Cape Coral

We are now at my Aunt and Uncle's home in Cape Coral, FL. We sailed here on an overnight from Marathon. About a 24 hour passage, 125nm. During the night the breeze picked up and we had a good sail for the latter part of the passage.

We anchored off of Cape Coral and took the dinghy up the canal my aunt's home is on. Their neighbors were very happy to help out and let us come into the canal with the boat and tie up in front of all the houses and partially block the canal. We turned the boat around in a 50 foot spot and eventually tied up to a small sailboat and with lines to the walls.

We've been visiting with the family and touring the area by bike and car. We walk around the end of the canal from our boat to the back door of their home. Unfortunately we have been returning back to the boat after dinner or socializing when it is quite dark. On one of these return walks I didn't quite follow the dock walkway and found that gravity works quite well. I was swimming under water before I had any idea what was happening. Cold but not shocking. A couple of strokes and I was at the ladder and out of the water once Carol figured out how to lower the ladder. Damages: pride, ego. cell phone and slightly strained knee.

There is a possibility a few extra glasses of wine may have contributed to this adventure.

One of the cuter things seen here are the burrowing owls found in many neighborhoods. The nests must be marked to avoid disturbing them so it makes it easy to find them once you know what the markers look like. You can get quite close to them without upsetting them and they are very curious about people as long as you don't get much closer than 6 feet.

Carol goes off soon for a two-week swing through Texas, California and Minnesota. After that we start back down the west coast of Florida then up the east coast towards our homeport. Start is the key word. We'll slowly follow the warmth as it moves north. Some people in Conn are not sure that's ever going happen. Save some snow for us. Oh, never mind.

Marathon

We are in Boot Key Harbor. The "city" of Marathon in the Florida Keys.

We arrived Christmas Day after a part way inside passage from Tarpon Basin, Key Largo. We went through Channel Five back into the ocean where we had a nice sail to Boot Key Harbor. We picked up a city marina mooring and we'll stay here for about a month.

We've been to Key West by bus where, besides shopping, we met with friends who moor near us in Mystic. Another couple near us in Mystic are here on a mooring in our same harbor. Lisa volunteers in the local Turtle Hospital/Sanctuary and we visited there Wed. Very interesting.

Heather has been with us for a week but heads to Miami for a flight home to Brooklyn with Luca. Luca loved the boat but our cat, Cleo, does not love having another cat in her territory.

Weather has been cool and windy but is now warming up again. Of course getting down to 50 at night is not quite the same as a 10 degree blizzard at home ;>)

Oh, nothing has broken down for a week. That's news.

Fort Lauderdale

I tried several times to post a blog with my video of the Fort Pierce Holiday display. Trust me, it's great. But it won't upload. This blog is being writen on my phone so no photos either. I'll add some later when I edit this entry from our laptop.

Anyway... We are now in Fort Lauderdale. Sunday 19 December. Had some cold mornings in Fort Pierce the last two weeks (near freezing) but the days were never lower than 55. Usually mid-60s.

With Carol still off at work I left Fort Pierce with Mike Guay and his friend Ted aboard. We motored to Stuart by way of the ICW so I could get generator work completed. While there a leaking exhaust riser was discovered so we are short one engine. We went offshore from St Lucie (Stuart) to Lake Worth which is the Palm Beach area. Big mistake. Head wind a seas and only one operating engine make for a long semi-miserable day. Arrived safely and my crew went home and Carol came home to the boat to rejoin the cruise.

We had a nice, fast, if somewhat boisterous sail to Fort Lauderdale. Boat speeds nearly got to 11 kts at times.

We are anchored in Lake Sylvia, Fort Lauderdale which is just a basin among the canals and expensive homes in the area. Pretty and protected. Tomorrow we head to Miami (offshore again) or really to the Key Biscayne - Dinner Key area. We'll wait there for Heather and Luca to join us for the holidays.

The key thing, no pun intended... No, really, is the word Key in our destinations or stops. As in THE Keys. We have arrived! Or will tomorrow.

It's going to be cool, only in the mid-70s, for a few days but with blue skies and bluer water.

Although we plan to go a little way up the west coast of Fla in January the Keys were our real destination and we are just 20 or so miles away. Just a few hours unless the other engine quits.

Can't wait.

Fort Pierce

We arrived in Fort Pierce Florida two days after Thanksgiving. We had a long day of travelling on Thanksgiving as many do but ours was a little different. At the end of the day we had stuffing, creamed onions, peas and pumpkin pie. All the good stuff with out murdering any over bred birds.

Black Friday wasn't that great for us. Another long day but along an uninteresting section of the ICW. Strong winds and currents slowed us down and the weather was threatening most of the day but...

Saturday got us to Ft. Pierce where we"ll stay for a while. Carol has to go off to work next week. Again. But on the positive side we are now in an area with tropical, clear, green water and we have good friends here on shore that we'll visit with and do stuff with. The only down side is tropical weather. Muggy and unstable. Afternoon showers and thunder storms are always a possibility.

But, on the other hand, it is in the high 70s - low 80s every day.

Fernandina Beach. Our first Florida sunrise.

More dolphin stories?

Sick of dolphin stories yet?

While we were in the dinghy heading to the marina a pair of dolphin came at us at a right angle, right at our beam. They came up to breathe and saw they were very close to us. They dove deeper and I could see them pass under the dink, make a right turn while still submerged and head aft. Then about ten feet back one leapt out of the water, twisting so he (she?) was facing in our direction so it could get a good look at us. Very awesome! It had no reason to do this except to check us out.

Early Saturday morning, the 20th, we headed out of Charleston Harbor for an overnight bluewater passage to Florida. First time that far off shore (about 40nm) and first time overnight at sea. About a 150nm trip.

While on this passage dolphin would come zooming towards us then turn to ride our bow wave. They would ride with their tails just under the bows of our boat. They would also look back and up at us. We could even hear them clicking and whistling.

This trip was motorsailing during the day before the wind shifted to our nose and then faded. It was a calm, moonlit night with 4 foot swells and at the end we were in Florida. Fernandina Beach.

Two days later we are at St Augustine. The ICW from Jacksonville to St Auggie is very pretty and we also saw a pair of Bald Eagles mating on a daymark. Haven't seen birds mating since our time in the Galapagos Islands.

One more thing: now we have dolphin photos.

Dolphins

Still in Charleston but blogging on request. Who??? You may ask. Well, let's just say more than one person has asked but will remain unknown to prevent embarassment.

We've been anchored for more than a week and have another week to go since Carol is heading off to Dallas soon. After a couple of days we set a stern anchor to attempt to keep us lined up with the current in the Ashley River. This kept us from swinging 4 times a day and over-running the rode (anchor line). It was noisy and nerve wracking at night. Sleeping better since then. Bahamian anchoring doesn't work as well when you have two bows. There is a downside. The stern anchor rode sticks out off the back and can be snagged by a boat if it comes too close. 10 feet being too close. Today a sailboat caught on it and then yelled at me for not anchoring according to his standards. Him coming within a boat length was, of course, not the cause. They were (French) Canadian. No other explanation needed.

On a more pleasant note we have seen quite a few dolphin. We had one in the marina near us when we were in the dinghy returning to the boat. Today we had one swim by the bow very close. Didn't see it (not looking) until we heard him (her) breathe. Dolphin are very common here but I hope we never get used to it.

Next up is seeing a whale from our own boat. Could happen off Cape Cod but hasn't yet. Could happen here if we went offshore. There are Right Whales in this area and down to Georgia.

Weather's been good for over a week so when it's time to it will likely be worse. We need to push to get into Florida before Carol has to work again.

Charleston

We got to Charleston on 1 November. Saw Ft. Sumter from our own deck. More dolphins, of course. And the Ravenell Bridge with the Yorktown near it. 

We stayed two nights at the City Marina but we'll move to a nearby anchorage for a few weeks. Shopping, laundry, sightseeing. A lot of sightseeing. Oh, and boat repair, maintenance, etc.

When we started this cruise from Mystic I thought I would photograph all the bridges we went under or through. Took photos in NYC and the C&D Canal but after that we stopped, except for the Wilkerson on the ICW which was only 64ft above the water. Turns out that most of the bridges after NYC were boring highway bridges, one uglier than the last. The swing and bascule bridges were more interesting but we are too busy when we go through those. So the bridge photos have stopped. Maybe to the relief of friends and family.