Skylarking

After our events at Marathon we finally made it out of the anchorage. We stopped at a marina on the way out to fill our water tanks before heading out. Once the tanks were full, we had to head south to get back to the sixty five foot opening of the Seven Mile Bridge which we could fit under, then once through that we turned east so we could stay on ‘the inside’ passage (ICW) to Islamorada. The trip was pleasant- it was a nice day for a boat ride! We followed the ICW through some shallow passages which were well marked and found the anchorage we were looking for. The anchorage was in front of Lorelei Restaurant and Cabana Bar in a large bay. The nice thing about being on the ‘inside’ as opposed to the ocean side is the protection the island has from the weather and waves. We did experience some winds while we were there which did produce some chop, but the water isn’t deep enough to build up any large, breaking waves. Once we came to the anchorage we could see there were plenty of other boats anchored out, again with some looking like they have not moved in quite some time. On our approach in we came through some shallow areas where we touched bottom and kicked up some mud/sand but we made it through to somewhat deeper water of about six feet. We dropped anchor on the outskirts of the other boats as we like our privacy and was a little afraid to see how much closer we could get with the water depths- once we found six feet we were good!

We dropped anchor and made sure the ship was secure for about an hour or so. The water was clear- we could see straight down to the bottom and see fish and some coral. Since it was a hot day, I decided to go swimming while we were making sure the anchor had set. Also since we could see the bottom, I donned the snorkel gear and swam around, looking for lobster or crab for dinner but came up empty handed. I did however dive on the anchor to see how it was set and confirmed it was buried in pretty well and probably not going to come loose. Once we were done swimming we loaded into the dinghy with Frank and headed toward shore to Lorelei. They have a small dock where we could dock the dinghy, but it is only for use if you are eating/drinking at their restaurant. Once we were there Lauren took Frank for a walk and I went to procure some much needed refreshments for us. We enjoyed the live music and watched the sunset while Frank made plenty of new friends who would stop by to pet him. After the sunset, we walked down to one of the two local breweries: Islamorada Brewery and Distillery. We had a couple of beers there on the patio while Frank got to hang out on land and explore as there was no one back there with us. Finally it was time to call it a night and head back to the boat.

Day 2- Lauren had posted on Facebook that we were here in Islamorada and received a message from a co-worker from Cleveland that she was here too! We made plans to meet in the morning and go to Robbie’s for breakfast. They picked us up and a short drive later we were sitting at a table overlooking the water enjoying each others company and stories. We all had a great time, then they dropped us back off where we had landed the dinghy. The dinghy ‘dock’ was a dirt road the locals use as a boat ramp with mangroves on either side we could tie off to and wade in to shore. This was not too far of a ride for us, so it would work out well. Lauren and I walked around to the shops that were up and down the street from the dock, then made our way back to the boat. The weather was picking up and rain was on the way, so I took Frank to shore for some relief then we returned back for the evening.

Day 3-6- The anchorage got a little more crowded as we watched a few boats come in and anchor. Everyone left plenty of space, but the forecast was not improving enough for us to move on yet. Our plan is to go to a channel a few miles away and cut over to the ocean, then head to a marina a bit north. Since we will be in the ocean, we want to make sure we have a good forecast for that. These next few days were also spent discussing our preparations for the big Bahamas jump… Lauren’s anxiety is starting to get a bit higher due to the fact we will be crossing the Gulf Stream and part of the Atlantic ocean. There is plenty we need to get done before we leave… We finished up the week here with a festival at the Florida Keys Brewing Company! They had iguana races, ax throwing, live music and beer! We brought Frank along and he met plenty of other pooches also in attendance. Tomorrow we will depart for Key Largo, where we will do our prep before the big jump…

I am going to shorten the eleven days we spent here to a few highlights, and there are some good stories here…

When we arrived we stopped to top off our fuel and water tanks. We know we will be heading to the Bahamas soon and want to have plenty of fuel for that, plus we will be anchoring out for a while, so we need to have fresh water. After leaving Key West and Bahia Honda, we were pretty low on water. We stopped at the fuel dock at Marathon Marina and put about two hundred and fifty gallons in the tanks. Oomph. That always stings a bit watching the amount due go up and up, but its a part of the cruising life. We also had to pay fifteen cents a gallon for water! Thankfully we can go pretty far between fuel fill ups. I’ve been asked how much fuel we’ve used so far and I haven’t tracked it yet- we try to fill up when we find ‘cheap’ fuel prices regardless if we need it or not so we stay topped off most of the time. We filled our tanks and went to start the engine, and nothing. Our engine has this problem of not being able to re-start immediately after shutting down- something I need to figure out why, but it’s not on the top of the list right now. As of now, we just know we need to let the engine cool down a bit, which it did eventually- then it started right up!

Marathon Marina is right at the entrance of Boot Key, which has tons of anchored boats and a large mooring field. The mooring field has a three week wait or more to get a ball. We left the fuel dock and was scoping out a good place to anchor, but there wasn’t anything that looked good to us, so we continued on deeper into Boot Key. We kept looking for a spot, but again nothing was looking good- either too shallow, too close to other boats, or too much of an unknown to take the risk. We eventually ended up coming down a channel where we had docked on our first time through Marathon. We waved to some friends we had met when we were here before. We noticed the channel was fairly wide, and this being Florida, you can anchor almost anywhere, as long as you are not blocking a marked channel. Hmm…it looks like we could try to anchor here sideways and if we put out a stern anchor, we could stay out of the channel. Our phone rang and it was our friends asking where we were going? I asked if they had seen anyone anchor here? They replied they had not, but said it looks okay if you can stay sideways. The other concern they had was that the marina is in an old quarry, so maybe the bottom would not be good for holding an anchor, but they weren’t sure and said maybe we could try it? In theory it looked and sounded pretty good, but there were some big ‘if’s’… We circled around and I came as close to the side of the channel as possible. Depth was around twenty feet deep, so that wasn’t an issue so much as it was a concern. We would have to drop a lot of anchor line rather quickly to hopefully hold the bow in place, then back up, allowing the anchor to dig in, and then drop the stern anchor. We dropped the front anchor and let out a bunch of line, but the wind that was pretty non-existent to this point, started blowing us toward shore. Crap! Now I had to try to run down and drop the stern anchor to hopefully hold us off land and hoping the front anchor had grabbed hold. We kept getting pushed closer and closer to shore! I hopped in the dinghy to try to get the stern anchor out farther, but this was not easy as now I was battling the wind and the weight of the boat drifting onto shore! I was able to drop the stern anchor out as far as possible and made my way back to Klondike. I then tried to kedge the stern out from shore using the anchor and long line (Definition of kedge: to move (a ship) by means of a line attached to a small anchor dropped at the distance and in the direction desired). We were able to pull the stern off a bit, then had to figure out how to get the bow out since the anchor had held, but there was too much line out. Once the stern was clear, we used the engine, alternating between forward and reverse to try to get the bow out away from the shore. We eventually got the boat out a little bit and Lauren did an excellent job at the helm, while I jumped back and forth from the dinghy to Klondike keeping our stern out. Once we were far enough out I pulled the stern anchor and we were able to pull out, away from land. At this point I looked up and saw we had quite an audience! Obviously people were watching from their boats, probably thinking “What were they trying to do?!”. I was dripping in sweat and was just pleased we could get out of our jam. Lauren joked “just practice, people!” as we pulled out. Once clear we had a good laugh, but had to once again figure out where we were going to drop anchor and stay. We continued on to Sister Creek, which is a noted anchorage in our guide. It is indeed a ‘creek’, although wide, that runs from the Atlantic Ocean to Boot Key Harbor. It is also a known ‘hurricane hole’ where people bring their boats when a hurricane is approaching. The idea here was to drop an anchor and tie the stern of the boat to the mangrove trees that line the creek. The mangroves and small island protect the creek from heavy winds and the bends in the creek keep the waves from coming through with any velocity, although there is a fairly strong current that switches directions depending on the tides and time of day. Obviously in a hurricane people use many, many anchors and lines to shore. We turned down the creek and came upon several boats anchored and tied to the mangroves. The creek was between ten and fifteen feet deep, all the way to the mangroves, so it was good depths for us. This was going to be a new experience for us to anchor this way. We picked a spot not too far down the creek and was trying to determine how to do this. We dropped the anchor, but the current was pulling the boat toward up river and I could not get the stern to swing around against it. As we were debating what to do, someone pulled up in a dinghy and gave us some suggestions. We chatted a bit with our anchor down, and they asked if they could use my manual bilge pump to pump out their dinghy? I said yes, but I was too worried about getting us straightened out to continue chatting. They took the pump from our dinghy and took off- I had told them to take it and return it whenever they could. Back to the task at hand- getting the stern back to the mangroves, when another guy pulled up in his dinghy and told me we couldn’t anchor here. What!? The other guy said it was good! This guy said it is the only deep channel going back to another ‘hurricane hole’ and that the Coast Guard would eventually come tell me to move. Okay- I wasn’t going to argue with him as that would get us nowhere, and he suggested a little further down the creek there is space. We pulled our anchor and continued on down. We saw a large gap past where boats that looked like they had been there for a long time and had many lines/anchors out and a lone boat at the end just before the last bend in the creek. We decided to go all the way down, but not too close, to the last boat. Again we had the same quandary of dropping anchor and figuring out how to get the stern around. The solution came by me taking many long lines and joining them so I had a single line about two hundred feet long. I took the dinghy and attached this line to the mangroves and brought the end back to Klondike. Now Lauren and I used brute strength to pull the stern back toward the mangroves. This was not easy with a nineteen ton boat and fighting the current! Once we were turned perpendicular to the mangroves, I tied a second line to the mangroves and brought that back to Klondike as well, so we now have two secure lines holding us to the trees. I then took our backup smaller stern anchor, tied it to the bow and put it in the dinghy and dropped it out at a forty five degree angle from the bow so we now have two anchors holding us in place. By the time this was all done we were happy to sit and relax a bit. The winds were expected to be in the 25+mph range for the next couple of days so all we could do was hope we picked the right spot and hope our lines held. Frank needed to get to shore, so we loaded up the dinghy and went to see what was around the corner. We were greeted with a beach! We had anchored right around the corner from Sombrero Beach, which is one of the only public beaches in Marathon! They had a spot to land the dinghy on the sand and it was pet friendly! We enjoyed the sunset and returned to the boat to ride out the wind that kept increasing. Our spot was awesome in that the wind didn’t really affect us much and there was no rocking and rolling. We were across from four large towers on government property that we were told sends radio propaganda directly to Cuba and is so powerful it messes with boat’s electronics. We were lucky I suppose that we didn’t experience any interference, but our neighbors mast lights would flicker due to the wattage being sent out!

The next day we hung out at the beach and took the bikes to shore. we had a great day. We returned to the boat for lunch and we watched as a sailboat pulled up to anchor in the space next to us. They pulled up and dropped anchor, then they were in the same quandary we were in yesterday- how to get the stern around to the mangroves. They were having some difficulty. I hopped in the dinghy and went over to offer a hand. The guy that I spoke to had a German (?) accent, and declined my assistance! I was trying to tell them they needed a stern line tied first, but okay…no help needed. I watched with amusement as they eventually figured it out and got their dinghy untied and ran the line from the mangroves to the boat. They eventually got situated and all seemed well. At least they weren’t too close to us! The next day was again uneventful- beach time and general island time. We took gallons of water to the beach daily and filled them at the water fountain- conservation is key! The winds continued to climb and we were comfortable at our anchorage, except we were being pulled a little too close to the mangroves. I realized the small stern anchor wasn’t holding very well with the winds and currents. It was now straight down from the bow and not really doing anything, but the main anchor was holding well. The night fell and we were happy with our anchorage- not too windy and no rocking from waves., although we were getting pushed closer to the mangroves, and looking at our neighbors on either side the same seemed to be happening to them. Not much we could do about it now as it was dark, so we went to bed. The river is a great place to be!

The next morning we woke up and all was well. We were still sitting about ten feet from the mangroves, but there was plenty of water under the boat. I pulled up the smaller anchor and took our other large anchor in the dinghy and dropped it where I had originally dropped the small anchor- about forty five degrees from the bow and hoped this would hold better. After this was done we went to the beach and hung out. We returned to the boat later in the day and had a late lunch and lounged about. I noticed our catamaran neighbors messing with their anchor. At this point it was later in the day- around 5pm or so. I watched as they were trying to pull themselves a bit farther away from the mangroves, but ended up pulling up their anchor completely! Now I was watching with interest- I told Lauren what was going on and I was ready to go help them if I could. Lauren cautioned me not to go as it was getting dusk and the winds were really blowing. I sat on our back deck with a cocktail and watched as they got blown around- they had released their stern lines and were now floating down the creek out of control! WTF!? They eventually got control of the boat and came back to where they were anchored and dropped the anchor, but now the current and the wind were preventing them from getting their stern to the mangroves. I poured myself another drink and donned my life-jacket, just in case, and continued to watch this go on. One guy eventually got in the dinghy and was trying to get to the line still tied to the mangroves. He reached it and was heading toward the boat when he ran out of line- they had dropped anchor farther out than before so it wouldn’t reach! He was communicating with the other guy still on board the boat and I saw him tying lines together, but now the guy in the dinghy was floating off down the creek! I watched as he kept trying to pull the cord to start the engine to no avail. Damn. Now I had to act! I went in and told Lauren I was sorry, but I had to go help- I jumped in the dinghy and raced over to him as he was getting close to the other side of the creek. He looked at me and I said I would pull him back to the boat if he had a line? He told me there was one on the bow of the dinghy so I reached out to grab it, but as I pulled it got pulled back out of my hand. Hmmm…This was not good! I came around to the side of his dinghy and grabbed hold, maneuvering us to the channel and back toward his boat. I again asked if he had a line and told him the line I grabbed was not working. The look on his face when it dawned on him that the line was wrapped around his prop I’ll never forget. “Do you have a knife? The line is wrapped around the propeller!” he yelled to me. Ughh. I left Klondike in a hurry and didn’t grab the knife I usually carry with me. “Hold on!’ I told him- “I’ll grab one and be right back!” I let go and turned toward our boat where Lauren was standing there watching. As I was heading toward Lauren I noticed our other neighbor who I had not seen until now standing on his bow watching us. He waved me over and I raced up to him and asked if he had a knife handy? He gave me one and said he would be right there to help as soon as he lowered his dinghy into the water. I took the knife back to the stricken dinghy and he went to work trying to cut the line free. In the mean time our neighbor had launched his dinghy and came out to assist. We introduced ourselves and I found out his name was Jimmy. Jimmy helped get the line cut from the dinghy and we all motored over to the boat that was still anchored in the middle of the channel. At this point the guy on the boat had tied lines together to give us hopefully enough to tie to the mangroves and back to them. We took the line and realized we were about twenty feet short. We waited while they found another line to add to the link and Jimmy and I chatted. Once the lines were long enough, I took the line and ran it to the mangroves and tied it on to the largest branch I could find. Jimmy and I then used our dinghies to push the stern of the boat around to being lined up perpendicular to the creek while they winched in the excess line to hold them in place. Now they were back and secure in place, we all parted ways and went back to our own boats. Lauren was waiting for me with some sparkling wine which we enjoyed after the harrowing events and the rest of the night was uneventful compared to that.

The next few days were fairly uneventful. We met our neighbor Jimmy again at the beach where everyone pulls up in their dinghies. We chatted a bit and met his wife Laurie. There was a day when I was sitting on the back deck of our boat and watched a fairly large boat come charging through rather fast. Most boats came through slowly as it is a ‘no wake’ zone. I had looked up when I heard the boat coming and noticed there were some kayakers coming down the river with a guide, which was a daily occurrence. The guide passed us and I watched as the stragglers were coming down the river. The wake the big boat caused was rocking them pretty good, then one woman tipped over! I got up and looked around for the tour guide, but he was already around the corner with some of the others and hadn’t noticed her tip over at all! Damn. I couldn’t just let her struggle, so I jumped in the dinghy and motored over to her. She had on a life vest so it wasn’t the worse situation, but she clearly could not get her kayak turned upright, let alone get into it. At least her husband was still by her side in his kayak! I asked her if she was okay and she said she was. I offered to help and she was quite thankful, but said she could not get back on the kayak. My thought was to get her in the dinghy, but she couldn’t do that either. Hmm…Okay- “let me pull you to a boat and you could use their ladder or swim platform to get in the dinghy.” She agreed and I pulled her slowly to a nearby boat which I saw had a ladder deployed over the side. She climbed up the ladder and got in the dinghy, then I went back to the kayak and pulled that behind us to get her back to the beach where they departed from. Her husband paddled along side and we returned her to the group waiting on the beach. The conversation on the way in was not too kind toward the guide and I don’t blame her! Her husband tried to give me some money for helping, but I declined to accept it- that would be bad karma in my opinion- if someone needs help, then I will help. The guide thanked me (kind of) and I returned to the boat where Lauren had watched the whole thing. We had dinner and returned to the beach for another wonderful sunset before retiring…

The next couple of days were again uneventful until Jack arrived. It was awesome to see someone from home! He brought our mail and some items we had wished we had brought from home. He arrived around mid afternoon and we met him at the beach. We took him to the boat and hung out for a bit enjoying cocktails and catching up. Eventually we got hungry and decided to go for happy hour to a nearby restaurant: FLA Keys Steak and Lobster House. Jack left to check in to his hotel and we dinghied over to the municipal dinghy dock, We had to dinghy there because the city does not allow dinghies on the beach after sunset, but it worked out perfectly as the restaurant was right across the street. We spent some more time catching up and ended up ordering dinner there as well as our happy hour snacks. We were all feeling pretty good and called it a night.

Day two of our visit the weather wasn’t cooperating with us. We were supposed to meet for breakfast but it started to rain overnight and not let up. We woke up to a torrential downpour, and since we were anchored out the dinghy was the only way to shore. We were not going to try to get in in this weather! Eventually it slowed down enough for me to take Frank to the beach for a poop walk, but it was still raining. He did his business and we returned to the boat just as it started to rain harder. It was around 1pm by the time we finally were able to make it to shore to meet Jack. He picked us up at the beach and we went for lunch as he had already eaten breakfast while waiting for us. We felt bad about this, but such is boat life. We ended up at the Island Fish Company. We enjoyed a good lunch overlooking the water, albeit inside due to the rain. After lunch we made some stops for some oil for our boat and a dollar store for some items we wanted to pick up. We went back to the boat and relaxed for a while since the rain had now passed. After some more time together, we agreed to meet for happy hour again and we wanted to take him to a couple of places we had visited our first time through. We met at the city dock again and found our way to Keys Fisheries for some $3 stone crab claws and fresh shucked oysters. After that we went to The Hurricane Bar and Grill for a pizza and some live music. At this point it was getting late so we called it a night and made plans to meet for breakfast in the morning. Jack is driving back to The Villages tomorrow so we will get an early start so he can be on his way by 11am. The following day we met at the beach again and we went for breakfast at The Cracked Conch Cafe where we had an enjoyable breakfast, then Jack ordered some conch fingers so we could all share some conch. It was delicious. After filling our bellies, Jack took us to the grocery store to pick up some supplies- this was a huge help as we could really load up a lot more than we usually do as we normally have to carry everything on bikes, but with the car we could really buy in bulk. By this point it was around 10:30am and we didn’t want to hold him up any longer as he was planning on leaving by 11am. He dropped us off at our dinghy with all of our groceries and we said our good-bye’s. It was sad to see him leave after a short visit but we all have somewhere to be. Unfortunately the weather was going to keep us here for a couple more days as tonight was going to be more high winds. Oh well.

The next morning I woke up and was looking at our stern lines run to the mangroves and noticed one of the lines was still tied to a branch but the branch had completely broken off the tree! The branch was still tangled in the mangroves but was essentially floating free. I pulled the branch to the boat and untied the line, then hopped in the dinghy and found a sturdier trunk to tie it to. The rest of the day was uneventful- just waiting for good weather to leave, but that isn’t tomorrow yet according to the forecast.

The night was windy again and we felt pretty secure. I was woken up in the middle of the night by an intuition and a strange sound. I went outside to inspect our rigging and found that one of our front anchor lines was hanging limp. WTF!? I pulled the line up and there was nothing on it! Where is the anchor?! It is 3am and the wind and current has the boat being pulled, but the stern lines are holding and the remaining anchor is holding tight. I had left our stern anchor on the front of the boat ‘just in case’ and was I glad I did. I rigged up some line to it and tossed it in the water, figuring it was better than nothing. After assessing the situation I figured there wasn’t much more I could do at this hour and since everything else was holding well (fingers crossed!) I went back to bed and would deal with it in the morning. Once the sun came up and we were having our coffee I explained to Lauren what I had found last night. We discussed our plan and I went on an exploratory mission to see how deep the water was where I think I lost the anchor. I used an seven foot pole and tried to reach bottom to no avail. I duct taped two poles together and tried again. I could just barely reach bottom with my hand under water, so it was at least fifteen feet deep. Now we had to try to find an anchor and chain lying on the bottom of the creek which we could not see. I tried to line up where I thought it was and was doing my best to drive the dinghy or hold it in place as I leaned over and poked/dragged for the bottom, hoping I would feel it. I was doing this to no avail, although once I thought maybe I felt something when our neighbor Jimmy saw me poking around. I went over and explained what I was doing and the situation and he offered to help. Great! I asked if he had a grapple by chance and he did! Now I was hopeful we would be able to find our anchor- I was not going to leave without it either way even if I had to pay a diver to come find it. Our lost anchor is over forty pounds and would cost several hundred dollars to replace, so I would pay a diver a hundred bucks to find it if I had to, though I would not be happy about it! The grapple would be better as we could drag it across the bottom of the creek and hopefully snag the anchor chain was my thought. With two of us, one could drag for the anchor while the other steers the dinghy. My biggest fear however as we started was snagging and pulling up our only remaining anchor! As we were criss crossing back and forth where I thought it may be, our new neighbors who came in a couple of days ago when the Germans left called us over. They were preparing their dive gear to work on their boat and offered to dive for my anchor if we needed them to. WOW! That was awesome they even offered to do this- this is what we mean when we say boaters look out for boaters! Jimmy and I continued dragging for our anchor and he soon told me he felt like he hooked something! I circled the dinghy around and we were pulling on the grapple hoping not to lose whatever we snagged. Whatever it was was not budging! Now I was concerned we would lose his grapple if we couldn’t get whatever we caught up or get it untangled. It was a struggle for a bit, then he said he felt like he had an anchor! NO WAY! We continued to pull and try to finesse whatever we had and it felt like we had a sunken boat or car on the end. We continued to struggle with it, both of us pulling at it, and he then said he felt like maybe he had some chain! We continued at this for a short while when we felt like we really had some chain now! Now we didn’t want it lose it, but it was not coming up very easily… It took both of us pulling, with me eventually leaning over the dinghy as far down as I could reach to see if I could grab the end. Eventually I felt chain and grabbed hold! Jimmy helped me bring it up a little more and we were able to heave the rest up, including our lost anchor! HOORAY! I shouted out to our dive neighbors “WE FOUND IT!” and they were happy for us. They did their dive on their boat anyway, but it felt great to be able to retrieve the anchor! It was like a needle in the haystack and we found the needle! I was stoked, BUT now I had to figure out how to re-attach it to the line. Again I was thinking I would have to pay someone to splice it for me, but Jimmy said he knows how to do it and would be happy to teach/ do it for me. OMG! The day gets better and better! Jimmy had to return to his boat for tools and said he would come back in a bit. I returned to the boat and waited patiently. He eventually came back and taught me how to splice three strand rope. We even used my propane torch to melt the end and ensure everything was secured. After we were done with our ‘class’, I re-set the anchor, then Lauren and I took Frank to the beach and we relaxed for the rest of the day, basking in the good fortune we had.

Finally we’re on departure day! We plan on going to Islamorada, Fla to anchor out as one of our last stops in the Florida Keys before we head to the Bahamas. The time here has been wonderful (and free anchoring) but it is time to move on. Our challenge leaving will be all of the lines and anchors we have out. We will need to release the stern lines, pull in one anchor at a time and deal with the currents and wind. My plan was to use the dinghy to release the stern lines, then pull myself to the boat as Lauren steers from the helm while simultaneously pulling the slack anchor up, then turning up current and pulling the last anchor up. Solid plan. All was well as I released the stern lines. I then returned to the boat and climbed aboard and ran up front to the bow to assist with pulling the anchors. I failed to shorten the line from the boat to the dinghy. Lauren was doing another excellent job getting us turned in the right directions and retrieving the anchor when the engine just stopped. I looked up at her and asked “did the engine just quit?”. “Yes!” she replied “Why?” I wasn’t sure what was going on so I ran inside and tried to start it up again and got nothing but a short crank. FML! What is going on?! Then the thought crossed my mind- the dinghy was on a long line so I could reach the mangroves and get back- did it get wrapped around the prop? that has been one of my fears every time we anchor or dock and we always pull the line in close to ensure this doesn’t happen. I looked down at the line and could indeed see it pulled taut running under the boat. UGGHH!!!! Lauren was looking at me and I yelled to her “The line is around the prop! I have to dive on it!”. Before doing anything I made sure we still had an anchor down and were not moving. We were indeed stationary, albeit being pulled sideways in the middle of the creek. A couple of boats came by and looked at us funny, but whatever. We have an emergency here and I am not looking forward to what I am about to attempt. Lauren gave me the snorkel mask and I stripped down to just shorts and jumped in. I adjusted the mask and took my first dive down to see what I could which wasn’t much until I got really close to the prop. The way our prop is situated is behind the rudder, about four feet deep and five feet back, not including the swim platform which adds anther couple of feet back. The first dive I could see the line wrapped tight around the propeller. I came up for air and asked Lauren to loosen the line from this end. The next few dives I tried to unwind it from around the prop and ended up slicing my hand on the sharp propeller blades. I came up for air and saw the blood coming from my fingers and my first thought was “sharks are going to smell the blood and come after me”. I tried to shake that thought from my head and went down again and again, making a little progress each time. One time when I came up for air, our neighbors (not Jimmy) again offered if I needed them to, they would don their dive gear and assist, but I told them I would keep trying and let them know if I couldn’t succeed. A few more dives and I was almost there! I could now make out the last couple of wraps, but now had to get the line out of the shaft part…eventually I was able to get it all undone! I finished the task and came back aboard bleeding from a few fingers, a palm and forearm. Lauren attended to the wounds and helped me get them cleaned up and bandaged. I was quite pleased with myself for getting it undone and even more happy I never saw a shark! Now that all of the line was free, we tightened everything up and went to start the engine. Nothing. Again with the ‘engine won’t start after it has been running for some time’. We stayed put in the center of the channel and I smoked a few cigarettes waiting for the engine to cool down. Eventually I tried it again and it fired right up! Away we go! We got the last anchor pulled and turned toward the channel to head out. We waved good bye to our neighbor friends and were on our way!

That concludes our time in Marathon, Florida. It was both uneventful and eventful, highs and lows, and everything in between. We hope to not have to deal with as much ‘drama’ in the future, but such is boat life- a bad day on the water is better than a good day at work! I hope you enjoy reading about it, and to be clear, we are having a great time! We look forward to the next adventures and are a little nervous about the jump to the Bahamas but we are doing our best to ensure everything is ready to go. Cheers!

We left Key West fairly early. Since we had anchored by the channel leading out, we had an easy exit. We came out of the main shipping channel and turned east. Our destination today was Bahia Honda, which we had stayed at on our way down to Key West. Bahia Honda is about thirty five miles from Key West and just short of twenty miles to Marathon. We like to break up the trip so we don’t have to do a fifty five mile day- at seven knots this would be almost eight hours- too long for us as we like to be leisurely.

The weather upon departure was quite lovely- very light winds and smooth seas. The trip as a whole was enjoyable. We made good time as we weren’t fighting any winds, waves or current. We soon saw our destination and headed in. Upon approach of the bridge, I noticed a couple of other boats anchored here. One was where we had anchored on our first time here, so we had to choose another spot. We chose to drop anchor even with the beach, but in enough to be protected a bit. The water when we arrived was as clear as I’ve ever seen- we could look down twenty feet and see the bottom. This helped when we dropped the anchor as we could see we were anchoring in sand, which is good, as the seagrass will foul the anchor and not let it dig in. Once we were secure we had to take a dip in the water to cool off! Lauren and I took turns jumping in and swimming about, floating on the raft and snorkeling around. A couple of dolphins came swimming by so I jumped in to swim with them, but they swam away.

We stayed here for two nights. Our first night the wind started to pick up and the water was getting churned up to the point we could no longer see the bottom. Our anchor was holding well and we just rode it out. The next morning we woke up to the wind still howling pretty good, so we made our way to shore since we were not going to travel in the high winds. Frank was pleased with this as he didn’t have to sit on a rocking and rolling boat all day, and he could mooch pets from anyone who came by. Lauren went to the beach on the ocean side, which on the last trip through was covered with seagrass which they do not remove. The seagrass is an important part of the natural habitat, and since this is a State Park and Preserve, they leave it be. This time around the ocean side beach had hardly any seagrass on it as it was all washed away with the wind and tides, leaving a pristine white sand beach, but the bay side where we were anchored was now covered in it. Also the ocean side of the island was protected from the winds as they were coming from the north, so it was comfortable to enjoy the sun and sand. The rest of the day was uneventful, lunch and dinner was made and we planned our departure for tomorrow.

We are heading back to Marathon area, but we do not have a place to dock, so we are planning on anchoring out. We do not have an exact location but we researched a couple of spots that might be good and protected as the winds are supposed to pick up again in the 20+mph range, so we don’t want to be too exposed. My father Jack is supposed to meet us in Marathon for a couple of days too, bringing our mail from the last six months and some requested items we wish we had from our home. Hopefully we can find a good spot…

Posts are light recently because we’ve had extended stays in Key West and Marathon. We woke up on this day and the wind was still blowing pretty good. We kept checking the weather trying to decide when it would be best to leave the mooring ball and head in to the marina. We finally decided around 10am as a good departure time, according to the forecast winds. Before departing I phoned the marina to let them know we were coming in and to ensure the space was available and not occupied by someone planning to leave this morning. We were given the green light to come in, and was told they would have someone by the dock to assist with lines. Lauren was on the bow and expertly untied us from the mooring while I waited for the wind to drift us back a bit. Once clear of the ball, I throttled up and made the turn to head out of the mooring field. We made our way down the channel to the marina, and since we had scoped it out during the first check in, we knew where to go. We came around the last turn and saw a dock hand there waiting for us. Docking was relatively easy even with the wind as it was blowing us toward the dock so I used it to our advantage. Once secure, Lauren took Frank and I had to go back to the office to check in again for our new slip. Now that the formalities were over with, it was time to unload the bikes and explore even more.

Our time here was awesome! We explored the town and stopped at every place you could imagine. I am not going to bore you with listing all of the places, as you can imagine we hit all of the top spots. We spent some time at the beach, went to a seafood festival, saw ‘0 Mile Marker’, saw the ‘Southern Most Point’ and explored Fort Zachary Taylor (did you know he was a President? #12!). I met a former co-worker from Cleveland who lives down here and crews on a schooner: Spirit of Independence. I entered a “knot and shot” contest where you do a shot, tie a bowline knot, lasso a piling, then drink a beer and turn the empty cup upside down on your head (I didn’t win- my bowline was a little off). We saw a second line parade and ate plenty of Key Lime pie. We saw a ‘onesies’ bar crawl where everyone wore adult onesies (pajamas/costumes), saw a country music concert in the street, drank lots of beer and rum and had a great time. We watched the sun set at Mallory Square several nights. The Keys are also very dog friendly, so Frank joined us quite a bit and got to encounter wild chickens for the first time. We spent almost two weeks here in Key West and didn’t miss much. The list goes on and on.

After our week at the marina, we moved to an anchorage just outside the mooring field for a few days and still had easy access to Rat Island to take Frank- thankfully we didn’t see any rats. I did get to chat with several other people who brought their dogs there and Frank was happy to run around with other dogs. After a few days at the anchorage we decided to go out to a Sanctuary Preservation Area which has mooring balls for boats to tie up to. They do not want you dropping anchor as there are coral reefs around and seagrass beds which you cannot disturb. We tied up here and snorkeled around, enjoying the fish and coral reefs. There were a few diving boats and other boats coming and going with tourists to do the same. While I was snorkeling, I checked our prop and rudder- lo and behold we had a line tangled around our prop, which I was able to cut off. This may have been causing a vibration we had noticed, so we were happy to have found this and get it off.

We finished our stay anchored by Wisteria Island, but on the other side of the channel. We found a spot in the middle of a bunch of anchored boats and dropped our hook. The depth was around twenty feet deep, so it took a lot of line to get properly secured. We waited around for a bit to make sure we weren’t moving, then headed into shore for one last night of Key West. Tomorrow we plan on leaving and heading back to Bahia Honda, which is a nice anchorage about thirty five miles from here and we are familiar with since we stayed here on the way down.

We left by 7am again today, planning on getting out and headed south while the wind was supposed to be reasonable. We pulled anchor and headed out toward our planned route. Like yesterday, the waves were building a bit the farther out we got, but it wasn’t as violent as the day before. I kept altering course, trying to skirt the shallow shoals and still get out far enough to turn so the waves were coming from behind us. Once we made the turn it started to become more comfortable, and as we continued for another few hours it got to be down right enjoyable, with the exception of those darn crab pots we had to continually dodge. We made it to the end of Key West and had to wrap around it, heading north. We passed a couple of islands- Wisteria Island, also known as Christmas Tree Island, is known for being uninhabited except for some homeless people who have taken over. There are also a ton of boats in every state of decay to some nicer ones anchored just off the island. This place is also known as where the ‘strange people’ of Key West live. It is free to anchor here and they have their own little community set up, so if you’re not a part of the group, you are an outsider. We bypassed that island and continued to wrap around to get to the north side of Key West. We were looking for a city mooring field which is on a first come, first serve basis. We called the city dock master and was told we could look for a spot, and if we find one to take it then come to the office to check in. They could not tell us if there was anything available or not. We came to the mooring field and saw about one hundred or more boats all in neat lines attached to moorings. We slowly went down the line and were searching for an empty ball. We saw one pretty soon as we came to the area, but it was toward the back of all these boats, so we decided to continue to the front and see if anything else was available. We got to the front and turned around to work our way back, then we noticed an empty ball! We made our way toward it and Lauren was on the front ready to reach out with the boat hook to snag it when we noticed someone had tied a bumper to it. This is a signal it is taken, and maybe they took their boat out for the day, or for fuel or water, but they will be returning. Shoot! We continued on and meandered our way through the rest of the boats when we spotted two open balls toward the middle of the pack. Since each ball is anchored to the ground, the boats stayed in a neat line, except when the odd person has out too much line, so it was easy to wind through them. We came upon the first ball and Lauren tried to snag it with the hook as I was driving. She hooked it on the second attempt, but the wind was blowing the boat sideways and I could see the her struggling to pull the ball up. Again, since it is anchored to the sea floor, there is not a lot of room to pull it up. We have to thread a line through the ‘eye’ of the loop that is attached to the top of the ball and get it back to our boat so we could tie it off. Easier said than done, especially sitting five feet above the water on our bow pulpit. I was watching the boat drift and I called out to Lauren “Let it go!” I didn’t want her to get yanked overboard! “I HAVE IT!” she yelled back, struggling to hold on. “Let it go!” I yelled again “the stick will float!”. She looked up and dropped the hook. “It floats!” I called to her “I didn’t want you going overboard!”. “I though you said ‘grab it!'” she explained as she came up to the flybridge. We laughed and I explained how I was concerned about her getting pulled over. In the mean time we were maneuvering toward the other open ball, as this was easier than trying to turn around in the wind that had again started gaining strength. I suggested we switch places and I would go to the bow to try to hook the mooring with our back up boat hook (and we have a third- just in case!), and she would drive. She angled us toward the mooring and I was able to reach out and snag the ball, pull it up and thread the line through. Whew! Lauren did an excellent job of keeping us steady and on course for me to do that. As I was securing the line to the bow cleat a small dinghy with a couple pulled up, asking if we needed help? They had watched the first attempt and hopped in their dinghy to come lend a hand. How nice! We were now secure, so I thanked them and they zipped over and grabbed our boat hook and returned it to us. After thanking them again I watched them return to their boat that was moored a few rows over. Now we were safely secured to the mooring and it was time to breathe a sigh of relief. We still had to go check in and wasn’t exactly sure where that was. I secured a second line to the mooring and we loaded into the dinghy to find the marina. We headed toward shore and turned right. We started going down a small canal and stopped to ask a couple of guys on shore. Good thing we did as we were headed in the wrong direction! We turned around and followed the path they told us. After finding the channel, we followed that for a bit until we came to the dinghy dock. There must have been seventy five dinghies tied up there! The place was packed, but we found a small opening and secured the dinghy. We then asked someone else where to check in? She actually had to let us out of the dinghy dock as it is secured with a locked gate. The trip was quite a ride- almost twenty minutes of motoring around, and we realized it will be a ten to fifteen minute ride back even knowing the way. We’ve never had this far to dinghy to land in all of our travels thus far. We got checked in and we also secured a dock for the week at the marina. The weekly rates are better than the daily rates, and looking at the forecast the winds are supposed to pick up again. At least since we will be at a marina Frank will have easy access to land and we won’t be tossed about like we are when on a mooring ball.

Now that the formalities were done, it was time to explore Key West! We had left the bikes on the boat for now and plan to bring them to shore once we get to the marina so for now we will be walking. We walked to a shuttle stop where a free shuttle makes rounds around the island. They run every half hour and we waited almost thirty minutes before a bus showed up- we must have just missed the last one… We exited around Duval Street. This is the main strip of bars, clubs and shops that reminds me of Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Also- you can carry your alcoholic beverages around town, so people were walking and drinking, and getting drunk which makes for good people watching. We stopped at The Conch Shack for some conch fritters as we needed something to eat right away. We continued on and walked around Mallory Square and caught a good sunset with lots of street entertainers around doing their shows. We were still hungry so we made our way to Pepe’s which is a famous place to eat around here. It has been around for more than 100 years. In the case of Pepe’s, they prefer to say that they’re “the oldest ‘joint’ in Key West. Ernest Hemingway himself has eaten here, or at least enjoyed some daiquiris here, as well as President Truman who had a house on the island dubbed “The Little White House”. Their “Employee of the Year” is a cat named Billy Bob who is present to greet everyone at the door, although he was sleeping in his Coca-Cola box when we entered, but Lauren got in a scratch on his head and he didn’t move an inch. We wondered if he was even alive until he got up to re-arrange positions in his box then close his eyes again. Tough life. Dinner was delicious, then we continued on and made our way back to the dinghy dock. We are used to biking, so this walking seems a lot slower. We wanted to get back to the boat to get Frank, but now it was dark. We turned on our lights on the dinghy and made our way to the mooring field. Everything looks so different at night and it was dark. We eventually found our boat and Lauren got soaked from the waves splashing up as we made our way. Once back, Frank was given his boat deck papers and told him he would have to wait until tomorrow morning to get to land, Sorry, Frank.

Day 2- The first order of business was to get Frank to land. I took him in the dinghy and went to Rat Island, which we pass on the way to the mainland. I figured it got its name from the rats that inhabit it. Yay. Luckily we didn’t see any rats, but we did meet a guy who had brought his kayak there to ‘chill’. He was an interesting character and had some stories! We chatted a while and Frank was happy to roam around. Eventually I realized I had been gone for a while so I needed to return before Lauren got too worried. Frank and I returned, we had our coffee then Lauren and I took off in the dinghy for shore. We were now back to the dinghy dock and secured the dinghy with a lock as we’ve heard about dinghies being ‘borrowed’ so we didn’t want to take a chance. Some others were locked as well, so it wasn’t odd we were doing it. Now we walked back to town and were sorely missing our bikes- oh well- tomorrow we will have them on shore, but today we will have to hoof it again. We wanted to check out a rum distillery: Papa’s Pilar Rum Distillery which works with Ernest Hemingway’s family. We did the tour then walked to another local distillery: Key West First Legal Rum Distillery which also did a little tour and tasting. This one is ‘chef driven’ and they do a lot of different flavors with their rum, whereas the Pilar focuses more on fine rum- no flavorings. Both were very different. Now that we had some rum in us, we were walking around and found a new place that had recently opened: Bad Boy Burrito. Now we were really feeling good with food and rum so onward we went. We ended up at the Green Parrot which had some awesome live music. We hung out and listened to them for a bit. As we were standing just outside the door, someone approached me and saw my Cleveland hat on and asked if we were from there? I responded yes and we got to talking. They were from Amherst area and of course I let them know how we got here. They had a ton of questions which we answered, then figured it was time to head back. The wind was picking up and rain was just starting to come down lightly, but we knew more was coming. We got to the dinghy and had a wet ride back as the waves were really starting to pick up and Lauren would get splashed from every wave we went over. I thought it was funny- her not so much. I switched out Lauren for Frank and took him to Rat island again for a quick business trip. We got back to the boat just as the rain was really starting to come down and the wind was really starting to pick up. I was happy we had secured another line to the mooring for backup safety and I checked everything once again to make sure all was secure. Now all we could do was ride out the storm. At one point I heard a loud noise and went out to see what was going on- the side gated door had somehow gotten ripped off and was now missing, having sunk to the bottom of the water. There was nothing I could do about it, so I did another check of lines and called it a night. The rain and wind continued through the night and we both woke up due to the rocking and rolling, checked our surroundings, and went back to bed hoping it would let up enough for us to get in to the marina tomorrow morning.

We got ready to depart and did our final checklist. Our neighbor friends came over to say good-bye and give a hand with the lines. They tossed flowers as we departed as a gesture of safe travel and good luck. We pulled out and headed out of Boot Key Harbor. We wound our way back through the mooring fields and out toward the ocean. Once we cleared the harbor, the waves really increased. We continued forward and were getting rocked by the large waves hitting us on the quarter beam. I could hear things sliding from side to side, as well as having to hold on myself during particular bad rolling. We should have turned around, but we didn’t. Soon the Coast Guard was on the radio advising of a small craft advisory for the area, but we sailed on. We continued on and soon had some relief when we saw where we were heading to. The anchorage is between two bridges, and there is a span of one bridge completely missing, which is where the entrance to the harbor is. There is a state park here too, which has beautiful beaches and a small marina. The marina has a dinghy dock we can land the dinghy at for Frank and us to enjoy the beach and it is free.

When we arrived there was one other boat- a sailboat that was anchored in front of the beach. We came in and skirted around them and moved to an area that is close to the active traffic bridge coming and going to Key West- US 1. The trick about anchoring here is the current- it will pull the boat in the direction it is running and that overpowers the wind. This can make for a very jerky/rocky rolling due to the boat pointing south, but the waves coming from the east- which it did. We made sure the anchor was secured and let out a lot of rode, more than normal both for the current and the winds that are now in the 20+mph and not slowing down much. We took the dinghy in to shore and explored the park and beach with Frank. He was happy to be on solid ground! We eventually made our way back to the boat and started the generator to make dinner. That was not easy with the rocking, but we ate well and watched another sailboat come into the harbor and anchor on the other side of the other sailboat. It was now time to retire, but it was a little difficult with the boat rolling, but we eventually drifted off to sleep. I was woken up by the motion and went outside to check on everything. As I stepped out, I felt rain starting to come down. I closed all of our windows and made sure everything was secure again and went back to sleep.

Day 2- Since the beach and park were right there, we went to shore. There is nothing else around either, so there wasn’t anything else to do but chill on the beach. This got us off the boat for a while and on terra firma. Frank was pleased as well. Lauren found a spot on the beach and I found a picnic table in the shade. Technically pets aren’t allowed ‘on the beach’ but no one bothered us about it the little bit he was on it. Otherwise he hung out with me in the shade. Our table was by the only channel coming into the marina, so I could see who was coming and going. I noticed the couple from the first sailboat coming in with their dog too. I wanted to chat with them, but they went to the other side of the marina. I also watched the other sailboat occupants come in on their dinghy and they came close to where we were hanging out. I walked over and chatted them up. They were coming from Key West and had bought the boat in St. Petersburg, Fla., and were just three friends on an adventure- how cool! We eventually met the other sailboat couple and chatted with them too. I also found a somewhat local boater- Bill from Punta Gorda, who was with his family on a boat they trailered from Indiana, and we talked a bit about out trip and he was very knowledgeable about areas we’ve been and he gave me some advice for the area around here. We plan on leaving tomorrow, but the weather is iffy…

Day 3-We looked at the weather almost hourly and woke up by 6am to get an early start. The winds looked a bit lighter in the morning so we thought that would be good for departure. We pulled anchor after taking Frank to shore and were underway by 7am, We went through the bridge and were met with good size swells. We followed our course to get out to deeper water, but the waves were now getting bigger and coming from different angles. The boat was healing and rocking back and forth a bit violently. I could again hear items sliding back and forth and Lauren was next to me on the flybridge so she could feel and hear this going on too. She had a tight grip on the seat and was trying to feel if this was going to get any better. “What do you think?” I asked, knowing this was not going to be a fun trip if we continued. “Turn around” was the quick reply. “Got it- hold on!” I had to quickly turn the boat around hopefully between the waves as they were rolling us. We got turned around and I upped the throttle to get us back in the relative safety of the anchorage we just left. There didn’t seem to be any movement yet from the other two boats there as we passed them on our return. We went close to where we were before and dropped anchor once again, letting out a lot of scope again to compensate for the current. Once secured, we watched as people started showing up to the beach and the day start to unfold. Lauren wanted to go to shore for a free guided tour of the park which I obliged and dinghied her in. I returned to the boat to run the generator some and sit on the back deck. I hung out for a couple of hours then made my way to shore. I took my usual spot at the shaded picnic table and Frank made himself comfortable. Lauren eventually returned and we hung out a bit between her beach time. Lunch was had from the park cafe and we continued to check the weather and possible anchorages if we decide to leave again and feel it is too rough to continue on. There is a forecast of more high winds, and we are almost afraid we may get stuck here, although it is not a bad place to be stuck- BUT with the forecast winds, if we do get stuck, we will have to try to get into the marina here, although the entrance is pretty shallow. We don’t want to be anchored in 30+mph winds- I’m still scarred from the Grand Haven, Michigan dragging of anchor in the storm and high winds we were caught in. The rest of the evening was another night in paradise with a new activity, fishing. I bought a fishing license for Florida a while ago, but I’ve never cast a line. I have never fished, so I don’t have a clue what to do or how to do it. Lauren’s brother Rich gave me a fishing pole to bring on the trip. Today we unwrapped it and bought some frozen squid bait at the ship’s store in the park. I baited the hook and tossed it overboard. I was down in the rudder room doing some maintenance when I heard a clatter; I knew it was the pole being pulled from a fish! I had secured it so it hopefully wouldn’t get pulled overboard if I got one on the line. I ran upstairs past Lauren who was wondering why I was in such a hurry. “I caught a fish!” I yelled to her. She came out and around to the back of the boat as I was reeling it in. It was at least a foot long (not exaggerating-well maybe, it depends on who you ask). I was quite proud of this fish, but now I had to get the hook out if its mouth and what was I going to do with it? “We can eat it” exclaimed Lauren, as I was struggling to get it unhooked. It started making grunting sounds and Lauren started to feel bad. “I can’t watch” she told me as she left to go back inside. “What should I do with it?” I called out after getting it unhooked and put in a bucket. “throw it back”. I tossed the fish back in the water and watched it swim away. I baited another hook and felt a pull, but the fish were getting good at eating my bait and swimming away- maybe I was using too much? Soon enough I had another pull on the rod. I reeled in another of the same looking fish- maybe a Snook?- and this one was smaller. Lauren came out to look at it and we tossed this one back too. Frank was scared of it as well. I tossed some more lines and after free meals for the fish, I caught yet another of the same looking fish! This one was even smaller! It too got tossed back. We ended up watching the sunset and calling it quits for fishing for the evening as we didn’t keep any of them the sun had now disappeared . We plan on leaving again around 7am, so it was an early night and our last look at the weather was promising for us to get to Key West…

We departed Black Fin a little later due to the fact we didn’t have too far to go and the winds looked to be decreasing in the afternoon. The day before the harbormaster had told us we could stay longer if we needed to which was a reverse of when we had arrived. I had inquired about a longer stay upon arrival due to the weather, but I was told there is someone else coming so it wasn’t possible at this time. Now they said we could stay, but we had already made reservations at Skipjack and put a deposit down, so we felt we should be going…

As we pulled out, it wasn’t so bad. We were on the north end of the island, so it protected us from the southeast winds. As soon as we cleared the island though it became clear that the wind was going to be a force to be reckoned with. We had to go almost two and a half miles down the ‘Seven Mile Bridge’ to reach a point where it has a sixty five foot clearance; Smaller boats can go under before that, but it is only a nineteen foot clearance, which we cannot fit under. Once we got to the point where it is only bridge separating the north and south sides of the island, the waves started picking up. Now, we didn’t have too far to go, but it was definitely uncomfortable. We came under the bridge and turned east toward Boot Key. The harbor was another two and a half miles back down the bridge and then our marina was another couple of miles in. It was great once we entered the harbor as the waves disappeared. We had to make our way through several mooring fields before getting to the marina. The mooring fields are quite a sight- there are boats of every kind, in every size and in different states of disrepair, as well as the occasional well kept and newer yachts.

We found the marina and there was someone there waiting for us to help with the lines. We docked without issue and went about our way securing the ship and getting plugged in to shore power. We met our neighbor, Bruce, and I had to go check in before starting a much needed boat scrub down. As I was checking in, the front desk manager was telling me and a few other guests that the Tiki Bar was going to be closed today as they had no bartender. I offered my assistance and experience, but they never got back to me. Oh well- I tried to do it for a free night stay. Upon return to Klondike another neighbor boat next to Bruce stopped by to say hello and introduce themselves- Deb and Carl. They invited us to the evening dock-tails that takes place in front of Bruce’s boat. I thanked them, but didn’t commit right away. Lauren had gone to the pool, so we had time to decided. By the time I finished with the boat cleaning, Lauren was returning. It was also getting to be about 5pm and we were both starving, but the neighbors were gathering out front on chairs, with beverages in hand, waiting for sunset. We decided we would join them for a bit before going to eat. We met a few other people, including Claudette- Bruce’s wife, and some others. We all enjoyed chatting about our trips as everyone else has come here by boat from up north. They spend a few months here, then go back home, some leaving their boats, some captaining them back. The sun set and Lauren and I departed down the dock to a local place called Dockside Tropical Cafe. Turns out a band was setting up too, so we decided to hang out here a bit longer. The band was good and they put on an enjoyable show. Afterward we made our way back to the boat and retired for the evening.

Day 2- We hung out at the pool all day. We decided we needed some items for dinner, so we biked to the Publix supermarket and picked up some supplies, as well as a movie to watch, and as a bonus- there were Girl Scouts selling cookies out front! Score! As soon as we got back Bruce handed me a thumb drive of all the charts we will need coming up the east coast! I couldn’t thank him enough! They were going to a friends birthday party, but Carl stopped by and said dock-tails are still on. Great! We all sat around again chatting while dinner was cooking. Eventually it was time to eat, so everyone went their separate ways. We had received some information about an anchorage half way to Key West which we decided we will stop at: Bahia Honda. It sounds somewhat protected although I did read about strong currents, so we will have to make sure the anchor is dug in tight. We researched the destination during dinner, then watched a movie. We do not have too far to go again, so we can take our time in the morning before we depart.

The morning came quickly and we were ready to depart by 7:15am as the winds were only going to increase throughout the day. I looked out the window as the coffee was working and saw our friends behind us pulling out. They were heading the opposite direction of us as they were going to Ft. Myers Beach. We were heading to Marathon today to try to beat the high extreme winds and possible rain expected in the next couple of days. The forecast is showing winds in the 22+mpg range for days and we don’t want to be caught trying to cross the Gulf in that! The coffee was ready and we pulled anchor and headed out. On the way out we passed by a few other boats that must have arrived last night and they had anchored with the other boat that was by itself at the mouth of the river- so much for their privacy! We slowly motored past everyone so not to cause a wake or wake them up if they were still sleeping and turned south toward the Keys. There was a brisk wind blowing south and the waves were pushing us. Our destination was about forty miles away, and with the help from Mother Nature we were averaging just over seven knots so it ended up being a five and a half hour trip.

Once we cleared the bottom of continental Florida, we could see no land. This didn’t last long, however, as about an hour later we could make out tall antennas and water towers on shore ahead of us. As we were crossing, the mine fields of lobster pots was a never ending game of dodge ’em. The lines of small buoys suspending traps underwater went for miles. There is no rhyme or reason to the direction as they are left to float once dispersed. The fishing boats will come back at some point and retrieve them and whatever they are catching, but for now they are hazards to travel for those going through them. You don’t want to get the lines wrapped around your propeller as that could do damage as well as bring you to a complete stop. The buoys are small, about the size of the floats in a swimming pool that separates the deep and shallow ends; and each have unique colors and/or markings to identify them but sometimes you don’t see them until they pop up out of waves when you’re about fifty feet from them. Once I see one, I can usually follow the line and see the long string of them. They are usually spaced out about thirty feet, sometimes more, sometime less; and there are the occasional ‘rogue’ single ones floating which makes me wonder where the rest are. You can go between them if they’re stringed together, but you don’t want to get too close to either side for fear of snagging the line that is holding them together- hopefully it has sunk far enough underwater you glide right over it. This isn’t the first we’ve encountered these but it does seem to be getting more dense the further south we travel. Once we got close enough to make out shore, the depths started to drop. Now we were in anywhere from six to nine feet of water. I asked Lauren to call the marina for some identifying land visual as we weren’t sure of exactly where it was. The woman on the phone passed us to the harbormaster and he gave us a location, then told us he would come to flag us down on the shore bank. We located him waving his arms and turned toward the marina. As we were approaching, it became apparent the entrance was very narrow- so narrow we couldn’t even tell it went back to a marina. Once in the channel the harbormaster was waiting at the end pointing to a dock where he wanted us. He had told us on the phone we would want to turn around to dock so we would have the starboard (right) side against the wall. As we came down the narrow channel it opened up a little, with boats sticking out on either side. This ought to be interesting- he wants us to turn around? The fairway is only about thirty feet wide and we’re almost forty feet long! I came down slowly and saw some other boat owners watching closely. The ones closest to where we were going were telling each other they had better get on their boat to protect it if something goes wrong! We executed a perfect maneuver and got turned around with little room to spare, and we had help from the harbormaster with the lines. Once secure, it was time to hook up power and give our batteries a well deserved charging, as well as marvel at how I did that- I was impressed with myself! Now that we had completed securing everything and getting Frank to shore, it was time to take the bikes for a ride to the beach. We found the beach and went swimming to cool off. It has been hot lately and we’re not complaining! This is a part of the reason for doing this trip- chasing the sun and avoiding snow. After cooling off in the ocean, we headed back to the marina. Instead of going right back, we kept going a little further to check out Keys Fisheries which is a marina, restaurant, fish market and they have a tiki bar upstairs overlooking the water. We checked it out and went upstairs where they have happy hour until 7pm. On the menu was $3 large stone crab claws and a few other items. We of course had a half dozen of claws as well as some peel and eat shrimp and a dip, all washed down with a local beer and fresh cocktail from the happy hour menu as well. once we were done stuffing our faces with crab, we figured it was time to get back and take Frank for a walk. The evening ended with some late night pizza from across the street and a double check of the lines to make sure we’re secured for the expected winds and adjusted for tides.

Day 2- Lauren asked me what I wanted to do today. “Nothing” was my answer. The wind had definitely picked up so the beach was not a great option. The marina we were at: Black Fin does have a heated pool. I just wanted to hang out and enjoy the heat, maybe swim, maybe not- but I didn’t want to have a plan today. Lauren took the opportunity to do some laundry and I set up our hammock between two trees by the pool. I tied Frank up to one of the trees on his long leash and I read a book I found in the laundry room library. Lauren hung out at the pool between loads of laundry and all was well in our world. Frank did have some cats come by and taunt him into barking, but otherwise I think he was pretty content too. Nothing else was done and it was wonderful.

Day 3- Not much more to talk about other than going to the beach again and hanging out. We stopped by a grocery store on the way back and got a few items, then made it back home to relax some more.

Day 4- The winds still continued but tomorrow is our planned departure day so we will keep a close eye on the weather. We did a bit more of nothing except filling our water tanks and preparing for tomorrows departure. We decided to hit happy hour at a close by restaurant: Florida Keys Steak and Lobster House. They had some great sushi on happy hour and some other items we enjoyed. From there we biked to Marathon Ale House . We were greeted with an Irish band and a ton of guys in kilts hanging around. There is a Celtic Festival going on tomorrow and they w ere obviously starting today! After this we headed back to the marina and stopped at the onsite bar/restaurant they have called Hurricane Bar and Grille. Apparently this bar dates back to the 1930’s and is still going, albeit the new name “Hurricanes” in the 1950’s. We made it back to the boat and dinner was had. Final plans were made for our departure- we are going to another marina on the island of Marathon, but we will have to go about fifteen miles, around the bridge and to the south side of the island. The only way to get there for us is to go west to where the bridge is sixty five feet tall, come under there, and turn east to head back to Boot Key.

So we departed Marco Island and were headed to Everglade City. On the way we called the marina we were hoping to go to and was told they had changed ownership and the fee was now a flat rate of $115 per night plus $8 for electric! This would be $123 for the night!? I called down to Lauren and asked her to come upstairs. I told her the rates and she looked at me like I was crazy. That’s how I felt when I heard the rates! Lauren got online immediately and started looking for another marina, but there are only two marinas listed as options there, and the other one seems to be closed. Hmmm…

Finally after discussing what we should do, we decided to continue on to an anchorage about thirty miles past our intended stop. This now made it a sixty mile trip today instead of an easy thirty miles. Since we had started fairly early we should still make it before dusk. We continued on our way and had to skirt around the Cape Romano Shoals. This is a know shallow area that extends about ten miles south of Marco Island and is as shallow as a foot or less in some places and some are above water. You want to stay far away from here if you’re in a boat like ours. After passing the shoals we continued south toward our new destination: Little Shark River

Once past the shoals the water depths change dramatically. We were about three miles off shore and the water depth was only about nine to ten feet deep. Picture that. You could look down and see the bottom clearly, and as we got closer to our destination we turned to head toward the mouth of the river. The depths kept dropping and I commented to Lauren how I wasn’t too comfortable with this. “Come on, if we saw six feet yesterday, we would have been jumping for joy!”- what a great perspective and she was right! We continued on getting closer to shore and more shallow waters, but it never went under five feet. We saw a couple of other boats approaching about the same time we were and we hoped there was room for a few boats to anchor in the river. We entered the river just behind two boats, and we slowed down a little to let them do their thing. One of the boats turned around and passed us on the way out and it made me curious to why. We watched the other boat pull close to shore and start dropping its anchor. There was already another sailboat in there anchored, but there was enough room for us between the two. I turned and saw the retreating boat drop anchor out in the Gulf, but somewhat close to shore- maybe they wanted privacy? We’ll never know.

As we were dropping our anchor, the boat that had entered before us came over the radio and advised us how much they had put out and thought we might be too close to them. Well this is awkward. I had already started dropping anchor, but relented to their request and pulled it back up. I advised them I would move further forward, and a little deeper than them. I arranged a new position and dropped anchor. Protocol is whoever gets there first has the ‘right’ to put out as much anchor line as they like and everyone else should follow suit, BUT you can do whatever you want, and if someone doesn’t like it, then they should move. As long as no one is going to collide with you or you to them, all is good per the official rules and regulation, but everyone is responsible for their own boat. Once the anchor was down and we were securely set, I took Frank in the dinghy in search of land.

The tides had gone down so there was a good amount of shoreline visible from where we were. Upon approach, it looked like it was going to be muddy. The water was shallow so I had to row the dinghy in closer to land as the motor was dragging in the mud so I propped it up out of the water. We got close enough and Frank jumped out, only to sink in the mud. Great. Now it was my turn- I stepped out and promptly sank all the way to my knees in the mud. I was stuck! I tried to pull my foot out and felt my flip flop get sucked off. Holy crap! I was still hanging on to the dinghy and Frank was looking at me like “Lets go!” I took a step back and my foot felt the flip flop that had become disengaged from me. I was able to pull it up with my toes and retrieve it. I tossed it in the dinghy along with the other and made another attempt to get to shore. I took one more step, still sinking up to my knees and stepped on a tree or something under the mud. Nope. This is not going to happen. “Sorry Frank- pee there!” I tried to get him to go, but he was too unsure of what to do, as he kept sinking too. I was able to get him back to the dinghy and lift him in. Now we were both covered in mud and the dinghy was too. I got us back to the boat and Lauren helped me wash Frank and myself up, as well as the dinghy. Unfortunately for Frank, this was the second time on this trip we haven’t been able to access shore. He can do his business on the boat, but he is not too keen on it. As we were going through this debacle, the people on the boat near us had taken their dinghy out for a cruise. It was starting to get to be dusk now and they were returning and stopped by to visit. They were on a trip from Virginia to Ft. Myers Beach in their boat and had some guests/friends with them. We all chatted a bit about our trips and then they had to get back as it was getting dark. Lauren made dinner and we sat on the deck looking at the stars and planning our next move. We will now get to Marathon, Florida tomorrow if all goes well. We are now racing the weather as rain and high winds are heading our way according to the Weather Channel. Marathon is only about forty miles away, and one step closer to Key West, which will be our southern most stop on this whole trip.

Marco Island from Naples is only about fifteen miles. I had mentioned we would be taking the ‘old’ ICW, as the only other option would be to go out in the Gulf and come back in at Big Marco Pass. We didn’t want to do this due to the winds, which were gusting around twenty mile per hour and creating large waves out in the Gulf. I had asked around and everyone told me if we were going to try the inside passage, make sure it is on a rising or high tide. I should have paid more attention to “if you’re going to TRY it”…

We left early in the morning at first light. High tide was expected to be around 10am, so we wanted to be on the way while the tide was rising and get there at high tide. The anchorage we were going for was in Smokehouse Bay. When we left Naples, we followed the chart and tried to make sure we were in the center of the channel. Almost immediately when we got to the ‘old’ part of the channel, the water depths dropped. We kept moving forward at a cautious pace, trying to maintain some depth under our keel. We would go along and watch the depth finder go from 4, 3, 2 feet! We would feel a slight scrape ion the bottom and hold our breaths. I turned to Lauren and asked “which way should I go?” “Just keep moving forward!” was her reply! We continued on with the depth now showing 1.9 feet, sometime less. UGHH! What could we do, but keep moving forward?! We continued on our stressful course and thought we were doing pretty good, until it happened. We were coming through a pass, we felt the bottom of the boat scraping the sand underneath us, then we came to complete stop. UGHH! We were now grounded. Again. In my conversation with another captain in Naples, we were talking about getting grounded, and he said the best thing to do is try to reverse off of it and not try to turn out of it. This came back to me as I was trying to throttle over it. A small fishing boat approached from around the corner and slowed down a bit to call out to me: “Are you ok?” he asked. “I’m grounded!” was my reply. “Yeah- there’s a big sand bar there- stay toward the green buoy” and off he went. What the what!?!? I KNOW there is a sand bar here because I’m stuck on it! A couple of more fishing boats came flying around the corner and passed us without stopping. I figured I would try to use their wakes and reverse to try to get us off, otherwise we would just have to wait for the tide to rise some more and/or call SeaTow again for help. In hindsight, I think the boats that came flying by us were actually trying to help with their wakes. I straightened out the rudder and continued to try to back us off. I noticed we were moving a little bit backwards, which was progress! I continued to go in reverse and soon we were moving! We eventually got moving pretty good, then I had to turn us around to avoid the sandbar we were just on. “Stick to the green side” was repeating in my head! We made it past this sandbar and continued on- only a few more miles to our destination! We continued on and touched bottom a couple more times. This was probably the most stressful short trip we’ve had. We eventually came to Capri Pass, which is the beginning of Marco Island. Almost there. We could see the Gulf just on the other side of the pass and breaking waves were crashing in. Could this get any worse? We skirted our way just outside of the breaking waves and turned toward our destination. Our research told us that the channel to Smokehouse Bay is shallow and to stay along the shore as close as possible. We followed the directions and only saw one spot where it was less that four feet, but it soon became much deeper. As we entered the bay, we saw other boats anchored about. We finally made it! We turned toward the other boats and found a spot to drop our anchor in about ten feet of water. Yay! A big sigh of relief was let out as we turned off the engine and I popped open my ‘anchor beer’ and I didn’t care that it was only 11am- this beer was being had, now.

Now that we were settled in, we let Tori know we were in Marco Island. She was going to meet us and show us around town a bit. First I had to take Frank to shore, and there was a Winn-Dixie grocery store around the corner which also has a dinghy dock for people to use for shopping while at anchor. What a nice touch from a chain grocery store; that really means a lot to people like us on a boat who need access to groceries. I found the dock and realized it was going to be difficult to get Frank up as the dock was at least eight feet above water. If I stood on the seat of the dinghy I still had to raise Frank about five feet up and on to the dock. Frank wasn’t too happy with this and the first attempt had him clawing at anything he could get a hold of, including me. After recovering from his clawing, I hoisted him again and this time got him up and on to the dock. I could then climb the ladder there up to the top. We walked around the grocery store and made our way to a small marina that is there also. I went to the dockmaster and asked if I could use their dinghy dock for shore access for the dog. He was nice and said yes we could as they were not busy due to the weather. All of the reviews I had read said this marina does NOT allow dinghy access if your anchored, only if you pay for a dock with them. Now that I had secured access, I still had to get Frank back on the dinghy where we tied up at the grocery store. I knew he would object, so I had to act swiftly. We got to the dock and I climbed down the ladder a few steps, then grabbed the back of his life jacket which has a handle. As soon as he braced to stop, I lifted him off his feet and over the side. His legs went straight out to catch something, anything I’m sure, but it was too late. I was already swinging him toward the boat as I took the final step down. We both made it safely inside the boat and I started the engine. As we were pulling out, Tori called out to me. She had come down to meet us and was here already! I told her I was taking Frank back and would pick up Lauren, and we would meet on the dock at the marina. We made the switch and off we went to explore Marco Island.

Tori took us around and we ended up at the Snook Inn for lunch. We had a nice time there and a short tour of the island. We finished our day at the Marriott Beach enjoying the sun and sand. Eventually we had to be dropped off and our day was coming to an end. Frank got another walk in, this time getting off and on at the marina dock, which was much more agreeable than the other dock. The evening was quiet and tomorrow we planned on going to Everglade City and finally stopping at a marina to recharge. We still haven’t been to a marina since Christmas, so it will be nice to let the batteries regroup and have some amenities for a day or two…