Squint, it's there!

Although Pennekamp SP was awe-some (and, if you’re in the area, you should definitely check it out), we made the move north to Angelfish Creek by way of Jones Point off Adam’s Key (yes, I know that’s the long way ’round, typical me).  Angelfish is where a lot of cruisers stage to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas and that is exactly why we went.

Along the way, we had no wind but it looked like it would pick up all week (30-50 knots!), so we motored.  Motoring can be a real drag because it costs money and it’s boring.  Well, apparently not exactly boring as we were about a mile off shore when our motor started to sputter . . . and then it died . . . a couple of times.  We had this problem* before (but only on the port gas tank – weird) so we switched over to the starboard.  Same problem.  Great.  Not really, but not horrible either.  We do have sails, afterall.  And, there was no wind.at.all which made for a really great time (no wind=no waves) to be a mile off the coast with engine problems (and sails :).

Well, what to do.  We figured if the engine wasn’t getting gas (hence the sputter) then something is clogged.  So, fuel lines, fuel filter or the air-intake was clogged.   We had a spare filter on board, so we changed that.  We couldn’t really bleed the fuel lines under way, so that was postponed.  And, the air-intake is on the outboard so that would require getting in (the ocean).

Damon is apparently the designated get-out-in-the-ocean-if-something-is-wrong (see previous post about running aground in Florida Bay) so off he went, clipped to the boat with a harness (of course, Mom!) while I handed him ratchets and took pictures for Facebook (which he did not appreciate but I know you do ;).

Engine repair underway

He took off the cover to the valve, cleaned the air-intake of sea-grass and within about 5 minutes (out in the ocean!) he was back aboard.  BTW – you may want to know what anxiety-prone Kemah was doing during this time; he was napping, of course.

Once aboard, we started the engine up again and gingerly pressed on, all-the-while scoping out the next place to duck in just in case we couldn’t get to our destination (only 3 miles or a half-hour) away.  Luckily, there was a very-exclusive “town” of Ocean Reef just a mile away so I’m sure they would be happy to have us taking up a million-dollar slip if we absolutely had to duck in.

Anyone who has ever had engine problems knows that your ears get highly attuned to the noises of said engine when you’ve experienced a problem and hope it’s fixed: is this normal? did it sound like that before?, etc, etc.

After a lot of listening and 15 miles through Angelfish Cree and around Biscayne Bay, “so far, so good” (which is an attitude I employ for a lot of things).  On advice from some fellow Gemini cruisers (with a dog), we chose to anchor in a little nook north of Adam’s Key in Jones Point.  And, there we stayed for the weekend.

We loved this little anchorage (you can see Miami from your house!) but unless you draft less than 4’, which we do, I wouldn’t suggest it.

Skipbo at sunset in less than 3' - I love my boat!

We sat here and waited, waited, waited for the weather.  And, boy-o-boy, did the weather come.  Some smart sailor says something like “it’s always good weather, it just depends on what kind”.  Well, this weather was of the wind variety.  It apparently (see how I made a little wind joke, eh?) blew about 50 knots of cold front in to South Florida while we slept soundly in our berth tucked safely and comfortably in Jones Point.  We happily dinghied to the dock on Adam’s Key a couple of days in a row and met a very nice couple who lives full-time on the small island, where they steward the park for the National Park Service – what.a.life.

Because the weather is looking up – although cold (low 60, high 75) – for our crossing, we opted to motor down to Angelfish Creek today.  And, here we sit awaiting our Wednesday crossing.

Hopefully, in 48 hours, I’ll be updating you over conch fritters and local rum from Bimini, The Bahamas!

Best,

L&D

This morning, D decided to get up early and scrub the bottom, which is one of the many reasons why he is the best!

It wasn’t too long before Kemah decided to figure out what all the hubbub in the water was about.  So, we rigged up his fancy swim step (PVC, a industrial kitchen mat, and zip ties) and he hopped right in!   Well, it took some encouragement for our scaredycat, but he took to it (almost) right away.

Check it out:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co15Wyp-MZg]

also known as “Rounding the Horn of Florida”.  Okay, so no one but me says that but they should, right?

Since the last time we visited, we were in Smokehouse Bay on Little Marco Island where we successfully patched up are little leak (from the OCEAN to the inside of our boat!!!), sailed into the Everglades, around the tip of Florida, across Florida Bay and up a couple of Keys – yeah!

We are currently sitting in John Pennekamp State Park, which is a fantastic park in Key Largo.  If you’re in the area, you should definitely stop in.

On the way here, we had several adventures, which I’ll detail for you, below.  Here goes:

Little Marco Island

Little Marco Island is funny to us because D’s oldest, bestest friend is Marco so we had a big day of all the funny things we could see his name on.  Here’s a real winner:

As in, "let us all pray, and pick up big savings on aisle 9"

We stayed in Little Smokehouse Bay, which is a great little anchorage along the “Esplanade” as in “don’t tie up your dinghy on the “Esss-plaaa-naude”.   We did.  And then when we came back from running our errands, it was gone!  Stolen?  At the “Esss-plaaa-naude”???  Serves me right for asking (and then answering):  “Shouldn’t we lock the dink up?  Nah, it’s too fancy here”.  Well, still my beating heart, it had just been moved by the dockmaster who was really a great guy just “doing his job” at the “Esss-plaaa-naude”.  Lesson learned.

On the way into and out of Smokehouse Bay, you wind along million-dollar homes (Alan Jackson lives here, sometimes) on a little channel that can be *quite shallow* at times, so stay within the markers!  Which, btw, are topped with Osprey nests.  See:

Osprey

Osprey up close

I think this is super cool and like to imagine if there’s some sort of debate between boaters and enviros re maintaining the signs – or the nests.  Hmmm . . .

We had a nice day leaving Marco and heading down to Ten Thousands Islands, which as you might imagine, is hundreds thousands, of mangrove islands.  We were making great time and could have pressed on, but decided to stop at Indian Key early in the afternoon and dinghy into Everglades City.  And, we were glad we did.

Indian Key was super neat: on the eastern tip of the island is a spit of beach that was covered in white pelicans.  I hadn’t seen them before and I haven’t seen them since.  Only on Indian Key.  I couldn’t get close enough to take a proper picture without bothering the wildlife (no moleste!) so you’ll have to trust me on this.

Indian Key, outside Everglades city. I actually got cell reception here to call my Mother on her birthday!

The Channel up to Everglades City is awesome, beautiful and wild.  And, the channel inside the City is lined with cute little bungalows which made me want to move here (all it takes is a cute bungalow on the water, really, that’s all).  Oh, and fantastic seafood!  Bungalows, check, water, check, seafood, check.

Outward Bound School in Everglades City - sign me up!

So cute!

Stone Crab in Everglades City

Stone Crabs!

But, alas, we left.  Apparently, if D, Mr. K and I did move there we might push the population over 1,000 so perhaps it’s good that we moved on – I wouldn’t want them to have to change the sign.

The next day, we ran down to Snake River and anchored in the mouth right before dark – Pfew!  We were lucky to be greeted again by a welcoming dolphin (I’m beginning to see a trend – or a stalker!).  But, as soon as the sun went done, the real wild-life came out:  bugs!  As you might imagine, being in the middle of the ‘glades – a swamp – there are a lot of bugs and even though it’s technically winter here, so there are less bugs, there are still a lot of bugs.  I’d hate to be here in summer – yuck!

Oh and also, funny thing:  I read about little popcorn noises on the side of the hull being the noise of barnacles attaching and guess what we heard in the mouth of Snake River:  yup, barnacles.  Even though I’m definitely an animal lover, I think there may be such a thing as too much wildlife.

While we had planned on staying and exploring Snake River – I here it’s kind of neat – we opted to get going the next day.   We were eager to get to the clear water of Keys and thought we might just make it to civilization in time for the Superbowl (ads).

Rounding “The Horn of Florida”, we got our first big waves and the Gulf and Florida Bay smashed into each other.  It was a great reminder of what we have taken on and, while it wasn’t dangerous, it sure was uncomfortable.   Since the morning, I had been diligently checking the water, waiting for it to turn from the green-brown of the Gulf to a much lighter aqua of of the Bay and sure enough, turn it did!  While we comfortably had 12-20 feet under us in the Gulf, we now had to keep a close eye on our depths, while dodging crab pots which were conveniently on our rhumb line.

As we approached the Arsenic Bank (a dotted line of sandbars), we cautiously read the water and approached the marker on our starboard – even though it sure looked shallow!  Well, it was.  And, we ran aground.  But, it was sea grass, D took a dip, pushed us off and we carefully navigated our way out to of the Bay and to the Atlantic through the Channel 5 bridge.   Hooray!

Running aground in Florida Bay

We spent that night in Long Key State Park and while it was definitely protected on three sides, we got wind on the one that wasn’t protected – of course!  For those who’ve never experienced something like this, it can be likes sleeping on a trampoline – fun, right?  Not.   Plus, while it was a nice, uncrowded anchorage, there were really no nearby services or docking opportunities so we opted to head up to Key Largo for the next couple of days.

Being too cheap to pull into John Pennekamp (where we are now), we opted to spend two nights in Rock Harbor – which I would not recommend.  We had heard the anchorage was poor holding (“rock” would have been a big clue) but there were at least a dozen boats there (some on mooring balls) so how bad could it be, right?  We plopped our anchor down, checked in and it seems to stick immediately.  Plus, we had a CQR out on 70 feet of chain and the wind was only supposed to be 10-20 – no biggie, right?  Wrong.

Night #1 was fine.  And, the next day we dinghied out to the “Dive Inn” and heard more about the bottom being crappy:  the “moorings” were actually attached to “transmissions”, “tractors” and all sorts of flotsam and jetsom.  Awesome.  Wonder what we were caught on? (answer coming soon . . .)

Night #2 there was a storm.  Although brief, it caused a neighboring boat to drag anchor on this rock shelf bottom. It definitely caught our attention when the radio chatter mentioned “yeah, we’ve got ‘about’ 25 feet of rode out and we’re dragging right by that cat”. So, needless to say, we leaped up and started to keep watch.  Luckily, there was no damage to anyone’s boat, D and I got to practice our re-setting drills and the storm passed in about an hour.  But, as anyone white-knuckling an hour can tell you, it’s a long time to be wondering “are we dragging? are they?  I can’t tell, are we getting closer to each other?”.

The next morning, when preparing to leave, we checked out landmarks and were pretty sure we didn’t drag, but we couldn’t swear we didn’t, either.   The GPS coords were off – a little – could this just be from the swing?  Aww, well, we were just trying to up and adios but we couldn’t pull anchor.   Rock Harbor!  With me on the helm and D on the anchor, we tried a few things and realized we were dragging while not unsticking – weird.  About that time, we realized we needed to do something ASAP – we were 15 yards and closing on another boat.  So, D dove down and discovered we were stuck on 2 cinder blocks tied with some line. As soon as we were free (and our chain was up, not laying down) we bounced across the rock within 50 feet of the other boat before high-tailing it out of the harbor to John Pennekamp State Park.  Lesson(s) learned.

Needless to say, I’ve never been more happy to pay $21.50 to the gov and be on a ball, in a protected bay, with showers, laundry, water and pump out – oh, and they have a snack bar with pizza and coke (with ice), too!

Finally, while the amenities were definitely appreciated, the coolest part about being in Pennekamp is that my friend Susan happened to be in town.  While we planned to meet up over the last couple of days, I wasn’t sure when she was coming.  Imagine my surprise when walking through the parking lot I heard my name being shouted from a familiar voice – how weird was that!?!   I hadn’t run into anyone I knew (except family visiting) in about 6 weeks!

Susan was a god-send and offered to drive us (in a car!) to the gas station, grocery store and local West Marine.  It was a very welcome offer which we happily took her up on.   And, now, we are fully provisioned, which feels nice (and expensive!).

One super-cool thing that happened while Susan was here is that a couple of manatees decided to hang out all day close to the shore.  While I had seen them up in Crystal River, the even more natural setting, and clearer water, here made the experience really amazing.  Although I later found out it’s illegal, it was also such a trip to watch them bee-line it over to an opened faucet and lap up the fresh water like frat boys to a beer bong.  Their tongues and gums are so weird looking!

While it’s been a couple of days of alternating overcast, rain or humidity, we have really enjoyed our time in Key Largo.  Kinda makes us not want to leave.  But, we are excited for the possibility of a weather window next week where we’ll head to the Bahamas!  Until then, my friends . . .

Rainbow looking north from Largo Sound

“Should I be concerned?” heretoafter referenced as “SIBC?” is a healthy way of dealing with the unknown, right?  Well, it’s my strategy so far – let me know if you have some better approaches.  With so much to learn in this transition, I figure I’ll save my freak-out moments for when they are truly warranted.  Until then, SIBC will help me navigate when and what is warranted for a full-blown freak out.  And, as a loyal reader, I’ll let you know when that happens 🙂

Here’s what prompted this SIBC? strategy:

Yesterday morning we planned to leave Ft. Myers Beach headed south but awoke to a lot of wind which prompted a “small craft advisory” with “light chop” off-shore.    Well, we were planning on heading out on a 6-hour passage, off-shore, in our “small craft” – what to do?  Hmmm . . . should we risk it?  Or, in other words, SIBC?

After doing a bit of research, we learned that we aren’t really a small craft (this is, like all things in boating, is debatable) and we weren’t really going “off shore”, just, you know, “off-the-shore” about a mile (you can still see land and into the 1%’s houses – with binoculars ;).

And, the wind?  Well, 15-20 knots is perfect and the occasional 25+ knots “off-shore” wasn’t really something we could expect on the mile off the shore line we were headed on.  So, we decided to go for it.  Afterall, wind is what powers our sailboat (duh!) and (after the appropriate amount of considerations) we both admitted we were being a bit chicken in preparation of our first “sail” on the ocean — SIBC?  Nah, just prepared.

Out in the channel through Ft. Myers Beach there definitely was some chop, some shallow spots (nothing like a trail of mud through 2.9′ to make 4′ feel deep, right? Good thing we draft 18”!).   And, there was the absence of any (not one!) other boats which was cause for another (#2 SBIC? moment) – um, should we be going if no one else was???  After assuring ourselves that it was, a Monday, after all, maybe everyone was at work (not us!) and we could always turn around, right (through the shallows again . . .)?  “Yes, turning around is always* an option” is/was the answer and we pressed on. *always in boating is another matter of great, and justified debate . . .

As we approached the Big Carlos Pass bridge, we were excited to have the (our first!) opportunity to be referred to as a “Captain of Mother Jones” as we stopped traffic and the bridge was raised for us – fun huh?  Yes!  But, of course, when you are past the point of no return going under a bridge with your mast, you do have the “I checked the bridge heights 5 times and we totally fit under, right?” moment (#3 SIBC? moment).

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Once out in the Gulf, we found the perfect wind, 1’waves, a few dolphins and TONS of crab pots (watch out Mother Jones!).  We motored for a while, then raised the jib and voila!, just like that we were sailing!!!  And, it was glorious!  Because the winds did creep up to 25 knots and we figured we’d take our time getting to know Mother Jones, we opted not to raise the main and just enjoyed the quick clip down the coast at an average of about 8 knots – not bad for our first day “out”.

As we approached Gordon Pass at about 3:30pm, we had a choice to make: either continue on to Smokehouse Bay on Little Marco Island (another 2ish hours) or cut in for the night.  Well, given our speed, we opted to head to Marco Island and arrived just as the sun was setting – nice – but in the future we’d love to arrive well before, of course.

After settling in with our nachos, I headed into the pantry to restock the fridge with some brews and discovered that the carpet was wet – and the next thoughts were: “Really? Wet?”, “What kind of wet?”, then “f#, it’s saltwater WET!” followed by a calmer, “D, SIBC???” (#4!).  After some detective work on D’s part, we were relieved to discover that we had a very slow leak from a small hose which intakes from the ocean that simply needed to be tied off.  After ripping up the carpet, relieving a couple bilges of 5 buckets of water (yes 5!, after each I said “that doesn’t look good” and D replied “just keep watching Mildred Pierce, it’ll be fine”), a trip to the hardware store this morning, I think I believe him:  we will be fine.  It seems this “little” leak had been happening for some time (by the damage to some wood under a bilge) but it was so slow, it wouldn’t have been notice-able — until, that is, we went through ocean waves for 6 hours – lucky us!

Water affected areas, hose leak to the right

And, yes, I do mean, lucky us.  It seems none of the SIBC? moments were really anything drastic and after hearing USCG dispatches all day on the radio about a ship on fire next to a sinking ship, we count ourselves lucky that all we have is a $10 problem.

Hey-o!

Here we sit in Punta Gorda.  Still.  Yep.

For those not familiar with Punta Gorda, you can definitely see it all in the 2.5 weeks we’ve been here.

We’re all ready to head south (we decided to go around the tip of Florida rather than through Okeechobee) but we are just waiting to sell our last big item: the truck.

We’ve tried a whole bunch of different things from Ebaying to Craigslisting to Carmaxing to canvassing the VFW Farmer’s Market but still we wait.

In the mean time, we’re just making curtains, making food and being patient. I’ll let you know when we embark south, which will hopefully be soon!

Best,

Laurie, Damon and Mr. K

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Hey everybody!

Well, we did it.  We moved aboard.  Pfew!

Now, to get a hang of the whole “living aboard” and actually sailing our vessel “stuff” . . .

We arrived just before New Year’s and we glad to have a few days before this momentous occasion to get unpacked.

First, we needed to get Kemah adjusted and he did not like his first night on the boat.  But, as the nights have wore on, he’s adjusted well to the boat – still no #2 on board, though . . .

We, however, have definitely adjusted.  We spent a couple of days getting it all moved in, packing it up to go back to Texas or sending it off to Goodwill.  We are surely enjoying the transition although we have definitely had our “what is this, how does it work and what the #@% did we do???” moments.

Currently, we’re in Punta Gorda (the west coast 30 miles north of Ft. Myers) on a dock of the gentleman we bought the boat from – isn’t that nice?  (Thanks, Bob!)  Our loose plan is to head out next week to the east coast through “the ditch” to Lake Okeechobee, hit the ICW headed south and then anchor somewhere between Ft. Lauderdale and Key Largo while we wait for a weather window to the Bahamas.

Of course, we have more than a few things to do before leaving next week mainly including provisioning the boat with tools and sustenance (go ahead, you shop for everything you eat and drink in 3 months!), shaking her down on a couple of overnight sails and otherwise “getting ready”.

Here are a few photos from the first couple of days on the boat:

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And, here’s a fun little video walking through our new home.

Happy New Year, y’all!

love,

L, D & Mr. K

Pfew!  We have arrived.  Well, we arrived a couple of days ago and have been having such a great time that we’re now just posting an update.

On the way from Texas, we stopped at a great place in Mobile – which I think was the only great place in Mobile . . .

Then, we were up early and on the road to Panama City, Florida where we met up with Dawn and Tom, who we actually met in Panama City, Panama almost a year ago – small world, eh?  I can’t believe the last time we saw these two was when we helped them transit the Canal on Valentine’s Day!   In case you missed that story, you can catch up on it from our last blog here (migrating those posts over soon . . .).

After two days in Panama City, great times with Dawn and Tom, and a wonderful meal at Sweet Racks (run, don’t walk to this place if you’re in town) we were so eager to move South towards Mother Jones.

But, we do have two stops to make before we meet up with her tomorrow evening:

1. Here we sit in Homosassa Springs to see the manatees!  Pics to come once we see them tomorrow . . .
2. Pick up a mattress for the port cabin from a generous Gem owner in Cocoa Beach (why, yes, that is on the other side of the state  . . .)

Anywho, we’re just hear in the “Bella Oasis” motor inn, soaking in cable and ice before we move aboard tomorrow night.  Talk soon friends and thanks for reading!

L&D

Hi all!

I have so much to say, but mainly “thanks” comes to mind.  So many folks have made our home such a hard place to leave – how blessed we are to have a great place to miss.   Thank you all for making such an impact on our lives, saying you’ll come for a visit and for believing in us when we said “yeah, you know, we’re gonna live on a boat”.

We leave tomorrow a.m. and will be updating y’all as we get on down the road, literally and figuratively, of course.

For those who are interested, here’s our general plan for our land travel to the boat:  Austin->Houston for Christmas with D’s Aunts->Mobile, AL->Panama City, FL area for exploring and hanging with friends->Crystal River, FL (manatees, what, what!?!)->Punta Gorda (boat time!) by New Year’s.

Once we get to the boat, we have a lot of packing, re-packing, provisioning and learning-to-sail to do.  Once all of that is “completed” we aim to traverse the Okeechobee canal in mid-January to meet up with my Dad, Mom and kick-ass 91-year old Grandmother for a quick visit and boat blessing.  Then, it’s on to our first major sail:  crossing the Gulf Stream (you’ve seen Finding Nemo, right?) to Bimini, The Bahamas.     Oh, The Bahamas . . .

But, for now, we still have a lot of packing to do (how many jars of Salsa Verde and Tito’s can I fit in the truck???) . . . so, until we meet again my friends, adios and we’ll see ya back here soon.

love, love, love,

L&D