Sunday, March 28, 2010

Across the Big "O" - with Dennis!

The weather report was correct in that the Gulf of Mexico was much calmer on Wednesday than it was the previous day, so Riggs and I got an early start from Naples FL, heading out of Gordon Pass into the Gulf and turning north into 2-3 ft seas. Spray handled these nicely and by 1 pm we were under the bridge into San Carlos Bay and starting up the Caloosahatchee River, part of the Okeechobee waterway system. As a reminder that we had returned to civilization, the pleasure boat traffic was quite heavy, especially for a weekday.

We continued up river to Ft Myers, and turned left from the channel into a place called MarinaTown, in N. Ft Myers (O.W. mile 136). Brother-in-law Dennis was waiting there for us and had conveniently selected a slip so we could dock in our preferred nose-in-starboard-tieup method. This was a nice marina, with a sizable live-aboard population and good facilities, even a pool we could use. After Dennis loaded his gear aboard Spray, and a walk for Riggs, and cracking a few Yuenglings, we walked 100 yards down the marina to this waterfront joint and had a nice supper of coconut shrimp and some more of this.

Thursday was a nice easy cruising day up the Caloosahatchee, through the Franklin Lock (O.W. mile 121), which we shared with a large paddlewheeler (see photo below). The lock lifted Spray by about 2 feet, leaving her in fresh water. Then onwards to the town of La Belle FL (O.W. mile 103), where we tied to a free dock at a city park. It was a pleasant walk into town for the 3 of us to have an early dinner at Jonsez BBQ (Dennis raves over their fried shrimp), then buying some groceries, and back to Spray for a restful night.

On Friday we continued east to Moore Haven (O.W. mile 78), where we locked through to rise 3 feet to lake level, then turned right to follow the lake's SW rim. I had earlier expressed to Dennis my amazement at how trouble-free Spray had been over the whole trip (and I knocked on wood, which is abundant), but on this leg we started to notice something amiss: Spray's diesel would drop 100 or so RPM for several seconds and then resume normal speed. This happened more if we went faster and not at all at slower speed, and looked like classic symptoms of a clogging fuel filter. Since we were still in protected water, and since changing the filter next to a hot engine sounded no fun, we continued along to our day's goal of Clewiston FL (O.W. mile 65), and tied along the dock here. Right alongside Spray swam a 7 ft alligator (or was it 17 ft ?) so we were carefull to keep Riggs well leashed.

Our first action to repair Spray's dithering engine was to hit the marina's Tiki Bar, order a pitcher of Yuengling and plan to change the filter early the next morning, when the engine would be nice and cool. Friday's supper was Frittata aboard Spray, and it was very pleasant to sit on Spray's rear porch and listen to the oldies band playing at the Tiki Bar (which was just far enough away).

Saturday was a long and productive day. Up early for breakfast, then changing the fuel filter, which took maybe 45 minutes, and we were off, starting across the 25 mile open crossing of Lake Okeechobee (Big "O"). After the engine was warmed up we ran it hard for a while to assure us that the fuel filter change had done the trick. It did. Big "O" is broad and shallow (about 10 ft deep at center), and can kick up a nasty chop in strong winds, but we had picked a good day and saw nothing bigger than 2-3 ft waves, mostly on Spray's bow.

At about noon we reached the far eastern shore of Big "O" and locked through at Port Mayaca FL (O.W. mile 39) dropping only an inch or two. This was our most crowded lock experience, with 5 other boats, including a trawler towing a runabout that got the tow line wrapped around its propellers and thus couldn't leave the lock. I wonder two things:

- How many times did they ride up and down those couple of inches before they got the problem resolved?
- Who got to dive in and untangle the rope in those gator infested waters?

We still had a lot of waterway (this section being the St. Lucie Canal) to cover before we reached the St. Lucie Lock (O.W. mile 15) which dropped us by an impressive 13 ft to sea level once again. Another 7 miles of travel brought us to the municipal mooring field in Stuart FL (O.W. mile 8) where we have stayed before. After this 50+ mile day we clipped onto mooring ball no. 7, went to buy a few groceries (almost ran out of ... you guess) and had a pasta dinner (with salad!) aboard Spray.

Today is a day of rest. Morning ball play for Riggs, showers and a big breakfast for us, then a walk into old Stuart to tour the Sunday farmers market. This afternoon its computer time and naps. Pizza tonight.

Unfortunately, Dennis is going to have to cut his cruising time short as he has a job interview opportunity he can't miss. So in the next few days we'll make our way up the ICW to Vero Beach and then rent a car to get him to Orlando on Wednesday for his flight back to CT.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Into the Everglades, and out again

As promised, on Saturday morning Riggs and I cast Spray's lines from mooring R9 in Boot Key Harbor (city of Marathon FL), headed 2 miles west, then turned north, passing under here (the humped part), and continuing another 25 miles north across Florida Bay (in water typically 7-8 ft deep) to the bottom left corner of the Florida mainland, aka Cape Sable. I had hoped to anchor overnight off the beach but the south winds had kicked up 2 ft surf. Not conducive to a good sleep.

To console Riggs we did drop anchor for an hour and dinghied ashore for some ball play (see above) and to purge Riggs' tanks. Then we continued another 10 miles up Florida's west coast to the entrance of the Little Shark River. We turned east and traveled in about 2 miles. Really beautiful! A maze of clear waters and mangrove islands, full of fish, dolphins, manatees, and birds birds birds. Someday I'll spend a week or so exploring it but the downside is that you really can't get off the boat as there's no place to land. For Riggs this meant we broke out the square yard of Astroturf (tm) on the cockpit deck (aka the poopdeck). Bless his heart he went over 24 hours before giving in and using the facilities.

So Saturday night we had a beautiful, isolated anchorage. On Sunday morning we headed back out into the Gulf (of Mexico) and headed Northwest, with following winds and 3-4 ft waves that made steering a challenge (Spray yaws some in these conditions). In he afternoon the wind and waves got stronger and shifted more abeam (roll, roll, roll) so we ducked into Indian Key Pass, which leads towards Everglades City. We turned left into Russel Pass and hid behind a mangrove island for the night, with 3 other cruising boats. A front came through overnight, with thunderstorms, so it was good to be in protected waters.

By the way, since losing cell phone coverage north of Marathon, we did get a couple of bars at this anchorage (from Everglades City no doubt), so we were sort of reconnected with the world. Another thing we dealt with was mosquitos at night. Spray has some screens but somehow a couple of the little devils seem to get in, and that's all it takes.

Monday we headed back out to the Gulf and continued NW, along the 10,000 islands area, under threatening skies. After a few miles we turned into West Pass and dropped anchor off of Camp Lulu Key, where we went ashore in the rain and played some ball on the beach (see photos below). As previously mentioned, I had camped on Camp Lulu on new years 2000, along with Sheila and my sister and her hubby.

After lunch we pulled anchor and continued NW into Gullivan Bay and through the old local ICW around the back side of Marco Island. We continued another few miles, dropping anchor between Little Marco Island and Keywaydin Island. There was some boat traffic there but at least there was a small beach for Riggs.

The plan for today was to continue up this ICW towards Naples, and to head out into the open Gulf via Gordon Pass, making for Ft Myers. The weather report said we'd see 5-7 ft seas out in the Gulf so we poked Spray's nose out of Gordon Pass for a look and didn't like what we saw, so we turned around and continued up into Naples Bay. We pulled into the City Dock, got a pumpout, bought some fuel, filled the water tank, and paid $10 to hang on a mooring ball for tonight. And here we are. We had a great walk exploring ritzy downtown Naples, and I got a shower, and all is good. Tomorrow we are promised calmer conditions 'outside' (2-3 ft seas) so we'll head for Ft Myers to pick up brother-in-law Dennis. Then comes Okeechobee, so stay tuned!


Friday, March 19, 2010

Hasta Luego a Marathon


When we arrived in Marathon I thought we might stay for 2 weeks, but its been over 6 weeks. Its so comfortable here that our overstay is quite typical. But its almost Spring and time to start the slow trip back to Maine.

Riggs and I will leave here tomorrow morning, sailing directly north across Florida Bay to Cape Sable, on mainland Florida's SW tip. There is a reportedly nice fair-weather anchorage off of the long empty Cape Sable beach, and fair weather is predicted (warm with light SE winds) so we'll give it a try. On the Marathon Cruiser's Net (VHF 68) this morning something like 8 boats announced departure tomorrow. Some of these will pass me and pull into the Little Shark River, which I'd like to explore someday but it will have to be on a future trip.

Our plan is to spend a couple of nights in the 10,000 islands area, including a visit to Camp Lulu, where Sheila and I (and sister Marsha and her hubby Dennis) spent New Years 2000, then on an old local ICW section through Naples and into Fort Myers, hopefully arriving there sometime Wednesday. If things work out I may welcome brother-in-law Dennis aboard in Ft Myers for some Florida cruising. I'm also hoping that Castine friend Gene will do some cruising with us.

I've included here a couple of photos showing the quirky nature of the Keys. Above is our favorite breakfast joint while below is a combination Bait/Sushi joint and also a truck advertising a great deal (if you are in Maine - look closely).

We'll be way off the grid for at least a couple of days, but the SPOT tracker should be active, showing where we'll be.


Thursday, March 11, 2010

Day of the Iguana

Riggs and I have now been in Marathon for 5 weeks, as time whizzes by. We'll be starting northwards probably sometime next week, if the weather cooperates.

Visitors aboard Spray while in Marathon have included Bev, Steve&Connie, Ken, and now Sheila, who has been here for almost two weeks and sadly returns to Maine on Saturday. For Sheila one big draw to cruising is to observe the different life forms, so we've been searching out encounters with various seabirds and sea creatures, with mixed luck.

On Monday we left Marathon for an overnight visit to Islamorada, where we made the required visit here (their coconut shrimp are the absolute best), and had an all-around nice time, but on the way up saw no sea critters except maybe a glance at a diving sea turtle of some kind. So on the return trip we decided to route ourselves out to Sombrero Key, where we could tie to a mooring over a coral reef and hopefully see some critters. It was pretty choppy out there so we didn't stay long nor see any sea life there but on the way out we did encounter 2 groups of bottle-nosed dolphins (like Flipper) which Sheila hadn't seen before. One dolphin came to check us out and was diving directly beneath Spray. We were on the flying bridge and had a great view.

On another critter front we had earlier found a colony of Iguanas living in a canal cul-de-sac off of Sister's Creek here. Yesterday we went back with the camera (which has a nice zoom feature) to snap a few photos. Sheila tried to pull the dinghy in as close as possible before the iguanas would jump into the water to escape, while Riggs was making a big fuss (he REALLY wanted to chase those iguanas). These iguanas are not native here but are descendants of escaped pets. They are definitely interesting.

One thing Sheila hasn't seen yet and would really like to is a manatee. They have been into the marina here but not recently. Here's hoping for an appearance soon, since we'll be driving up to Orlando tomorrow afternoon as Sheila flies north first thing Saturday.

It seems we are finally getting seasonable weather here: Lows in the mid 60's and highs near 80. Now I'm complaining about the heat!

Friday, March 5, 2010

The Admiral is aboard!

As the Captain of Spray, I am in charge, and first mate Riggs obeys all of my orders (yeah, right). But now the power structure has changed as Sheila is aboard for two weeks.

Sheila is taking two weeks vacation from her job here, and has left beloved Katie-Bopp with wonderful friends Rosemary and David Wyman. On Saturday she flew direct from Bangor to Orlando on Allegiant Air, which usually hauls families to and from Disney World. I had arranged for a 3-day car rental from Enterprise at the Marathon airport (only $30/day) so Riggs and I hit the road early Saturday morning and drove up Rte 1 to Homestead, then the Florida Turnpike to Orlando. On this drive I learned 2 things:
- Apparently Florida finances the state government from highway tolls. It cost something like $30 each way in tolls to drive to/from Orlando.
- Orlando has TWO airports, the huge Orlando International, where I first drove to, and the smaller Sanford Airport, where Sheila's flight landed. The two airports are about 30 miles apart. So, instead of being comfortably 1/2 hour early, I was 5 minutes late after some frantic driving between airports.

Anyhow, we finally picked up Sheila and headed back to the Keys, stopping in Key Largo for supper at the Fish House restaurant (very good), and finally dinghying out to Spray at about midnight. Too much driving in one day, but for a good cause.

Sunday we still had the car so the 3 of us drove to Key West, and walked all over, enjoying the whole scene but especially the cemetery. We also had a super dinner at Antonia's Italian restaurant on Duval Street. You would think that, since it serves so many tourists, it would be mediocre, but it was fantastic.

Monday we turned in the rent-a-car (after vacuuming out 1 million little white dog hairs, and running a couple of errands). Then we retired to Spray to relax until we went to Jeff & Karen Siegel's boat A Cappella for 'Dark & Stormys'. It was great to visit with them. Back aboard Spray we made a pasta dish and cracked open one of the fine reds that Ken had added to Spray's wine cellar.

Tuesday we started with a 7 am dinghy ride to Sombrero Beach for dog play with Riggs and the Siegel's dogs Dynah and Dylan. Riggs chased the tennis ball like crazy and ate a pound of beach sand. Then Sheila and I dropped Riggs off on Spray and walked to here for breakfast where we became what its named. Sheila ordered 'Grits and Grunts' and amazingly ate the whole thing. We then walked up Rte 1 so Sheila could hunt for the perfect pair of flip-flops, which she finally found in a K-Mart of all places. In celebration of our 31st wedding anniversary we walked to supper at the best restaurant in Marathon. It was very nice. She had the grouper and I the scallop risotto.

Wednesday started with chuck-it play at the nearby park, then a dinghy tour down Sister's Creek, to Sombrero Beach for sunbathing and a picnic lunch. Lots of sun but a cool north wind made it comfortable only if you kept low, which we did. On the ride back we toured the canal-neighborhoods, admiring the nice homes and spotting a few lounging Iguanas. Wednesday is pot-luck dinner at the marina which was fun (we brought salad from a local Deli), after which we watched a movie (Amelia) with the Siegels in A Capella's media room.

Thursday started out with relatively light winds so we decided to take a day-cruise on Spray, travelling 10 miles west to Bahia-Honda State Park, where we had a picnic lunch capped off by ice cream from the park's snack bar. It was fun to walk around the park plus the cruise there and back helped to recharge Spray's depleted house battery.

Today is errand day, with Sheila doing laundry, me on the computer, and then grocery shopping after lunch. We'll probably be here in Marathon for all of Sheila's visit (except for another short cruise or two), so stay tuned for more on the pleasures of the Florida Keys.