April 10, 2014 Windy 3 Hour Cruise

We didn’t accomplish much on Wednesday.  The late night was a little hard on all of us.  We enjoyed the facilities at the marina and meals at local restaurants. 

But today, Thursday, we wanted to start making our way towards Marathon.  We would have had to leave early to make it there in one day.  And we knew there were going to be some strong winds.  So we found a place 15 miles, or about 4 hours from Key West where we could anchor for the night. 

We left the marina at 11:00am.  There were 2 larger boats beside us.  And just today, a catamaran parked along the channel across from us that we had to go through to leave.  They are much wider than a mono hull.  With the wind blowing, we knew it would be a tight maneuver to get out of our slip.  Dean and I were on the bow, and a couple other people came out of their boats to help push us off when we were too close to their boats.  The wind kept hitting our bow and Dave had a hard time turning the boat.  But we made it without any scratches on anybody’s boat. 

We traveled around the west end of Key West and to the south of the Keys to head east.  There were 2 cruise ships docked at Key West.  You really feel small sailing by them. 

We were in 15+ knot winds.  The wind was from the east, so it was on our nose.  That meant we rocked like a hobby horse for 3 hours.  That also meant we had to motor instead of sail.  Our bow was washed thoroughly.  BUT no one got sea sick. 

We pulled into Saddlebunch channel and anchored just off the channel near an island of mangroves.  We found this anchorage on our Active Captain application on our phones.  Other people that have anchored here, give us their reviews and suggestions.  It was a little hairy at times, because of how shallow it was.  We touched bottom twice.  But we were anchored by 2:00pm.

We pulled out the snorkel gear and hit the water.  This was our first snorkel adventure since we have been living on the boat.  We dove the anchor.  It was only in about 7 feet of water.  So it was fun to check that out.  We missed a 4 ft diameter coral head by about a foot.  The water was cloudy, but if you dove down to the bottom, you could see a few fish.  I saw a lobster close to our boat.  And Dean saw a turtle near our boat before we entered the water. 

After our swim, we had guacamole as an appetizer.  Then Dave made his famous shrimp boil (minus the corn).  We didn’t keep large pots on the boat, so the corn wouldn’t have fit, anyway. 

After cleaning up, we watched the sun set in a cool breeze.  Dave put out a crab trap, but no luck.  We’re going to leave it until morning.  We made it to cruiser’s midnight-9:00, and hit the bed early.  A full day in the sun and fresh air can wear you out.  And we have to leave at high tide in the morning, so we won’t hit bottom on the way out of the channel.

Apirl 8, 2014 Dean's Birthday

 Happy Birthday, Dean!  We started out the day with breakfast at Pepe’s.  This is something I have always wanted to do.  But usually we stay where our breakfast is included, or we are so far away from there, that it’s hard to get there for breakfast.  It was only about 3 blocks from our boat.  Pepe’s in over 100 years old and is probably the oldest restaurant on the island.  I had a mimosa with fresh squeezed orange juice.  Their home made bread of the day was key lime.  It was a sweet bread with lime zest, awesome.  Breakfast was great.  They are open for lunch and dinner.  But I had always heard about their breakfasts. 

We had started our laundry before breakfast, so Dave headed back after eating to check on it.  Dean and I went to the new West Marine store that was between Pepe’s and our marina.  Didn’t find what I wanted.  So I went back to relieve Dave from the laundry.  Dean went exploring/shopping.  My priorities sure have changed.  In my younger years,  after having mimosas with breakfast, I would have gone bar hopping afterwards.  But instead, I was doing laundry.  But the best part is that it was air conditioned and FREE.

Dean and I went for a swim.  The pool was nicely warm.  The lounging chairs were all taken.  And if you sit at the tables with umbrellas, there is a $50 minimum order required.  So, we swam and headed to the showers afterwards.   Again, Dave was doing some project on the boat, but didn’t need any help. 

I had heard from some other sailors about a guy that sings at the Bull Bar on Duvall Street in the afternoons that was entertaining.  I found out he was singing today, but not tomorrow.  So Dean and I headed there about 3:30 and heard him for an hour, Yankee Jack.  The walls have murals of different people who made Key West famous.   He sang a song called “On the Walls of the Bull”.  He has a youtube video of the song and sometimes the lips in the murals move and sing along. 

By 5:00, Dave was done with his projects and wanted to meet us at an Irish Pub near our marina, Finnegan’s Wake.  We had been there once before with Pete.  And now the wind and rain were hitting us. 

We settled in, ordered beers and their Irish whiskey special of the day, Tillamore Dew.  We decided to eat dinner there.  Dave had the Irish breakfast that they serve all day.  Dean had the Shepherd’s Pie.  And I had the pot roast.  Mmmm, Mmmm.

Yankee Jack from the Bull showed up for their trivia night.  Dean does trivia at a bar in Minneapolis.  He asked us to join his team.  His other team mates drive mopeds and didn't show since it was raining.  It was fun, but we didn’t win any prizes.   

The evening turned into quite the celebration.  Dave walked me back to the boat before the guys were ready to return.  Is that another sign of old age? 

Apirl 7, 2014 Conch Harbor Marina, Key West

 Before leaving the slip, Dave moved our dinghy onto the deck.  We will probably back into our slip, so the dinghy could be in the way if it’s on the davits.  Raising the anchor took longer than usual.  The chain seemed to have laid across itself several times. 

On Saturday, I called the Conch Harbor Marina to make a reservation for Monday and Tuesday night.  I believe there are 4 marinas in Key West Bight which is right in the Old Town section of Key West.  The cheapest is the city marina.  It sounded like you had homeless people hanging around your showers trying to get inside to use them.  So we chose a private marina.  It is spendy, but much less than a room in Key West.  I believe they said it was $3.86 per foot.  So that will be about $166 per night.  I don’t think we have paid more than $2.00 per foot so far.  That included free electricity (some marinas charge that separate), water, and pump out at our slip.  Their shower facility was very clean and roomy.  Their laundromat is FREE.  That is unheard of. 

We also had access to the swimming pool at the end of our dock, Dante’s.  There are two outdoor bars and 2 restaurants.  Plus you are walking distance to unlimited restaurants, bars and shopping.  The funny thing was that the  Ft Myers to Key West shuttle docked next to this marina.  We saw that boat leave and return to Ft Myers for 3 months.  And here we are next to it in Key West. 

Every time we have been to Key West since we started sailing, we have said that we wanted to sail in here someday and stay in Key West Bight (this bay).  So it was pretty cool to sail in here today at about 1:00.  It’s always a little nerve racking to pull into a new marina.  And the wind was about 15 knots.  We were able to pull up the the fuel dock easily.  Then we scoped out where our slip would be, which side we would tie to the dock, and how much room we would have to take the stern into the slip first. 

Dave brought her in like a pro, with the help of me, Dean, and Jimmy, their dock hand.  We had a lazy day checking out the facilities.  Dave did a few odd jobs.  Then we went to the Turtle Kraal for dinner, just 2 restaurants down the dock from our marina.  Excellent meals.  Then we went to Schooner’s Wharf Bar a little further down the dock.   This is a great outdoors bar with live music.  We usually make it here every time we are in Key West.  There were 2 guys singing, playing steel drums and guitars.  When we arrived, they were singing a spoof on Margaritaville called Minnesotaville.  They were using accents and talked about snow, mosquitoes, hunting, and fishing, eating hot dish, etc.  It was great.  They played some fun music.  One of the guys was from North Dakota.  We had a few beers and even danced on a rocky, uneven floor.  Sure was nice to be able to just walk down the dock to our boat to go home.

 Ft Myers to Key West Ferry from our cockpit

April 5 & 6, 2014 Passage to Key West

We are finally leaving Ft Myers Beach after about 3 months.  We had discussed going directly to the Dry Tortugas from Ft Myers Beach (70 miles west of Key West).  But the weather was not in our favor.  Monday night through Wednesday were going to be pretty windy.  We would have made it there, but then we would have had to just bob around in our boat for a couple days.  So we decided to go straight to Key West across the Gulf of Mexico.  It was about 145 miles.  And we go between 5 & 6 knots, so we thought it would take us 24 hours.

Saturday morning, we prepared the boat for the passage.  We took the dinghy motor off of the dinghy and placed it on a motor mount on our stern.  We took all our life jackets, etc, out of the dinghy and we hung it on the davits (hangs sideways off the back of the boat).  We stored anything that could fall off of a table or counter when the boat heels.  Then we “dogged the hatches” (locked the windows closed) and closed all the through hulls.  Every sink, shower drain, and toilet have fittings to close the pipes.  That keeps water from coming into the boat.  So anytime you use the head or the kitchen sink while you are under way, you have to open and close them.  I cut up meat and cheese and cantaloupe for ease of eating while underway.  And we all had our “comfort foods” to snack on.  We didn’t plan to cook anything while under way.  Dean had not been out on the open water.  And I was sick on our last passage.  So we were going to eat light.

We left the mooring ball at 12:25pm.  We went to the DYS Marina to get fuel and water and pump out our heads.  So it was 1:15 when we left Ft Myers Beach.  We enjoyed our stay here, but were both ready to move on. 

It was a beautiful day with only 1-2 foot swells.  We set a course for Key West and used the autopilot.  The biggest concern was dodging the crab pots.  They are marked with a floating ball about the size of a soccer ball.  Most are white, many are black, but we saw a few red or orange ones, too.  At 3:00 we started taking our 2 our watch rotations.  Dean went first.  Since we were all awake anyway, it gave us a chance to show him what he needed to do.  He caught on right away and it was great to have 3 people in the watch rotation.  That way you had 4 hours off before your next shift.  We did 3 hour shifts before, but you do get sleepy towards the end.  We figured there were more obstacles here to watch for, so 2 hours would keep us fresh. 

It was a beautiful starry night.  I made sure to drink plenty of water.  And I didn’t eat anything spicy.  When I did eat, I ate outside.  Dave and I even decided to sleep outside in the cockpit (as best you can).  I think all these things helped avoid sea sickness. 

We put up the main sail right away and left it up the entire trip.  We put up the gennaker sail right away, but brought it down about half way through the passage because the wind shifted closer to the nose of the bow.  And we motored the entire trip.  Our fuel gauge indicator was stuck, so it registered full for the entire trip.  From past usage, we figured we would have plenty of fuel.  And we carry 4 -5 gallon jerry cans of fuel, too. 

About 7:00pm we saw the Ft Myers to Key West ferry.  So we decided to move our path to match theirs.  We figured there must not be any crab pots in her route.  Wrong, we still saw them and had to dodge them, though they were getting fewer and farther between.  The sun set about 7:40 and you can’t see them any longer.  We would occasionally see them once we passed them.  We just decided if the prop catches one, we’ll put the motor into neutral and deal with it.  Which means Dave would have to go overboard to untangle the prop.  And hopefully there wouldn’t be any permanent damage.  We didn't have any problems.   

Before my 5:00 am shift, the wind was picking up.  It has been about 8 knots up until now.  And it was closer to 10-12 knots now.  So I brought out some of the side windows to block the wind on the port side and closed the windows in the dodger.  That helped.  Dean is always so quick to offer help with things, but he seemed pre occupied with the radar.  I thought he was just checking out the different functions.  So when I finished the windows and went to take over for him, I realized he was handling the boat manually and trying to avoid some ship wrecks.  I guess he had said that to me earlier, but I didn’t hear him with the wind blowing.  There is a boat symbol on the radar to show the position of our boat.  It doesn’t change size when you zoom in our out.  So to Dean, it looked like we were right over the wrecks.  They are charted, but you don’t know what it is.  So it’s best not to go over them.  I thought I heard Dave say that he picked a course that looked like we would avoid the wrecks.  So I zoomed in and it was much easier for Dean then to see how much space we really had.  We were impressed that he handled it so well when he really hadn’t had to steer this boat before.  When I took over, I was all over the place trying to get us back on track.  I finally had to just put on the autopilot heading south parallel to our track and eventually got us back on our track by tweaking the autopilot 10 degrees at a time. 

By now the winds had picked up to 15 knots with some 17 knot gusts.  We still had our main sail out, so we were getting closer to 7 knots.  We weren’t in a hurry to get to Key West, so I backed off the engine to save fuel and still went about 6 knots.  The swells were 4-6 feet now.  Dean was trying to sleep in his berth.  He has a double berth, but we had totes stored on part of his bed.  So his bed is comparable to a single bed in a straight in slot.  He ended up bouncing off the wall and totes and didn’t get  much sleep.   BUT, he didn’t get sick!  About 6:00 am, I was able to see the red light at the harbor of Key West even though it was about 15 miles away.   There wasn’t much boat traffic all night.

Dave’s shift started at 7:00am, but I stayed up to watch the sunrise shortly after 7:00.  I had some great pre dawn and sunrise pictures.  I ended up staying up with Dave.  It was so beautiful and peaceful sitting together on the boat.  About 8:00 I could see land!  Dave’s shift should have ended at 9:00, but we were getting close to Key West.  He continued so he could bring the boat into Key West.  It’s best to have everyone help to keep an eye on traffic and channel markers.  You could see a cruise ship docked on the north side of Key West from a long ways off.  It was so much taller than the surrounding trees and buildings.

We used our Active Captain application to find a good place to anchor for the night.  The time from entering the northwest channel inlet to setting the anchor was about 90 minutes. Entire trip took 22 hours.  We anchored on the north side of Key West and on the east side of Fleming Island.  We were on the west side of Salt Pond Key near Sigsbee Park, which looked like a trailer park. 

We opened the hatches and through hulls, had a bowl of cereal and went to bed.  Around 4:00 or 5:00pm, we finally had our shrimp ceviche and a couple cocktails.  It was great.  I think letting it sit a couple days really improved the flavors.  We called it a night early because we still felt like we needed to catch up on our sleep.

April 4, 2014 Water Maker completed!!

The never ending story of the water maker is finally finished.  It all began back in the fall of 2013.  IF we were to place a water maker on our boat, Dave wanted to research which one would  be the best for our boat.  His main criteria were ease of use, maintenance involved, filters that can be bought at local hardware stores, modular-meaning it didn't have to be installed all in one place.  He found one made by sailors who are engineers, so they knew what worked well in a boat and were great at answering questions.  It's called Cruise RO for reverse osmosis.

We decided on the system while we were still in Mobile, but we didn’t order it until after January 1 and had it sent to the Killion’s house in Cape Coral.  It arrived in 4 boxes by late January.  I was in South Dakota at the time, so Dave tore apart the boat to decide where to put all the parts.  He thought he was going to have to put the  controls near the floor under our dinette table.  But he talked to the company about it and the said they could send longer hoses (we would need 2 different ones).

There are 2 low pressure filters to remove debris, 2 controls, 2 high pressure filters to removes salt, and several hoses.  The  hoses are color coded.  Green-not drinkable yet or raw water, red-high saline content and will go overboard, blue is drinkable.  The water can be tested before it goes into our tank for contaminants.  The EPA standard is under 500.  But we want it closer to 200 or less. 

We placed the controls in our galley.  That way we will be able to test water over our sink.  There is a pickling solution to use if you will be leaving your boat for awhile and won't be using the system.  You use a 5 gallon bucket to mix solution and run it through the system.  So we thought being near the sink in the galley would make that easier. 

Early February, Dave started cutting holes in the wall in the galley, into the engine compartment, for the control panel.  I may have said this before, but it’s always scary when you have to cut holes into your boat.  Al least these were internal.  I watched from the other side to be sure he didn’t puncture anything. 

Under our starboard settee, we have a panel that had our fresh water tank pressure pumps and valves and 2 bilge pumps.  Dave moved them to make space for the water maker-low pressure DC pump and high pressure AC large pump (this heats up, so it needed to have air access for the fan).  Then he had to cut new hoses for the things he moved, because now they were farther from their source.  And he had to run DC and AC power from the port side of the boat through the bilge to the starboard side.

Then he had to wait for new, longer hoses.  On Friday, Feb 21 one hose arrived at the Killions.  The other was delayed because of bad weather up north.  Boy, what an inconvenience that snow up north was for us :)  On February 27, he ran the new green hose.  He had to take up floor boards to connect the hose, and then realized that they sent the wrong size-3/8 inch instead on 1/2.  So Dave had to call the company and ask them to send a different hose.  They were going to rush this hose and and check on the status of the other hose we were still waiting for. 

We didn’t get the hoses until we saw the Killions again on March 21.  The canvas work was done on March 24, so we could leave.  But Dave’s brother decided to meet us here, so this gave Dave more time to finish the water maker while we were still here.  So Dave had to tear the boat apart again to run the hoses.  On April 1, he finally tried it for the first time.  He had to chase down a few leaks. 

After the leaks were contained, he ran it and it was pulling fresh water out of our tank instead of sea water.  He got back to it on Thursday while Dean and I went shopping.  He worked through several scenarios with calling back and forth to the company.  On Friday, I had to pick up some more parts for him.  He had to remove the panel and take a picture of the valving assembly to send to the company.  While he was waiting for them to return a call, he took apart the valving assembly panel and figured out the problem himself.  Our panel was put together wrong.  By mid afternoon Friday, we had water!

April 3 & 4. 2014 Shopping and final projects

Before we left Ft Myers Beach, I wanted a few more things from the grocery store.  Dave continued to work on the water maker-almost done.  So Dean and I walked about a mile to the grocery store and did some tourist shopping along the way.  We picked up our groceries and took the trolley back to the dinghy. 

On our way back to the boat in our dinghy, we saw something making small splashes on the surface of the water, so we went to check it out. We saw about 6 of them on our way back.  We weren’t sure at first what they were, so we kept circling one trying to get a picture.  By then we had the attention of the boat next to us.  So we had to show them the picture.  We decided it was a cuttlefish.  They are in the squid family.  Pretty cool. Dean later found a picture of a sea hare that looked more like this, so not sure.   Cheryl, what do you think?  (my diving queen)

Then we had a great conversation with the neighbors.  They had just returned from the Bahamas and gave us some great information.  They have been cruising for 18 months.  But they had to learn how to sail and everything about buying a boat before they could move aboard a boat.  I’m glad we had about 15 years of experience behind us.  While talking to our neighbors, we had a beautiful sunset.

That evening we ate at the Parrot Key restaurant in Salty Sam’s marina.  Wonderful meals.

Friday morning, Dean and I went to the Farmer’s Market right by our dinghy dock.  I am going to miss getting my fresh fruits and vegetables there weekly.  Then we picked up fresh Gulf shrimp at the company right by the shrimp boats, TRICO.  We invited the Killions to  join us for a shrimp dinner on the boat, our last chance to see them before we leave. 

Dean and I made shrimp ceviche in the cockpit, while Dave FINISHED connecting the water maker. Then Dean and I scrubbed the deck.  He even got a blister!  And Dave used our new hookah system to dive the hull and clean the barnacles and muck off the hull.  The boat will move faster, the prop spins better, etc. 

The hookah system has a compressor that uses our generator for power.  It has 2 hoses that are 160 feet in length.  They have regulators similar to scuba diving.  Besides using it to clean the hull, we can also use it for diving near our boat, spear fishing, checking the anchor if we are close enough, or doing repairs (like getting a crab pot line out of our prop).  

By about 4:00, we knew we weren't going to have time to prepare dinner for the Killions.  So we all met at Doc Ford’s restaurant about 7:00pm for one more good-bye.  We had to take Devyn out in the dinghy to see the cuttlefish.  She wants to be a marine biologist.

jApril 2, 2014 Full Day of Guests

We were fortunate to be able to connect with another relative of mine vacationing in Ft Myers Beach.  Kimberly Kindle Nachreiner was here with her husband, Kevin, and 2 boys, Konner and Karson.  Kimberly’s mother, Linda Schaefer Kindle, and I are first cousins and we all grew up in SD. 

We picked them up at the dock across the street from their hotel, the Pink Shell.  Their hotel is on the beach side of the island.  But right across the street is the bay side.  First thing Dave did was have the boys place the 7 cockpit cushions in the right place, like a puzzle.  His mind is still that of a little boy.  Great day of getting everyone involved with sailing the boat and enjoying the ride.  Of course the 5 year old wanted to know “where are we going, what are we going to see, when can we go back to the beach, etc”.  So cute!

After sailing, we took a dinghy ride to a restaurant on the next island inland, San Carlos Island.  We were able to circle the island and bring them right back to their hotel on the bay side.  It was really fun to connect with family and share our boat with them.

SAME DAY-Dave’s brother, Dean, from Minneapolis arrived about 5:00.  He had vacation time in April, so we decided to stay in Ft Myers Beach for him to join us.  Once we leave here, we can’t predict where we will be and when.  So joining us here kept us in Ft Myers Beach about a week longer.  He will fly out of Miami on April 15. 

Dean took a taxi to Bonita Bills, where we picked him up by dinghy and enjoyed a “Welcome to the islands” beer or two.  After getting him settled on the boat, we went to our favorite restaurant for dinner, Nervous Nellies.  THEN, they had to rearrange our garage (oh, I mean aft cabin) into a guest room.  Didn’t quite get to that before he arrived.  I stayed out of the way :)