Homestead

Day 200, February 26th, 2010

Okay, enough sitting about!! We were off the bus at 7:25 a.m. and picked up Sharon from Pea Soup. Walked at lightening speed, the mile or so, to the bus stop and caught the 8:05 to "Florida City Mall" in Homestead. A 2 and a half hour ride or thereabouts, North. Very expensive to go North - $2.35 as opposed to the $1.50 to Key West! An interesting ride on US1 up through the keys. We passed all the places by road that we had seen on the way down by boat. Very little land so all the towns, Islamorada, Tavernier, Key Largo, etc. are all spread out in long lines.

We arrived around 10:30 and visited Walmart, Best Buy and then had lunch at the Cracker Barrel. Then over to the outlet mall where we found some lovely stores. Back to Walmart and fiddled around until catching the bus back to Marathon at 3:15.

Not the most exciting day but pleasant!

Totally Lazy Today!!

Day 199, February 25th, 2010

Poked my nose out first thing this morning to find a cold, cold wind blowing even though the sun was shining. I'm reading a totally fascinating book called "I know this much is true." by Wally Lamb, so turned straight back down in the cabin and decided that was where I was staying for the day!!!!

I read my book. John did Sudoku and stuff on the computer. He signed us up for wifi on the boat for the next month. That will be great - won't have to take the computer into the marina when we want to go on line. He also put some money in our Skype account so we can make "phone" calls from the computer for pennies!

We idled the day away!!

Marathon

Day 198, February 24th, 2010

Its just too much to hope for - 2 sunny days in a row!!! Back to cloudy skies and rain again.

Went to "The Stuffed Pig" for breakfast. Oh my goodness! All this fatty food! Don't say anything! The Piggy place is rather like the Hoito in Thunder Bay, except for the palm trees! You've gotta love it!!!

After breakfast we walked up to Publix for some groceries and then back to the boat. Fixed Calico Beans to take to the pot luck at 5:00. We thought perhaps it might be cancelled because of the rain but it wasn't. Met a nice young couple there last night - he was from New Zealand and she was from Brazil. They are looking for their next trip as crew, no known destination. We had a good chat about New Zealand where John and I will go next winter!!!

By the time we got back to the dinghy the wind had come up again! It was blowing like crazy and raining again!! The wind kept up all night. The boat swung this way and that on the mooring buoy and the wind howled. Not exactly a peaceful night's sleep.

Sunshine!!!!

Day 197, February 23rd, 2010

Wonders will never cease!! We awoke to blue skies and warm sunshine!!!! We went to the beach - just a short dinghy ride away. We swam (water was a little chilly but wonderful) and sunbathed and read our books all afternoon. My kind of day!!!

Had a salad for supper in the cockpit, watching a pretty sunset. It seems as if we've hardly used the cockpit - its always raining or too cold!!

In the evening, played Dominoes again, again I lost miserably!!!!

Raining Again!!

Day 196, February 22nd, 2010

Woke up to pouring rain again. However, put garbage bags around the laundry and set off in the dinghy to do the laundry. It took quite a while as I had to wait for two machines. Got through about 12:30. Meanwhile John walked to West Marine and exchanged some 2 Micron filters for the 10 Micron. We stuffed the clean laundry in a locker, and walked across the road for the $5.00 lunch. It was good! I had chicken pesto pasta and John had spaghetti and meatballs!!

When we got back we watched the curling on TV. Kevin Martin's team beat the US in the 9th end!!!! My first opportunity to watch some Olympics. Go Canada!

Managed to get back to the boat with the laundry back in the garbage bag. Still dry!!

In the evening, John and I went over to Pea Soup and taught John how to play Mexican Train Dominoes!!! Reg was extremely lucky and managed to place all his dominoes down at his first turn, not just once but three times!!! I got stuck with all the dominoes in my hand each time and ended up with a record loss!!!!

Marathon

Day 195, February 21st, 2010

Up first thing in the morning, we went for breakfast at the Legion, almost next door to the marina. They do a great job there. You walk in, order your breakfast and take your number, then sit down and they bring your breakfast to you. John had steak and eggs (he's getting pretty used to that!) and I had eggs, pancakes and sausages!!!

After catching up with the blog, I played Mexican Train Dominoes again. And lost big time!!!
It was fun.

Just had enough time to get back to the boat and prepare some munchies before a bunch of people came on board for a chat. We had a good laugh together. Bit of a squash with 8 below, hiding from the wind and rain!

Key West

Day 194, February 20th, 2010

Today we caught the bus to Key West with Sharon and Reg from Pea Soup. We were meant to catch the bus at 8:12 but had to wait till 8:45 as the bus broke down before it reached us. However, for $1.50 each, we reached the Sears Mall in Key West at 10:00 a.m. and went for breakfast at the IHOP.

We had intended to take the little tour train but ended up renting a 6 seater golf cart together for $100.00 for 5.5 hours. It was cheaper to do it that way and it was fun. We drove down town and parked it behind a dress shop on Duval Street where we could plug it in while we had a look around. (The owner of the rental vehicles and the owner of the dress shop are sisters and this system seems to work very well. We also got a 10% discount at the shop, so, of course, we each shopped for a new T-Shirt!)

We walked around downtown which is really charming with lovely old homes. Lots of verandas again. We saw one tiny little home, one bedroom but beautifully renovated, that was listed for $379,000.00. Apparently Key West has some of the most expensive real estate in the US. We took photos at the Southernmost point, and Sharon and I kind of sneaked into this beautiful old hotel "The Southernmost Hotel" where rooms are $400.00 per night, and they have the most gorgeous pool area looking out over the ocean. The tour of Ernest Hemmingway's house was really amusing and interesting. A beautiful old home built 160 years ago with blocks of quarried rock, 18 inches thick. Needless to say, its survived many hurricanes. There are 43 cats on the property - apparently Mr. H. was a real cat lover and there were probably about that number there when he owned the house.

We ended up having supper at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, but he was only there in the video! There's lots more to see and we shall have to go back and see more another day.

Caught the bus home again at 8:40 p.m., arriving back at the marina at 10:00 p.m. It was a fun day.

Great Loopers Get Together

Day 193, February 19th, 2010

We poked our head out this morning and it was cold!!! Poor John's ankle is still swollen and the foot is quite bruised so we decided to take it easy. In other words, just plain lazy. I read my book all day, John played Sudoku!! However, we finally did emerge around 4:00 p.m. and made our way over to the Banana Bay Marina and Resort, across the street and up the road a bit. They were hosting a party for the American Great Looper Cruisers' Association. It was fun. We ate hot dogs and munchies which we all brought. We met people we had bumped into along route and others that we hadn't met, some just starting out. I think we were the only sail boaters, everybody else had trawlers and motor cruisers. It was a fun get together.

The Turtle Hospital

Day 192, February 18th, 2010

Today I really had some fun! I went with two girlfriends to the Turtle Hospital. It was so interesting. Its just a short 15 min. walk from here. It used to be the only turtle hospital but now there are a couple of others in the south. Turtles were brought here from all over but now are spread between the various facilities. Turtles are brought in when found by the public, the Coast Guard or the Department of Fisheries, when they are sick and needing help. The are treated sometimes for long periods and then released back into the sea. Some stay for short periods, others for years. They have an operating room, and a large salt water pool, with other small tanks for more supervision. It really is a hospital!! The hospital was established in 1949 and is completely independent, funded by its tours and gift shop. It cost us each $15.00 for the tour and was worth every penny. We learned that there are 5 types of turtles, the most common green turtles, the loggerhead, the leatherback, the hawksbill, and the kemps ridley. Its a sad story of pollution for the most part. Turtles ingest fish hooks and line which gums up their intestines. The fish line gets tangled around their flippers. And they get bumped and injured by boats and propellers. Amazingly they can swim up to 25 mph. but sometimes not fast enough. They are often found floating on the surface when they are sick. They are brought in and treated with surgery and antibiotics. Sometimes flippers have to be amputated but they can adapt well to swimming with 3 flippers. If their intestines are all bunged up they treat them with metamucil and mineral oil - sound familiar!!? They are kept until they poop out the fishing line, hooks and plastic bags!!! Poor dears!! Sometimes, when their shell is damaged by banging into a boat, they develop a pocket of air under their shell and develop "Bubble Butt Syndrome". The air bubble prevents them from diving down to the bottom where they feed and they starve to death. They have not been able to find a way to remove the air. Puncturing the shell only causes infections. They have tried hyperbolic chambers but that doesn't work either. Their only method of helping at present is to attach a weight to the shell so that the turtle can dive and be able to feed. "Each turtle is named by the person who brings him in. There are some funny names. "Bubble Butt" himself is still resident at the hospital - he's been there since 1991. He'll never be able to look after himself so he'll stay there for the rest of his life. (They may live for 100 years!) Another turtle was called "April". April was named when he first arrived - they didn't realise he was a she until he was quite a bit older!!
"Anita" is a hawksbill and she looks beautiful but for some unknown reason she swims in circles!!! They are trying to teach her to swim straight!! It was all fascinating. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Marathon

Day 191, February 17th, 2010

A pretty quiet day today. I stayed home in the morning and cleaned "house"! Things were looking pretty grubby so it was nice to stay home and spruce things up! John went into the marina to use wifi and didn't come home for a while. I finished up my cleaning and then sat in the cockpit and read my book! The sun was shining and it was warm in the cover of the dodger!

Late in the afternoon, I dinghied out to the ocean to spy out the beach. Its so pretty out there. There were lots of people on the beach but I need it to be a bit warmer. Will save that for a warm day!!

We went into the marina for 5:00 p.m. and joined the "Meet & Greet". Lots of boaters met in the common room and joined the Pot Luck. Next week I'll bring more! We were about 2/3 of the way down the line-up and the food table was getting a bit thin!!! Boaters have big appetites!! All the serving dishes were pretty much licked clean!!

Manatee and Iguana

Day 190, February 16th, 2010

Sharon and Reg said they'd seen all kinds of manatees and iguanas up the canals the day before. I was so anxious to go back there and try to find them to get some photographs. John stayed back on the boat and changed fuel filters again. He had called the diesel shop in the morning and described our engine symptoms and was advised to try changing the filters again and to check if there was any crimping in the fuel line. the mechanic thought it sounded as if the engine was starving for fuel. He doesn't have a slip at the shop, so it would mean checking into a marina for him to come to the boat, or paying for a "home visit"! John reckoned he would try himself first.

It was cold and windy again today and the water was a little choppy. Sharon and I dinghied over to the canals but we only found one manatee and she seemed very shy. As soon as we approached she would swim away or go straight underneath us. I did get a couple of shots but not quite what I'd hoped. We also saw two iguanas. I really like the shot of the iguana swimming!

When I got back to the boat, John reckoned he'd had some success. He'd changed the 2 micron filter for a 10 micron filter and seemed to be getting better engine performance for less RPMs. Maybe this was the problem! We are hoping. It will be easier to test it when we get a ball. Right now if we pull up the anchor and go for a test run, the nice anchorage spot might be taken when we get back. Once we get on the ball we can come and go without worries!! We think we might have moved up on the mooring ball list from 27 to about 15!!!

While Sharon and I were still busy, John walked up to West Marine but tripped en route and sprained his ankle!!! He rarely complains but mentioned it several times and it was swelling!!
We were invited for a barbecue to "Barefoot" that evening. Again, there were lots of people. Too many for the boat so we moved to the dock under the tiki hut. There were 3 couples there from Port Credit Yacht Club - old home week for them!! It was fun. A great bunch of people but it was freezing cold. It wasn't too bad as I was wearing long pants, a fleece and my wind proof jacket but John had gone in shorts!! What with his sore ankle and hypothermia - we left early and were glad to get back to the boat. We fired up our little "Mr. Heater" on high and cooked up some hot chocolate, and watched an Indiana Jones movie!!

Marathon

Day 189, February 15th, 2010

The weather was a little better today. The wind dropped and it actually felt warm again and we were even happy to wear shorts!!! Thinking Pea Soup would be moving on very soon, we invited them to supper tonight. Just as we got that organised, Mike from Sea Sharp came by and invited the four of us over to his boat for drinks at 4:00 along with everybody from Sisters Creek andWhiskey Creek - as a celebration for surviving the storm last Thursday night!!!

In the afternoon John and I walked up to Publix again to buy some steak and stuff for supper. We took a grocery cart from the marina so we didn't have to lug all the heavy stuff home. Thats a good system - there are several carts around the marina and you just borrow it to go shopping and leave it somewhere on the property for the next guy.

We just got home in time to get organized and then it was off to Sea Sharp. There must have been about 14 people on the boat in the end. It was a great time. As always, with boaters, you felt like you'd know everybody for years after the first 20 minutes. One couple brought their guitar and a Cajon Drum from Haiti and played a couple of songs for us. They were wonderful.

Around 6:45 John and I and Sharon and Reg said goodnight and dinghied back to our boat to barbecue the steaks etc. It was yummy and we agreed we'd all had a great evening.

Valentines!!

Day 188, February 14th, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!! I had breakfast made for me - scrambled egg, bacon, toast, coffee, and he cleaned up as well!! How lovely!! Afterwards we thought we'd go exploring in the dinghy. So we went all over. First to the west end down to the marina "Burdine's", to top up the fuel jugs, and then all the way to the east end, past marinas, and canals. Its a huge area with the mooring fields in the middle and anchorages too.

We ended up back at the marina where an exciting game of Mexican Dominoes was going on!! John watched Olympics in the common room while I joined in the game! It was a lot of fun. The game didn't finish till late in the afternoon but we all had a good laugh and got to know some other boaters too.

Marathon

Day 187, February 13th, 2010

Miserable day again. What on earth happened to the warm sunshine? We went into the marina in the morning and finished up the Blog, adding some photos etc. Then Sharon and Reg came by and we walked to the "Stuffed Pig" across the street for lunch. It was a little late, we didn't realise they closed at 2:00p.m. and must have ordered just before that. By 2:30 we suddenly realised the place was empty except for us and the staff were sweeping the floor. Poor Sharon took her chips and water to go!!

Reg went back, but Sharon, John and I walked up to the grocery store, "Publix", and scouted around the area there. Its quite a long walk again. We seem to get our exercise this way!
It was pretty late by the time we got back, and were glad to put the kettle on for a cup of tea!!

Marathon

Day 186, February 12th, 2010

Weather forecast bad again. It was meant to blow at 20 knots last night but that didn't happen. However, another cold front was forecast with gusts up to 40 knots. We looked around at the crowded anchorage and decided it would be best to reanchor just a little further over. It took a couple of tries but finally we were set. However, there were boats very close to us. Some were on one anchor, others on two, and one old wreck behind us was on a permanent mooring on a short chain. Quandry. The holding was excellent but what about the other boats? I jumped in the dinghy and went scouting to see what Sister Creek was like. Just a little ways up the bay a channel runs through the mangroves to the sea. There were about 5 boats in Sisters' Creek and another boat we had just met were moving up another tributary, Whiskey Creek. It all looked good. Room to swing without interfering with anyone and I was told the water was deep right up to the mangroves. John was in the middle of getting the eggs and bacon on the go but we decided to put that aside and move again, before the rush started for greater cover.

We anchored behind another Canadian boat "Sea Sharp" and it wasn't very long before Pea Soup came along and hid up Whiskey Creek. We felt much better about this location and settled comfortably to eat our eggs, bacon and pancakes, washed down with coffee!!!

Feeling much more positive we took the laundry and set off to do chores. I was chatting in the laundry room with another lady who has been here many times and when she heard we had moved into Sisters Creek she told me that there's an electrical current in the water there. Be careful as a man raising his anchor had got a shock off his chain a couple of weeks ago and last year and 8 year old child had been eletrocuted when she'd jumped in to go swimming!!!! Ha! Now we know why there were so few boats there!!! We definitely won't be going swimming in the creek. On the southern shore of the creek are signs saying "Government Property, No trespassing". There are 4 huge radio towers which apparently transmit to Cuba but no signs of a power plant or anything. Not good.

However, we finished up the laundry, did the banking and I sat and wrote up almost two weeks on the Blog before we returned to the boat. It was close to 6:00 p.m. when we got back. Reg from Pea Soup came over to us and told us that the weather forecast had changed - now they were talking about 60 knot gusts and advising people to seek shelter in strong buildings!!! Uh oh!! Here we go again. More excitement! We came to Marathon for the easy stress free life and trouble just seems to follow us!! John set another anchor and looped it around a big root in the mangroves, getting caught in a huge downpour! In a matter of minutes the sky went black, the lightening started but we were still waiting for the wind. The weather channel were warning it would start at 7:15p.m. We waited patiently but nothing really happened. At 11:00 p.m. I went to bed thinking it had missed us and John came shortly after. We woke up at 1:00 though and the wind was howling. It sounded as if we were in a wind tunnel but the water was quite flat. We'd turned 180 degrees but the anchors were holding. John got up with his fowly gear on and kept an anchor watch in the cockpit. We agree to do 3 hour watches. I was nice and warm and comfortable in bed and went to sleep! Around 3:30 a.m. the wind had dropped and John came back to bed. An anti climax again. Thank goodness!

Marathon, FL

Day 185, February 11th, 2010

Weather forecast had changed again. Time to move to Marathon today as bad weather expected all weekend. So we dropped the balls around 7:30 and motored to Marathon. We were able to use the jib most of the day with the wind behind us. Quite cool. We were wearing fleeces and our all weather gear and glad of it! Who would have thought at this latitude!!

The pictures above were taken on the approach to Marathon. You have to go under "the 7 mile bridge" before turning NE again on the ocean side to go into Boot Key Harbour where Marathon is located. Its a beautiful bridge, just part of US1 that runs all the way down through the keys to Key West. It must be a beautiful drive along there!

We arrived around 1:00 and didn't have too much trouble finding a spot to park amongst the other boats in the anchorage. Very busy place!!! We went into the administration building as soon as we arrived to get our name added to the list - welll into the 20s!!!! Paid $135.00 for use of the dinghy dock, wifi, showers and laundry for a month. They will call us on the cell phone when a mooring buoy becomes available - you have 2 hours to respond before they call the next name on the list. After checking it all out we both agreed that staying here is going to be lots of fun.

It was a completely peaceful night - so quiet. We slept like logs!!

Shell Key

Day 184, February 10th, 2010

The weather forecast was not good at all. More wind for the next two days. Knowing that Marathon was very busy, with a 26 boat waiting list for moorings there and a busy anchorage, and that the water behind us was so shallow, we decided to stay put on the mooring buoys at Shell Key. It was a quiet day, snoozing off and on, reading, etc.

In the evening, John and I braved the dinghy and went over to Pea Soup for a great meal of pasta cabonara, with shrimp and lobster, followed by apply pie. Thanks Sharon! It was yummy. After a quick game of dice, we decided it was time to return. The wind had come up by then and we slopped back home to Periwinkle in the dark.

The second night wasn't quite so lumpy and again we held well.

Shell Key

Day 183, February 9th, 2010

Time to move on. We thought we would get down to Lignumvitae Key and anchor on the east side. Weather forecast predicted a blow overnight from the North West.

There were some very shallow areas, especially before Steamboat Channel. Pea Soup did go aground once but was able to power off without trouble. There were long lengths where our depth sounder reckoned we had only 0.1ft beneath us, but we didn't touch bottom.

We arrived at Lignumvitae around 1:00 but didn't like the look of it at all. We would be totally exposed there and the chart showed a rocky bottom, not good holding. So we motored around to the other side where there were meant to be some mooring buoys maintained by Lignumvitae State Park. There were only 2 and a houseboat had already picked up one. After some discussion and checking the charts again we decided to retrace our steps, back through Steamboat Channel to Windley Key where there looked to be a little mangrove creek that might work. However, Sharon read Skipper Bob again and found there were meant to be more mooring buoys on the north side of Shell Key. As it was on our way we decided to have a look there. We found two mooring buoys, widely spaced apart and both looked in good condition.
Knowing that we would be exposed to the NW blow, we decided that this would be a pretty safe spot and each took a ball.

It turned out to be a very bumpy night. I can best describe it by saying it felt like lying flat on a bucking bronco, in the middle of a washing machine. However, the mooring held firm and all was well.

Tarpon Basin

Day 182, February 8th, 2010

Having got totally sold on the wetsuit idea, we set off again in the morninig to Divers Direct. This time Reg kindly dropped the three of us off in the canal at the other end of the town from the municipal dock, hoping to cut off some of the distance. It was still a long walk!! However, we managed to find some coupon books on the way ($10 off for every purchase of $79.00 and over). John and I fitted ourselves out with these fancy wetsuits. I made a bit of a fool of myself - I somehow managed to squeeze myself into this suit but it was so uncomfortable and nearly throttled me. I emerged out of the change room and told the salesman. He didn't even crack a smile but just said "You've got it on backwards, it zips up at the back." Oh well! Back to the change room, struggle out and then back in and guess what - it felt pretty good!!!

I wasn't looking forward to the hike back at all but then the very nice woman at the desk offered us a ride back in her car!! How kind! We had the $5.00 lunch at Paradise - roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and mixed veggies. Very good.

In the afternoon, we had great fun. We took the dinghies up the canals looking for manatees.
We found a mom andher baby at the end of one of these canals, and visited with them for at least 10 minutes. We shut off the engines and just paddled gently up to them. Could have reached out and touched them they were so close. They both came up to the surface and took little puffy breaths, watching us all the time as we watched them. It was so lovely. Guess what - I forgot to take the camera!!!

Then we scooted across the bay and went dinghying through the mangrove tunnel. It was cool. The mangroves with their long fingers reaching into the water. Very pretty when the sun came out and dappled through the leaves. We followed the tunnel to a little lake where boats can hide out in a storm. I'd read about boats hiding out from hurricanes in the mangroves and could imagine how safe it would feel!

We were getting pretty tired by the times we got back to Periwinkle but after a sit and a cup of tea, John and I got our wetsuits on and went for a trial swim! Lots of jelly fish, although we were told at the park that the little clear ones don't bite!! Good thing, there were lots. The sun was going down so visibility wasn't good. John felt 10lbs. of weight in the weight belt was good for him. I kind of gave up at 8lbs. Will have to try again another day. 8lbs. wasn't enough though. No appreciable difference between 6 and 8!!! Too many adipose cells I think!!!

Tarpon Basin

Day 181, February 7th, 2010

Its too nice in Tarpon Basin. We decided to stay. Sharon and I walked up to the Park again and signed up with the Snorkelling Tour. We took a boat out to the 8 miles reef and went snorkelling there. There were about 10 others. Two couples from England - 1 from London and the other from Kent but he had relatives in Bury St. Edmunds, close to my home town!!!
It was good to chat with them en route. Sharon and I both rented shorty wet suits when we heard about the jelly fish. Ahhh! Memories of jelly fish bites on the River Deben when I was a child. No thanks!! The wet suit was great!! The reef itself was not especially colourful but the fish were amazing. Huge baracuda, bright blue tangs and parrot fish, schools of yellow grunts and lots of angel fish. There were lots of others too, that I recognised from the video in the information building but I couldn't remember their names. It was really wonderful. On the way back Sharon and I rode up top in the Pilot House and chatted with the skipper and his pal.
It was well worth the money.

Meanwhile the poor guys had tramped it up to Divers Direct again, this time to buy the weights!!
Poor John had blisters all over his poor feet and the 10 lbs. of weights got heavier and heavier all the way back!!

Tarpon Basin

Day 180, 6th February, 2010

John changed the oil filters on the engine in the m orning. On two occcasions in the last couple of days we kind of lost propulsion. Didn't hit anything, didn't hear any clonks or anything, she just sort of lost gusto. Maybe dirty filters. We'll get the engine and transmission checked with a Yanmar mechanic in Marathon, just to be sure all is well.

Then we went out to play. Sharon and I walked over to the John Pennekamp State Park just up the highway. Its beautiful there, a real family place with all kinds of things to do. I had a lovely swim in the bay. It was lovely. Unfortunately the sun went behind the clouds though and it wasn't quite warm enough to sit on the beach! So we walked back to the dinghies and met the guys. John had walked up to Divers Direct (about 5 miles in the other direction!) He'd bought a weight belt so he could check the anchor a little more easily. We were going to try out Reg's weights to see how much we'd need.

We had supper at the Paradise Restaurant just across from the municipal building. A cute little pink place!!! Another late night!!

Tarpon Basin, Key Largo

Day 179, February 5th, 2010

Ah! Back to normal! Wind had clocked around and was back on the nose. We motored to Tarpon Basin on Key Largo. It looks small on the chart but is in fact large and shallow. We anchored in 7 feet, with quite a long dinghy ride to the municipal dock.

However, we had a nice afternoon with a long hike to West Marine. Met a nice lady there who gave us all a ride to the shopping mall a good 3 miles back the other direction. Had a hot dog and an ice cream in a little cafe and then found our way back to the dinghies in the dark! We didn't get back to the boats till 8:00 p.m. A late night out for us!!!

It was windy when we got back to the boat. The basin is so open there wasn't much protection.
The chart shows the bottom to be coral, grass and sand. We had held all day but sure enough dragged at about 8:00 p.m. Moved up in the dark and reanchored. No harm done but made us nervous. We put the anchor alarm on on the GPS. Ended up on anchor watch till the wind dropped around 4:00 a.m. Not the best of nights!!!

Barnes Sound

Day 178, 4th February, 2010

This was a memorable day! The wind was perfect - about 15kn out of the east, gave us a perfect beam reach all day down the Bay of Biscayne. Conditions couldn't have been better. Speed Over Ground varied between 6.2 and 7.2knots all day!! There are moments on a sail boat when you know for sure that life just couldn't get any better. Shear Bliss!!

We nearly stopped in one anchorage but decided it was rather exposed so decided to go on a little further. Pea Soup were ahead of us and when they stopped we knew something wasn't right. Sure enough, they'd picked up a crab pot on the propeller!! That seems another common thing about sailing. Just when you get to thinking life is perfect, something untoward occurs. We both dropped the anchors, and Reg went overboard. Fortunately he was able to untangle the crab pot without even having to use the knife. No harm done, he'd shoved it into neutral in time!!! We finally anchored in Barnes Sound in the shelter of the mangroves. Nobody else around.

Sharon and Reg came over for rum and cokes and munchies - they deserved it after the crab pot.

No Name Harbour

Day 177, February 3rd, 2010

We brought the anchor up at 7:00 motored through East Venetian Bridge at 7:30 and met Pea Soup two little bays down the causeway. John was concerned we would not be able to reach Rodriguez Key before dark, so we decided to stop at No Name Harbour on the southern tip of Key Biscayne only 12 miles south.

En route something happened to the propulsion and she slowed down for a short while. We didn't know why. John decided to dive on the boat when we arrived and check out the prop and shaft. (See picture of him with his flippers on!).

Having never really looked at the charts for the Keys, I had a close look en route. At No Name we had a chat together and decided with strong east winds expected over the next few days, Rodriguez would not be the best spot. Its situated on the ocean side in Hawk's Channel, where there would be no protection. So we all agreed we would change our plan and go on "the inside", where there were lots more spots to stop and stuff to see, using the high tide where necessary.

We had a lovely afternoon at No Name. We went for a hike in the afternoon through Billy Braggs State Park, to the lighthouse. They've built a replica of the lighthouse keeper's cottage there and the lighthouse has all been restored. Beautiful views from up top!! I couldn't help but think what a shame it was that our dear Nottawasaga Light could not receive equal care!!
After all that we'd worked up an appetite, so we ate in the dockside restaurant at No Name. Yummy!

Weather Window?!!

Day 176, February 2nd, 2010

Big Quandry!! Weather not clear. No lay down day. Wind 15kn out of the south east, clocking to NW overnight. Chris Parker was advising boats to leave around 9:00a.m. John and I were concerned. That would not give us enough time to get into Nassau in daylight. If we stopped at the Biminis, we could get stuck there for an indetermined amount of time. With no lay down day we were afraid the gulf stream would be still high and our little motor would not have enough power to push through. We just felt so ambivalent about it that we decided it would not be wise for us to go. So off to Twice 's Nice for a cup of coffee and a chat. We had heard another boat in the anchorage "Sundance V" were definitely going. Sue and Paul were disappointed to hear our decision but kindly understood. We suggested that if they wanted to go they should get on the radio and call Sundance. Their engine is twice the size of ours and they would be able to keep up. We said goodbye so they could talk about it together and make up their minds.

By the time we dinghied over to Pea Soup, they had decided to go, had called Sundance and had got their anchor up and were on their way. We were so glad they made that choice. We had a cup of coffee on Pea Soup and decided that we would travel together down the Keys. Sharon was able to speak to Sundance on the VHF and we heard that Twice 's Nice were on their way.

In the afternoon, John and I decided to walk down to South Beach for the last time. We looked out on the ocean and guess what - the water looked so benign. The quietest we had seen it since arriving in Miami!!! We were sick - had we made the right decision? We didn't know but, oh well, we were still going to have fun and see stuff we'd never seen before!

Rabbit!! Its February!!

Day 175, February 1st, 2010

There's a possibility of a window Tuesday, so we must get all the chores done and be ready to go!!

Pouring rain but lugged all the dirty laundry to the laundromat anyway. While I looked after that, John went back and made a trip to the marina to fill up on fuel. He got totally drenched on the way back to get me. The water was coming down in buckets without let up. The gutters were filling quickly, up to the hub caps on the parked cars. Good thing I brought garbage bags to carry the clean laundry home. Somehow or other it was still warm and dry when we got safely back to the boat.

Miami,FL

Day 174, January 31st, 2010

Paul and Sue and John and I walked down Lincoln Mall to the fruit and veg market set up along the way. Apparently there are also antiques every second week but not this week. Bought some fresh veg and oranges and grapefruit. Nothing too exciting!

Late afternoon, Paul and Sue, Bill and Barb from Suncast and Reg and Sharon from Pea Soup all came on board for a natter and munchies. We all had a good laugh and shared stories. Pea Soup will be going south to the keys this year. They had hoped to sail to Honduras but ran into various "issues" until going that far this year seemed difficult. They were happy to have the chance to talk to Sue and Paul who had just come around the southern end of Florida.