. When we arrived at the anchorage, the sailboats were all settled in. We dropped anchor and it held. Since we know lots of people who have dragged here and since winds of 20 mph were predicted, we dug it in with extra engine RPM's...insurance. Then we sat back and watched for a while as Matt practiced on his ukulele. Once satisfied that Blue Moon was secure, we went over to Islamorada's Fish Company for Key Lime pie on a stick and to the big World Wide Sportsman store. We met up with Bob and Mary there and decided that 3:30 was close enough to Happy Hour. We dinghied to Lorelei's and settled ourselves in with some very cold beer that went down real easy. At 5:00, the group arrived for our pre-arranged Happy Hour and dinner. Everyone was there including Jack and Nikki from Tigger and Judy and Chuck from Wanker. Wanker had been towed to Mangrove Marina. Chuck had contacted a marine mechanic who said that he could fix it on Monday. But resourceful Chuck didn't want to wait so long. As he was wandering the marina docks looking for answers, he spotted a marine mechanic, who lived on a nearby boat. He was coming home from work. Chuck asked him to look at his engine...$50 later, it was running and Wanker was on her way to rejoin the group. So we were all back together and we had a few additional people.. Tigger's friend, Dan and a couple from Punta Gorda, Larry and Stephanie on "Lady Lassie" joined us. The meal was very good and I had the huge salad that I'd been craving. When I learned that Stephanie was from Ireland, I started to pepper her with lots of questions. She told me to "friend her" on Facebook and I could use her for a reference for our upcoming Ireland trip in September. We finished dinner by 6:30, as we were told previously that our table area had been reserved for a "meeting" at 7:00. We returned to our boats. Matt and I enjoyed a glass of wine as we watched the sunset (no green flash tonight). After we took our showers, we ran the generator and retired to the cabin for dessert and games. At 10:45, I was in the salon reading when I heard a long whistle then a "bang" . I looked outside and saw a beautiful professional fireworks display. Oh yes, how could we forget...the Cambodian New Year Celebration! I woke Matt up and we enjoyed the show then we went to sleep. It was another great night on the water with both Matt and I sleeping soundly. We were up by 6:45 and picking up the anchor by 8:00.
We headed south on Biscayne Bay. There was a gentle north breeze behind us and the sun was shining. We arrived at Barnes Sound at 10:30 and dropped our anchor in the northwest corner. Once the sailboats arrived, we lowered our dinghies and headed through the mangroves to Alabama Jacks for lunch. Alabama Jacks is a funky Keys style restaurant/bar. The food was great, but there was one problem. The waitress lost Judy and Chuck's credit card. We searched the bar for it, but our guess is that she gave it to another patron or it slipped between the floor boards into the waters below. They called their credit card company from the restaurant to cancel the card. After returning to our boats, we upped anchors and headed south another 10 nm to Tarpon Basin. On our way, we saw Tigger anchored near Jewfish Cut. They had separated from the group last night. We hailed them on the radio and told them where we were headed. They would meet us there. We arrived at Tarpon Basin and dropped our hook, but it didn't catch. So we tried again and this time, we were successful. We lowered the dinghy and went to the government building which has a dinghy dock, garbage disposal and water. We found a shaded picnic pavillion and played a Pig It/Hog It tournament. We played for over three hours, but then it began to get dark and the bugs were coming out. We returned to the boat at 20:00, took our showers then started up the generator. It was time to retire to the v-berth to read and sleep. The plan was "anchors up at 8:00". We only had 6 nm to get to Dinner Key. We were awake by 6:30 and had breakfast.
At 8:00, we all streamed out of the anchorage and headed south. The wind was blowing 12 kts over the rear quarter and we could see a couple of the sailors putting their jibs out. We arrived at Dinner Key and saw that the mooring field might look a litte bouncy. Matt and I volunteered to go down the mile entrance channel and check out the situation. As we approached the mooring field we could see that the boats on the moorings were hobby horsing. That wouldn't make for a good night's sleep. Just then, JourneyOn stated that since it was such nice sailing day, they would like to continue to Sand/Elliot Key which was 15 miles further. That anchorage would be protected from the east winds. Everyone agreed and we moved on. The sailors were having a great time finally being able to turn off the engine and sail. Blue Moon was bouncing along at 7 kts or so. We found that going a little faster gave us more a comfortable ride when the waves were hitting us on the beam. We arrived at the calm and protected anchorage at 11:45. The water was crystal clear. We dropped our anchor in 6 ft of water close to the shore. The tide would be going down 1.5 ft, and we only need 3 ft. I watched the anchor drop to the sandy bottom. I always wonder what our anchor did once it goes underwater, but today I could see it. Matt went right to work on the dinghy engine while I desalted railings, stanchions and windows. Within a half hour, he had the carburetor cleaned and we had the dinghy back in the water. It started right up. Matt found a little white blop in the carburetor which was due to ethanol or bad gas, so for now on we are keeping the tools needed to make the repair on the dinghy. With the dinghy now running, we headed to the beach. The water was so nice. I was able to walk out to Blue Moon's anchor and stand on it. We all played in the water, then returned to the shaded beach. After a while, Matt and I returned to Blue Moon to relax. At 16:00, we returned to the beach for Happy Hour. We discussed tomorrow's plans and decided to go to Alabama's Jacks in Barnes Sound for lunch, then go another eight miles and anchor in Blackwater Sound for the evening. We returned to Blue Moon. When we entered the cabin, we closed the door and somehow the lock activated. The door key was outside and we were locked inside. Matt gave me a boost and I gracefully crawled out of the v-berth hatch. I retrieved the key and opened the door. After showering, Matt barbecued steak and chicken for dinner. Then we enjoyed a glass of wine while we watched the sunset. It has been a wonderful trip so far. The only disappointment has been the lack of Pig It/Hog It games that have been played on this leg of the trip in comparison to the first four days of our trip when we were traveling with the southbound Punta Gorda Sailing Club group. But we'll make up for that when we get home. We were awake and picking up the anchor by 7:45. Miami was our destination. Matt and I along with Tigger and Ladyhawk had decided to stay on the inside , but the other four boats wanted to go offshore and do some sailing.
There was to be a N-NE wind blowing 10-20 kts. We had a very pleasant 20 nm trip on the inside. There was minimum boat traffic and most of the trip was in a slow speed zone, so no big wakes today. There was enough wind for sailing even inside and we could see Tigger sailing at our heels. We had only two bridges (one which we had to wait for 15 minutes). The second bridge was the Venetian Causeway in Miami. To avoid another 15 minute wait, we went to the east bridge (which was adjacent to the anchorage) instead of the west bridge. At noon, we were dropping the anchor. It didn't bite but on our second attempt we had success. Blue Moon wasn't going anywhere. Apparently, the sailboats on the outside where having a rougher time. The Navy was doing submarine maneuvers and the sailboats were directed a minimum of 3 miles out to sea. They somehow got into the Gulf Stream, where the southern current was colliding with the strong N-NE creating confused, high waves. When they finally arrived at the Governmenr Cut, the main channel was closed due to security. A NCL cruise ship was in port today, so they would have to go around Dodge Island the long way. Since no one in that group was familar with this route they got lost. They finally arrived at the anchorage at 15:00-ish. At 13:30, we took the dinghy down and headed for shore, but the dinghy motor died. As Matt tried to get it going, I took the oars out and started rowing back toward Blue Moon. On our way back, Matt got the engine going. We turned around and headed for shore. Then it died again and I started rowing again. This happened three times, before we finally got to the dinghy dock at 14:15. It was low tide and it was a climb up to the dock from the dinghy. We locked the dinghy to the dock and then headed over to Lincoln St. We walked down to South Beach, then along Ocean Blvd to Collins Blvd, then to Espanol Dr. We ended up back on Lincoln and had an ice cream. We did a lot of walking, and enjoyed the people watching but the whole time we were worried that the dinghy wouldn't get us back to Blue Moon. As we were returning to the dinghy dock, we saw Fred and Lea in their dinghy heading back to Ladyhawk. We waved Hi and they turned around. We explained to them about our finicky dinghy engine and they offered to escort us back to Blue Moon...just in case. The wind had increased since we had come ashore and it was challenging climbing down into the dinghy. The dinghy engine started right up and got us back to Blue Moon. We were suppose to return to shore at 4:30 with the group, but the dinghy engine wouldn't start. Bob and Mary offered to give us a lift, but it was too windy to have four people in their dinghy, so we declined. It was too bouncy for Matt to work on the dinghy engine so we had Happy Hour and dinner. We watched the full moon rise and the colorful Miami skyline light up after the sun set as we sipped our wine and listened to ambiance music. When we awoke this morning, the skies were very gray. I checked the internet weather and saw a massive area of green, yellow and red on the map. It was all around us. Yes, we would be getting some rain.
We had breakfast, then the rains began. At 8:00, we conferred with our group on the marine radio. We decided to wait until 8:30 and see what was happening with the rain. At 8:30, it was still raining, so we would talk again at 9:00. That gave me just enough time to clean the cabin and head. At 9:00, the rain was stopping and there was even a patch of blue sky to be seen. We decided to up anchors and make the 9:20 bridge opening. When we got to the second bridge, Blue Moon passed under it, but the sailboats would have to wait 20 minutes for it to open. There were a total of eight bridges for the sailboats, but Blue Moon had to contend with only 4 of them. Blue Moon arrived at the Sylvia Lake anchorage at 11:30. It was already crowded. We circled around looking for a place to drop our anchor. Once we were secure, we relaxed on the boat. Two hours later, the rest of our fleet arrived and managed to find somewhere to anchor. We then dinghied a mile across the ICW then went down a canal to Southport Raw Bar. They charge $10 to tie up our dinghies but we could use that $10 receipt toward food and beverage sometime today. We walked a half mile to the Ace Hardware so that JourneyOn could refill their propane tank and we could by some bug spray. When we returned to the Southport Raw Bar, we found a large table and were joined by the crews of Blown Away, Ladyhawk and Wanker. It was Ken's birthday and it was Happy Hour at the restaurant, which made for a fun time. It soon began to rain. Luckily we had closed up Blue Moon, but we would get wet on our way back. But first, we needed to walk across the street to WinnDixie to pick up a couple needed items. It was still raining when we got back to the dinghy and we had the mile trip back to our boats. It wasn't the most pleasant dinghy ride that we have taken especially when the lightening and thunder began. The tide had risen 2 ft since we left the boats earlier today and the bridge clearance was less. We anticipated this and had taken an alternate canal back which had a higher bridge, but we still had to get low into the dinghy to clear it. Once back on Blue Moon, we picked up the dinghy, showered then turned on the generater to charge the batteries a little. While the generator was running, we turned on the A/C to get some of the moisture out of the boat. We retired to the v-berth, where I read and Matt watched Spainish TV. It was a quiet evening. If it rained during the night, it wasn't enough to get us wet and wake us. We were up by 6:30 and picking up the anchor by 7:00. We decided that since we had 29 nm and 5 bridges to go (the sailboats had 12 bridges) and since there would be a lot of Sunday boat traffic, we would get going early. There was no movement on the other boats, so I left a facebook message for them and we quietly lifted our anchor. As we were leaving the anchorage, Bob on JourneyOn stuck his head out to say Bye.
We had just got onto the ICW when a small fishing boat went speeding by throwing a big wake and OJ was spilled on Matt, and on Blue Moon's walls, steering wheel and cabin sole. Guess we didn't get up early enough to beat all the Sunday boaters. We slowly made our way down the ICW trying to time the bridges and avoid the wakes of the more inconsiderate boaters. There were a couple confusing and strange occurrences that we encountered in our travels....besides the OJ incident. At one bridge, a sailboat positioned itself across the center of the bridge opening for 10 minutes almost blocking thru traffic as he attempted to call the bridgetender. Also, there was some dredging going on in tbe ICW with floating bouys around it to indicate to stay away, but no indication where we should be to find the deep water. We never did find the deep water, but it was deep enough for our 3 ft draft. Then when we arrived at the charted Lantana Bridge, it wasn't there. Yes, strange but true. Finally at 12:30, we were approaching the anchorage. It was a busy place with lots of small power boats sitting on the shoal in the center. There were lots of people swimming, playing and partying. We found a spot and dropped our anchor. The water was so clear and it looked so inviting. After about an hour, I gave in and jumped in. Matt quickly joined me. When I stood up in the water, it was chest level deep. Blue Moon was sitting in 4 ft of water . We played in the water for about 1 1/2 hours until our fingers became wrinkled. Our neighbors on the trawler, Lady Lee dinghied over to introduce themselves. They were Jamie and Joe from Ft Myers. They said that they recognized our boat from Pelican Bay. We enjoyed chatting with them. I'm sure we'll see them again back in home waters. The sailboats arrived about 15:00. After they found a spot to anchor, the crews from Tigger, JourneyOn and Blown Away joined us in the water. It was so pleasant swimming there. We had thought about going ashore with Bob, Mary, Nancy and Ken to explore, but we bailed and decided to enjoy Happy Hour on board instead. We took showers to rinse the salt off, had Happy Hour followed by dinner. After dinner, we played Words With Friends and read. Tomorrow, we plan to go to Lake Sylvia in Ft. Lauderdale. |
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