Underway Again!

Seventeen days ago we left Punta Gorda and most of the time, we've been in Marathon. That was not our intention, but the weather this spring has held us up with thunderstorms and winds coming at us in the wrong direction! Today we left the Marathon Mooring Field and moved around to Banana Bay, a nice little marina along the Intercoastal Waterway. Tomorrow we continue to Islamorada, a lovely anchorage with our goal to get to Biscayne Bay in the next few days. There is supposed to be a "weather sindow" this Friday and Saturday and we are hoping to take advantage of it and cross the Gulf Stream to West End, Bahamas. We'll see... We've had fun in Marathon. Last night we had cocktails aboard s/v Yorkshire Rose with Sue and Gene Fuller and the crew of s/v Lickety Split, Pam and Don Brandt. It was great chatting about all their adventures!

Hanging out in Marathon, middle of the Keys

On Saturday our weather was not favorable for going down the keys so we decided to move from the Marathon Yacht Club to Boot Key Harbor, the City Marina Mooring Field. There are hundred of mooring balls and we picked up our ball on Row R number 8. We then take our dinghy to shore to go wherever we want! Yesterday, we had a fun time visiting our friends, Diana and Joe, on s/v Cavalier. We had a wonderful swim in their saltwater pool over at Marathon Marina and then had a great early dinner at a nice restaurant. Our boat was moving really s l o w so we decided to have a diver check out the prop and the bottom of the boat. He scraped off some gunk on the prop blades. Today we tested the boat by motoring it around the marina and sure enough, it was going much faster. So we are all set for our trip down to Miami. When will that be? We think the weather will improve on Friday or Saturday. We hope to motor that way and spend some time in Coconut Grove, Miami while we wait for the north winds to abate for our crossing over to West End, Bahamas. Bleu Kitty is having fun on the boat and is quite a good little cat. He seems to be enjoying his trip on Eagles Wings!

Cruising down the west coast of Florida

Richard, Joanne, Diana and Joe 

It's March 21st, the first day of spring (and my 65th birthday!)  We are docked at Marathon Yacht Club in the middle of the Keys and its a gorgeous day. 

Since our last posting, we spent a few days waiting out a nasty storm that finally hit us on Tuesday.  The wind howled over the water, but our anchor held firm.  Unfortunately, our friends on s/v Can't Agree had dinghy motor problems and decided to return home to Punta Gorda to fix the problem.  We are hoping that they will catch up to us in a few days as we meander down the coast and then over to Miami's Mooring Field at Coconut Grove.  We spent a lovely night anchored at Little Shark River, in the Everglades.  There is no cell phone or wifi coverage in this remote part of Florida, but we enjoyed the peacefulness of the place before we sailed down to Marathon yesterday.


We're planning on having a nice birthday dinner here and then heading over on the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) to Islamorada and then onto Miami.  We heard from some other sailing friends on s/v Yorkshire Rose that are also heading over our way and we hope to meetup with them too! 

Photos

PS We are having trouble inserting photos into the blog.  May not have internet computer access for a while but will still get email on our phones.

Cruising

We're sailing to the Abacos.

It all started last fall when we attending a Punta Gorda Sailing Club meeting. The speaker showed drop-dead gorgeous pictures of the Abacos, Bahamas! Sitting next to us were our friends, Diana and Joe. We looked at each other and said, “Let's do it!” Sitting a few rows away were cruising buddies, Maureen and Tom. They also chimed in and before we knew it, we were all going!

Fast forward to Friday, March 14, the Day of Departure! Whew, as we pulled away from the dock, we rechecked our “lists” - did we remember our passports?, did we have all our meds?, what about enough food for Bleu Kitty, our 3-year old Persian sailing cat? As we locked the doors to the house, Joanne remembered that we still had cold food in the refrigerator to load on the boat!

 After strong North winds blowing the day before, the water was lower than normal by 6 inches but rising.  Tom and Maureen decided to head out slowly.  Whoops - first exciting moment! Tom and Maureen in s/v Can't Agree (they couldn't agree on the name of their boat!) ran aground in the Ponce Channel.  Ten minutes later, they were free. Coming along behind them, we bumped once before passing the Ponce Park dock.

Next, a boisterous sail down Charlotte Harbor with an East wind sometimes gusting to 20 knots approached the Channel Five Marker the died and the motor came on. We anchored off of Ding Darling under a beautiful moonlit sky. Our first night aboard we cooked up a wonderful spagetti dinner and collapsed into a sound sleep. 

Up at first light, we motored through the Miserable Mile out to San Carlos Bay before we hoisted the sails. Crab Pots ahead! They come up on you fast when you are not looking and wrap around your prop. We expect many many more in Florida Bay. 

An East wind that clocked to South throughout the morning forced the motor on first for motor sailing and then to motoring. We took a free slip at the Marco Island Yacht Club for the night to enjoy the pool and a shoreside shower. Sunday we move over to Smokehouse Bay a mile or so away to join s/v Can't Agree while we wait for a weather window to move down to Little Shark River or Cape Sable and then down the Florida Yacht Channel to the Keys. 

Our friends in s/v Cavalier, Diana and Joe, sail and motor a lot faster so they elected to go from Fort Myers Beach all the way to Indian Key near the Everglades. Tomorrow they expect to be in Marathon.