The Florida Keys

1/30/08

It is 40 miles from The Snake River to Marathon Key. As we get here it feels very tropical. It is at least 80+ degrees during the day and down only to 65 or 70 at night. Mangroves are everywhere and the wildlife changes a little. We heard from the kids that there was no school in Wisconsin today because of a -40 wind chill. So I figured that was a 120 degree difference compared to Florida. Ouch. 

There was only one marina slip left in Marathon and it is a little slummy but ok. It is surrounded by trailer parks and is quite a change from Naples and all that old money.

It is Thursday the 31^st so Happy Birthday to Kristine! We took a dingy ride to find out about the mooring field as we may want to stay there on the way back. The field is interesting and very different from what we have seen elsewhere. It is set up in a very organized fashion and has good facilities for dinghies, bikes, water and pump out. The pump out boat is called the Turd Tug. We accidentally missed the channel going over there in the dinghy. It was so shallow that we plowed a little furrow. They don’t like that in Florida.

2/1/08

Yeah, we are on our way to Key West. This is our ultimate southern destination. We have been here a couple of times but not with our own boat of course. So we do know about the craziness and I for one am looking forward to taking some good pictures. This is a 50 mile trip with a nice breeze. We are able to sail for a while in the morning. Of course the wind dies and we have to power for a while. But after another hour or so the wind comes back up and off we go. It is the nicest sail we have had for a while. Boating friends can be jealous now. We have 16 to 18 knots of wind. It is sunny and 80. We are on a close reach and doing 8+. We haven’t got to sail much so this is a real treat. There truly are smaller waves in the Hawk Channel which is between the Keys and a reef to the south.

2/3/08

We are getting settled in here at Key West. We were planning to stay one week and then head out to Marathon and towards Miami. People tell us to not be in so much of a hurry to head north. It is a lot nicer than Marathon. So we extended our stay till the 15th. There is a lot to do and see, so here we will stay for a while. The big event at the end of the day, for those of you who have not been here, is sunset watching on Mallory Square. They have a lot of these large sunset cruises on schooners. Also of course some party boats. There is a large cat with the name of PARTY BOAT. Thousands of people gather on the dock to take pictures of the sunset and the goings on. They have street performers all over the square. You can stop and watch what you want. There are the fire jugglers, cat and dog trainers, musicians playing pianos and guitars and one balloon swallower. Last time we were here there were some people spray painted white and pretending to be statues. Pirates in full costumes wander the streets. There seems to be a few mental health issues but mostly folks just seem to be happily wandering around. The other thing that would make the Sheboygan Common Council apoplectic is that they sell drinks out of the storefronts. They will hand you a beer out of the window and the only rule is you have to step back one foot and open it on the sidewalk and not in the store. This might work at Urbane in Sheboygan.

I am a little careful riding my bike and crossing the street because I assume most of the people riding the rental scooters and little electric cars are drunk, although we have not seen any accidents.

2/6/08

We are happily basking in the sun and wandering around. We went on a little trolley ride around town (The Conch Train) to see and hear about the sights. Otherwise it remains low key and fun.

2/8/08

Today was a most fun day. We took a fast catamaran to the Dry Tortugas. They are a group of islands 70 miles west of Key West. We did not take our boat for a number of reasons. There is not much of a protected anchorage, no facilities, and treacherous coral reefs with strong currents. Other than that it would have been fun. Plus it was fun to go 35 mph on a boat. We watched the weather and picked a good day to go. Warm and sunny with very little wind. The guide said it was a great day for snorkeling, much better than normal for this time of year. All of us from the north are excited to jump in the 75 degree water but the natives are saying it is way to cold. They will wait till it gets to the 80’s.

So now I will give you a short infomercial on what it is. “West of Key West lies a cluster of seven islands composed of coral reefs and sand, called the Dry Tortugas. With the surrounding shoals and water, they make up Dry Tortugas National Park, an area noted for bird and marine life and shipwrecks. Fort Jefferson, its central cultural feature is the nations largest 1800’s masonry fort. First named Las Tortugas (The Turtles) in 1513 by Ponce de Leon the reefs soon read “Dry Tortugas” on mariner’s charts to show they offered no fresh water.” The day consisted of a 2 hour boat ride each way, a tour of the fort and snorkeling.

We have been seeing a lot of animal life around here. There is a lot of action in the water. In our marina we have a bunch of tarpon who hang around the fish cleaning station, along with the pelicans and seagulls. The other day we took a dinghy ride and a tarpon jumped right next to the dinghy. It was startling because they weigh upwards of 100 pounds. Someone also said they saw a manatee but we missed that one. Also the place has cats wandering around. They like to sit under the no pet sign. I think they are here to watch for rodents. Plus the city has roosters. There is a $200.00 fine for harming any chicken so they just run free around the town. They are quite noisy. The other day on my way to the shower I saw 4 squid swimming around in the water (not in my shower, in the slip). Rolf is still cranking because I saw squid and he didn’t. We also had a lot of Man-o-war jellyfish around the boat on our sail here. Like I said there are a lot of animals to see.

2/9/08

Today we went to see the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum. He is a famous guy who does treasure hunting for old shipwrecks. I think so far he has recovered up about 1 billion worth of stuff. (No exaggeration) We saw some gold and silver bars, pieces of eight, and lots of artifacts from Spanish ships. Rolf also bought a new hat of course. He saw a guy with shells on his hat so decided to decorate his new one like that. I know what you guys are thinking. Those folks have way too much time on their hands. Actually, we feel quite busy.

2/13/08

The National Weather Service forecasted a major storm. We were supposed to batten down the hatches because they expected high winds and hail. It looked pretty ugly coming through but in the end it was not so bad. I guess it sort of blew itself out over the Marquesas. Here is a J24 coming in at the last minute from the J World school just before the storm hit. I bet those students were glad to see land and not a moment too soon.

2/14/08

Happy Valentines Day! Another great day in the Keys. Rolf and I were at a piano bar celebrating with red glow sticks. Friends took us to this piano bar which has a great pianist but the real entertainment comes from “drop in” musicians from Key West and beyond. One was a jazz singer, another sang in French (La Vie En Rose), and a singing drummer to name a few. We are spending time biking, and just generally hanging around which is the best thing to do around here.

2/16/08

Last night we went to Sunset Key. It is an island with a lot of big expensive houses. They have a nice restaurant you can only get to by ferry. So we booked it for sunset of course. It was just idyllic except the waiter sort of treated our group like chopped liver. Maybe it was because we didn’t order the most expensive wine. It is interesting how one person can change the experience with just a few words. It was a beautiful place but would not recommend it to anyone. Oh well, maybe they are trying to keep regular people out.

We had a couple of manatees in our slip the last few days. It is so cool to see them. They are very large and like to interact with humans. People were giving them fresh water, which you are not supposed to do. But they swim right up to the dock and let you pet them for a while. When they get tired of all the attention, they just swim off.

2/20/08

Our friends from Sheboygan, Kathy and Roger Fiegel are here to visit us for a few days. It is great fun to see people from home and catch up with the town gossip. There is a lot to do here and we hit some of the hot spots. We went shopping of course. We also went on a great sail around the harbor. Nice ocean breezes and sun. Since there are so many musicians here we took in a couple of different styles, from Broadway hits to Pete and Wayne (raunchy music at Sloppy Joes). Of course we also took in some great sunsets. One nice thing is that we got the news of our latest Granddaughter’s arrival just before they left. What fun to be able to share that!

Our newest addition is Lydia Ann Spude. She was born at 12:08 pm today and is 6 pounds and 15 ounces.  I can’t wait to see her in person in a few weeks.

2/21/08

Today we left Key West. We had originally planned to stay a week but ended up staying there for 20 days. That was the southernmost point of our trip and now we start the journey back home. We actually have to head east for a while before turning north. It sure feels like a big milestone for us in that we actually are in our own boat all the way down here. We sailed today to Newfound Harbor in Big Pine Key. It was about a 30 mile trip. It is a nice anchorage except we are in a channel with a lot of boat traffic. So there are a lot of wakes rocking and rolling us for most of the day.

2/22/08

We are on the move again. A short sail to Vaca Key and the city of Marathon was pleasant. When coming up to the mooring ball I saw a sting ray fly out of the water and then swim away just under the surface. I just love seeing all the marine life although just hearing about it probably isn’t quite so exciting.  We are on a mooring ball in a field of 226 boats, so it is quite extensive. Since it is so reasonably priced, there are a lot of boats that stay here a long time. That makes for quite an interesting community feel. They have a marine radio program every morning to introduce people, swap stuff, answer questions about the area and do trivia questions.

2/28/08

We have been attached to the mooring ball for a week. For our non-sailing friends and relatives a mooring ball is an alternative to anchoring. They have been placed by the city and they charge for the night just like a slip except much cheaper. It is anchored to the ground with a line that comes up to a ball shaped float. On the float there is a line with a loop. You steer up to the ball and grab the line with a boat hook. Then you put your bow line through it and voila! You are attached.  It is much more efficient than everyone trying to anchor. More boats can be in a smaller space and you don’t do so much damage to the bottom. As I said, this place has facilities on land the same as a marina would. You just have to get to them by dingy instead of walking.  They have a large dinghy dock, bike corral, places to get water and showers. It is not the prettiest, but very functional. There are some boats on the wall that look like they haven’t moved in years. There is one that looks like it would be quite inexpensive to buy but would need a little TLC (and maybe TNT). The other thing a lot of marina’s have is a book exchange. Somewhere is a building they usually have a bookshelf. You just bring in the books you are finished with and take what you want. Because of lack of storage space on the boats, it works out great. You can read a lot of different books and don’t have to throw them out when you are done. There is also a hose at the dock so you just dinghy up to it and fill your water jugs. We found that if we fill a 5 gallon jug each time we go to shore we can keep up with our needs on the boat pretty well. We need to take showers ashore however. But then so does mostly everyone else. That means there is always a long line for the showers. Also there is always a big gathering around the washers and dryers every morning. It is a big party there every day. The whole thing is very communal. I sort of feel a little like a hippie from the 60’s. In order to get groceries we need to get our backpacks and helmets, take the dinghy to shore, bike a mile to the grocery store, put the groceries in the backpacks and head back. If we want to go to Walgreens that is another 40 minutes or so of bike riding added on. So it takes several hours to run errands. But it is a lot of fun because hey we’ve got nothing else to do and the weather is great.

3/1/08

I have been keeping my phone in a little zip lock bag. It rang on my way to do laundry so I stopped and opened the bag. Out it popped, bounced off the step and straight into the water, still ringing as it went down. This is the second time it flew into the water but this time it is gone for good. We found a Verizon store up in Tavernier. We rented a car and headed out. It turns out that this is the first day we could get a new phone with the discount on our contract. What luck! So of course Rolf got one too. We have the same numbers, just new phones. So now when I go near the water I need to wear my phone in a waterproof bag around my neck. With my bike helmet on, my lifejacket and the phone on a string, I sort of feel like the slow kid in the class. I need to be protected.

We also are enjoying taking the dinghy to this restaurant called the Dockside. We have been there three times. Mainly we go there because of lack of alternatives, but it is fun too. It is nothing special to look at but always busy. The dinghy dock is always full so you need to push your dinghy into the pile like bumper boats, then I get out with the bow line and slide or hop over the dinghy’s that are tied up to get to the dock. Once we are tied up in the second tier, then Rolf can get off. Not the easiest thing because they are usually wet with dew and slippery. The place itself is typical Keys. It is sort of a building in three sections. The bar is in a regular wooden structure except it only has 3 sides. It is open to the table area which is a permanent tent. There is a little section in the tent for a small stage where there is daily entertainment. Joe Mama was our favorite. One night we all sang along to the theme from the Beverly Hillbillies. You can sit wherever there is a chair so the tables and chairs just keep moving around. The kitchen is a small open counter attached to the tent part. It has a small counter to hand stuff to the waitresses; a couple of big ovens and that is it. Plus the roof over that part is some leftover shrink wrap. There is no dress code for patrons or wait staff so there is quite the look to the place. We saw one old guy in the grocery store using the electric cart to get around but when he was at the Dockside he just held on to the tent poles to make it to the bar. Also there was a bus boy who was helping to set up plates and clean tables. Then every time he wanted a break he would just wander over to the bar area and sit with the guys there and smoke. Then go back to serving the food. So that is the relaxation of the keys. No stressing about looks here. The food was good. The first night we were there they had their monthly pig roast and it was delicious.

3/4/08

So now we have to continue heading north. We headed to Duck Key. It is about as opposite to Vaca Key as you can get. They are just completing a 35 million dollar renovation to the hotel and grounds. This is the most expensive marina we have been to so far. I was talking to Jenny and we decided that it is comparable to giving someone $200 then having to bring your own hotel room and make your own continental breakfast. Plus they charge for the ice. There are so very few alternatives on this side. We can’t get into a lot of harbors here because of our 5 foot draft. Most of the time we are seeing 12 to 20 feet max when we are out sailing in Hawk Channel.

3/6/08

We headed out yesterday to Rodrigrez Key. It was a beautiful anchorage and no problems getting in. It looks very exposed on the chart but it turned out to be alright. We have worked out a new system to going into shallow places. We brought our skiing walkie talkies with us. I stand on the bow and watch the water color and bottom contours and can tell Rolf right or left. Then we can find our way a little easier. Today we were going to go into an anchorage that was marginal. We went slowly and I was watching carefully in the channel. Sure enough we just bumped a little but we were ready for it. We were able to get the boat turned around and out we went. We needed to go another 20 miles to the next place but it turned out ok. We ended up in a place called No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne. It was one of the nicest anchorages we have been in. It is a small protected harbor in the middle of a park. We were able to ride bikes around the park and into the city on bike trails. We found some other boaters to talk to and had them over for drinks at sunset. This is our last day in the Keys. We will both miss it. We liked being here for the weather, the relaxed atmosphere and the beauty. But, it is time to head north now. Tomorrow, Miami.