Bridges and Their Impact on Travel

Well we left Miami as planned this morning. It was still raining and the wind continued to blow, but it didn't seem too bad, so we left. Our first change came near our anchorage, when we found the bridge we'd planned to pass through to get to the ICW was having problems and would not open. There was another option, so we headed out to that bridge. By the time we'd gotten our opening and were headed north, the weather had gone downhill a bit - winds gusting up to gale force and the rain coming down in torrents. In spite of that, we continued. Fortunately we had put up our entire enclosure for the cockpit, so we stayed a bit dryer than we would have otherwise.

A typical bridge opening on the ICW.
Now imagine one side coming down early.

Ten bridge openings later we made it to Ft. Lauderdale and Lake Sylvia. We did have at least one moment of stress during this passage when one of the bridges that had opened for us began to close on one side as we passed under. I called the bridge tender immediately as a swerved to avoid any contact. I was told the wind caused it to come down a bit. We'd heard stories of bridges closing on a sailboat with disastrous results. Fortunately this was not one of those occasions.

After getting the anchor secured, we just hunkered down for the remainder of the day. It was still raining and blowing. Everything seemed to be at least a bit damp after two plus days of rain.

This portion of the trip reminded me of one aspect of boat choice that we'd never thought about when out hunting. For anyone reading this and still looking for a boat, please read on.

As we hunted for the perfect boat, we looked for a boat with room for us and room for storage. We were also concerned whether the boat could be managed by one person ,about the depth of the keel and the type of sail plan. One thing we never thought about was the height of the mast. Fortunately, our boat's mast is about 50 feet high, so it has presented no special problems for us. However, we've met up with a number of other cruisers for whom the mast height has impacted their travel. The bridges along the ICW are either lift bridges or fixed. Most of the fixed bridges are 65 feet high. A few are only about 63 feet at high tide and at least one in Miami is only 56 feet. For many cruisers with boats in the 45 foot range, their mast is near the 65 foot range. This has caused some anxiety as they travel. They have taken a variety of steps to reduce the stress. This includes getting to the bridges at low tide or taking off their anchor light and moving their radio antenna, so they don't hit the bridge. A few we've met have masts taller than 65 feet. They are forced to travel in the ocean when heading south. While this can be attractive and save time, it also puts them potentially in harms way more frequently or forces them to wait several days or perhaps weeks for a good weather window. Since we do most of our travel on the ICW, a tall mast would have had a serious impact on our travels. We just got lucky and picked a boat with a shorter mast.

Tomorrow we face 22 bridges that must to lift for us to pass. This too impacts our travel, but doesn't prevent us from the travel. If we chose to sail in the ocean, we be staying here for another several days, since the weather out there will be nasty for much of the week. We choose the ICW and will keep on trucking.

Captain Bob

Carpe Diem

Back to "Civilization"

What a change in our scenery as we leave the Keys and head up into what I described in the last post as “civilization.” We left Rodriguez Key and moved up Hawk Channel to No Name Harbor in the state park on Key Biscayne. In traveling that route, we managed to get what will likely be our last views of the beautiful water we've come to almost take for granted. The lighthouse at the south end of Key Biscayne welcomed us to the Miami area. We spent a day at the park walking and biking the trails. Our travels took us to one of the beaches there, so we stopped and Sandra went in for a short swim. There were lots of people there and others who took advantage of the people.

This racoon successfully begs a treat from a beach goer.

We wanted to get out of No Name Harbor before the weekend and plan to plant ourselves until Monday. The weekend traffic in the harbor can be crazy and traveling on the ICW during the weekend can also be very unpleasant. We decided to anchor in Miami Beach within walking distance of South Beach. Our first spot looked good, but the police told us it would be unsafe on the weekend with drinking boaters out after dark, so we were told to move. The next attempt hopefully will prove to be OK. We've not been told to move yet. We anchored here once before without incident. We do know that the weekend will be rocky. Already at 7:30 this morning, a boat went by with a big wake - enough to knock our TV on the floor and break the antenna cord. The TV still appears to work, but we'll have to find a new cord for it. This fact is particularly upsetting, since we spent the winter in the Keys with no TV reception. Now that we can finally watch the news and other programs, the cord broke.

We have managed to get our laundry done, fill our water tanks and go to two different grocery stores: the largest Pulbix we've ever seen with a moving ramp that takes shoppers up to the 2^nd floor parking garage and also the largest Fresh Market – both within a short walk of the dock where we tied up our dinghy. We are hoping the rain will hold off this afternoon to allow us to wander down through South Beach a bit. It's such an interesting place to visit.

This is no place to look at the stars at night. The tall buildings everywhere block out most of them. It's just so different from where we've been. It's also striking that it seems like a foreign country where the primary language is Spanish. We noted this with the boats coming and going in the park, at the restaurant in the park and in the town of Key Biscayne where we went to get a few things. As we got ashore in Miami Beach, the situation appeared to be the same. In the Keys, we found that many of the store clerks spoke Spanish, but here it seems that most everyone speaks the language.

At least we won't have to dodge this in the ICW.

On Monday we'll venture out and head up the ICW to Ft. Lauderdale and then on to West Palm Beach for a visit with my sister. In transiting this route, we'll have to work with bridge tenders at 33 bridges to open for us. Most of them are on a schedule, so we'll have to hurry between some bridges and coast along between others to time our arrival properly. More on that in the next post.

A Weather Forecast That Came True

The winds finally settled enough on Monday for us to get ashore. We took Maddie with us, since she really needed to get some exercise as much as we did. We left the boat in the morning and stopped at several places while we looked for the local Post Office. These days it appears to be increasingly difficult to find even a mailbox to send an old-fashioned letter. By the time we'd walked perhaps a mile and a half to get to the Post Office, we were hungry and happened onto a French bakery/restaurant and enjoyed the best mushroom quiche followed by a great strawberry/banana/chocolate crepe. What a treat! Then it was back to the boat after a bit more walking. Maddie was exhausted and immediately took a nap. We got reorganized before heading out on our own for another couple of stops which included getting some really fresh fish at a local market.

Upon returning and checking the weather for the next several days, we determined that we'd leave tomorrow (Tuesday). Our original plan called for staying a few more days, but the forecast suggested that we'd have to leave tomorrow or wait till next Monday. We kept an eye on the weather forecasts for any changes. It was supposed to offer light winds and flat seas for the next two days. Sounded appealing after our bumpy ride leaving Marathon with Maddie getting seasick.

But we awoke this morning with the boat rocking and the wind blowing. The forecast called for the winds to die down by early afternoon, but we'd heard that line before many times when nothing changed. We weren't sure what to do. We debated a bit before deciding to take the chance and leave with the rising tide at about 11 AM. That timing would get us back out through the two shallow channels without running aground.

We gave Maddie part of a Bonine to help with her seasickness issues and pulled up the anchor as the wind continued to blow. By the time we got out of Florida Bay and into Hawk Channel where the winds would cause more of a problem, they had settled some and continued to do so. It was amazing that the forecast actually turned out to be accurate when we needed it to be. We don't usually get that lucky. Maddie was fine, and we enjoyed a sail up the Channel to our anchorage off Key Largo. What a beautiful afternoon. The water was clear, and Sandra even saw a sea turtle swimming under the boat. I saw a dolphin dive under the boat as well. We got to our anchorage in time for a swim before supper. I managed to use the time to clean the boat bottom some more. It's getting better but not done yet.

While we sat in the cockpit with dinner, I saw a manta ray leap up about 3 feet out of the water. So between the dolphin, the sea turtle and the ray, it appeared as though some of the local residents were bidding us good-by for another year. We'll miss them and the clear, warm water we've enjoyed this year.

And can you believe it...we missed watching the sunset! We'll try again tomorrow evening.

The forecast for tomorrow still looks good, Who knows, perhaps we'll have two days in a row with an accurate forecast. We'll keep our fingers crossed. We'll head out regardless, since the wind will pick up tomorrow night. This anchorage works for tonight, but as the wind changes tomorrow evening, it will be no longer pleasant. So we'll hope for another pleasant sail tomorrow. We're headed up to Key Biscayne just south of Miami – back to what some might call civilization. But that's a subject for another blog.

Till the next addition...

Captain Bob

Traveling Is More Complicated than Staying Put

We have now officially begun our travel once again. As we were dealing with weather issues and concerned about our anchor's holding ability, it occurred to me that perhaps this would be a good time to go into more detail about what's involved with cruising on a sailboat. I was looking over the list of those who receive our emails and are likely read at least some of these posts. Most of you have never cruised like this and may therefore have a sense of what's involved based on reading this or stories about those who do. I often wonder if most people think of the cruising life as sitting in the cockpit watching the sun go down as he or she sips a rum drink and some tasty snacks. There's a bit more to it, and that is why I've decided to produce a more regular blog for a couple of weeks to provide something close to a daily view of life on our boat as we travel.

So with that to serve as an intro, here goes. I'll begin at the beginning – that is, the day we left Marathon. We had planned to leave with another couple and go out into Florida Bay for a night and then head up the Keys to Islamorada on the Bay side. Well, some issues developed which would prevent the other couple from joining us, so we had to decide whether to stay and spend time with them in Marathon or head out. A complicating issue was a weather front coming through over the weekend. If we stayed, we'd likely be in Marathon another five or six days because of that front. If we left on that day (last Thursday) we could make it up to Islamorada in good weather and get settled on our anchor before the foul weather arrived.

After a good deal of discussion during which we decided to stay, then go, then stay, we ended up leaving. The weather was pleasant, but it was a bit choppy in Hawk Channel. We followed Hawk Channel for about three hours before sailing under a bridge and into the quieter Florida Bay. During that time, Maddie managed to get sick three times on different cockpit cushions. We really needed to contact a vet to see if we could give her some seasick medicine. This was not the first time a rocking boat has gotten her sick. (We ended up calling our Marathon vet and getting the OK to give her a half Bonine tablet. )

So we entered the Bay in the early afternoon and sailed to our anchorage. It was early enough for us to get all the way to Islamorada, but to do so we'd have to sail through two shallow channels at low tide. We were pretty sure we'd run aground, so we opted to anchor here for the night and go the final distance including the shallow channels in the morning at high tide. Getting in early allowed us the time to clean the cockpit cushions and Maddie. I had been planning to change the zinc on our prop, so I took this opportunity to do so. This procedure requires that I put my mask and fins on to dive under the boat to perform the replacement. We got that all done while cooling off in the water before a quiet view of the sunset – yes, we do enjoy those sunsets.

The next morning we left our anchorage in time to get through both channels by high tide. We proceeded slowly, but didn't see any depth less than 6.5 feet. We had more than a foot to spare. In many places this would have been much too risky, but in the Keys, the water depth changes very gradually, so we weren't too alarmed by this depth.

A "flats" boat - the pole is used where it's too shallow
to move with the outboard to get to good fishing spots

Once to our anchorage, we were sure to let out an extra amount of chain, since we knew that bad weather would be arriving within a day or so. Since the travel wasn't long, we arrived by noon and had the rest of the day to explore the area and get into the water. I used some of my in water time to scrub the bottom of the boat. Even though we painted with anti-fouling paint, regular cleaning is required during times when we move little. I didn't get it all done – can only stay under water for a short time, so many trips down are required to get a portion completed.

This shark was looking for a snack

Our time ashore was really nice. We had lunch at a nice bakery and listened to some island music, watched tarpon swimming around the docks at one of the waterfront restaurants and watched a shark investigate the scraps thrown over by a fisherman cleaning his catch. We also went to the library to pick up a few movies for entertainment during the bad weather and got Maddie ashore for some exercise.

A sunshine tree at the resort.

Thunder and lightning woke us in the middle of the night. We had to shut hatches and make sure we weren't dragging the anchor. A couple of hatches didn't get closed tightly, resulting in rain getting in and several items getting wet. By morning I had to get the dinghy emptied of water. It was at least half full. We kept an eye on the incoming weather and did our best to stay dry as the rain poured down most of the day. It wasn't all bad, since Sandra took advantage of the confinement to do some cooking, so I ate well. The rest of the time was spent reading and watching a movie.

Today (Sunday) the sun is out, but the wind is blowing at 25 mph with higher gusts. We'll stay aboard again today rather than getting soaked trying to dinghy ashore. Tomorrow will be better. We look forward to enjoying the location more than we've been able to so far. We're also watching the weather to determine when will be the best time to move on up the Keys. We'll know more about that in a day or so. The key is to remain flexible. Cruising can't stick to a firm schedule without risking too much. The weather is all important to our travel planning.

More to come.

By the way, thanks to fellow blogger Dick Mills, photos are now included.

Captain Bob

We Approach the End of a Season

We're now into our last days in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon for this winter. As I began thinking about this entry, a neighbor was dressed in a kilt and playing bagpipes as the sun sets for another day. What an interesting and unusual place this is. We've thoroughly enjoyed our time here once again, but also look forward to stops we've planned for the trip north.

Even Maddie has enjoyed the boating here.

Our daughter Jennifer came down to visit for several days following Samantha's visit. We thoroughly enjoyed her time here, but we were frustrated by not being able to get her out to the reef. The winds were up which prevented us from trying it. We did get her out into Florida Bay for a night – even managed to include a rip-roaring thunderstorm for a little excitement. We also got to the Dolphin Research Center. It was great to get there again and watch the dolphins people watch. (Note photo in previous blog entry.)

As we get to the middle of April, we continue to notice the changes in the harbor and town. Far fewer boats are here, although we still see regular traffic. Most of the boaters arriving now appear to be on their way back north from somewhere else or Florida boaters out for a week or two of cruising. Most of the snowbirds have already departed.

The coral is 20 ft. below the surface.

One aspect of our time here has been our contact with the creatures that call this area home. Our several trips to Big Pine Key have afforded us many meetings with the Key Deer, a small variety of deer that are unique to that island. From our boat we've seen dolphins playing with fish before eating, a spotted eagle ray swimming around our dinghy and manatees swimming here and there around the harbor. Our neighbors include pelicans, gulls, frigate birds, cormorants, osprey and terns on the water along with a variety from iguanas to ibises on land. Having finally made it out to the reef for a bit of snorkeling, (after Jenn left) we've come up close and personal with lots of fish from parrot fish to barracudas as well as blue tangs, Bermuda chubs, angelfish and yellow tail snappers among others. The coral was beautiful to see as well. It seems that the water clears up in the spring to allow for great visibility out there. Of all the places we've visited, this is probably the one allowing contact with the greatest variety of creatures with whom we share the planet. And this contact reminds us of our important relationships with other life here.

One of our neighbors

We've now determined our travel plan for the first part of the trip at least. We'll head up the Keys to Islamorada on the Bay side. After checking the charts, it appears the water will be deep enough to make that trek. We'll pass through two cuts at or near high tide, but otherwise we should be fine. This area we'll visit will offer plenty of swimming, a bit of island music and just relaxation. Then it will be north in Hawk Channel up to Miami and north. Our exact route beyond Miami will be determined by weather. We'll report on how this goes and future travel plans as we go.

Until then...Carpe Diem!

Captain Bob