Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Island time

We've been tucked into a cozy marina for the past 2 nights because the wind has been gusting into the upper 20s to 30.  The holding in some of the anchorages here is not the greatest, being grassy and/or coral based.  Hard to get the anchor to bite well, especially with the gusty wind, so we have opted to spend a little money for a good night's sleep.  Having unlimited power and water and pump out available is really nice as well.  We've gotten the inside of the boat cleaned, at least temporarily.  It never seems to stay that way for long.

Tom has ordered some boat parts delivered here (general delivery, Islamorada), but we're still waiting on one for the dinghy motor.  It was supposed to be shipped several days ago but only just left the warehouse yesterday.  Can't go too far from here until that gets in.  Meanwhile we are just getting more and more "keysie," functioning on island time.  If we get one project accomplished each day we're satisfied that we've been productive enough.  We are trying to walk a few miles every day though to get some exercise.  And we will soon have to start moving back to Biscayne Bay to work at the music festival on Virginia Key in early February.

Does anybody know what this plant is?  It is growing at the marina where we are staying, apparently planted, not native because this is the only place we have seen it.  Very peculiar.  The whole thing starts out looking like the base of the fruit stalk, but as the berries mature, the stalk opens up from the top and the berries fall off a few at a time.


Saturday, January 28, 2012

Windley Key


One of the fallen trees at the Fossil Reef State Park
We have found another anchorage that may prove to be one of our favorites. It's a little cove on the bay side of Windley Key. Came in here Friday after sailing offshore through Channel Five to a marina in order to take on some diesel and water. Our plan was to pick up a mooring at Indian Key a few miles from the marina and explore the state park there, however the moorings were half a mile offshore from the key and there was considerable swell, so this was obviously not a good option for night time comfort. So Plan B went into effect and we turned in at Snake Creek to look for some protection from the wind on the bay side. We had a little encounter with the ground just before getting to the channel into Snake Creek, but we don't need to talk about that. It was just another one of Tom's shortcuts that didn't turn out so well.

Ocean View Grill
Anyway, the anchor bit on the first try in this cove, which always makes me happy. The wind died to pretty much nothing by nightfall, so after dinner we took the dinghy into what appeared to be a small dock with a restaurant on shore. There were a few other dinghies there. We tied up and walked down a very tidy, narrow boardwalk through the mangroves to a place called Ocean View. They said there used to be a view of the ocean but a hurricane moved that restaurant to the present location and they never went back. It has an indoor and an outdoor space with a fire pit, swimming pool, playground, and happy lights twinkling all around. Friendly bartenders too.  Just a great little local spot that was hopping on Friday night. This key is said to be the highest elevation in the Keys with one report of 12' and another of 18' above sea level.

Gumbo limbo tree
Today we had lunch at Ocean View and later walked down the road to the Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park. Quite a mouthful. This is the site of a quarry that was used until the early 60's. You can see the fossilized remains of a variety of ancient coral that are visible because of the cuts made into the limestone by the quarry activity.  There are also some trails that wind through the hammocks.  A nice little self-guided tour book is provided at the visitor's center so you can identify special areas of interest and some of the 40 different trees that are growing there.

Tomorrow the wind is predicted to get a little rowdy so we will probably go into a marina for a night or two.  Need to restock the larder as well, so hopefully we will be closer to a grocery store.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Crab Pots

Many of the places we have sailed on Kentris have been populated with crab pots. We've seen them in the Pungo River and in the Chesapeake Bay. We've also seen a bunch in the Gulf of Mexico. But usually you can find a path or channel or another part of the body of water you're in that is free of them. That is not the case here. Except in the short channels that pass through a very narrow area, say between a mangrove island and a 1 foot shoal, any piece of water is fair game to the crabbers. There are thousands, maybe tens of thousands of them. It's darn near impossible to avoid running over them, especially in our rather wide catamaran. In fact we have already caught two on our prop in the short time we have been in the Keys.

The first one had no float on it, just the polypro line. How were we supposed to see that one? Getting it off required some serious maneuvering. We were sailing into what was to be our anchorage for the evening when we noticed something wasn't right. Stop the engine, take the sail down, and carefully back up to see if it will fall off. That sometimes works if the rope is just around the rudder. Nope, that didn't work. We were able to get the pot on board using a boat hook and, since that engine was off, we thought we could just go on and anchor, then deal with it. Nope that didn't work either because the motion of the boat through the water made the prop turn which twisted the rope into even more of a mess and threatened to pull the pot right back in the water. Next step was to get in the water with a knife to cut the thing off. Tom donned his mask, overboard he went and was able to dislodge the rope from behind the prop without too much trouble. We tied an empty plastic liter bottle to it so it would be visible and no one else would have the misfortune of running over it later.

The second one was a little less complicated. Same scenario as before only this time after we took the sail down and stopped, the float (yes this one had a float and we still ran over it) and pot fell off as hoped. Of course, while we were drifting around at the mercy of the crab pots, another one floated under the boat. Fortunately, it came out the back with the first one as we slowly moved away from them.

So this afternoon we anchored early between two pots (at least they are good for marking your position so you can tell if your anchor is dragging) and took the dinghy out for a spin along Long Key, just south of Channel Five. There were lots of floats in the detritus along the coastline, some loose, some still attached to severed lines. You kind of wonder what the story is behind each of them. Did they break loose in a storm or, more likely, were they cut by a high speed power boat by accident, or cut on purpose to free a less powerful boat from their entanglement? Whatever the case, we thought it would be fun to collect the better ones and string them up as “art.” We found seven pretty good ones and have them on a string on the trampoline. For some reason, Tom wouldn't let me hang them from the back of the bimini.  Now we'll probably get arrested for stealing them.

And, into every cruising life, a bit of rain must fall. It's raining in paradise. But just some light showers.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Islamorada anchorage

We are hanging on the hook just off Lorelei Marina.  Most of the boats around us are unoccupied, several on moorings.  It's something we've seen often in the Keys.  Boats in various stages of neglect from just not currently being used, to (sadly) in no shape ever to be used in the future without a great deal of preparatory work beforehand.  Some have sails (or what once were sails), some have no sails at all.   And there are a number of people who live on their boats periodically when they have no better place on land.  We have surprisingly not seen very many cruisers.  Although, most of the boats anchored/moored are sailboats, we see mostly small power boats out moving around.  There are so many great places to explore in the Keys so why aren't there more people doing so? 

Taxi anyone?
Case in point, Lorelei Marina.  This place only has a few transient spaces but they have a great restaurant with lots of outdoor seating, happy hour from 4-6pm, music every evening, and a perfect view of the sunset.  In addition, there is a nice little dock where the anchored boats can tie up their dinks and come in to enjoy the scene.  We love it here.  But there are few, if any, cruisers taking advantage of the place.  The clientele are mostly locals. 



There's a resident heron at the restaurant who waits around at breakfast to get his egg handout.  What more could you ask for?   We keep finding excuses to stay another day. 

Today we are heading over to the Worldwide Sportsman and Bayside Marina (just a short dinghy ride away) to see if Tom can find some gear that will improve his fishing skills.  According to the guide book this is a place that must be seen even if you aren't looking for tackle.  There is a "restored vintage wooden boat, a close cousin to Ernest Hemingway's famous Pilar" in the middle of the store.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Cowpens Anchorage


Yesterday we left Sunset Cove and the ICW and sailed up to the west side of Butternut Key. We anchored in 5 feet of beautiful turquoise water just off the mangroves.  After feeling confident the anchor was holding, we went ashore, Tom towing me in the water behind the dinghy.  Only later did I read that this is an area where numerous small sharks hang out.  So I guess I would have been great bait for Tom to catch a shark.  Fortunately he's not much of a fisherman.

We waded along the shore a while, examining the flotsam contained there, until we found a small break in the mangroves that looked as if we might be able to get into the interior where there was supposed to be a pond.  The sand we walked in was very sticky.  I've never actually seen quicksand, but that is what came to mind as our feet were sucked down into the bottom.  We had to take our water shoes off in order to avoid losing them in the suction.

Eventually we clawed our way in a short distance, acquiring a few scratches as we did so.  There was indeed a pond, but it was devoid of any wildlife that we could see.  We wondered how this walk would have been in the summer with biting insects attacking us along with the sand and mangrove roots.  Apparently I need to start reading our guidebooks ahead of time though.  In addition to the shark issue, I later read that it is illegal to go ashore on any of these uninhabited islands, especially those in the Everglades National Park.  Oops!

Oprey on her nest
Back at the shoreline, we got back in the dinghy and explored the other side of the island, disturbing two ospreys on nests.  There were two white herons, a pelican, and a roseate spoonbill, but otherwise not much to see.  As we were returning to the boat, another catamaran sailed by heading somewhere north of the key.  This and one other sailboat anchored quite a ways away were our only "neighbors." 


Tom returned to cleaning the rust off our lifelines and trying to loosen the jib sheet car on the starboard side in order to replace some worn rollers.  We had been able to repair the port side rollers, but this one is proving a bit more cantankerous, even after multiple soakings with P B Blaster.  As promised, here are the pictures of projects we completed recently on the boat:
Teak tiles at the deck entrance  to the salon
The connections for the chart plotter - no more wires running everywhere


Just one of the many beautiful sunsets we've seen in the Keys


Friday, January 20, 2012

Sunset Cove, Key Largo

Tarpon Bay
We haven't moved far recently - maybe 5 miles in 2 days.  Stayed one very pleasant night in Tarpon Bay with nothing but mangroves around.  We kayaked around, watched the birds go about their thing, and completed a few boat projects. (Pictures coming soon.) Even went swimming briefly in the middle of the day.  Yesterday we moved to Sunset Cove which is a bit more populated.  We're anchored in front of the Upper Keys Sailing Club so we can use their dinghy dock.  Nice folks.

The Keys lifestyle is beginning to soak in.  No one seems to move too fast or worry too much about anything.  I noticed here in the anchorage that only a few of the boats had anchor lights on last night.   We haven't encountered any local law officials trying to exert their authority over transient boats as we have often seen in other parts of Florida. There have been very few powerboats flying around, but several sailboats moving slowly as if they had no particular place to go.  And kayaks.   Lots of kayaks.   I think we could get used to this.  The water is very clear, almost as clear as in the Bahamas.  (I took a picture but it really didn't do the water justice.)  And the trees are flowering everywhere. 

We got to use our new folding cart this morning for the first time.  Loaded all the used oil we had accumulated over the last few oil changes and dragged it off to Napa which happened to be right around the corner.  The cart made this task not only possible, but fairly comfortable.  We also brought along our diesel jerry cans to fill up since that was also conveniently available and cheaper than at marinas.  It takes a while to get things done sometimes when you're on a boat, but we still have the afternoon to be lazy again. 

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Blackwater Sound

White ibis photographed by April at John Pennekamp State Park
We are watching dolphins play off our port side and pelicans dive off the stern.  An osprey is eating a fish on top of the mast on a neighboring boat.  The water is flat as can be, every little fish jumping makes ripples spread out around it.  Callie is particularly interested in those small movements while she keeps a watchful eye on the big birds overhead.  She doesn't know that in her current chubby state she is way too much for them to carry off, or that they are not cat eaters. We haven't told her about the crocodiles.

The weather is predicted to be mild for the next few days and we are thinking about moving a bit further south to explore a new anchorage today.  No wind means we'll have to motor but it's getting a little boring sitting in the same place. Even though it's about perfect, you have to move sometime, right?  Otherwise, inertia sets in, I think.  It's easy to see why people come down here and just stay.

Yesterday we finally got the mustache that we had accumulated coming down from NC cleaned off the hulls.  It was embarrassing to still have that on there after all this time, even though we were gone for over a month in the interim.  Now we need to work on the slimy bottom.  There are probably barnacles down there too.  If only the water would warm up some more and/or we could find some sand to stand on.  It's currently a bit too muddy for complete comfort.  Tom also cleaned out the forward starboard locker that had some oil spilled in it.  The hatch leaks up there some and it was beginning to grow some healthy looking mold.  Nasty job but somebody had to do it and that  person wasn't me!  I just tackled the salon grim.

April and Joey left yesterday morning to head back to NC.  Even though we always enjoy are solitude, it has been lonely around here without them.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Jewfish Creek

Beautiful sail through Biscayne Bay, Barnes Sound, and Card Sound to Jewfish Creek today. The wind was perfect, the seas were perfect, and, except for a bit of a chill in the air, the weather was perfect. It was good to be moving again after 4 days on the mooring ball. And it was good to be away from the craziness of the BIG city, hanging on the hook again. I guess I am not a city person. The traffic, crowds, and parking difficulty were driving me crazy.

Who is the guy with the shell?


The Tiki Bar at Gilberts
Gilbert's Marina off our bow has a band playing which we can hear as if they were right next to us. There are multiple dolphins playing/feeding in the channel along which we are anchored. The wind is being modified by the key in front of us so the water is calm. It doesn't get much better than this.

Tomorrow we are taking advantage of our last day with a car to drive over to John Pennekamp State Park to see what the shore side area is like. We snorkeled the reef offshore a number of years ago but have never been on the land park.  Promises to be interesting.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Dinner Key


We're hanging on a mooring ball at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club, tucked in behind Dinner Key. It's a quiet place to be but close in to the sights and sounds of Coconut Grove. This is supposedly the oldest of Miami's neighborhoods. There are lots of little interesting shops and numerous restaurants. There are also at least three huge marinas, in addition to this sailing club, along the shoreline. I don't think I have ever seen this number of boats within such a small area, except maybe in Sausalito. Especially when you count all the boats moored and anchored immediately off shore. I'm sure there are bigger marina areas but this is pretty impressive,

Yesterday, after exploring Dinner Key by dinghy, we went out for a short sail over to Key Biscayne. There wasn't much wind but it was warm and pleasant on the water. We watched a bunch of small sailcraft skippered by teenagers sail around a course set up on the bay. Today an even younger group was out there racing in much better wind. The sailing club has events almost every weekend during the cooler months.

Since April is here for a few days, we have a car to use, so this afternoon we drove over to South Beach to see the art deco historic district. It was interesting but very crowded (hate the traffic around here and the difficulty finding parking). We then headed back toward Coconut Grove to find a place to watch Carolina play Florida State. What a disaster that game was! Wish I hadn't seen it. At least the Cuban food at the restaurant we found was delicious.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Back to the boat

We are back on Kentris, having driven down a few days ago with April, Joey, and our kitty Callie.  Everything was in order as we had expected.  The trip down was not so bad, considering how like sardines we were in the car.  Callie adjusted more easily than we thought she would, which helped considerably. She is now very much at home on the boat.

Yesterday we got out two of the presents we received for Christmas.  First we blew up the shiny new fenders and admired them.  Need to attach lines to them before we can use them but they are looking good!  Next we got out the bosun's chair and hoisted Tom up to the spreaders so he could figure out why the light up there is not working.  Turned out to be just a burned out bulb, so we can replace that easily and send him up again.  The chair worked perfectly and the pockets on the side are great for holding tools you might need while aloft.

The beach at Lauderdale by the Sea
After all that "work" we felt in need of a beach break, so off we went to lay on the beach for a while.  It was very warm with a light breeze.  Perfection. 

Happy hour in the evening with half price drinks and appetizers wasn't bad either.  And the Tarheels beating Miami was a great ending to the day.