On To The West Coast of Florida

Next stop was the anchorage at Islamorada - Christmas Eve! We sailed all the way here; making our way through the mangrove cuts. Nice downwind sail! When we turned into the anchorage we were motoring directly into the wind and realized how strong the wind was blowing (20+ knots). After the anchor set, we dinghied to shore to the famous Lorelei Restaurant for drinks & conch sandwiches. We sat with Scott from "Allez", a singlehander on a C&C 26. He has pretty much sailed everywhere in the Caribbean. On Christmas Day the wind was blowing from the south at about 10 knots. We made the decision to cross Florida Bay to the west coast of Florida. A few people talk about going through the Yacht Channel rather than going all the way to Marathon to do the crossing. Although it is abit shallower, it saves the 40 mile trip to Marathon. Now that we are in our 2nd year of cruising and getter braver, we decided to do it - piece of cake! The shallowest water we saw was a momentary 5.9! We arrived at Little Shark River in the Everglades at 1645. There were no other boats there - just many "no see-ums. We still managed to grill a great sirloin steak for dinner to celebrate Christmas and a safe passage. Next morning we weighed anchor at 0700 with a plan to sail 50 miles to Marco Island. This passage requires us to go around the Cape Romano shoals. The wind was lighter than expected from the North; but the chop was very uncomfortable. After motorsailing 28 miles towards the southern end of the shoal, we realized that we would have to go directly into the chop for another 20 miles. So.....we made a hard starboard turn and sailed in the direction of Indian Key; a spot by Everglades City that we have gone to twice before. We spent a lovely, peaceful evening anchored in Russell Pass. This decision turned out to "make lemonade out of lemons", because the next day we made weigh for Coon Key Pass near Goodland, Florida. Most people last year said that this route was not possible for us because of our 4'5" draft; but Rick on "Sea Language", a very experienced sailor, said we could do it on a high tide. We could also avoid the Cape Romano shoals. We headed towards Coon Key Light in Gullivan Bay; and entered Coon Key Pass by Tripod Key - plenty of water under our keel! Made our way to anchor in Goodland, Florida, a very happening place; particularly on Sunday afternoon. Live music, tons of people of every description, dancing, drinking, and just having fun! I should have had the camera! After a great time on shore, we spent a very quiet night on "Kismet". Today we left Goodland at 0930, with a rising tide near 2 feet above low. The tidal range is around 3'5", motored the 5 miles via the inland route to Marco Island. The chart showed places where the water depth was 3 feet or less; but we never saw less than 5'9" - whew! Hurray - we made it through and anchored by Green "15" in Marco - waiting a couple of days for an east wind to sail to Fort Myers Beach.
P.S. Check out pictures that I posted prior to this post!

Good to Have Local Knowledge

 

Navigating the Marco River

 

Entering Coon Key Pass

 

Sunset At Tarpon Basin in the Keys

 

Jim's New Toy

 

Laurie Preparing for Happy Hour

 

Now He Is Monitoring Too Much Energy.....

Those of you who know Jim as the "Monitor of All Things", need to know that now with the new wind generator, up and going, Jim is VERY BUSY monitoring this new toy 24/7. We left the Venetian Islands in Miami yesterday morning and actually sailed south on Biscayne Bay to Pumpkin Key at the beginning of the upper Keys. The wind was only blowing about 7 - 8 knots from the NE, so we put up the Code Zero sail (for light air) and were able to sail at about 3 - 5 knots. Last night the wind started to pick up and today it was blowing 20 knots. The wind generator was spinning wildly! We had a fun downwind sail with our mainsail through Card, Little Card, Barnes, & Blackwater Sounds. By 1330, we set the anchor for the night in Tarpon Basin; well protected from the East wind. It is nice to be sailing again after a couple of months of motoring on the ICW.

Anchored By The Venetian Islands

We left the Hollywood Municipal Marina on Saturday at noon, and motored 16 miles to Miami Beach to drop the anchor between Di Lido & San Marino Islands with "Passages". On Sunday, we were lucky to make contact with Chuck on "Soulmates" who had a rental car and offered to drive us to West Marine so that we could replace our broken VHF radio. It decided to stop working for no reason the day we left the marina. We also toured "Little Havana". On Monday, we dinghied into Miami to go to the Holocaust Memorial (our second visit to this very powerful memorial), and we strolled down Lincoln Mall. The weather is cool & cloudy; not your perfect Miami Beach weather, but way better than up north! Looks like after traveling with Mo and George for two months that they will be leaving us to travel back to Vermont because of family illness. We will miss them. Tomorrow we will head south towards Key Largo.

The Flooded Street After the 15 inches of Rain

 

Mo in the Flooded Streets

 

Bailing Out Porty in Hollywood!

Our plan was to leave Hollywood this morning along with "Passages" who came into the Municipal Marina a couple of days ago. But....the rain started to fall yesterday around noontime and hasn't stopped yet (24 hours later)! More than 13 inches of rain fell. At times it has been torrential! There have been tornado watches & warnings, and the parking lot here is flooded. We kept waiting for the rain to let up last night so that we could walk to "Le Tub" but it just wouldn't, so we had grilled ham & cheese sandwiches, and played dominoes with Mo & George. As all boat projects go - the wind generator install is taking longer & longer to complete; but we do see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Looking North on ICW from Hollywood Bridge

 

Mega Yachts at Pier 66

 

Fort Lauderdale Home

 

Jupiter Inlet Light

 

We Have Arrived in Hollywood

We are doing some marina & land time in Hollywood, FL - visiting Mom in Pembroke Pines for about a week to 10 days. "Kismet" is tied up in the Hollywood Muncipal Marina where Jim will be completing some boat projects; installing the Kiss wind generator and three new batteries, replacing the cockpit remote VHF radio, & general boat maintenance. On the day we arrived, I did a long overdue defrost of the refrig/freezer. I hope to never wait that long again! We are also doing tons of laundry - particularly the things that don't get washed on a routine basis - canvas bags, comforter cover, shower curtain, etc. On our way here, we stopped in beautiful Jupiter Island (Hobe Sound) for our semi-annual visit with friends Judy & Ken McBrayer (friends from High School in NH). The trip there from Vero was pretty exciting - thunderstorms & very heavy rain - we couldn't see the ICW markers & we didn't dare go through the bridges til the rain let up. But it was all worth it - had a great dinner & evening with friends. Next stop was the anchorage just beyond Peanut Island in Lake Worth. Went aboard "Cookie Monster" with Robin & Corbett for Happy Hour; which of course made dinner a non-issue! Around 2000, Jim realized that we had moved a significant distance from where we anchored; so we had to reset the anchor. This has only happened a couple times in the 16 months that we have been gone. Probably because the wind and current were so strong in opposing directions. We left Lake Worth at 0700 on Monday. Went out the inlet to check out the conditions in the ocean - it was pretty rough around the inlet, but once we got out about a mile and turned south, conditions improved & we had a nice motorsail to Fort Lauderdale, about a 40 mile trip. We avoided about 20 bridge openings. That was particularly nice because our remote VHF wasn't transmitting. Anchored in beautiful Lake Sylvia in Lauderdale for the night. On Tuesday morning, we arrived at the Marina - pumped out & filled our diesel tank & tied up in the slip. After attacking the defrost job, Jim and I walked to "Le Tub" for pina coladas & fabulous burgers!

Hanging Out in Vero Beach

We motorsailed to the mooring field at Vero Beach on Monday; and rafted up on ball #4 (by the bridge) with "Passages". Jim & George spent two days improving the insulation on "Passages" refrigeration; while Mo & I enjoyed the free bus service to do errands, Mo gave me a haircut, and both of us were up to the challenge of driving our dinghies without the guys. We are expecting rain, thunderstorms, and some wind for the next few days, so we may be here til Saturday. The mooring field is great here - $14.00 a day with good showers & laundry. The field is pretty full so most balls have 2 or 3 boats on them. Many folks stay here all season; hence the name - Velcro Beach!