Key West Tourist

Yesterday was play tourist day.  We rented a Scooter to see some of the sites.  Our first stop was Higgs Beach, with all due respect to Key West, I would guess anyone from Cleavland, OH may think they are great but compared to Cape Cod they are mediocre at best.

The next stop was the mandatory picture of the southern most point.  We had to wait in line to get this picture so I hope you appreciate it!

The next stop was the Key West Light House.  They wanted $10 each to walk up.  I thought I could put that $10 to better use later that night!

The next picture was of Ernest Hemingway's house.  I did spring for that entrance fee!  It was a good tour.

We also stopped at the Little White House.  Truman used it as a vacation retreat.  It also has been used by other Presidents as well.

Candy insisted that we had to get this next picture, mile "0" for Route 1.

We ended out day at Sloppy Joes.  We had "Sloppy Joes" for dinner, they were great.  There was a fantastic band playing Cuban and Caribbean music.

Today we didn't do much except move the boat out to a City Mooring to save some money.  The last pictures are of Candy and I enjoying a libation. 

Greg

Boot Key Harbor to Key West

We left Boot Key Harbor after a week.  Speculation started the last leg of her adventure, Key West bound, on Friday January 28.  The wind was 10 to 15 knots from the northwest, a close reach.  The sun was in and out.  Everything was going well. Candy had gone below for a nap after lunch.  We were about 3 miles from the entrance channel to Key West when what should come up to us!

We were boarded by the Coast Guard!  We obviously fit the profile of either drug smugglers or trying to smuggle Cubans into the USA!  As it turned out they let us go, it was a safety check.

The next pictures are of the Key West light house and the harbor.

Candy made it! This picture was of the boat in the slip at City Dock Garrison Bight, what an adventure!

Once we were settled we headed to Margaritaville to celebrate!

I had to have my Cheeseburger in Paradise.

On Saturday we slept in.  Once we got organized we headed to the famous sailors bar Schooners.

Then it was off to Mallory Square for the famous Sunset Celebration.  I lucked out with a schooner sailing buy for a great picture.

After sunset, we had dinner at Kellys Caribbean Bar and Grill, They made a good Dark & Stormy. We ended our evening at an Irish bar, Finnegans Wake, for a few Guinness. The saga to be continued tomorrow!

Greg

Marathon to Marathon

First Mate again!  No pictures because we haven't been anywhere with the weather we have been having.  Let me paint you a picture.  A severe thunderstorm complete with electrifying lightening and high decimal claps and throw in some wind.  The boat actually tremored and you could feel everything.  Even closing my eyes I could see "light".  At some points I wasn't sure if it was THE LIGHT!  I wasn't ready to go just yet; I need to get to Key West.  So we have stayed in Marathon at Boot Key for yet another day and hopefully on Friday we can move on.  It is cooler today but not as cold as I understnd it is on Cape Cod.  I will be so excited to hear on the weather radio something other than "heavy chop".  We'll start to provision the boat again with water, fuel and an empty porta-potty.  Maybe a pot of beef stew and cornbread for dinner.  Sounds like a real sailor's delight!

Candy 

Marathon Boot Key Harbor

It has been a few days since I last blogged. We have not gone anywhere!  I have included some pictures of the marina and mooring field, it is loaded with boats.

We had a spectacular sunset on Sunday evening.  This was taken from the mooring.

On Monday morning we left to sail to Key West.  It was a little windy but I thought it would be fine with the wind on our quarter.  I was wrong!  Once we got out into the Hawk Channel it was rock and roll!  After an hour of that, the Captain turned the ship around and headed back to Boot Key Harbor.  We are going to wait for more favorable weather, so we went for plan "B".  Yesterday we rented a car to tour some of the Keys.  Our first order was to find the "No Name Pub" on Big Pine Key.

This is a very unique place.  They say it is a little piece of Key West, the way it used to be.  The beer was good!  The walls are lined with Dollar Bills.  The tradition is to staple a bill to the wall or ceiling, it is amazing.  The picture of this chick I picked up shows the bills all over the place.

Last night I found my first Guinness in the Keys at the "Island Fish House Co." in Marathon.  Today before we had to turn the car in we did some more sight seeing We found this nice beach on the south side of the key "Sombrero Beach".  We took a couple of pictures.

This last picture is of Candy trying to catch a coconut!  The weather is warm and sunny today but the wind is still up and from the wrong direction.  It looks like we will not be able to head to Key West until Thursday at the earliest.  Life is tough in the Keys!

Greg

Marco Island to Boot Key Harbor

We left Marco Island at 7:00 AM, it is a long passage to our first stop on our way to Marathon.  We had clear weather but no wind.  Our destination was to Little Shark River, in the Everglades about 50 miles as the Pelican flies.  The picture below is of some birds catching a ride, one was with us for almost an hour!

Our course took us offshore of Ten Thousand Islands and it was hazy so we couldn't take any pictures.  We arrived at Little Shark River at about 5:00 PM.  The guide book said that the banks are full of alligators and in bold type warned that it was not a good place to take a dip!  The next pictures are of the Mangroves around our anchorage and a spectacular sunset through the Mangroves.

On Friday morning we got underway a little after 7:00 AM.  The trip across Florida Bay to the Keys was all about avoidingthe "pots".  It was challenging because we had current coming across our course.  I was mostly successful "except" for one!  The next picture is of me cutting the line wrapped around the prop.

When we reached the ICW on the north side of the Keys we headed for the Seven Mile Bridge to cross to the south side of Marathon Key and Boot Key Harbor.

We had a rocky ride to the harbor entrance, the wind was opposed to the current.  I picked up a city mooring, $21 a day.  We are going to stay a few days to do laundry and re-provision, before heading out to Key West.

Greg

Naples to Marco Island

The rudder was delivered to the marina Tuesday afternoon, the guy did a great job.  We left Naples at 11:30 AM.  When we reached the gulf the fog was fairly thick so we went slow.  About half way to Marco Island it began to lift.  The trip was uneventful, thank God!  We anchored in Factory Bay at about 3:00 PM.  After a little rest we took the dinghy to shore and a tiki bar for a few libations.  Candy had a wonderful Key Lime Martini (2); I had a couple of Land Sharks, we are back on track!

This picture is coming into Marco Island.

This next one is My First Mate relaxing with a Jimmy Buffett book, "A Pirate Looks At Fifty".

This last picture is the Moon rising over Marco Island.



Today was a good day!

Greg

Day 4 in Naples



This is our fourth day in Naples.  Yesterday I finally found someone that was willing to fix our rudder.  It should be ready this afternoon.  It rained on Monday so we took a Trolley tour of the city.  I don't know where regular people live because we didn't see any homes for under $1,000,000.  I am sure the one below is a little more!

We are on a city mooring that is the bargain of Naples only $10.00 a day.  If you look close you can see that rudder is a little short.



Today we walked to Starbucks to use their WiFi and have lunch.  We also ordered our tickets for our flight home for the Rome trip.  The last picture is Candy on the computer.



When we came in from the boat it was 80 I am sure it is not much different on the Cape!  Tomorrow the plan is to head for Marco Island, IF the rudder is ready a big "if"!

Greg

Ft. Myers to Wiggins Pass "oops" Naples



Today's blog is brought to you by the First Mate.  Left Fort Myers Beach Friday afternoon a little later than expected - 2pm.  Still thought we could make Naples before it got too dark.  As we merrily putted along, the Captain thought maybe we should stop sooner because we had vowed not to travel after dark.  According to the charts and guide, we believed that we could go into Wiggins Pass even though it advised you to be careful of shoaling and shallow depths. Since we only draw 3 and half, that has never been a real problem.  Well they should have a mark with a big flashing sign saying "Don't Enter" far enough out so you don't experience what we did!  To see the posting that says depths could vary due to shoaling you have to have entered the channel into the pass.  Guess what, we stopped, hard.  Yours truly, who as we all know does not like heeling, found herself hanging onto one side of the boat with her Captain hanging outside of the boat and then jumping (??) to the other side to break away.  Break away we did and so did about 2 feet of rudder.  I'm hollering, "isn't that the rudder floating away", and this was indeed confirmed by the Capt.  At which time he gets into the dinhgy and tells me to continue circling around in the Gulf of Mexico solo.  I did what any First Mate with any common sense would do and said, "Are you kidding?" and you can imagine the response.  So whoever nominated me for "Wife of the Year" in 2010 can now consider doing it again for 2011.  A Seatow boat came along and told us they plan on dredging sometime this month.  Information just a little too late.  So luckily we still have steerage with what is left of the rudder and off to Naples we go and into the night.  There were no other boats out so collisons were not a big concern.  Just trying to see the marks with our big spotlight was enough and we anchored in the channel heading into Naples.  Meanwhile; I'm suffering with a head cold that makes me wish I had selected a different cruise line that has a sick bay.  The Captain may marry couples at sea but his best advise was to get outside and let the sun bake it out of me!  Wish me well.  I blame it all on the airlines and all the delay time on the airplane.  So sometime today, the rudder situation will be addressed in Naples, of course it is the weekend.  So we may be here a few days.  Over and out or whatever you seamen say.....

Candy

We are back in Ft Myers

We had an eventful trip down to Ft Myers.  I was apprehensive with the weather down south because we were flying through Atlanta.  We took the bus to Logan Monday morning.  I was expecting our flight to be canceled, but every time we checked they said it was on time.  When we arrived at the airport all the flights to Atlanta except ours were in fact canceled, we took off on time.  For anyone who has made connections through Atlanta knows getting to the connecting gate can be a challenge!  We arrived at our gate in "T" terminal, our connecting flight to Ft Myers was at "E" terminal, the opposite end.  When we checked the monitor it said it was on time, so we ran!  We made it just in time for them to announce a delay.  The flight was schedule to leave at 1:18 PM, we boarded the plane at 2:30 PM. Again our flight was the only one leaving, all the others scheduled flights were canceled!  When we left the gate the captain announced that our take off is going to be delayed because we needed to be deiced and there were other planes ahead of us.  We took off at about 6:00 PM to the cheers of the passengers.  Everyone was grateful to be one of the very few planes to take off that day.

The last three days we have been getting the boat ready for the next leg of our adventure.  We are headed to Naples this afternoon about 20 miles away. 

Greg