Merry Christmas from Paradise

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

It has been business as usual here at Boot Key Harbor the past several days.

On Wednesday we took the dinghy up Sister’s Creek to Sombrero Beach.  We beached the dinghy and spent some time in the water.  This is one of the best (few) beaches in the Keys.  You would think that this area would be full of beaches but in reality the shores are mostly rocky here and so we are fortunate to have Sombrero Beach with it’s white sand just a dinghy ride away.  Which brings me to the other part of the story.  We had a little trouble trying to get the dinghy off the beach and back in the water.  Once we were floating, Brian had difficulty getting the engine to go back down after he had raised it earlier.  The area where we beached the dinghy has a lot of rocks and coral heads.  In his anxiety to get the engine down and started, he flooded it.  In the meantime we were being blown into the rocks.  Judy was forced to bail out and walk the dinghy out away from the rocks while Brian worked on the engine.  Finally the engine started and Judy then had to get back in the boat.  I’m glad that we were all alone because it surely must have looked like Laurel & Hardy.   

On Thursday we were invited by Shannon and Leigh for sundowners aboard Sol Mate.  We had a wonderful evening with good company and Shannon’s outstanding guacamole.  Thanks guys!

On Friday a cold front came through and brought with it high winds and cool temperatures for a couple days.  We really didn’t do much because the weather was not very good.  Judy did spend some time baking for Christmas. 

Daughter Erin and son-in-law to be Ryan arrived here on Sunday right in the middle of the Green Bay Packers 55 to 7 victory over the Tennessee Titans.  We met them at the Hurricane where we were watching the game.   Once it appeared that the Packers had the game in hand (and it didn’t take long) we left and headed back to the marina where we loaded up their luggage and them in the dinghy and headed out for the five minute ride to Sweet Escape.  Needless to say, after driving 1600 miles the past couple days they were both pretty tired and so we had pizza for dinner and then headed off to bed.

On Monday we fired up Sweet Escape’ engine for the first time in a couple weeks, cast off our mooring and headed over to Burdine’s fuel dock where we took on 40 gallons of diesel before heading out toward Sombrero Reef.  

Sombrero Reef is about three miles south of Boot Key and features the best snorkeling in The Florida Keys.  We wanted to go take a look to see if the conditions would be good for some snorkeling - no joy, they weren't.  Out at the reef waves were running one to two feet and the winds were from the southeast, the wrong direction if you are looking for calm water to snorkel in.  Too bad because the water there is crystal clear and beautiful.  We will definitely try again when the conditions are better.

So, instead of snorkeling we sailed.  This was the first time we had been able to do any leisure sailing without a destination since we left on our cruise.  It felt good.

Back on the boat we cooked burgers on the grill and spent the evening playing Mexican Train Dominos - a game that Ryan introduced us to and watching Captain Ron - the quintessential cruising movie.

This morning we got up and headed over to San Pablo Church for mass.  This is a very pretty little church but it is about four miles away from us here.  It will be quite an endeavor to get there on Sundays on our folding bikes but we will try.  

After mass we had intended to attend the Christmas potluck put on by cruisers here at Boot Key Harbor.  We had made some stuffing but mass had run longer than we expected and there was not enough time to bake the stuffing and still arrive on time for the potluck so we did not go.

We will attend the Christmas buffet later this afternoon at the Sunset Grille.

Tonight we will pick Daughter Jennifer and Grandson Cameron up at the Fort Lauderdale Airport.  Their flight arrives at midnight, so it will be a very late night for all.  We have no plans for Wednesday and on Thursday we will head to Key West where we will spend the New Year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!  

Living the Cruising Life

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

We have settled in rather nicely here.  We appreciate being able to get up each day and not have to travel.

Saturday night we attended the Holiday Jam Session under the Tiki Hut here at the marina.  This featured a gentleman named Gary Diamond off the sailing vessel Saturday’s Child on vocals and playing a keyboard/synthesizer, an unknown keyboardist and two guitar players performing all kinds of music.  It was surprisingly good - Gary is a very good singer.  This was attended by 20 to 30 cruisers and will be repeated this Saturday.

On Sunday we got on our folding bikes and headed toward San Pablo’s Catholic Church or at least what was supposed to be San Pablo’s.  We arrived to find an empty lot.  We asked some of the locals and discovered that the church is actually five miles to the north.  Apparently it used to be on the lot but they built a new church and tore the old one down.  Unfortunately no one apparently told Google maps.  As we arrived at the empty lot right on time to attend 11AM mass and mass would be almost over by the time we rode the five miles to the new church we decided to try again next Sunday.  We hope God gives credit for effort.

So it was on to the Hurricane.  The Hurricane is a sports bar with the NFL Sunday Ticket package and 25 cent wings.  They have all the games every Sunday and it is Marathon’s home for wayward Packer fans.  There is a large number who show up every week to watch the game.  We learned about this from Ann from the sailing catamaran S/V Camelot.  Ann along with her husband Harv are from Stevens Point.  We met her in Publix last week and struck up a conversation because she was wearing a Green Bay Packers cap.  Harv on the other hand is a Vikings fan - not much to say about that.

We parked our bikes outside the bar and spent the afternoon eating wings and watching the Green Bay Packers win the NFC North with their glorious victory over the sad and confused Chicago Bears.  Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

Monday afternoon on one of our trips into the dinghy dock we noticed a group of people standing near where the potable water hose is.  (We pull up there every day and fill our two plastic five gallon jerry jugs with water to later be transferred into Sweet Escape’s two water tanks.)  We walked over to see what they were looking at.  What we saw was probably 500 pounds of manatee hanging on to the water hose begging someone to turn the water on.  Eventually one of the dock hands came over and gave the end of the hose to the manatee and turned on the water.  This manatee stuck the hose in it’s mouth and started drinking and drinking and drinking.  Note to self - remember to bring in some sanitizing wipes to use on the end of the hose the next time we get water.  We shot some video of this and it is at right.  File that under “something you don’t see everyday”.

We have been wanting to go fishing but we have been lacking an anchor for our dinghy.  We looked at them at West Marine and would have to spend at least $50 dollars there.  We decided to try the morning radio net first.  Readers will recall they have a segment called “Treasures from the Bilge” where cruisers can buy and sell merchandise.  Yesterday during the morning net we announced our need and within 10 seconds we had a dinghy anchor.  Shannon from S/V Sol Mate had just what we were looking for and sold it to us for $10.  Take that West Marine!

This morning we dinghied in and walked across the street  to the Tackle Box where they sell live bait.  We bought a dozen live shrimp, took them back to the dinghy and drove up Sister’s Creek just off Boot Key Harbor for a little fishing.  

Saltwater fishing is fun.  When you fish up north you may catch two or three different kinds of fish.  Here, you may catch any of a hundred different species.  Judy drew first blood today when she pulled in some kind of snapper with bright blue stripes on it’s head.  Brian then caught what we identified as a gray mangrove snapper.  Brian then also caught a weird looking fish that puffs itself up when you touch it.  At that point we ran out of shrimp.  We released all the fish, but is was fun to catch them.

We are getting close to Christmas.  It is hard to believe with the weather what it is here.  We are also getting excited because Daughter Erin and her Fiancé Ryan will be coming down next Sunday and then late on the 25th we will pick up Daughter Jenny and Grandson Cameron at the airport in Fort Lauderdale.  On the 27th, weather permitting we will sail to Key West and spend five days there at the Conch Harbor Marina.  

We are really looking forward to seeing and spending some time with our family and introducing them to the cruising life.

Boot Key Harbor

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

We arrived here on Sunday and have spent the past few days getting to know the lay of the land so to speak.

Boot Key Harbor is run by the Marathon City Marina.  The best word to describe it is “unique”.  It is not “upscale” by any means but it works.  The mooring field alone can handle 180 boats and to that number you can add an untold number at anchor in the area.  That is a lot of cruisers and they come in all ages, shapes, sizes and degrees of personal hygiene.  In fact, people watching has become one of our favorite pastimes.

Every morning we get up and at 9:00 AM turn on VHF channel 68 for the Marathon Boot Key Harbor Cruisers Net.  Different cruisers take turns acting as the net controller.  This net begins with arrivals and departures.  That is when the new arrivals announce themselves and are welcomed by the cruising community. Then, likewise the vessels that will be departing are bid farewell and safe passage.  

Next, they move on to announcements.  Here they announce all the various organized activities that will be taking place the next couple days.  Today, they had a softball game scheduled for 10 AM this morning, a movie double feature on the patio scheduled for Friday evening and there will be a Christmas carol singalong/jam session under the Tiki Hut on Friday night as well in case any of our many readers would like to come down and attend.  It’s BYOB.  

After announcements comes “Treasures from the Bilge” where cruisers can buy, sell or give away unneeded items.  

Then it is on to the fun part of the net - “questions, comments or need help”.  Here cruisers can seek help with any boat issues, mechanical or otherwise they may have, ask questions of the other cruisers about for example; where is a good place to have your hair done, but the comments part is the most fun.  The past couple days, the burning issue has been the man on the un-named boat who has been allegedly feeding seagulls.  Today it was revealed that he is not actually intentionally feeding seagulls but rather removing roaches from his roach infested boat and throwing them overboard which in turn attracts seagulls who eat the evicted roaches. Yuk! 

Today a second issue raised it’s ugly head when a woman expressed her concern about people throwing their kitty litter overboard.  She believes that this is bad for the dolphins and causes them to go permanently insane.  As I said, Boot Key Harbor is unique.

Every day we go into shore in order to access the Internet and get our email.  Hopefully this will no longer be necessary once our WirieAP WiFi booster is returned to us.  (It has been shipped, we should have it next week) The dinghy dock here is huge.  It is divided with sections for both hard and soft dinghies.  There is a large open air building where the marina offices are located as well as the wifi and a couple of TV’s complete with theater seating.  There are laundry facilities and a large number of private restroom/shower rooms in this building.  There are even shop facilities where cruisers can work on whatever piece of equipment they are having trouble with that particular day and the aforementioned patio and Tiki Hut areas are located there as well.

Just up the street from the marina is a Publix, Winn Dixie, Big Kmart, The Home Depot and the cruiser’s holy grail - West Marine.  Add to that a myriad number of other stores and restaurants and there is no lack of ways to spend money.

Loyal readers will recall that we were having trouble with our refrigerator on arrival here.  We were able to diagnose the problem as a bad fan which we replaced from one in our spare parts.  The fridge works like new again which is a good thing because it has been hot and humid here since we arrived and no, we’re not complaining about that.

Ft. Lauderdale to Marathon, FL

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

Greetings from Boot Key Harbor, our home for the winter!

After more than four months spent traveling almost 3000 miles through fourteen states we have done it.  We have arrived at Marathon in the Florida Keys and picked up a mooring at Boot Key Harbor.

We left our mooring at the Las Olas Mooring Field in Fort Lauderdale on Friday.  Dave, Brian’s dad always referred to Fort Lauderdale’s 17th Street Causeway Bridge as his “favorite drawbridge”.  He would say “Every time I come to Fort Lauderdale I have to wait for that damn bridge”.   So on this day we needed the 17th Street bridge raised for us.  See the video at right.  Dad, that’s for you.

We went outside at Port Everglades and motored south to Miami where we went back in through Government Cut at the Port of Miami.  This was necessary because Sweet Escape’s mast is too tall to fit under the Julia Tuttle Bridge over Biscayne Bay.  Once back inside we anchored overnight at Key Biscayne in the Marine Stadium, a large cut out area with grandstands where they hold waterski shows.  This is a popular anchorage when there isn’t anything going on there.  

We had a mishap while anchoring that resulted in some damage to the front of the boat.  Brian was on the bow “helping” the anchor down with a boat hook when the anchor slipped off the boat hook and slammed into the bow, pointy end first.  This put a small but deep gash in the fiberglass.  It didn’t go all the way through but it is definitely into the glass and will have to be repaired.  We have two other less significant areas that need to be repaired as well.  One is a small gelcoat chip from when Brian got too close to a wall while docking on the Erie Canal.  The other resulted when the lock master at the Deep Creek Lock on the Dismal Swamp Canal pulled the boat into the lock wall in an area where there were no fenders.  We will have all three done at the same time. 

On Saturday morning we left the anchorage and continued south on Biscayne Bay to the Biscayne Channel.  This channel connects the bay to the ocean and to Hawks Channel, a waterway just inside a reef which runs the entire length of the Keys.  We motored out to Hawks Channel through Stiltsville.  This is an area of several buildings, houses I guess, that are built on stilts and sit out in Hawk’s Channel, a couple miles from land.  Most of these houses were occupied only by birds but there was one that looked pretty nice and where people were living.

Once out in Hawks Channel we sailed almost all the way to Rodriguez Key, 50 miles down the Keys where we anchored for the night.  The water here is very clear.  We anchored in ten feet of water and could easily see the bottom.  The water is turquoise colored like what you would find in the Caribbean or the Bahamas.  It is mesmerizing.

On Sunday morning we continued on our way.  We sailed initially until the wind went away and mindful of the need to cover 50 miles we then motor sailed the rest of the way.  Just west of Key Largo we began going through huge crab pot fields.  Having come south along the Chesapeake Bay we are no strangers to crab pots, but we have never seen anything like this.  We spent the afternoon weaving our way through hundreds of floats, all the way to Marathon.

When we arrived at Boot Key Harbor, we were directed to mooring J4 where this being written.  We put the dinghy in the water and went to check in.  Afterwards we walked to the Keys Fisheries Restaurant for a celebration dinner.

Tomorrow we need to do some maintenance.  Our refrigerator started giving us trouble recently, it’s not as cold as it should be.  Brian will look at it.  In our spare parts there appears to be a spare thermostat for the refrigerator.  Brian will change it out and we’ll see if that takes care of it.  If not we’ll have to call someone.

We are excited to not have to travel for a while.  We are looking forward to getting to know the area and of course enjoying the beautiful weather.  Thanks to everyone who followed us on this journey.  It really has just begun and we will continue to update this blog as often as we can.

Naples, Florida

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

On Monday we rented a car and drove the 90 miles from Fort Lauderdale to Naples to visit Brian’s step-mom Pat.

More than 40 years ago Dave and Pat Wagner found their way to the small gulf-side community of Naples Florida.  There they made a life for themselves and Pat’s four boys.   Brian’s father, Dave started working as a night auditor at the local Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge along with numerous part-time jobs, eventually working himself up the ladder to general manager where he turned that perennial money losing property into a profitable and successful operation.   

Pat, already an LPN worked her way through nursing school and became a registered nurse at the local hospital.  She retired as a manager from that same hospital just last year.

Dave and Pat were great role models for us.  Judy’s career choice as a registered nurse and by extension daughter Jennifer’s career choice, also in nursing can be traced back to the example Pat provided.

We spent many vacations in Naples with our girls and those are some of our best memories.  All of us together.

Dave is gone now and Naples is no longer a small community but we were looking forward to an overnight with Pat.  This would actually be the first night we had slept off the boat since we moved aboard in July.  We spent the evening talking and visiting and went out for dinner at Olive Garden.

We slept well despite the fact that the house doesn’t rock like Sweet Escape.

We are excited that we will now be a lot closer to Naples and Pat than we have been in the past and look forward to being able to spend more time with her in the future and are also looking forward to her seeing Sweet Escape in Marathon. 

Ft. Pierce to Ft. Lauderdale

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

We regret that we have fallen behind on our blogging lately.  Truth be told we have been busy.  That combined with a problem with our long range wifi antenna has conspired to make us look like loafers.  More on the wifi antenna later.

We finally were able to get out of Fort Pierce on Friday.  We spent two nights at anchor en route to Fort Lauderdale.   South of Fort Pierce we lost our grill cover when it was blown off in the high winds.  No worries though as we conducted a successful “grill cover overboard drill” and recovered it with a boathook. 

The theme of this trip was “bascule bridges” and lots of them.  This is a heavily populated part of Florida.  There are lots of roads and lots of bridges.  In this stretch we encountered more than twenty.  What makes this so tough is that the majority of these bridges are restricted in when they open.  Most open twice an hour either on the hour and half hour or alternatively at fifteen and forty-five after.  You have to be there - there are no exceptions.  If you don’t make it in time you deal with the wind and current in the river and wait for the next opening.  Consequently it can be slow going in this stretch as much of your travel time is spent waiting for bridge openings.

The other noteworthy thing about this section of the ICW is all the conspicuous consumption that is on display.  One elaborate estate home after another, many with a  yacht parked behind it that would make Sweet Escape seem like a dinghy.  Funny thing is you seldom see anyone around.  As we pass by we wonder who owns these homes, what they do and whether or not they’re happy.

Upon arrival in Fort Lauderdale we were able to get through the Las Olas Bridge.  The Las Olas Marina Mooring Field is located just south of the bridge.  This is a small and often crowded mooring field consisting of ten moorings, only nine of which are actually usable.   The moorings are first come, first served and we were concerned that there may not be any available.  We arrived just in time and were able to pick up the last mooring that would have worked for a boat our size.

We like moorings for a couple reasons.  First they cost a lot less than a marina and are still pretty secure.  Our alternative in Fort Lauderdale would have been a marina at $100 a night since anchoring out was not an option because we intended to leave Sweet Escape overnight and take a side trip to Naples.  We will never leave the boat unattended at anchor for long periods of time - there is just too much that can go wrong.

Since we did so much whining about the weather on the way down here we can report that the sun has been out at least for a while everyday and the temperatures have been wonderful.  This is what we envisioned when we decided to go cruising.  We love it.

We rented a car and drove over to Naples to visit family on Monday.  More on that trip in a separate post.  We returned Tuesday afternoon and spent some time at the outstanding Bluewater Books and Charts where we obtained some cruising guides for the Florida Keys and also a guide to inlets that we think will be really useful.  We also made the requisite visits to West Marine and Sailorman.

We have been having an intermittent problem with our wifi antenna dating all the way back to Buffalo New York.  We have finally decided to send it back for service while it is still under warranty and so we did that on Wednesday.  As a result our ability to access the Internet and consequently to update this blog will be limited until it is returned to us in Marathon.

Having a car the past couple days has been nice.  We have been able to do some Christmas shopping and even went to see the movie “Lincoln” on Tuesday night.  

We are now only a few days away from our planned winter destination - Marathon in the Florida Keys.  This has been the experience of a lifetime so far and it has only just begun. 

We expect to leave Fort Lauderdale in the next day or so depending on weather and head to Miami where we will stage for our passage to Marathon.

Ft. Pierce, FL

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

When we last left you we were headed to Vero Beach to the city mooring field where we were going to take a mooring for a couple days before continuing south.  We had misgivings about the mooring arrangements there, specifically the requirement that multiple boats raft up and share a mooring but we decided to give it a try anyway.

So Tuesday morning we called ahead to make a reservation at the Vero Beach Mooring Field.  We were told no problem, but that we would be required to raft.  Okay fine.  

We made our way to Vero Beach and on our approach to the marina we called on the radio for a mooring assignment.  No response. We try again,  no response.  We try the phone, we get voicemail.  We’re now in the mooring field.  We call again, no response.  Is the VHF not working?  We do an automated radio check on channel 27 - no problem the VHF is working fine.  Back to 16 and continue calling.  Finally after seven attempts they answer.  

Of course the marina knows nothing of our reservation but finally assigns us a mooring.  We go there and find a boat on the mooring that we are to raft with.  The boat is unoccupied and in very poor almost derelict condition.   The boat has two small fenders aft, none forward and cleats that are tiny - too small to even get our lines around and nothing else we can tie to.  This isn’t going to work so we decide to call the marina for a different mooring assignment.  No response.  We try three more times - still no answer.  We decide to pull up to their fuel dock to find out what the hell is going on and to get a better mooring assignment in person.  As we do this, there is a big wind blowing us off the dock and no one there to catch a line or assist.  Enough is enough.   We decide to leave and travel an additional 12 miles south to Fort Pierce.  We will not be returning to the Vero Beach Municipal Marina.

In Fort Pierce at noon we tie up at the Harbortown Marina.  A very nice marina that is within convenient walking distance to Publix and a West Marine.  It turns out to be convenient for another reason.  The marina is also the home of Whiticar Marine Services - a Yanmar dealer.  We have been looking for a place to do the 600 hour service on our engine which involves checking and adjusting the intake and exhaust valve clearance.  That means cracking the engine open - something Brian has no intention of attempting himself.  Whiticar agrees to do the service first thing Wednesday morning and will replace the engine coolant while they’re at it, another part of the 600 hour service.  Great.

The service technician shows up at the boat at 8:00 AM and we head out to the grocery store while he works.  When we arrive back at the dock he is finished.  We put the shopping away, eat lunch at the marina restaurant  and spend the remainder of the day changing oil in both our main engine and our generator and Brian attempts to dismantle the windlass which needs to be cleaned and greased.  He is unable to figure out how to remove the gypsy from the unit and will have to do more research.  We also open and clean all three of our sea strainers.

This morning, (Thursday) we get up, battle the strong winds to get out of our slip and head for the fuel dock where we take on 25 gallons of diesel and pump out our waste tank.  We then head out, point the boat south on the ICW.

All of a sudden we have a problem.  Judy who was at the helm notices it first.  The engine temperature gauge is pegged all the way over to the hot side.  Brian goes down below to investigate thinking that maybe he had forgotten to reopen the engine thru hull when he cleaned the strainer but it was open and whats more the engine was pumping good seawater out of the exhaust as it should be.  We turned the engine off and pulled out of the channel into an area of very deep water and dropped the anchor.  This was a very tight area with old pilings and concrete piers visible along the edge.  To add to the fun, we are way too close to shore to allow for the appropriate anchor scope for water that deep thus we can feel the anchor drag and then catch, drag and then catch as we slowly drift toward the shore with it’s deadheads and hull crunching concrete.  

Time for professional help.  We call TowBoat US which is based back at the marina we just left.  TowBoatUS arrives within ten minutes and tows us back to Harbortown.  Thankfully we had purchased towing insurance and so while no one likes being towed back to port - at least we didn’t have to pay for it.

Back at the marina we explained what had happened to Tim who is the owner of Whiticar Marine.  He acknowledged that the coolant service was not done properly and assigned a technician to take care of it.  He also agreed to pay our dockage for the night at Harbortown.  He could not have been nicer.  Long story short, the technician had not put enough coolant in the engine to account for our water heater which is 15 feet away from the engine.  Thus, we were running the engine with almost no coolant.  The engine seems fine. We believe we were able to shut it down before the heat caused any damage.  Lucky. 

So, as this is written we are tied once again to the dock at Harbortown.  We will try again on Friday to leave Fort Pierce and head for Palm Beach.  We plan to anchor out there and then head for Fort Lauderdale.  We will leave the boat on a mooring there, rent a car and then drive over to Naples for a day to see Brian’s step-mom Pat.  After that visit we will return to the boat and wait for a weather window to head out onto the ocean down to Miami.

The weather here has been nice.  It rained briefly tonight and is still windy but the temperatures are in the 70’s and the sun has been out almost every day.