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
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