No Go to the Bahamas Today 2-28-09

We made the decision last night not to go to the Bahamas today based on the lack of a 24 hour period of the north wind calming down, the West End winds yesterday registering 10-15 knots N/ NE until at least 10pm and our friend, Erling, reporting that he had 10 foot swells on the edge of the Gulf Stream sailing on Thursday. We called Mary and Bill on “Harbour Reach” to let them know what we were thinking and they have to make their own choice. It is always hard to do.

We awoke this morning ok with our decision and decided to explore Ft Lauderdale and had a great day. We met so many boaters including a catamaran couple on the mooring ball here in the harbor, another couple from Duluth and veteran Ft. Lauderdale Loopers, Cheryl and Harold from “Victory”, who kindly offered us help with grocery shopping, dinner and camaraderie. Thank you so much.

Here’s a picture of Bob at Ft. Lauderdale beach relaxing with the ocean in the background. Sometimes it’s the choice not taken.

76 Mile Day to Fort Lauderdale 2-27-09

It was very dark at 5am when we awakened at the anchorage to get ready to weigh anchor by 6:30. The wind was down to 10-12 from the NE and we knew that it would be an easier day than yesterday.

From our anchorage, we headed out through Dusenberry Creek which was very similar to the Tombigbee with its thick forest growth, narrow passages and birds. It was so still and we wished that we were on a sailboat and could turn off the engine and just listen. We entered Jewfish Creek where we were going to anchor last night and saw about 40 boats anchored with less wind protection than we had at R48A. The anchorage looked like a marina and the adjoining marina was empty.

We followed the egrets and cormorants into Barnes Sound to Card Sound Bridge and then into Little Card Sound and had the company of dolphins along the way. We were coming up to the bridge through a narrow channel and met a towboat that gallantly let us have the right of way. You always appreciate those acts of kindness. We returned the courtesy to a sailboat coming down the narrow coral reef channel under full sail. Even through the narrow sections like Cutters Bank, we had depths of 7 feet and the channel was well marked.

The water turned greener and the wind increased to 15-20 knots as we approached Biscayne Bay and we could see Miami far in the distance. We entered Featherbed Channel and saw the cut-off for Biscayne National Park and wished that we could have stopped there but we had to consider that we might be able to make the Bahamas weather window for Saturday. Decisions…decisions….

Miami is very impressive from the water, especially with 40 sailboats racing off its shore. We squeezed through the Rickenbacker Causeway bridge and entered the Intracoastal leading us to Ft. Lauderdale. We passed many cruise boats staging for departure and we joked that if we do not get a weather window to the Bahamas during the next few weeks, we could always take the one day $99 special cruise there which would be far cheaper and a lot less work but we would not have the adventure that we signed up for.

We had to wait for 2 bridges to open for us and at the Venetian Bridge, the bridge tender had the south bound boats go first and then forgot about us lowly slow trawlers going northbound and started to close the bridge. WHOA---she did reopen it at the last minute which averted us making contact with the bridge itself. A little too close and personal.

The Intracoastal ride up to Fort Lauderdale is lined with hi-rises and condos which are still being built. There is still money left in America apparently. We were waked a number of times by fast Miami speedsters but most boaters observed the no wake and slow speed restrictions. We were worried that we would not get to the Las Olas Marina in Ft Lauderdale by 5pm and phoned ahead to get a dock slip and get our packages, including a life raft, put in a secure area for pick-up.

We made it by 4:55, tied up to a floating dock with Charlie and Jeannette on "Highlander" and will be paying $1 a foot with the Boat US discount which is a great price for this area. We have pushed it the past 2 days to position for a possible crossing to the Bahamas on Saturday. Do we go or not—stay tuned.

“Where is the middle ground between adventure and just plain sense”? 2-26-09

The above quote is from one of my favorite characters from Richard Russo’s novel, Nobody's Fool. The quote captures the essence of trying to decide when and how to set off on a long voyage and the book title is also a goal of ours.

We have a possible weather window to the Bahamas this weekend and we have a Looper buddy boat, Harbour Reach, waiting for us in Ft. Lauderdale but we have to get there from Marathon—for a slow trawler boat it can take 2-3 days. We had hoped to leave yesterday and were all decked out but still at the dock due to a small craft warning with 15-20 knot winds on Florida Bay, the non-ocean side of the Keys. We have a general rule not to journey out with a small craft warning so we channeled our pent-up adrenaline into walking to West Marine and the Inflatable Boat store, where we met fellow Loopers, Bill from Tortuga and Dave from See Ya'. We topped it off with lunch at Keys Fisheries which gave us a chance to check out the Bay and find out that the wind had declined by 2pm.

Today Bob and I as well as Jeannette and Charlie on Highlander were up at 5am to check out the weather conditions to determine if it was a go. Here’s where it gets tough—same 15-20 knot wind forecast from the NE/E but for some reason, the conditions had been downgraded to a small craft advisory so this is a grey area for our above rule. What do we do—any boater doing a longer journey has had this discussion. You review all the data, discuss all the possible outcomes and then make the decision sometimes on gut feel. You guessed it—Baby Grand and Highlander decided to go for it. With help from Pat and Ted on South Shore, we got out of our very tight side tie dock. Thank you so much for getting up at 6am to help us.

Today turned out to be windier all day than yesterday but was manageable as we had wind on the bow and not the dreaded beam seas except at the 7 Mile Bridge. We powered through and entered FL Bay with wind on the nose of 20 knots and into the shallow 5-8 foot waters. Great Lakes boaters never get accustomed to this skinny water.

We were helped on our journey by boats going south who could let us know about the waters ahead. We talked with veteran Loopers, Foreign Exchange and Sea Dog as well as a sailboat couple on Osprey with a 5 foot draft. They confirmed that 5 feet was the lowest depth in the channels but you had to make sure to stay in the channel. All urged us to favor the Everglades side especially around the Long Key and Bowleg Cuts to avoid the multitude of crab pots that were everywhere today.

Florida Bay has a number of narrow shallow sections that are marked well with buoys but we had concern that with the building 22 knot wind, waves, crab pots and tide lowering after noon that we would have some difficulty. The above advice was correct and when we saw the islands in the Everglades section, it reminded us of our home port of the
Apostle Island in Lake Superior but who knows what kind of creatures inhabit these islands.

With Baby Grand in the lead, we traversed one skinny narrow section at a time—Bowleg Cut and Steamboat Channel with the lowest depth of 4 foot 7 inches here. The sun and clouds started playing tricks on us and turned the green water into an Army camouflage pattern which made it hard to see depths and then dumped a spritz of rain on us. About this time, our flybridge Chartplotter decided to go off duty for awhile but we were able to reboot it in record time.

We continued north through the Cowpen Cut which initially looks like you are going to go right up on land. Bob issued a Security on the radio before we entered and right there was a dredge coming full steam at us. Phewwww….. Depths were ok and then we entered the Upper Crossbank and did serpentine maneuvers around shallow areas while the wind howled.

We passed Key Largo and looked longingly towards shore but it was low tide and we had to continue to Buttonwood Sound as the winds increased more. We beheld a lovely sight of a sailboat running downwind in this section and although it was narrow, depths were 8 feet.

We had planned to journey as far as Jewfish Creek for an anchorage but passed Tarpon Basin at Milemarker 48 A and decided to anchor here at 3:30pm. We are all relaxing now enjoying a very secure anchorage and preparing for another day of adventure tomorrow.

Farewell to Marathon 2-25-09

We have been here a month and with a possible weather window looming for us to cross to the Bahamas soon, we have to bid farewell to Marathon. Bob and I have never been to the Keys before and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring by boat, rental car, foot and bike. Here are a few things that we’ve enjoyed here in Marathon.

Boot Key Harbor in Marathon is a real boating community held together by the lively morning Cruisers Net broadcast every morning on marine radio Channel 68. It is a great way to get to know who is here as well as get help with any boating problem and even sell some of your boating treasures. It is based in Marathon City Marina which also hosts yoga in the morning as well as Meet-Greet-Eat every Wednesday night from 5-7pm complete with jamming musicians. There are so many talented boaters here who are willing to share their knowledge especially Joe, who gives daily weather forecasts and also hosts the Bahamas Bound discussion groups.

Sombrero Beach was a nice destination 2 miles away from us by bike or foot and a much easier journey by dinghy. When you are in a location for a month, you don’t mind getting the heavy bikes off the flybridge and setting them up and deploying the dinghy more regularly. Very few boaters have cars here so everyone is zipping about on a bike or dinghy and it’s great exercise as well as fun. It’s amazing how many groceries can be stuffed in a bike basket. However, on our last trip to Publix, we spent $600 on food and wine and had to wheel 2 shopping carts down the road back to our marina. You have not really experienced down-sizing until you try to find room on a 32 foot trawler for this load but we are ready for the Bahamas.

I really enjoyed my daily morning walk around the golf course and Flamingo Island. Flamingo Island had their block party this week and a number of us regular walkers almost expected to be invited. We stayed at Sombrero Resort Marina and the marina staff, Kyle and Greg, were very helpful and accommodating. I really liked the pool especially when they heated it up a bit.

The best part of Marathon was meeting so many wonderful people. There are so many Loopers taking a month here and it was great to reconnect with Loopers that we have traveled with and meet others who have been ahead of or behind us. The food is always great at Looper get-togethers especially the Sombrero pot-luck on 2/24.

For dining out, we would recommend Keys Fisheries and if you have a car, Key Colony Inn. Frosty’s has the best view and Sombrero Dockside offers nightly music.

We did way too many projects, but they are finally done----YEAH!!!!!!!! During the work process, fellow Loopers dragged us away and “forced” us to go boating with them. Thank you Tom and Debbie on “Catrina” and Rose and Gary on “Rose’s Pick”. Here’s Bob steering “Rose’s Pick” and really liking all the bells and whistles.

The only thing that I will not miss about Marathon is Iggy, the iguana. This 4 foot marauder hides on the condo roof or in trees at Sombrero Marina, waiting for a hot sunny day and then tries to get on boats. He almost got on our boat but our boat neighbor showed him who was boss with a boat pole. On the other end of the spectrum is a gentle giant manatee which regularly swims up by our boat and agilely moves its 12 foot frame between boats and the dock but its back shows 8 scars of propeller blades from boaters who did not see her.

The Keys are a long, long way from the Great Lakes, but who knows, you never know what will happen and where our home port will be.