Key West, Feb. 2012 The view from Duval Street



Hemingway's House, Key West

 

Congenital Restlessness: Feb. 8-20, 2012

Sometimes one wonders how others manage down time as we never seem to have any. Earnest Hemingway said he suffered from Congenital restlessness (Hemingway's Boat, 2012) and I think Rick has it, too. He does not handle sitting still to any degree so when the next few days looked "iffy", Rick moved to plan B and rented a car for a road trip, not a sail, down to the Keys and Key West! Who could complain. Our weather by road was fabulous each day, rain and winds happened at night, hence except for a cold spell on Sunday Feb. 12, we had a great trip. I hesitate to call it cold here, though 60 degrees was cold for us; we know it was frigid further north.

Our goal was to see as many marina possibilities as we could for future reference, as in next winter, and to see our NJ friends Bill and Laurel at the start of their winter vacation in Key Largo. In all we "did as the Romans do" in each hamlet and key, including Key West. We stayed at the La Concha in downtown Key West because we could walk everywhere. We viewed one sunset in the crowds at Mallory square, but availed ourselves of the hotel rooftop a second night for a different feel and crowd of twenty vs 2,000!

We spent our days touring Hemingway's house and walking to catchy eateries, tourist traps, and shops. Yes, we road the Conch Train and revisited the architecture and history of this last town in the continental US. In all, we laughed a lot and walked even more. By Monday we were happy to get back in the car to meander back up through Marathon, Islamarada, and Key Largo. We ran into friends on the dock at the Marathon mooring field and when we all returned to Coconut Grove, we had dinner together before they left for the the southern islands. Bill and Laurel served us lunch in Key Largo, shared a round of hugs and sent us our way "home." We confessed to exhaustion once back on the boat and happily accepted a day of rest and old Bogart movies in the spirit of the Keys. We accomplished what we wanted to do or see and we laughed a lot, who could ask for more.

You don't think this was enough activity for Rick do you? On Valentine's Day we ate at the Boater's Grill in No Name Harbor. (I didn't understand the Cuban love songs being played but it was fun.) Wednesday Feb. 15 we toured Vizcaya in Miami. This is a county owned house/museum two miles from the marina, and I errored big time in not bringing my camera. While photography was not allowed inside the home, the gardens and view of Biscayne Bay were breathtaking and the lighting was perfect. Vizcaya was a 180 acre winter estate built in 1914-15 by James Deering, a vice president at International Harvester. Rick and I are in awe that so many men of the day thought they were really "kings" and spent their wealth on these homes. This mansion includes rooms and ceilings, art and fireplaces Deering bought in Europe and moved here, so it became a monument to all things Renaissance and grand. Today, local children tour the building as part of their education in history and art.

Thursday Feb. 16 was the first day of the Miami Boat show. We had relinquished the car by then so we took a cab to the first of three sights around town for the show. In general, we were interested in cruising seminars but we did find some new technology to peak our interest in the vendor tents. Paul and Lynn Erb were there from Yachta Lettering, always great to see them.

You didn't think that was enough to slow Rick down, did you? Saturday Feb. 17 was the opening day of the Coconut Grove Art Festival, billed as the largest venue in the country. The heat was a record 87 degrees and the crowd was estimated at 120,000 over three days. We can attest to the quality of the artists and size of the crowds. One had to go: the 1 1/2 mile long event blocked off the marina and disconnected us from town. We bought nothing but enjoyed the photo shoot.

Next, a short trip back to Boca and Elliot Keys, then that weather window. Time to stop dreaming and sail to the Bahamas.

Waiting for a Weather Window

Rick always says it's about the journey, not the destination. So . .  here we are in the Miami area, waiting for a weather window to make our crossing to the Bahamas. Anticipating about a month of wind we didn't want, we have hung around the Miami area, taking a mooring at Dinner Key with plans to make short trips from here, up and down the Keys.

Catch of the day from the back door
served with red bans and rice, planatains, and pie at the Sailor's Grill in No Name Harbor!

Cape Florida Light

In the middle of the inlet, these homes will not 
be replaced when when a storm finally wins.

Our first venture out onto Biscayne Bay was to Elliot Key via No Name Harbour and the houses on stilts, out to the Lighthouse. There is little in No Name Harbour except a great hurricane hole in which you can wait for a weather window with other cruisers. Run by the National Park service, it is a no frills service but you can get a great meal at the Cuban Fish Restaurant there. When you leave the harbor, hug the shore line out to the lighthouse.

No one was home.

All structures on Boca Chita key are made of fossil
embedded limestone mined in Florida.

Once we crossed the bay and headed to Elliot Key we encountered a surprise we were not prepared for: signs of civilization at Boca Chita Key! This scant half mile island was purchased by Mark Honeywell, (thermostats and heating,) in the 1930s for the purpose of entertaining his monied friends who wintered in Florida. He developed it with a dredged harbour, buildings, pool, ornamental lighthouse, picnic pavilion, and an elephant for parties. Before he could build his mansion, his wife succumbed to injuries she sustained on the island. He later donated the island to the National Park Service who maintains it for dockage, snorkeling and lighthouse tours (no other amenities are available, bring your own water and power.)  Rick was able to fly fish one evening and he's eager to get back there. 

Promise in the harbor at Boca Chita Key.


We don't travel with a schedule anymore and it's a good thing. Our generator failed again so we left Boca Chita and returned to Dinner Key, this time in the marina with electric, for our trip home and later, generator repairs. We will ride out a week of rain threats here and move down to the Keys with the next weather window. In the meantime, we are enjoying art deco Coconut Grove, the dock super Bowl Party (game to be projected on a sail) and watching that tan weather girl with the perfect weather smile hold our fate!

Home to Detroit

Janet Lee Hohendorf   May 5, 1957 - January 20, 2012

Boat Maintenance in Exotic Places: January 13, 2012

Many of you have worried about where we went- nowhere and everywhere would be our best response. And true to the cruising life, we have experienced the need for boat maintenance but we can’t complain about the locations.

We went into Soveral Harbor in Palm Beach Gardens for a scheduled repair of our windless “up” button. Without it, anchoring was a chore.That week we had two issues with our air conditioning, so being the “luxury cruisers” as folks tease us, we also had that repaired.  Lucky us, it was Christmas week so our stay was full of sun, the beach, church on the 25^th, good food and a chance to provision at Carmines, right in our harbor. A week of good weather and a rented car and we were ready for West Palm, a short hop to a different marina and New Years Eve. We enjoyed the options here including fireworks at midnight followed by a trip across the bridge to the Breakers. We did ride out a northern front for two days before moving to Boca Rotan Lake and the nicest anchorage we’ve had in a while. It was great to test out all our equipment.  

Rick is fastidious about his boat maintenance; we had planned a haul out for just before the Bahamas but we could hear a clinking sound when under sail with the engine off. We have listened to tales of repairs from experienced sailors and voted to have the boat hauled out at Crackerboy Boat Yard in Palm Beach. The seasoned sailors were right; the yard knew what they were doing. We had the cutless bearing and zincs replaced and the bottom washed in ninety minutes and we were on to Ft. Lauderdale for two days, playing tourists on the water taxi and crossing the road to the beach to read on the sand for a day.

We have heard sailing friends say they wouldn’t “do” the ICW in Florida because of all the bridges, we say it has been a lot of fun, the scene changes daily so we love it. We did make the short run on the outside from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami Beach because there is a 56’ fixed bridge we can’t outsmart with tides, the ocean is the only way to do it. Winds built from the east so we had a slight rock and not as good a sail as we had hoped for. Great news, the boat is silent as she should be under sail, that’s all that mattered about that trip. We found Ft. Lauderdale interesting, but we wouldn’t go to Miami Beach Marina again as it was rocky 24/7 with heavy traffic.  By design, we have taken a mooring now in Dinner Key (Biscayne Bay, an hour down the coast) for a week. Here we are reading, sewing, sleeping and chatting with sailors as we come and go to Coconut Grove. We had not planned to be this far south so we are finalizing an itinerary and soaking up local knowledge before we take on Hawk Channel and the Keys.

Many of you have asked about our photos. We have taken enough to fill a hard drive (not really) but we are selective about taking shots and what is a keeper. We weigh lighting against composition most of the time, some days we just enjoy the view. 

Hillsborough Inlet Light, FL

Art Deco Light House
Miami Beach Marina at the Inlet
The South Beach Look! 

Welcome to the Breakers for Brunch

Only in Miami

Running with Dolphins – 12/20/2011

It starts with the sound of a large splash next to the side of the boat.  We’ve run "the ditch" for almost a thousand miles.  Across bays, up and down rivers, but mostly it’s tracking from buoy to buoy down a narrow dredged channel through vast expanses of shallow water and marsh. Red to green,  green to red,  ICW greens to port, ICW reds to starboard.  We listen to the monotone drone of our 54 hp Yanmar diesel, typically at 2600 rpm pushing us forward at 7+ knots, jumping to 9’s or dropping to 6’s with the ebb and flow of the ever changing tides and winds.  I usually keep the Raymarine remote control for the auto pilot in my right hand.  It beeps once when  I add one degree to port then a few minutes later two beeps and two degrees to starboard constantly fine tuning our course so we don’t run abruptly out of the channel.

The trip has been truly beyond my imagination, an ever changing panorama of nature in an almost undisturbed state.  Birds, birds and more birds; focks overhead, on sand bars, at the edges of the marshes or in the trees.  Osprey have reappeared as they’ve migrated South with us, clouds of turns and gulls, herons of several colors and ibis.  Cormorants dry their wings in the sun and most every buoy has a resident.

Every day is planned in anticipation of the days tides. Can we squeeze our 64 foot mast under a 64 foot bridge?  Will we have enough water for our 5 foot draft during a stretch at low water of only three feet?

But the dolphin sightings and visits are most treasured every day. Serendipity! A most pleasant surprise just when the day may begin to drag on during the passage of another 20 or maybe even 50 miles.  At high tides we see their fins cruising at the edges of the marshes, chasing shrimp and minnows in and out of the grasses.  We’ve seen them trap schools of bait in small cuts in the banks.  Every day we see them ahead or behind, foraging in almost every inlet and creek, then slow or pause when we see them frolicking dead ahead.

The splash, followed by the sound of another splash and then a third or fourth, in a cadence, a signal it’s time to look for them.  Through the brown muddy or tea stained water, first the 6 to 9 foot shadows begin to appear beneath the surface, then a fin appears, or maybe a blow and then a magnificent form crashes up and out of the stern wave and leaps just a foot or so next to the boat, surfing as it is, into complete view.  Is it a loaner? A large male? Probably not. They usually travel in a pack as they may be called. Then two or three or more appear, we watch for a youngster in between.  Are there distinguishing marks?  Too often we see the marks of a propeller, or cuts in a dorsal fin. Taking turns for the lead, they follow along for 3, 5, sometimes 10 minutes or more. We can see them eyeing us too, looking us over just the same as we are watching them.  So much intelligence they display. Are they teaching the little one to surf for the first time? If only we could communicate with them? They seem to play like young kids on a play ground at recess in the spring: running, jumping, frolicking in the sunshine.

Then just as mysteriously as they appear, they are gone.  Have we motored through their territory, has the water become too shallow?  Am I still in the channel?  I’d better look for the next marker as I’ve been distracted. Yesterday we were even treated to a salute after the ride, a young dolphin jumped clear out of the water a few yards off to the side and then they were gone.

They don’t return, but we know we’ll see more dolphins. They’re the ones that choose if or when to hitch a ride from a passing boat.

Oh. we've just discovered Manatees in the marinas,  but I'll cover them when I get a chance to blog again. Best wishes to all for the holidays.  Retirement is great.  Never a dull moment.

Rick

Help! We're trapped in Daytona Beach and we can't get out. Dec. 16, 2011 ICW Mile Marker 878

Sometime the best plans are not to be. On Friday, Dec. 9 we happily tied up at Halifax Municipal Marina, Daytona Beach, FL., safe, out of the wind and rain headed our way. We did all the tourist things, sans the beach as it would have required another cab ride like groceries did. We passed the wet weekend doing small projects and taking in a a movie at the “Cinamatique.” There we reconnected with the couple from Timaru and saw Margin Call (highly recommend it) in a very intimate/dinner theater. On Sunday we walked to a Chart House for Susan’s birthday dinner, a great meal despite the rain. Laundry done, well rested, we made plans for a Monday departure.

Plan we did, sail we didn’t. The rains in our county were record breaking, filling the Halifax River with run off. Winds continued (it was a week of wind by now) at 25 Knots from the N, NNE and we had an astronomical high tide, though tide here has about a foot range. The Port Orange Fixed Bridge was 1.6 miles south, almost in sight from the moment we left the marina inlet. Are you ahead of me on this one? When we approached the bridge at dead low, the bridge board read 63 foot and we had to abort our transit.

Undaunted, we accepted the situation and returned to the marina, leaving the departure date open until tide and winds subsided; that, good friends, was not until this morning. Rick spent the week marking the cement pilings at different tide stages so we could track reality against the guides. We could see by the local weather reports that this was not an error on our part but truly a combination of runoff, winds and tide that pushed water into our passage and prevented us from moving south. Our new calculations were confirmed by “locals” for a Friday, Dec. 16 departure at 6:30 AM.

But wait, the adventure continues. Rick woke at 5:15 today and by 6 we were heading down the channel from the marina to the ICW channel, with me on the bow with a flood light to read the markers. When it was time to make our turn, I came on board and in that split second, we were aground. Mind you it was still dark, Tow Boat US didn’t answer until we resorted to a land line, but they did responds and a tow boat had us off our 2.8’ lump by 9:30. Boat US Membership: Priceless! We lost three hours but now it was light and we made our bridge, smooth sailing ahead. The boat is fine, I have my confidence back, but Rick has a bruised ego. We have traveled over 1,000 miles with no incidents and were feeling quite immune. Note to self- plans are only plans.

Since we had days to fill, we took a cab to the famous Daytona Beach. It is amazing to me that one can just drive out on the beach here which is what precipitated the auto and motor cycle races early in the 19^th century. When air flight shared the same beach at the same time, things got really busy, especially for bathers and tourists. Later an airport and the Daytona Speedway would elevate the risks at the beach; tourists continue to flock here in season for all the combined attractions the area offers. Henry Flagler and his partner John Rockefeller developed this area as well. Like most of America devastated by malls and urban sprawl, Daytona Beach today has little focus, though the art deco restoration in a 10 block stretch is admirable and is really busy in season. We took in a second film (The Way, written and directed by Emilio Estevez. Fabulous!) The beach area has also experienced restoration and preservation, but it doesn’t compare to the Jersey Shore. On the day we walked the beach, we were shocked, then impressed, that this huge expanse of beach was covered in a foot of seaweed that will not be recovered by man. In a beach restoration effort, it is the law that you cannot clean the beach any longer, nature rules. We like that idea, even if conditions were not ideal for us that day.

You can see Cape Canaveral from the waterway, the shuttle hanger soaring in the sky. We are sad there are no launches for us to see. Today we are on our way to Titusville for the night, then off again early in the morning, trying to get to the Palm Beach or Miami area before Christmas.