Update on the project boat

Over Thanksgiving, I talked about the 'project boat' that was on the hard and Spouse met the owner.

Well, he talked to him today and I guess things have really progressed.  Evidently, he himself is a general contractor, but not necessarily in marine things.

The last time we were there, they were rebuilding the rudder (the other had a nice little 8 inch hole in it) the folks that were doing it did an incredibly fantastic job. It was a wood core to be glassed over.

Well, I am happy and awed to announce that B. and his wife sailed the old girl not only around the Keys but all the way up to St. Petersburg.  WAY TO GO!  Without an autopilot.  Shit yeah.  And it was cold.

B mentioned that they went through Key West during the Key West race week, he was annoyed because there were no anchorages or moorings or slips.  I'm like OMG KEY WEST RACE WEEK!  Evidently, not the same for him.

Anyhow, bully for them.  Obviously the boat got a good home.  I hope to see her one day.

Things you'll never hear on the VHF at Lake Perry

1.  <<in response to a smartass comment by a boater>>  This is the United States Coast Guard, we are monitoring and recording this channel. This channel is to be used for emergency communication. Repeat: this is the United States Coast Guard monitoring and recording this channel.

What you'd hear at the lake:  Children screaming into the mic.  Joe Cooter Redneck telling his buddy to have relations with himself. Occasionally my intoxicated husband forgetting to switch over to 68.

2.  This is the United States Coast Guard Cutter Thetis, will be conducting a live artillery drill at (longitude) XXXN and XXXW. All vessels in the area please be aware that there will be live artillery drill.

To which my husband says to me:  Where the hell is that, are we near, I didn't hear the coordinates. Holy shit!


3. Harbor police, harbor police, harbor police, this is XXX.  There are some speed boats tearing up the no wake zone by Rickenbacker Bridge.

No wake zone? What's that?  The only use our no wake buoys get is when they are used to mark the jetty when it is submerged in the spring 'tide'.  If the docks a rocking, don't come a-knocking.




A while back we were on a day charter with Captain Don K. out of Key West (he's since sold his boat).  He told us the best free entertainment in the world could be listening to Channel 16 around the Keys.  Sure enough, later that day, there was a distress call from a lady that said her husband went overboard and she can't find him.  Capt'n Don says: "I bet you she pushed him overboard. Wouldn't be the first time." Okay, it might not be politically right, but it was funny--after all, what wife hasn't wanted to do a man overboard drill with the spouse once in a while?

But seriously: Learn your VHF, learn how to use it, learn the etiquette, learn what it means by 'rendering help' on a mayday call.  As amusing as the broadcasts can be at times, there's some pretty serious stuff that happens.

On our recent trip, we heard 4 different reports of capsized boats because folks were taking the fishing boats out when the water was too rough. One report of a Cuban chug overladen with people and immobilized and a missing sailboat that was due into Hemingway Harbor in Havana and didn't report in.

Scary.

PS--26 days until we are out of this frozen wasteland and back down on the boat. And the Boat Show!

I interrupt this post for a brief announcement

A lot of people have been asking about our trip.  I told them, it was nice, but we froze our asses off.

They said, oh poor babies, 55 degrees isn't that cold.

Yes.

Yes it is.

So shut up.

I will bundle up in the mornings when it is 70 degrees.  The simple fact is:  you are on the water folks. And it always feels cooler on the water.

And now---add wind chill. Not only by the actual wind, but by the apparent wind that the boat is creating.

Then add salt spray - wet = cold.

So, once again, I say SHUT UP.  One of a sailor's greatest enemies is hypothermia.  Keeping warm is imperative, it can affect you physically and mentally your ability to respond to a situation.

Tim and I did hour on/off watches. We took it seriously. Stopping at Marathon was the right thing for us to do.

We may fly by the seat of our pants a lot, but we aren't complete idiots.

So, next time we take the boat out in 50 degree weather, come along


......bring the swimsuit.

Shoot the moon-let's make Dinner Key today

So we got up about 5am, got prepped and some food in us and had the anchor up before sunrise.  Still pretty darn chilly, but promises to be a bright sunshiny day.  Finally.  The temp called for up 60s which was going to be positively balmy for us.

So, up comes the sun. Then, this comment from the spouse:  "I've never seen the sunrise before.

SCRRRRRTTCCCCH goes the record player.

What? Never?

Nope.

What about in college and all nighters, etc.

Nope. Never pulled an all nighter, fell asleep before sunrise.  (coughing sounds from me--loser)

Wow. WOW.  Well glad I could share it with you honey."

See, I dig the morning, I can get up early.  Seeing a sunrise is magical.

Now how can you sleep through this?

And some sailing commences

And he's unconcious.....

Actually, I kid, I need to take the first shift on our boat usually to get the sea legs going and the mal de mar tapped down.  But that sun came up, and slowly I watched him ooze down onto the cushions and fall asleep like a big yellow cat in the sun.  I later took my turn, but down below tucked in the lee of the salon and was out like a light.  Funny how 6 kts under sail is a lot more conducive to sleep than a rolly anchorage.

Yeah, it's look where you are going, not where you've been!
Actually looking for our dolphin friends.
One layer of foul weather gear off.

So, the day progressively got nicer and nicer, we zoomed past Key Largo and the seas turned into this magically calm oasis.

Also the wind mellowed out, but Tim wanted to commit to getting Miami, so we motorsailed off and on.  And then the cold and the stress of the anchorage melted away as a pod of dolphins proceeded to surround our boat.  I've yet to get one of them sumbitches to stay still and let me take their picture. Bastards.  But still, Tim and I were like little kids ooooh, look, neat. Ooooo.

Before I knew it, we could see the Miami skyline.  I was ready for a nice hot shower and a well deserved  sundowner (or two, or three...)

Now, getting from the Channel to the Dinner Key channel is a exercise is follow the buoys and watch the shallows.  Oh, and to make it more fun, add anchored fishing boats, and a little place called Stiltsville.  But that's not enough, make sure your color blind and somewhat ADD husband is helming.

The scenario is something like this.

K:"Okay Compy Comp--keep your bearing, it's shallow off to port. About 1/2 mile off you should see the red channel marker, that's where we'll turn."

T:"uhhh. I don't see any channel markers"

K:"that's okay, we still got a ways, but it'll be off to port"

T:"YOU CAN SEE IT? HOW?"

K:"Lasik surgery and fully operating rods and cones in my eyes, dear"

T:"I can't see shit"

K:"Well, how's about we get our sails down, that will help"

(scurrying about as we furl the sails)

K: "Okay, we are about 1/4 mile off, can you see it yet?"

T: "show me on the chart again where it's supposed to be, I don't think it's there"

K: "it's there dammit, #2 16ft tall, has a light"

T: "now how the hell do you know how tall it is?"

K: "read the chart"

T: "I probably should learn what all that crap means, huh.  Are those fishing boats anchored there?"

K:  "No shit sherlock.  Focus. Do you see the channel markers yet. Both the red and green. Don't cut it tight, it shallows rapidly"

T: "Nope."

K: "F*ckit. I'm driving."

I do feel sorry for him, putting the two colors that he can't see on a blue or green background must just play havoc for his brain.  So, he did take back over the helm so I could take pictures of Stiltsville and we played follow the leader with the other boats.  Once again a dolphin popped up to welcome us to Miami.

And I thought Tim would run aground at least once. But we made it through the Biscayne channel.

Miami Skyline

Biscayne channel through Stiltsville

We crossed over the bay to play the 'which channel markers are ours' game next.  I really think there should be a big "Welcome to Dinner Key Marina" over ours. But I don't think the USCG and NOAA would agree with me.  We managed to figure it out, getting a little nervous with the heavy traffic we aren't used to.  However, getting into our slip was a breeze, nice wide spaces between the piers.

Sunset from out slip--cheers folks

Day Two of the Great Keys Artic Sail

Condition improved today. Temp reached the mid-60s and was actually going to warm up during the night.

However we knew we would have to be motoring into the wind, so we took our time leaving the marina.

So we set out and, lo and behold, we got to set sail for awhile.  But soon our course veered Northeast and we were back to motor sailing.

So the decision, do we go inside the Channel 5 bridge for anchoring, or do we attempt a Hawk channel anchoring.  We decided to forego Channel 5 since it was actually windward anchorage and from driving down we still had memories of the Bay side waters kicked up into a frothy mess were still keen in our mind.
It looked NASTY.  However, the winds were supposed to die down.

NOTE: In the great weather forecast provider contest:  Weather.com is permanently in last place.  It seems they update the weather AFTER it happens.  Weather Underground is good, especially if you want the actual compass direction of the wind.  NOAA is pretty good about updating their marine forecast. Weather XM is currently in the dog house, we are thinking of dropping the service, but not until we figure if its an user error.  Tim can download GRIB files on his iPad charts which is nice, but even that hasn't been updated like it should.

Back to the story...during our runs down below to warm up I reviewed anchorages online, bad bad bad reviews about the Indian Key anchorage. But we did our pros and cons and the big pro was that we'd gain about 2 hours by staying in Hawk Channel.  So off we head to Indian Key.

We visited Indian Key once before, it's actually a State Park, Tim explored it, and when we get the dinghy we'll definitely probably visit it and Ligumvitae.  The first time the mooring balls had been zapped by hurricanes, but this time the mooring balls were back. There's three that we saw, all occupied.

So we proceed to set the hook, then get yelled by some dipshit that seemed to think he needed the entire anchorage to himself.  We moved, just because I didn't want to deal with the gesturing and freaking out.
He was set in over 10:1 scope.  We set in about 7-8:1 scope and we got dug in good.

Now that it's over with, I'm not going to say BIG MISTAKE. But....BIG MISTAKE.

Our anchor held beautifully, even with a big wind shift and higher winds than forecasted.  Special K...not so much.  Amazingly I never got seasick like some folks reported. (But that could have been the pharmaceutical cocktail I had going of sinus meds).

But Indian Key is a rock and roll anchorage. Period.  I think it's a combo of little protection, shallow water and a bridge nearby that doesn't provide protection.  Our normal transom slap was more like BAM BAM BAM. Scared the hell out of me more than once.  Our neighbors (not the dipshit) drug.

I managed to make what I called the Indian Key Rock and Roll Paprika Chicken and Rice Stew.

Amazingly--we got some sleep.

Indian Key and one of the moorings
(Don't let the apparently calm looking water fool you)

Marina Review--Marathon Marina

Marathon Marina is the very first marina on the ocean side when you pull into Boot Key Harbor.  It recently changed ownership and they are dumping a lot of money into the marina and attached boatyard.  The facilities are fantastic.  They are cleaning the place up nicely.

The link above will take you to their site that hasn't been quite updated yet. The restaurant is now Lazy Days South and is run by an experienced restaurant couple that has the original Lazy Days in Islamorada.  They also have an absolutely kick ass Happy Hour.  We proceeded to eat ourselves stupid there.  I figgered I burned off enough calories trying to stay warm.

The marina has also cleaned up and painted and they are adding Tiki Huts throughout the property for social gatherings.  They've also purchased a new 75T travel lift, and they have WiFi although we weren't able to get on it.

(Side Note:  We purchased a pay as you go Wifi USB connection from Radio Shack and it's totally worth it. Especially if you need to get on the internet for weather checks, info, or if you happened to be married to a small business owner.....)

They have a nice fuel dock that offers discounts if you stay at the marina and the fuel dock also has pump out.  They are working on fixing the slips so that each slip with have pump out connection also, the slip behind us was working, but ours wasn't.  They just bring the hose to you.

All in all, we were quite impressed and it will be on our list of marinas. Very easy to access from Oceanside. There's a West Marine and convenience stores within walking distance.  Very well maintained boatyard.  Employees are absolutely fantastic--including the fuel dock lady that kept Compy Comp from running aground in the approaching channel.

You can also walk to the Seven Mile Bridge, and the visitor's center has a little tourist train that will take you out to Pigeon Key where the railroad workers for the Flagler railroad used to camp/live.

Ahhhh--Salve for the frozen sailor's soul.
The other side says 1/2 off beer, house wine, well drinks.
$2 off everything else.  

Even HemiD was glad to be tucked away for a bit.

The brand new travel lift.

Fuel Dock and Pump Out

Nice Clean Boat Yard

One of the new Tiki hut social areas

Beginning of the Seven Mile Bridge
New Bridge is on the left, the old bridge (built on the remains of the railroad)
is now open for pedestrian/bike traffic to Pigeon Key

Resident Mooch

Christmas in the Keys

The Florida Keys Arctic Sail-Part One

1. Do not sail the day Key West records its all time record low low and low high. You will freeze your ass off.  (for you trivia buffs: it was 54 H and 48 L--December 28, 2010)
   
2. Motoring into 20 kt winds without a dodger.  See above. Add soggy also.
   
3. Deciding to call Marathon Marina: Priceless.

We headed out from Stock Island on Tuesday. We needed to get the boat out of the slip and up to her actual home in Dinner Key Marina.  We left right at the crack of dawn--because why shouldn't fully appreciate the absolute cold?

I was in full foulie get up.  I had convinced the Spouse that he might want something other than jeans so we had got him a set of foulies.  

BTW--we are both getting heavier foulies in the future. And thermal underwear.

So after two hours of slogging north, boat and humans covered with about 1/4 in of salt spray I said #@$( this, I'm calling a marina in Marathon.  I was not going to do this for 3 more hours and then freeze on the hook.

The spouse was kinda cranky that Mother Nature wasn't seeing things his way. But after we arrived at the marina and got tied off on a lovely side tie. Took VERY HOT shower, changed into clothing that didn't crunch with salt spray his spirits improved greatly.  They got even better when we found out about the Happy Hour going on.

So Mr. WeDon'tNeedNoStinkingDodger has become Mr. WhereDoWeGetADodger.  There were actually quite a few Hunters that the marina so we walked around and discussed what we wanted in a dodger. We got a few tips from folks also.

There's a word I'm thinking of....oh yeah, its BRRRRRRRRRR!