We've been in Marathon about a week now. Christmas has just passed and the weather has been phenomenal!
But...
The first Norther went through last night and it's cooler now. It was a weak one so the daytime temps have dropped from the high 70s to high 60s. Until today the nighttime low temps have been about 75. Awesome. BTW: a Norther is a winter cold front in Florida. Or the Bahamas.
The Bahamas is our next, but at this point only hoped for, destination. We are planning but know a weather window for crossing the Gulf Stream may never happen safely. Should happen but there have been years one didn't. The current weather pattern had strong easterly winds but this first norther may change all that and set up a winter weather cycle that gives some crossing windows nearly weekly. We'll see.
Heather arrived here the day after we did (20th) and is staying until the day before New Year's Eve. Unlike last year she caught great weather while here. We have been doing a lot of biking and dinghying looking for wildlife. Interesting creatures sighted, including 5 foot lizards. The other wildlife sighted was in Key West. We took the bus down to there for shopping and weirdo watching. Not many weirdos this year but we did see a few 6 foot Tarpon waiting for a tourist to fall into the water.
So far the only breakdown is the failure again of our generator. It's been producing electricity, heating and cooling since October but has suddenly quit putting out enough electrons. Grrrrrr
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
In the Keys
We're in the Florida Keys again. Just barely.
At Dinner Key, across from Key Biscayne, just down from Virginia Key. Keys, right? Welllll, more like Miami.
In the Florida Keys technically, maybe. But really at a real big city. In fact as I write this we're in a hotel in the city. Not even on the boat. We left the boat on a mooring and came to a Hampton Inn to watch the UConn women's basketball team play Baylor.
This feels weird. Leaving the boat, and Cleo, and going to a hotel!
How did we get here?
We stayed about three weeks in Fort Pierce visiting with Mike and Carol and resupplying the boat. Oh, and Carol went off to work for a week and a half to get us the money that keeps me in the lifestyle I've become accustomed to.
Thanks M & C Guay for the use of the car, the meals and the friendship!
While in Ft Pierce we saw our first manatee and the first blue-bottle of the season, too. Blue-bottle? Portuguese Man-of-War jellyfish. Potentially fatal if encounterd while swimming. Especially if as big as this one.
Anchored off the City Marina wasn't too comfortable most days, this season. Very persistant easterly winds made for a little discomfort. Not terrible, just a little uncomfortable. Those winds also meant we were not going outside to sail from there south. Motored from Ft Pierce to Lake Worth (Palm Beach) on the ICW. An hour of bridge delays make for a long day. From there we went offshore to Fort Lauderdale. The wind had died and the seas were down but the current was against us. We had to get very close to shore to get any speed over the ground. The last hour gave us some sailing wind and a little bit of favorable current. We anchored in Lake Sylvia, Ft Lauderdale. A very nice spot but a little crowded this time.
From Lauderdale we have to go outside to Miami. They got away with building a 56 foot bridge over the ICW in Miami instead of the required 65 feet. We need every inch of those 65 feet. The conditions were forecast to be pretty rough but we started early when there was no wind. When the breeze and seas came up they were behind us and we had no troubles. 8.8 knots was our highest clocked speed over the ground. We only realized how rough it was when we turned for the Miami channel and the seas were on our beam. 20 minutes. Not hard to take. Government Cut, Dodge Island bypass and back to the ICW and starting down the Keys. Again, just barely.
Tomorrow we head for Marathon. Probably stopping around Key Largo the first night and trying for Marathon the second. Weather permitting. Forecast again is not too great. Easterlies. If they keep up, the Bahamas passage may be in jeopardy. Of course, patterns can change in the month or so until our hoped for departure.
Photo from last years visit to the Turtle Hospital in Marathon.
At Dinner Key, across from Key Biscayne, just down from Virginia Key. Keys, right? Welllll, more like Miami.
In the Florida Keys technically, maybe. But really at a real big city. In fact as I write this we're in a hotel in the city. Not even on the boat. We left the boat on a mooring and came to a Hampton Inn to watch the UConn women's basketball team play Baylor.
This feels weird. Leaving the boat, and Cleo, and going to a hotel!
How did we get here?
We stayed about three weeks in Fort Pierce visiting with Mike and Carol and resupplying the boat. Oh, and Carol went off to work for a week and a half to get us the money that keeps me in the lifestyle I've become accustomed to.
Thanks M & C Guay for the use of the car, the meals and the friendship!
While in Ft Pierce we saw our first manatee and the first blue-bottle of the season, too. Blue-bottle? Portuguese Man-of-War jellyfish. Potentially fatal if encounterd while swimming. Especially if as big as this one.
Anchored off the City Marina wasn't too comfortable most days, this season. Very persistant easterly winds made for a little discomfort. Not terrible, just a little uncomfortable. Those winds also meant we were not going outside to sail from there south. Motored from Ft Pierce to Lake Worth (Palm Beach) on the ICW. An hour of bridge delays make for a long day. From there we went offshore to Fort Lauderdale. The wind had died and the seas were down but the current was against us. We had to get very close to shore to get any speed over the ground. The last hour gave us some sailing wind and a little bit of favorable current. We anchored in Lake Sylvia, Ft Lauderdale. A very nice spot but a little crowded this time.
From Lauderdale we have to go outside to Miami. They got away with building a 56 foot bridge over the ICW in Miami instead of the required 65 feet. We need every inch of those 65 feet. The conditions were forecast to be pretty rough but we started early when there was no wind. When the breeze and seas came up they were behind us and we had no troubles. 8.8 knots was our highest clocked speed over the ground. We only realized how rough it was when we turned for the Miami channel and the seas were on our beam. 20 minutes. Not hard to take. Government Cut, Dodge Island bypass and back to the ICW and starting down the Keys. Again, just barely.
Tomorrow we head for Marathon. Probably stopping around Key Largo the first night and trying for Marathon the second. Weather permitting. Forecast again is not too great. Easterlies. If they keep up, the Bahamas passage may be in jeopardy. Of course, patterns can change in the month or so until our hoped for departure.
Photo from last years visit to the Turtle Hospital in Marathon.
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