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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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