Sailing for the Keys!!!!

It’s easy to get lost in Island Time, sitting and staring out at the water, where dreams float and adventure wanders in and out with the tides. This is an odd community that I’ve joined with its Sperrys and collared shirts, ripped T,s and sandals, long white hair, ponytails and hats, million dollar boats and heartbroken dreams left for the sea to claim. Here I sit, taking it all in and feeling the pull to stay and slow down and so, I give in!

Ray and I are here in Marathon where years ago he sat aboard his boat, Breezin.

So much has changed since those long gone days of he and Hank sailing around these waters and getting into all kinds of trouble that probably make the statute of limitations a REALLY great idea!!! There is a mooring field now which is very nicely maintained by the city and extremely affordable!  It is only 22.00 for us each night. We arrived Sunday afternoon around five thirty after leaving Jewfish Hole up near Fiesta Key. There we had met our friends aboard their new vessel, Stray Cat, who were coming from Nassau where they purchased their new catamaran. It was so great to see them and their new “island of adventure”!!  When we first arrived and dropped anchor, they invited us over to see their boat and for some appetizers and drinks. Stray Cat is a wonderful boat with lots of room!! Knowing our friends, their boat will log many miles of wonderful stories over the years!! It was great to just sit and catch up and retell the trip down the coast of Florida, which was a typical, Kim and Ray, sailing adventure complete with high winds and terrible seas.

We left Pelican Bay on Thursday morning and headed south towards Sanibel Island. We actually had an uneventful  trip but we could only motor because the wind insisted on blowing 20 knots right on the nose. It took us around eight hours to get in and drop the hook. We quickly put the engine on the dinghy and went into Sanibel Marina for some extra diesel fuel. Since the winds were forecasted  to be the same for the foreseeable future, we needed to stock up since our next landfall was supposed to be Islamorada. Upon arrival, the dockmaster asked what we needed and we explained that we needed 10 gallons of diesel. He looked a little miffed but took our jerry jugs and started filling them. We went into the store for a cold drink and to feel a little air conditioning and suddenly we hear lots of yelling and a couple of words that I had to look up later!! It seems their nozzle wouldn’t fit the end of our container and diesel went spilling all over the dock. Not a good thing!!! The dockmaster came in and looked at us and said, “That is the last time I will ever do that! Next time come to the bloody dock with your boat!”  The guy at the register just looked at us and passed on the information that evidently the dockmaster was going to have knee surgery and was just a little on edge because of it. WHATEVER!! I’ve been there, done that and went back to work with little preschoolers thank you very much!!! So get your panties out of a wad and have a little customer service!!!  Jeez…….. We took our 10 gallons of fuel and headed back to our floating oasis, NuTrix! 

We were met with a spectacular sunset and a nice breeze off of the ocean. It was a nice cool evening and so I cooked pasta with kielbasa for our dinner.
The cabin smelled heavenly from the onions and peppers.

I’m not sure why the ocean gives such a voracious appetite, but we ate like famine survivors!! Soon the bed was calling our name!! The amazing transformation onto boat life happens little by little, but soon our bodies fall into a natural rhythm of sleeping when we get tired and eating when we get hungry. There isn’t a time constraint and life just flows so naturally. I just love it!!!  The next morning, the Weather Service was calling for 10 to 15 knots out of the SE, so we decided to pull up anchor and head out. We put out the headsail and had a lovely cruise down the coast hitting 7 knots, at times. I made breakfast and coffee underway, turned on our new Bluetooth stereo and rocked away with Bob Marley telling some woman not to cry!!

Soon as we reached Marco Island, it would be Ray’s turn to tell this woman the same thing!! I am not quite sure what it is with that area, but the proverbial sh*% always hits the fan there!! We had to reef in the headsail since the winds picked up to a sustained 20 gusting WAY higher. And then, as if on cue, a squall hits us and the winds are clocking near 30 knots!!! We did get a nice wash down though and as quick as it hit, it was a distant memory. HOWEVER, we needed to pick our way through a channel in the shoals. The water can be one foot or less in places!! Ray found our mark, but when we turned, the angry sea kicked up the waves from 2 feet to around 5!!! Our boat went rail down to rail down for TWO hours!!! I’ve gotten much better with life on a boat, but really!!!! Back and forth and back and forth for, did I mention, TWO hours!!! My legs were bruised, Ray’s head was probably hurting from me yelling to deploy the EPERB!! He didn’t do it!! Finally I could see the light at Indian Key! Talk about the light at the end of the tunnel…. Yep!!! We found the marks and dropped anchor in time for a beautiful sunset complete with a dolphin show!! Earlier, back before anything hit a fan, Ray and I spotted some whales but I couldn’t get a photo. That night, however, I snapped away as the dolphins jumped and swam around the boat. We ate left overs, because we were both too tired to cook. Ray from holding the helm and me from holding a very nice panic attack!! That is what poptarts are for, right??!!!

Indian Key is a beautiful anchorage and is so well protected from waves and wind. Upstream, following the markers, is Everglades City. The charter boats and sightseeing boats make their way through the channels and we always wave as the tourist take pictures of our lovely boat nestled among the mangrove islands. We have been very lucky and never had a problem with bugs or mosquitos while anchored around the islands. Ray is always careful to keep our distance from the shores where the   little buggers like to swarm.  You are truly guaranteed a gorgeous sunset and sunrise over the water. It is a magical place and after the day the we had, turned out to be quite the haven that we needed. Tomorrow was going to kick our… well…. you know!!!

Saturday morning we looked out and figured, what the heck, let’s go!! The NOAA forecast once again was calling for SE winds at 10 to 15 but I am here to tell you that they lied!! I actually think NOAA is like women’s clothing designers. They always put a smaller number to make you feel better about yourself!!! Yeah, I can squeeze my butt into a 12……. Okay!!!  Anyway, the winds were indeed out of the SE but they blew at a constant 20. We did put out the headsail on the way to Cape Sable because of our course setting. We decided that if it got too bad, we could tuck up into Middle Cape for the night. We had been there in 2013 with my sister and brother-in-law. The holding is good and the area is gorgeous with all kinds of birds and plant life. The beaches are so deserted and give it kind of a lonely feel that makes you want to go explore. A problem though, is that we no longer had cell phone reception. We couldn’t call and let anyone know that we were okay but just needed to stop, so being the crazy people we are, we kept going. When we sailed passed Cape Sable, the waves started crashing over the bow and we had to pull in the sail. I was hoping that when we got through the deep channel leading up to Flamingo that the waves would subside just a little. Low and behold, they did!! The winds were still up, but we were met with the most gorgeous water imaginable dotted with little Keys all along the horizon.

We followed the red markers through the shallow spots and I pulled out the paper charts and actually passed the time plotting courses and measuring distances with my dividers. My dividers were a present from Ray back on our very first sailing trip in 2007. I love them!!! I enjoy navigating and pouring over charts looking for depths and channels, little islands and sandbars. I wonder what it would have been like for long ago explorers who made these charts. I think that every time I touch them, I am holding history.  I was looking over the charts and asked Ray to tell me when we got close to Yachtsmans Channel which is a very narrow passage through extremely shallow water.  The guide books make it sound so treacherous, but we have not had any trouble. You can clearly see where NOT to go!! The water is so clear and pretty! Ray just looked at me strangely and said that we had passed through 10 minutes ago. I missed it!!! We finally found our anchorage off of Fiesta Key. There is a nice little area that is good to get out of the wind and rolls, but you have to go fairly close to the Campground.  We dropped the anchor and soon our friends, Wes and Sabine, were on the horizon. It had been a crazy long day, but seeing familiar faces always makes for a great evening. I texted my mom to let her quit worrying for a while and we got the dinghy ready to go meet Wes and Sabine and see their new boat!! Which brings me back to where I started with this story though not quite the beginning!

On Sunday, we all pulled anchor and headed to Marathon. I totally forgot to mention that our autopilot and alternator had quit on us. The autopilot is a bother, but without an alternator,  we have no power!! Ray installed solar panels but with the overcast days and the heat, they could not keep up with our refrigerator full of an 8 week supply of food!!! We needed to get it fixed ASAP!!! We had a great sail down to Marathon with Stray Cat. The weather produced small scattered showers and lots of wind but we were actually going the right way!!! I got some great videos of our sailing and of our entrance into the Atlantic via the Moser’s Channel Bridge. Going under bridges is always breathtaking for me. I know the charts say a 65 foot clearance, but it never seems as if we are going to make it!! But we always do!! We turned north toward Marathon and followed Stray Cat into the mooring fields. We got in around 5:30. I had to stand on the bow and try to “catch” the mooring ball with our boat hook. I am 5 foot 4 and that water was way the heck down from where I was standing. I could just imagine myself slipping into the drink off of the bow to the applause of every person on the surrounding boats!! I did manage to get the line through the tiny ring and pull the sucker aboard. Ray came up to help and we finally got it all secured. The little dog on the boat next to us barked his approval, or either he was laughing, you never know with dogs.  Ray and I cleaned up and we headed over to get Wes and Sabine. They haven’t purchased a dinghy yet so we were more than happy to be the chariot of the mooring field!! We found a nice waterside restaurant and had a nice feast. Ray and I had been living off of crackers and cheese for two days so fish and veggies and rolls and rice were so yummy.  Lazy Days is a really nice restaurant and our waiter was so friendly. It was such a nice evening and a wonderful welcome to island life!! Ray and I decided to hang around for a while and get some things ready for our Bahamas crossing.

We spent Monday running around trying to secure a new alternator.  We got a cab and went to Napa looking for a replacement. The guys there were unexpectedly helpful. They went above and beyond to help and actually called a guy who does repairs to rebuild it for us and save some money. They run up to 1200 dollars!!! That’s a LOT of dollars!! The guy from Napa actually gave Ray and Wes a ride over to the marina! Come to find out, our alternator was working  just fine, so it must be the regulator. Our repairman told Ray to take a picture and he could see what he needed, so back to the boat we went.  Ray was twisted and turned all in the engine room trying to get to the regulator when he noticed a wire hanging!!! He looked at me and we both could not believe that it may be something so easy. Ray plugged the wires back in and Wes came to help him reinstall the alternator. After two hours, we fired up the engine and what do you know……… POWER!!!! Problem solved and now we could relax and wait on the winds to calm down!!!

We plan on going into a marina tomorrow for power to get the batteries fully charged and for air conditioning so Ray can install a new macerator pump in the head!!! It’s a CRAPPY job so I’ll make sure to stay out of his way. Once that is done, we should be good to go. The weather looks great for a Saturday crossing so we are leaving Marathon on Thursday and head back up to Fiesta Key. On Friday, we will take NuTrix to Rodriguez Key and wait for our weather window to shoot for Bimini.  I am trying to keep up with all the fun things that we are doing, but I have to wait for internet service which we didn’t have up until yesterday.  Verizon is all too happy to charge me for my Hotspot but I’ve put enough of their children through Harvard, so I like to wait. I have so many cool pictures and videos and will upload them all as soon as possible!! This has been a really great vacation so far!!! I look forward to each day with my Ray!!!! Now, I’m taking my drink and going to sit on the bow and watch the day go to sleep.  It’s comforting to know that each day, the sun sets and no matter how long the night, it comes back up the next day!!! Sitting here in paradise waiting…… well, that is the life!!!!!

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