Project Completions

Highlights are project completions!  Honda outboard motor is fixed, mount is custom fitted, and both are home on the stern pushpit.   We put another igniter in the grill and shined it up nice and pretty.  We order another fold-a-bike, it arrived and D assembled it.  We replace jib halyard, topping lift, davit and crane lines, roller furling, and lazy jacks.  We have 2 more halyards to replace and the lines are on order to pick up next week.  Big bucks!  I hoisted Daryl up the mast to repair the deck lights and to install the flag halyard for flying the yellow quarantine flag when coming into a different country than you left.  All’s well on the mast.  

Good news on our new dinghy; Highfield determined we should get a new dinghy. They do not have one in stock, and expect a shipment in 45 days, the end of August.  We can pick up the repaired dinghy and use it temporarily, but we are not sure how it will affect our crossing to the Bahamas. 

 

JoAnne and Mike from St. Pete came to Marathon for the weekend to visit Hank and us.  They have friends, Sandy and Ted, in Marathon who own a slip in Harbour Cay Club.  It’s like a condo but for boats.  There are about 20 slips in the marina and Sandy and Ted live on a 52 foot Irwin named Viento.  The marina has a shared apartment, party room, project room, laundry room, and other common areas.  A guest can stay in the apartment if they are sponsored by an owner and it’s about $100 per night. It’s a beautiful, roomy apartment overlooking the marina and gulf, and less than 2 miles from us at the city marina.  Sandy is the apartment manager and offered to sponsor any of our friends. 

We meet JoAnne and Mike at Burdines, a hopping restaurant and marina, where we listen to music by 2 of the local boys, Ty and Corey.  They both have boats in the marina, and Ty works at the marina.  It’s our first night out in Marathon, and we have a great time. JoAnne and Mike are visiting Maine September 10-21, so I recommended the Common Ground Fair, Acadia National Park, Young’s Lobster Pound, and Camden with a hike to Mt. Battie.

I am taking Spanish classes, enjoying them, and hopefully will be able to use on our trip, think Cuba.  Augusto was the teacher at the last class. He was 5 years old in Cuba when Castro took power, and 12 when his family came to USA.  He shared great insights to the Cuban people and information on the geography of the country for sailors.  He recommended the Isla Juventud (Island of Youth) in the southwest and Cayo Coco on the northeast shore, both look pristine. Yo aprendi mucho.  I learned a lot.  Still mucho trouble understanding Spanish speakers.  I practice daily with menus, dual signs in the stores, friends, listening, and Duolinguo, a free app on my phone and computer.  The key is diligence and practice. I hope!

So last week we practice our Spanish on the translator on our phone. I could not find my phone when I got back to the boat. Thinking that I left it in class, I rushed back to the library. The library was closed so I went the next day as soon as it opened. No phone. Librarian was very helpful and made a call to the teacher.  No phone. Oh, my. Daryl found that t-mobile has a missing device locator so he found that my phone was in the middle of Boot Key Harbor, so I thought perhaps one of the students from the marina moorings inadvertently picked it up. But a few minutes later it was on Sombrero Boulevard. So we hustled over there, but the locator was vague with bad addresses and gave approximate locations.  Bottom line, we met a lot of very nice strangers, who were extremely helpful, but I didn’t find my phone.  The first couple, Ned and Diane, looked at my map where the phone was supposed to be, and they said it looks like it might be at Ann Lynch’s house up the street.  What a surprise, I happen to know Ann, she lead the book club meeting!  Could one of my Spanish cohorts be lunching with her?  So I knocked and she recognized me, and I told her my story.  She led me through the neighborhood, but no phone.  Later, my Spanish teacher calls to let me know her mother had picked it up thinking it was hers.  Meanwhile, D and I find that the security on our phones, Lookout, has a more accurate locator and other features, like, my phone was on vibrate because I was in the library, so when we dialed it no one could hear it.  Lookout will override vibrate with a siren that escalates in sound for 60 seconds.  I recommend everyone to check their phones for locator features, and activate, it was so helpful.  Btw, my Spanish teacher was 2 doors down from Ann. 

Some boats are sailing off, to the Bahamas, to Cuba, to Belize, so we aren’t the only ones who will be in the islands for hurricane season. I am just so ready. I am happy to be here, now, preparing for the islands. I am grateful that we are moving in the right direction, my cats are doing well in Maine, my condo and mail are ok in St. Pete, and my friends are staying in touch.   Adios!

Fireworks!

The 4^th!  Fireworks!  Marathon claims the largest and longest fireworks display in the keys.  We had a great view of some of the best fireworks from Fair Winds in the mooring field.  Gordy and Jeannie grilled hot dogs and we had all the fixings.  The evening was light and breezy, not too hot, clear skies, and we sat on the front deck with a clear view. Beautiful. The next night is Gordy’s and Jeannie’s last night in Marathon; they are taking the boat back to Titusville, so we all go to the Cracked Conch for dinner.  They, including their friend, John, all try conch - cracked, ceviche, and fritters, and declare it edible.  D and I love conch and we catch, clean, and eat it in the Bahamas.  We will miss our friends and all the fun. 

We settle in to life on board, but we don’t want to get complacent.  Some of our neighbors say they came to Marathon for 2 weeks and stayed 10 years.  D and I agree that we will leave for the Bahamas as soon as possible. That is the goal. Distant anchorages, uninhabited islands. He thinks 2 months, I say less.

Projects report - D prepares the water maker for storage until we leave the dock. He finds a leak in our main water tank. Luckily, it’s a small plumbing elbow and is easily replaced.  We take the new dinghy to the distribution facility in Homestead and leave it there for their inspection.  It is 2 months old and has blisters in the powder coat finish and there are signs of discoloration on the hull that indicate there could be corrosion. Stay tuned. Amazingly, we see Fair Winds sailing about 20 miles east of Marathon as we drive to Homestead and cross the bridge between Lower and Upper Matecumbe. We chat on the phone with them.  Back on the boat we replace the raw water strainers in the AC. It’s incredible how dirty filters get in the harbor waters. 

We build shelves for the V berth now that we have decided to convert the settee for beds at night. That gives us the whole V berth for storage and we wanted to make it more efficient and organized.  Storage continues to be difficult and we want to use this time to get organized, take what we need, leave what we do not need, and still have plenty.  We make curtains for the portals (windows).  Fly Away had canvas over the portals on the outside until we re-gelcoated the deck and decided to do away with them.  In the islands it won’t be as much an issue, but at the dock you need them for privacy.  They also block the sun and reduce the heat during the day.  So we bought a Singer sewing machine and whipped them up. D sews well, and teaches me a little bit.  I won’t say it was fun, but it was rewarding.  Attaching to the windows on the inside was a challenge as I didn’t want to make holes and make the curtains permanent, so D found hooks and rods and we have lines tied through the bottom.  It works, we'll see.  

D’s truck has a brake/steering fluid leak that needs to be fixed and orders the part.  He gets quotes from mechanics and decides to do it himself, and finds that his waste vegetable oil system makes the job more difficult as he had to remove and replace several hoses. Good thing he did the work as other mechanics may not have understood the oil system and perhaps ruined something, and definitely charged more. Routine stuff like laundry, cleaning, meals, reading, meditating, yoga, Spanish classes, and Tai Chi continue.   Current project is the Honda 9.9 motor that needed a new water pump and impeller.  There is progress on projects. 

Weather is summer – light winds from the east and southeast prevail, temperatures in the 80’s touching 90 in the heat of the day, sunny every day with threats of thunderstorms, but no rain. We have not had a good rain since we got here. Its hot and humid and huge gray thunder boomers spring up, but no precipitation.  We watch the weather every day and while the prevailing winds are easterly, we had a few days where the winds shifted to the west and southwest, bringing some cooler air.  Conditions are perfect for a Gulf Stream crossing.  With the strong northerly flow of the Gulf Stream, the east and west winds can be fair, but a southerly wind and west would help sail the boat comfortably and directly to the Bahamas.  D and I crossed the Gulf Stream in Ceilidh with west winds, wing-on-wing the whole way for 14 hours!  It was memorable! And when we crossed Andros we had southerly winds and sailed 150 miles in 54 hours all on port tack!  Incredible! In the summer there are few weather fronts with north winds - the Gulf Stream is very rough when the north winds meet the northerly current from the south. D and I came back from our first trip to the Bahamas with friends with a north wind and we sailed 10-15 foot seas, but it only took us 7 hours – it was fast. But we had to be back, for work. In fall and winter seasons northern fronts are more frequent and can delay a crossing for days, weeks, and sometimes months.  We aborted a vacation one year to the Bahamas because a long term northern front wouldn’t allow a safe crossing.  A safe sailor looks for a good weather window. 

The marina hosted a hurricane briefing.  The main speaker, Marty, a nurse practitioner and previous live-a-board who has experienced many years aboard during hurricane season in both the keys and the Bahamas, shared her practical tips.  Mostly she emphasized early preparation and not stressing out – as it’s a very stressful time and that is when mistakes are made.  She introduced Chip Kasper from the National Weather Service in Key West who showed us all the tools the Hurricane Center uses to predict path, strength, and storm surge.  Marathon and the keys are hurricane central for the Atlantic Ocean side. The last most destructive hurricane for Marathon was Wilma in October 2005.  Matt, assistant director of the port, outlined marina procedures to shut down for a hurricane.  He also gave guidance on tying to the moorings and what you can and cannot do in the mooring field.  For us that means that we would have to move from the floating dock to a mooring.  We would use 3 strong anchor lines to tie to the pennant of the mooring.  Before leaving the dock we would clear the deck of all fuel cans, motors, and gear. We would remove all the canvas, main sail and head sail to prepare the boat. We would put the dinghy on the truck. Then we would get in the truck and head north to Orlando and St. Pete.  We won’t ride a storm out on the boat unless it was necessary.   Interestingly, Marathon has one of the four evacuation shelters in the keys and it is open only for a category 1-2 storm.  For cat 3-5 all keys’ residents must evacuate to Miami-Dade County.  Can you imagine the traffic?  We will want to beat that traffic jam!

Alone at Last

I am alone on the boat for a week.  D is off for Orlando to pick up his truck and bring his tools for the many projects.  Some of those projects are - fix the 9.9 hp Honda motor, replace some running rigging – halyards, lines on the lazy jack, topping lift, roller furling line, crane line, and davit lines – while they looked good in St. Pete they hadn’t been used, and now using them, they are showing some wear, repair front hatch hinges (blew out in a storm), repair one of the starboard lazarette hinges, repair and replace deck lights (also blew out on our sail), install radar reflector on new flag halyard (while I am up the mast for the deck lights), make a shelf for ice trays on bottom of freezer (comfort), make curtains for privacy and filter the sun in the day, install new sink faucet for the water maker, shorten outboard tiller extension, figure out our new radio with AIS distress system (it will show all boats on our chartplotter like radar), repair our single side band radio for weather when we are out of VHF range, install remaining lifelines, relocate toilet anti-syphoning hose, install a garden hose connection in the boat, make container for hatch boards, prepare the watermaker for the time we are in the marina, air conditioner line repair, and other projects are on my list.  Unfortunately, D is the only one of us who can do 95% of these projects so I am the helper, and I am typically pretty good at helping.  So I will cheerfully help as best I can, knowing that when we get these projects done we will be closer to going to the Bahamas.  Not all projects need to be done in the marina, but they are more easily done at the dock with the right tools and access to the supplies at stores. It just makes sense. Projects are also difficult to estimate how long they will take.  D is very efficient and focused so I hope one project per day. 

I love being alone on the boat. Just as I love being alone at the condo. I look forward to my week alone with excitement and some anxiety.  D has trained me and cautioned me about the boat, but there are so many systems.  Electrical power is important.  I am to monitor it. I use propane to cook, and know how to ignite the grill.  I am careful to turn off propane when cooking is done. Water is serious, there are at least 3 ways to get water and valves everywhere. Plus there are several through-hulls (holes in the boat by design). For example, we have a hose to supply water from the marina directly to our sinks. Should anything break, i.e., a hose in the boat or a connection, water could fill up the boat and sink it!  Therefore, if I leave the boat for more than a few hours I turn the supply off at the spigot at the dock. No worries. We also have a bilge pump sufficient to keep up with the inflow of a lot of water, but why go there. 

While D is gone it’s my responsibility to ensure the boat is safe.  No sinking, no fires, and to a lesser extent, no failures.  Just like at home, except the sinking, but it seems more urgent now.  We tested our Skype so that if I need to show D a problem, he will be able to help me over the phone.  I am happy to say, writing this after the fact, I had no sinking, fires, or failures.    

   

So let’s go to the good part – It was so peaceful on the boat. I followed my own schedule, completed my chores, and got to explore my surroundings and Marathon. I wake up refreshed after 8 hours of sleep, meditate, write in my journal, fix fruit and coffee for breakfast, and plan my day.  While waiting on laundry I walk to the library about 2 blocks from the marina, next to the Fishermen’s Hospital, and find that a beginners' Spanish class is today at 4-6!  And the library book club meets this Friday at 10:30 am! What luck! I commit to both and schedule.  Spanish is a delight! There are 6 students – a married couple, Judy and Hal, missionaries from Seattle, Washington, with the Mormon church, 2 young adorable sisters, Tinashay and ? (I didn’t get her sister’s name), a studious man, Julius, and myself. The teacher is Margarita teaching with her daughter, Grace.  We learn about 20 practical words, and the teacher has us spell them the way we hear them - it was a great exercise.  We practice using these words in phases and repeat them properly.  I look forward to the class next week.  Gusto! Mas Tarde!  I think I said, "It was a pleasure! Till later."  

The book club was reading Old Filth by Jane Gardam.  The title didn’t sound appealing, but when I looked at it on my kindle, it sounded worthwhile. I bought it and read it in 2 days.  On Friday, we met.  The leader of this book discussion was Amy Lynch, artist who has lived in Marathon for 37 years.  There were 5 others including me. They told me it was a small group for their summer session, they have 20+ show up during the season!  We met in a small room with a board table, Amy on one side and us on the other – very formal, then she ran the meeting with a series of questions, which we all pondered and when one answered, we went to the next.  Barbara (45 years in Marathon and docent at the Crane Nature Center) and Claudia (local RN) read the book, Deborah read it 4 years ago, and Susan couldn’t get it until this week from the library and hadn’t finished it.  It was different from our St. Pete book club, not worse, not better, though I do prefer a more dynamic discussion and the free flowing conversation that we have in St. Pete.  The Marathon club decides the book selections for the year and have pre-scheduled dates each month and meet at the library, no food or drink.  They go to lunch together afterwards.  St. Pete decides the book selection, date, and whose house to meet, for the next meeting at the current meeting.  Marathon also selects a leader for each session, to run the discussion.  St. Pete has everyone contributing.  I can see merits of each, but if everyone contributes, I prefer the free flow.  The questions used by the leader may have brought up issues not covered by St. Pete, but I felt St. Pete would have had a deeper discussion on the important issues.  I look forward to the next meeting, if I am still in Marathon – they are reading Secret Daughter by Gowda, on August 7.

I meet Gordy for breakfast at the Pig and we have a great time discussing boat stuff and activities. He will go to Home Depot for screens to put in the 2 front windows for mosquito and no-see-um protection.  What is it about men that prompt them to be so project oriented?  I guess thank goodness. They must think we women just like to play. Oops, they may be right!  I am off to the Turtle Hospital and get to see 53 turtles – injured, in surgery, in rehab, and ready to release. There are some permanent members with incurable diseases that would prevent them from surviving on their own in the wild.  Most have tumors that are caused by a virus, but once removed and rehabbed, the turtles are able to return to the saltwater environment and they are then immune to the virus.  Some have ‘bubble butt’ which is a result of a traumatic injury, like a collision with a boat propeller, that creates an air pocket past its lungs near the back of their shell that is incurable, making them unable to dive for food.  The air distorts the shell and they float with their butt up, just like it sounds! The history of the place is fascinating.  The primary founder, a VW dealership owner, Richie, leaves corporate and buys small motel in the keys.  The Hidden Harbor motel has a large salt water pool for its guests that becomes a special haven for marine life when the motel builds a new fresh water pool for its guests.  The owner stocks fish and stuff and school children begin to visit on field trips from school.  When Ninja Turtle movies came out in the 80’s, some of the school children asked ‘where are the turtles?’ and so it began.  The owner looked into the turtle question and to his surprise, he found a need for a turtle rescue operation and so it began, and it is now the first turtle hospital (of 20 in the US), and only does turtles, no motel, no other marine life.  It does green turtles, loggerhead, leatherback, hawksbill and KimpRipley turtles.  It was quite an impressive visit, we had a marine biologist give us the tour and she gave the personal story of each and every turtle. We visited the communal pools for permanent residents, the individual pools for the rehab residents and loggerheads, and the salt water pool for the rest.  I bought turtle jewelry – not illegal tortoise shell, but turtle shaped ring, ear rings, and necklace.  I would recommend anyone visiting the keys to include this place on their itinerary.  Very cool. 

I ride our folding bike everywhere. One day I ride from our marina at mile marker 49 to Vaca Cut and the Marathon Chamber of Commerce at mile marker 53 ½ .  I do errands and chores – Publix, Kmart, Walgreens, Dollar Store, Home Depot, West Marine.  Marathon has plenty of stores and is very community oriented. Around our city marina is a park with tennis courts, an amphitheater, basketball courts, half-pipe runs, and a lookout tower.  All very well kept, and with children out of school, they run camps every day.  I ride out to Sombrero Beach, a lovely and well-kept sandy beach overlooking Sombrero Light, and around some of the marinas.  I hope to go to the Crane Nature Center, the Marathon Aquarium, and take the southbound bus to Key West for the Butterfly Garden.  I learn from the Chamber of Commerce that Marathon is a group of islands AND a city, so that is why I was a bit confused on the geography.  The Islands of Marathon, or Marathon Keys, start with Duck Key to the east and run to Pigeon Key to the west.  The city of Marathon is a city on Vaca Key, the largest key in the Marathon Keys. There is no Marathon Key. I hope I understand and relate it correctly. 

I plan to go to Tai Chi at St. Colomba Episcola Church on 52^nd Avenue, about 12 blocks to the east.  Gordy calls and I choose to go to Upper Crust Pizza for pizza and beer! I can always go to the next class, but Gordy is leaving next week, so I grab the opportunity, and enjoy it thoroughly! I look forward to Tai Chi next week.

I defrost the freezer and polish the stainless steel appliances and sink and generally get ready for D’s return.  Projects await!

Next: Fireworks 

On the Ball

We are on a mooring ball. In a mooring field that is patterned in rows and columns - A,B,C rows and 1,2,3 columns.  We are E-6.  It’s a marvelous moving location. Just as at anchor you are constantly moving and never know when you wake up which way the boat is facing.  What’s fascinating is that there are boats all around you moving in harmony.  I would love to see an aerial time lapse of 200 boats lined up in a matrix pattern moving in unison to the wind.  Unlike an anchorage, you worry less about your neighbor dragging anchor in a storm.  There is a life size model of the mooring system in the marina so you see how powerfully you are anchored.  It’s augured and epoxied 10+ feet into coral rock!  

It’s fabulous to have neighbors and friends to socialize.  Gordy gives us a tour of Marathon in his Mercedes, just like D’s.  We go to the Stuffed Pig for breakfast. He gives us the keys to the car to run errands and replenish provisions. We have 4 loads of laundry and buy a laundry card - $3 to wash, $3 to dry. D removes and cleans the broken davit and he and Gordy find Welder Dave who solders it the next day.

 

We experience our first pump out – because all boats in the marina are live-a-boards, the City Marina provides pump out services once a week on a schedule.  As cruisers you have a holding tank for waste, sorry for you non-cruisers, but it is a natural fact of life, and a sailor must deal with it!  Typically, the holding tank is dumped once you are at least 3 miles out to sea. Pump out service takes 2 minutes and Toby, on the pump out boat, ties up to your boat very gently, and opens the cap on the side deck of your boat inserts suction line, done! Now that wasn’t so bad.  

Jean and Gordy invite us to go to No Name Key pizza for a delicious royal pizza, almost everything on it.  No Name Key is off Big Pine Key famous for the key deer, a small deer about the size of a large dog, and we see several in people’s yards. Adorable. Some young males have budding antlers.  We go fishing with Gordy and Jeannie; twice! First time we catch tuna, identified as little tuna, but they are large, and Gordy grills them up that night. We swear it tastes like beef, very tasty. Fish and Grits, and D and I bring the cheese grits.  The second trip is to the humps, we are going for dolphin (mahi-mahi).  The humps are 24 miles off shore in the Gulf Stream in 1000+ feet of water, a 4 hour one way trip.  We see a freighter going south behind us closer to shore to avoid the strong northerly current. The depths go from 1000 to 500 in seconds and immediately plunge back to 1000 feet, a small under water mountain range creating turbulence in the water. You can see white caps all along the area. Very cool. There are 20+ fishing boats there! On our way out to the humps, in 400 feet of water, we get our first bite. I see the dolphin strike our bait from below leaping up out of the water, before there is even a pull on the line!  Jeannie sees it too and grabs the pole that has the line that has now pulled from the outrigger!!  The fish leaps 2 more times and we realize it’s BIG!!!  And beautiful. Brilliant gold flashing out of the water, and as Jeannie pulls it, Gordy is pulling a second line in so it doesn’t tangle, we see another dolphin swimming with our catch.  I know it’s his mate. Now his widow…  We catch 4 dolphins, one huge bull, 21 pounds and 47 inches; one smaller bull, and 2 females.  A good day of catching, as they say. Jeannie cleans the fish on the way back, and prepares it using her special marinate of onions and dressing, and Gordy grills it on aluminum foil.  We enjoy it on our boat in air conditioning and I fix green vegetables.

Like I said it’s great to have friends!! My bank sends me a notice about disabling my online account and to call them – oh my.  I call and through a series of intriguing questions, they determine they cannot verify my identity and to resolve it, I must go to a branch bank.  The closest is Key West!  At mile marker 0!  50 miles!  Our good friends offer to drive, so we plan to go for dinner, sunset and my banking business.  Luckily, my identity established quickly and all is fine, and off we go to enjoy this serendipitous trip.  We eat Pink Key Shrimp and Mahi-mahi at Caroline’s on Duval Street under the misting, cooling air, and walk to enjoy the entertainers and sunset at Mallory Square. Such interesting and unique talents. Jugglers on unicycles, Catman with trained cats, TRAINED cats?!!

   

Another day we dive Sombrero Light about 5 miles from shore on a shallow reef.  We take a mooring ball about 1000 feet from the light and swim in.  We immediately see a spotted eagle ray in about 20 feet of water, just cruising along the bottom, so graceful and purposeful.  The visibility is great although there is Sargasso grass and a particulate in the water, but it doesn’t affect the clarity.  As we get closer the reef appears and beautiful mounds of soft and hard coral appear to rise up to the surface with deep indentations of white sand that enhance the brilliant colors of the reefs. Fans and plumes, gold and purple, and the fish!  All sizes and shapes and colors, brilliant in their differences, it is hard to pick a favorite.  Parrot fish in a variety of patterns, from pink to green to blue and yellow and checkered, eat the coral loudly and aggressively.  Sergeant majors, damsels, angels, tangs, grunts, needlefish, snappers are all accounted for; we see what we call a trunk fish, which we later identify as a scrawled tilefish.  We also see the big fish – sand shark, barracuda, and grouper. We swim to the base of the 142 foot light that was built in 1858 and automated in 1960.  It is an 8-sided pyramid built of cast iron in just a few feet of water.  We swim through the base where it’s dark and see a big grouper hanging out, and schools of other fish.  It is still a working light and we watch the white flash every ten seconds at night. 

On land Jeannie and I take our boat bikes for a ride on the closed bridge, replaced by the famous 7 mile bridge. It runs level about 1.5 miles and terminates on Pigeon Key, a petite island with small wooden buildings and some people, we think it may be an eco tourist destination. The ramp was recently closed so access is by ferry only. We see 2 large tarpon eating in the current near the bridge pilings and a large 7-8 foot shark lazily swimming along with the current. We meet D and Gordy for lunch at an excellent authentic Mexican restaurant. 

Before you think mooring on a ball is all play, let me say that D and I had our work days – installing the davit, polishing stainless steel, replacing the igniter on the grille, repairing the 2.5 Nissan with new gas tank, then testing it, and training me to start, stop, and turn, with no gears.  Believe when I say it isn’t easy to stop. Having the motor makes dinghying to shore a lot easier and less sweaty.  We have our routine chores – making water, checking systems, and generally organizing and re-organizing stuff on a small boat.  

We are grateful to get a call that a slip is available, so we leave the moorings for the comforts of air conditioning and ease of shore access for our many projects ahead to prepare for distant islands.  Good news, there is no tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic, Caribbean or the Keys for the next 5 days.

Next: Alone