Across Florida Bay

Soon after we passed Marco Island we lost cell service, so I texted Chelsea via the sat texter and pulled up an updated weather report, mostly just to see that I could. The waves started out about 3-4 foot, but as we got closer to sunset they built to 5-6 feet, with an occasional 8 footer rolling thru. Heather was down below taking a nap and pretty much slept thru all of it.

We actually got the sails up since we weren't really in a hurry. I really didn't want to start crossing near the shallower banks before sunrise in the morning. Before dark we put the second reef in both the main and jib, which turned out well because we got some significant wind and a few interesting gusts during the night.

After the sun went down the waves knocked down quite a bit, and by midnight we were down to 1-2 foot, but the wind was also getting pretty weak. About midnight I turned on the engine to give us a boost. This was an interesting exercise because the crab pots didn't go away just because it was dark. We had some close calls, then about 5a there was a bang and the engine stopped dead. I was sure we had wrapped a crab pot line around the prop.

I wasn't able to immediately start the engine, I think because there was still compression in the cylinders. After about 10 minutes I was able to start the engine in neutral. In case it was a crab pot line I went first into dead slow reverse, but everything seemed fine. I put it in forward  gingerly and slowly built up the rpms and everything seemed fine again.

This was reassuring, because although the gps said we were miles away, the red lights warning of shallow areas seemed awfully close in the dark. It would have been a good time for the radar, but that was not working again. Even though the lights seemed close, they never seemed to get closer, so I decided the gps's must be right.

There was a glorious sunrise. Our first overnighter with just the two of us.

All was good until another crab pot was spotted too late to avoid. I throttled back into neutral, but the rpms just kept dropping until the engine stopped. This time I couldn't start it again.

There was very little wind, but we really didn't have much of a choice, because we were still miles and miles from Marathon. We shook out the reefs and our speed zoomed up to about three knots, kind of a fast walk. We dodged the shallow banks and eventually got near the intercoastal on the gulf side of Marathon. We called the trusty TowBoat US again because sailing under the narrow bridge gap to get to the Atlantic side or into the harbor without running aground seemed like asking too much from our current skills, and the wind was dying.

After rescuing a jet-ski they were right over and dragged our sorry butts into the harbor. We connected onto a mooring ball. After taking the dinghy to the office and checking in we had some dinner, then went back to the boat to sleep for 10-12 hours. It wasn't all pretty, but we were here.

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Naples Last (Tip of the Hat to Mr. Sunshine)

Everything was fine when we got back to the boat, just as we had left it. Damn it. Once again, none of our little boat chores were done by the boat elves in our absence.

It always takes us a day or two to really get settled once we get back to the boat, and this time was no different.

Our month at dock was up on the 2nd of April, but the weather wasn't quite ready for our departure, and neither were we. We started watching the weather obsessively, and saw our chance coming. We got some of our departure day tasks done the day before, which was a first. We turned on the equipment, turned the key, and heard nothing.

After some highly technical troubleshooting I determined that the starting battery might be the problem, since the top was bubbled up about half an inch. It seemed to have a short that you could actually hear when we turned the key. We're lucky it didn't explode. Off to West Marine to buy another battery. We seem to be doing this every couple months, but it's better than replacing them all at once because they are about $300 apiece. They were all about 6 years old when we bought the boat. Two more house bank batteries to go.

By the time this was played out and another rental car returned our weather window was almost 24 hours shorter. We had planned to spend the night at Little Shark River, about half way to Marathon across Florida Bay, but we since the weather windows coming up were a little shorter, we started reconsidering an overnighter.

We had done this before, crossing the big bend from Panama City to Tarpon Springs, but we had help. This time we'd be on our own, just the two of us. I calculated that if f we left in the early afternoon we would arrive at the first of the banks a little after sunrise. Our sleep schedules are normally offset quite a bit, and an overnighter seemed to turn that into an advantage.

On the afternoon of April 8 we left the slip and headed over to the fuel dock to top off, and pump out. After this in with the good and out with the bad process we tossed the lines from the fuel dock and went back out the pass from Naples, headed for Marathon across Florida Bay.

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Back to the Desert for a Visit

We needed to do some things back in Arizona, and managed to schedule them around a handbook meeting I wanted to attend, and some appointments Heather had. We flew back in mid-March. It was the longest we had gone without seeing Chelsea ever, so it was great to be back.

The air was noticeably drier, and allergies seemed to be more severe, especially with the cats.

The handbook meeting was in Salt Lake. It was 30° cooler in SLUT than it was in Phoenix on the day I flew out. It was great to see handbook folks again. It seemed like it had been a lot longer, especially since I had gotten absolutely nothing done since the last meeting. While I was there I managed to bang out 6 pages of text and vote on an AMS spec, so hopefully I can get back in the swing. On the last day I was there this strange substance was falling from the sky.

After returning to Mesa the task at hand was to move out of the bedroom we had moved into in January, and get everything into the garage. It was stressful but at the same time a relief to organize and purge. It all actually fit in one parking space in the garage. Soon after finishing it was back to the airport to head back to the boat. I was so flustered I forgot one of my bags, but Chelsea retrieved it and saved the day. 

Naples 3

While the wind was blowing like stink (origin?), one morning we noticed a lot of dust drifting in thru the hatches and the smell of wood smoke. We popped up into the cockpit only to choke on all the smoke which was drifting west across our location. Several fires were burning in and near the Everglades, driven rapidly by the high winds. This went on for days, although the smoke eventually drifted north of us.

At the end of the dock are a few restaurants, but then it is neighborhood for several blocks north to downtown, or east to the pier. The downtown is very nice, and apparently the kind of place you can park your convertible Rolls (or Bentley) without fear or embarrassment.

The pier is also very nice, with houses on either side, and a small shopping and restaurant area a few blocks in from the beach.

All in all, a very pleasant place to be stuck for a while. We've been working on little boat projects, reading a lot, and every week or so renting a car for errands farther afield. We're heading back to Arizona soon for some appointments, visits and meetings. Upon our return, we'll resume our trip south.

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Naples 2

The docking was so much fun we decided to stay for a second day at the slip. Although the rate was very reasonable we needed to do something different eventually, so after that we pumped out (you don't want to know) and then headed over to the mooring (permanent anchor) field, which is a steal at $10 a day. To avoid having people overstay their welcome you are limited to four days in a row, and no more than eight days a month on their moorings.

There are a number of fishing charter boats that operate from the docks. When they bring back their catch they clean the fish at the pier. The pelicans seem to be onto this.

We spent four days on a mooring, and so to stay we needed to come into a slip for at least a day. Again, we ended up staying two, and then headed back to the moorings for a maximum of four days.

Over the last several days we had been actively tracking the weather. Marco Island about 10 miles south was the last of civilization until we crossed Florida Bay and hit the Keys. It is an overnighter or a couple long days, and we wanted a weather window at least a day longer than it should take. In addition, the Keys, continuing up to Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, then all the way up past Palm Beach are very expensive places to leave a boat, which we needed to do in a few weeks. While we could make it to the Keys no problem, as several of our neighbors were doing, it didn't look good to make it all the way north before we had to leave the boat.

After days of obsessive weather watching we finally, reluctantly decided to stay put. A month at a slip here was less than a third of what it could be below Palm Beach. In addition, bad weather looked like it was going to hit in about three days. After two days at the mooring we scooted back to a slip for a month.

After three days the wind started blowing, gusting above 40 knots, and it didn't stop for days. We may not have even made it to the Keys. Even if we had, we would have been stuck there, and not having much fun, since the wind was blowing even harder down there.

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