Tuesday May 30 - Finished emptying out the Apartment and provisioning the boat and removing all of the "permanent" lines from the Boca slip in the afternoon and then left for Lake Boca around 3:30 p.m. Hung out in the Lake overnight.
Wednesday May 31 - Weather is sunny and winds are moderate. Left the Lake for Key Biscayne around 8:00 but due to miscues with the bridge schedule didn't get out of the Hillsboro Inlet until around 10:00. Wind is on our nose and so we have to motor the whole day. Thankfully the seas are moderate. At Port Everglades realized that I wasn't seeing the large anchored ships on my AIS and then saw that AIS was no longer active on my plotter. I hadn't changed any settings, so that meant that there is a problem with the unit. Not happy about not having AIS, but nothing to be done about it at that point. Later had an incident with a small car ferry that was backing out right into our path as we were transiting the South Side channel at Dodge Island in Port of Miami on our way to the Brickel Key Channel going to the Rickenbacker Causeway Bridge. Channel too narrow to go around him and it took a while for him to finish his backing and begin to go forward so that we could pass by him. Didn't really know what he intended until he gave us two horn blasts and began going forward. Got to our favorite anchorage off of Key Biscayne around 4:30. Weather is mild and winds are moderate.
Thursday June 1 - Tuckered out from all of the moving and stuff so we stayed at the anchorage for the day. Tried all kinds of things but couldn't get AIS to work. Weather was sunny and winds moderate, so we swam and read and didn't do much else. Even too tired to play Scrabble.
Friday June 2 - Weather is overcast and a little blustery, but it's time to go to our next stop so we raise the anchor and head out to the ocean through Key Biscayne Channel for the trip to Rodriguez Key off of Key Largo. I take the route outside of the reef line rather than through Hawk's Channel because there are too many places you can get into trouble in Hawk's Channel with a 6 ft. draft along the inside route. The wind is still very much on our nose so rather than raise the main and then have to lower it again if we can't sail we pull out the jib to see if we can sail a little. We do motor sail, but the seas are on our beam and lumpy and I think that maybe we would have been better off using the main rather than the jib because if nothing else it would serve as a "staysail", but with the lumpy seas and not wanting have to take in the jib and to stop to point into the wind to put the main up, we just "hang in" until we get to Rodriguez Key. Kind of a lazy approach, but hey, I'm semi-retired right? We're at anchor by Rodriguez Key in 8 ft. of water by 4:30 and put out the ladder to take a swim.
Saturday June 3 - Stay at anchor by Rodriguez Key for the day. Weather's not great for sailing and we're still tired from the move and the motor sail from Key Biscayne in lumpy conditions.
Sunday June 4 - Leave for Channel Five around 8:00. Wind is blustery 15-20 knts. or so out of the East/Southeast so we can finally put up the main and pull out the jib and sail without the engine. Hawk's Channel is more forgiving on this next leg so we sail close hauled in Hawk's Channel to Channel Five where we go under the bridge into Florida Bay and tuck in behind Matecumbe Key for the night. Nice to be a sailboat for a change. Still no AIS, but since we're sailing during the day and not where there is any commercial shipping, no big deal.
Monday June 5 - Wind and sea conditions remain more or less the same, with the wind veering a little more to East, or maybe it's just that as we advance down the Keys we are traveling a little more Westerly, but in any event we have a good sail to Moser Channel and go under the bridge and anchor in Florida Bay behind Marathon in Knight Key Channel. Kryss does a lot of the sailing and is really sailing well.
Tuesday June 6 and Wednesday June 7 - On to Key West today. It's sunny and the winds are even more blustery reaching middle 20's with larger waves but the apparent wind is even a little more aft so we move along very nicely. Kryss has been sailing more and more of the time during the last few days and today she really "earned her stripes" holding a steady course in moderately challenging conditions better than I did. We get to Key West by 2:30 or so, but it takes us a while to get the sails in and to motor the last few miles to the entrance channel. I shouldn't have been so conservative. I should have sailed a bit further before taking the sails down, but no harm done. We anchor by Fleming Key where Patrick Rousseau and I anchored when we went to the Dry Tortugas last year. It's crowded and I want to anchor in as shallow water as I can because most of the water in the anchorage is relatively deep. Consequently I anchor on relatively short scope (and with a shorter than usual snubber) in quite close proximity to two other unmanned boats behind us and not that far from a bunch of others, and that's where I make my first mistake. I do say to Kryss when we anchor that way that I won't sleep much that night. How prescient that was! The winds are light and my second mistake is that I don't look at the weather radar. The winds pick up considerably during the night and we're really "rockin' and rollin'". I'm quite concerned because of the short scope, not only the anchor chain but also the snubber. A "double whammy". At 4:00 in very blustery rainy conditions I get up and see that we have draqged so that we're too close to the two boats that I knew we anchored close to. At the same time we get hit with very heavy winds and pouring rain and I start the engine and figure that I'll have to power against the wind to keep us in place and away from the boats behind us.
Kryss gets up to help, but there really isn't anything that she can do. I can't give her the helm in these conditions so that I can go up forward to raise the anchor to move elsewhere, and I highly doubt that I would have tried that even if I could have. Winds reach 38.5 knots at one point and are generally in the high 20's. It's all I can do to keep the boat away from the other boats as it's veering wildly. I know the anchor's dragging, and I know there's something otherwise wrong with how the anchor is behaving, but there's nothing I can do about it. I don't worry that much about it being dark because there's a fair amount of ambient light from Key West and I really know pretty well where all of the boats around me are. I also know that I only have to hang on to around 5:30 for sunrise. It's not the light or lack of it that's the problem, it's the very high veering winds and the difficulty I'm having in controlling the boat. At one point we veer so far to one side that I have serious fear that we'll hit the small unmanned sailboat to our starboard side because I've totally lost the ability to turn back into the wind, but we're fortunate and I do manage to do so at the last moment. As it starts to get light the winds begin to die down and the weather radar shows a lull in the system that's beating us up. I give Kryss the wheel and I go forward to raise the anchor so that we can move and reset it. The clove hitch that I use to attach the snubber to the anchor chain has tightened so much in these conditions that I can't budge it and I have to cut it from the chain. Then when I raise the anchor I see part of the problem. We've snagged some abandoned anchor line and the anchor is fouled and probably never set right. Anyway, we're in a lull in the system. We relocate in deeper water in the same anchorage with a little more swinging room and drop the anchor again. I don't use a snubber because I'm no longer sure of the holding where we are and I want to be able to raise the anchor and "skeddadle" if we start to drag again when the rest of the system gets to us. This time it's a real thunderstorm when it hits and lighting strikes closer to us than I've ever experienced before. I don't see it when it hits, but it feels really, really close. We later learn that one of the boats in the anchorage took a direct hit in the storm. When the system finally passes through we head for the fuel dock where we top off (I'm so exhausted and unnerved that I forget to tip the dockhands who help us) and then on to Margaritaville Marina (the only one that had space for us) and we finally tie up around Noon. It's pricey and very rocky because it's on the main channel open to the sea and the entrance is open to the channel. I now know why they had room for us - no one else who knew better wanted to stay there - but we're tied up, have our fenders out (boy do we need them-we're pinned on the upwind side of the finger pier), and are at a dock and able to get onto dry land for the first time in eight days. We're both exhausted but take a little walk. The marina is associated with a major hotel and is in the center of the whole wharf area. There are a whole bunch of very lifelike larger than life painted "statues" of people in routine situations that are a lot of fun (a sailor kissing a girl bent over like the very famous photo of the sailor and the girl in Times Square on VJ day - a bunch of guys sitting around a little table having a drink, other couples, including one smootching with the guy's hand on the girl's butt, etc.). Pix are attached. We have a nice lunch at a rooftop café right in the middle of the wharf area and dinner on the boat because of the rain squalls that came through at dinner time.
Thursday June 8 - Boy is this a rocky slip. I've never been in a slip so exposed to the sea before. Kryss and I are both in a rush to get off the boat as early as possible and do something, anything just to be off the boat. Rocking at a dock is a heck of a lot worse than rocking at anchor. We take a long walk, pass Hemingway's House but they want $17 each to go in so we take a look from the outside and pass it by. We were there years ago. We walk to the a famous breakfast spot called Blue Heaven and have a lovely breakfast in the garden. I'm busy trying to line up a marine mechanic to try to fix the AIS and a problem with the air conditioning that doesn't allow me to run the aft stateroom unit unless I'm running the salon unit (only the salon unit is activating the cooling water pump). Then we go shopping and Kryss buys a very cute little dress. We walk to the main marina area which is on very long semi-circular wharf loaded with shops and restaurants and we stop at the Brewery so Kryss can watch the tennis at Roland Garros. I leave her to buy a drink and watch the tennis while I walk over to the dock were we purchased fuel to give a tip to the guys I forgot to tip when we took on fuel on Wednesday. When I come back Kryss is nursing a beer watching tennis and "shmoozing" with the waiter, who's a very interesting local who's lived in Key West for 27 years. He recommends a restaurant to us for dinner that doesn't even appear in the magazine showing menus of local restaurants that we picked up, but we trust what he says and make a reservation. It's called 7 Fishes. We start walking back to the boat and stop at a Japanese/Thai restaurant where I have a small sashimi snack for lunch. It's very good. Octopus and wahoo. Not sure I have had whahoo before. It's slightly fishy but has great texture and the octopus is excellent so I really enjoy my lunch. We go to 7 Fishes for dinner and it's really excellent. Naturally we both have fish. Food is very good, plentiful, prepared in a generally novel and nice fashion, and prices are reasonable. We've shared a drink on the boat before leaving for the restaurant, have one to start with at dinner, and I have a glass of wine and then a Remy after dinner. I'm sloshed when we get back to the boat, but we're in a slip, so it doesn't matter.
Friday June 9 - I spend most of the day on the boat with the Marine electrician. AIS unit needs to be replaced as does circuit board for AC. He jury rigs something for the AC so that I don't have to run the salon AC to run the aft AC, and he arranges to update my Raymarine software the next morning with hope that doing so may (we're not optimistic) fix the AIS problem. I'm assured that my AIS is transmitting so that other vessels can see us on AIS, but it's not showing me other vessels.
Kryss goes shopping again and buys some more warm weather casual dresses. Plan to go out for dinner but the thunderstorms roll in again at dinner time, so we eat on the boat.
Saturday June 10/Sunday June 11 - Mechanic shows up at 8:00 and updates Plotter but it doesn't fix the AIS. Weather report is for mild winds, low seas and no major rain/thunderstorm activity, so we get ready to leave for an overnight to Punta Gorda. I'm really nervous about back out of slip because there are unprotected large steel pilings at the entrance to the slip and very little turning room in the marina, as well as the fact that there is a strong surge coming in from the entrance. We wait for the large tourist catamaran to leave the dock behind us to give me a little more turning room. Winds are light and surge is modest and we're backing out of the slip for better or for worse. I manage to exit the slip and turn seaward with difficulty but without incident (although lots of anxiety) and we're off on a 132 nm overnight run to Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda. Winds are very light and aft as we motor out of the long channel from Key West into the open Gulf of Mexico. Once out we raise the main (as much for stability as "push") but not the jib because the winds are so light. Since the wind is aft of abeam I rig the preventer and Kryss sees how it works for the first time. We're making very good time motorsailing in very modest conditions for most of the day but as time goes by the wind veers until late in the day it's on our nose. Who ever heard of a North wind at this time of year in Florida. Anyway, I remove the preventer as the day gets later because I don't want to have to do that at night if we have to jibe or come about, and that turns out to be an unfortunate decision. As night falls the winds pick up and start to veer to the East and then Southeast. Prediction was East/Southeast but modest. These are gusty winds between 15 kts. and 20 kts. and the seas are on our beam and lumpy with the wind aft of the beam. (Would have been nice to have the preventer rigged at this point. We're still motor sailing and I'm loath to raise the jib because the boat is difficult to keep on course and I'm worried about having to jibe in the middle of the night if the winds shift further with a crew of one relatively inexperienced sailor and two very tired sailors. It's a really tough slog for both of us, but particularly for Kryss, who's having trouble keeping us on course and from jibing. The good news is we're really making good time on our direct course to Charlotte Harbor and there's no rain or lightening, but it's exhausting. Kryss rises to the occasion to spell me when I really need it. She's sailing like a real trouper, even though it's very hard for her. As day breaks we're within 19 nm of the entrance to Charlotte Harbor but there's a system of thunderstorms West of us that threaten to affect us. Lighting is always frightening, but lighting at sea in a sailboat is petrifying, particularly if you're not used to it. Anyway, we get to the outer entrance markers to Charlotte Harbor without incident at about 7:50 a.m. although there's a fair amount of lightening in the distance, and we take the main down and start in. The entrance channel is very long (at least 5 nm) but there's a "lee" from the land once we turn down towards the actual entrance. The buoyage as shown on the chart and on the plotter does not correspond to what's actually there, so it's kind of freaky. Fortunately the depths shown on both the plotter and the chart are accurate so I follow the depth lines and the buoyage that is there and we're finally inside in Charlotte Harbor. Not sure what they're fishing for, but a ton of small boats are stacked on top of each other fishing right in the center of the entrance channel and schools of quite large fish (I'm guessing 3-4 ft. long) are breaching right in from of us. I have no choice but to pass right between two of the small boat trying to fish this "cauldron" of fish and one of the two boat captains is none too pleased, but I'm in the center of the entrance channel and if they choose to fish there I figure that's their problem. (I am hoping that he doesn't have a firearm aboard as he starts ranting at me.) We proceed well into the Harbor towards Punta Gorda Isles and an anchorage between Pine Island and the mainland looking for a lee and drop the anchor in 12 ft. of water at about 10:00 a.m. We're both exhausted and after an "adult beverage" and a lovely omelette that Kryss prepares, we both go to sleep. Kryss gets up for a while and is able to function. I'm dead to the world until around 7:00 p.m. and never really wake up. Proof of the pudding is that I'm not even interested in another drink or dinner, just going back to sleep. Storm come up around 8:00 p.m. so we "button up" and I go back to sleep. Kryss stays up for a while. Storm passes and the night is uneventful.
Monday June 12 - When we awake there is lots of rain and many thunderstorms around us, but thankfully the lightening is in the distance. Charlotte Harbor has weird tides and we have to wait until late afternoon to ride the second "higher" tide through the shallow entrance to the canal system. At about 11:00 we are inundated with "lovebugs". Hundreds of them. They mate twice a year in the late Spring and late summer and we're here for the first mating season. What a pain in the neck. The only good part is that unlike mosquitos or flies they're not interested in us. They get in through the screens, which are pretty good but not that good and we wind up taping the edges of the screens to make them more lovebug proof. We spend a good part of the day exterminating and removing the lovebugs and we're really not rid of them until the storms come late in the day. It's like the Passover pestilence. Kryss is surprisingly equanimous about it and we deal with it with good humor. By the time we start planning our entrance into the canal system we realize we're too far from the entrance to the canal system to make it in time for the high tide (the Harbor is over 20nm long) and we would get there in the midst of the storms so we decide to spend another night at anchor and to plan better and get in tomorrow. The bugs and the storms have left and we have a pleasant dinner and a quiet night.
Tuesday June 13 - It's Kryss' birthday. Won't tell you her age, but it's less than mine. The weather's mild. It's sunny with light breezes right now, and most but not all of the bugs are gone. We'll sail to another anchorage close to the entrance to the canal system so that we can try to get into the canal system and home this afternoon, although thunderstorms are predicted again for around the time of the proper tide. It will be nice to get in if we can manage it. We put up the main and mosey along at 2-3 knots in light winds to the new anchorage near to the entrance to the canal system. It's very relaxing for a change and I enjoy it, but Kryss is bored with it. C'est la vie! As we approach the new anchorage which is again close to the mangroves the bugs attack again. It's hot and still and the boat's full of bugs and it's enough to make you a little crazy, particularly when you're as tired as we are. We're monitoring the weather closely, and as with yesterday, thunderstorms are predicted to arrive just about the time that we need to enter the entrance channel to the canals. I'm so hot, tired and fed up that I hoist the anchor a little early and just go more slowly towards the entrance to the canal system to kill time. We still arrive early but I think it's close enough to high tide to give us enough depth and the thunder storms are just about upon us so I forge ahead. I am thankfully surprised that we have good depths through the entrance channel and through the tricky winding connecting stretch of mangroves to the main canal system. Just as we make the turn into the main canal system greatly relieved - the thunderstorms hit. The winds pick up to 15-25 but the lighting is not too close and being in the canal system moderates the effect of the wind on us since we are shielded by buildings on at least one side. There's plenty of water and we make our way along the "outside" canal towards to the side canal into where our house is. We get to our entrance canal without incident and as we turn down Kryss is hailed by one of the neighbors that we had met a while ago. Shortly thereafter we make the turn to our dock, which is upon us almost immediately, surprising us both a little I think. As we make the turn and approach the dock we see that our neighbors from across the canal who we have been in touch with are at the dock waiting to help us with our lines. It's beginning to rain and their assistance is very welcome. Not only did they come over to help, but they brought Champagne and dinner for us. They shared the Champagne but wouldn't stay for dinner. What a nice way to end our trip. We're exhausted but Duet is safely at the dock behind our house and all of the "moving" is now completed except for going back to Boca to pick up Kryss' car (childs play). For the trip it's La Fin. Picture of Duet at our dock behind the house in Punta Gorda is attached.
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