The Last stretch to Marathon

Leaving Miami behind

The last days of our travel down to Marathon went as smoothly as we could have wished for. The days were pleasantly warm with enough breeze to help the boat move along and keep bugs away at night. Once we departed the lights and sounds of the city of Miami Beach, we traveled a path we'd not tried before. Instead of heading out past Key Biscayne to the ocean and Hawk Channel, we sailed down Biscayne Bay and into Card Sound. It was good sailing with no real problems going through two shallow banks on the way. We anchored for the night by Pumpkin Key, a small island at the north end of Key Largo. What a change from Miami. No lights; no noise – just a quiet, peaceful anchorage. While it is difficult to say exactly why, it did feel like the Keys. A mix of mangroves and palm trees along the shoreline probably helped provide the sense of the place.

If we had lots of time to kill and felt adventurous, we might have continued down this path on the west side of the Keys all the way to Marathon. The route on the “Bay side” includes a few areas that are charted shallower than our boat's draft, but the tides have been running higher than normal, so we might have been successful using that route. However, the challenges we had faced further north with shallow water made us less anxious to tempt our fate. If we couldn't make the entire route through the shallows, we'd have to retrace our route back to this point and head out to Hawk Channel. We decided to try it another year...maybe. On this day we'd be first passing through Angelfish Creek to get out to Hawk Channel. The chart tells us that this too is shallow for us, but all the reports indicated that we could make it with no problems as long as we did so at high tide. We went through near that point in the tide and made it through without difficulty. It is a passage that we might use again to avoid rough ocean weather. (The route from here south is more protected by the reef than the Channel is between here and Miami.)

From here the remainder of the travel was really nice with lots of sun and, again, just enough breeze to help us along and keep us cool. We spent a night at Rodriguez Key and then on to Boot Key Harbor, our winter home.

Sunrise in Boot Key Harbor

This is the earliest we've arrived in Boot Key Harbor, so we were surprised to find the mooring field more full than it had appeared upon arrival in past years. There is still room for many more boats, just not as many more as we would have expected. Our favorite mooring was available to us again this year, so life is good.

Upon arrival, we were welcomed by friends we'd gained in previous years here, making it all the more like a homecoming. As of this point, we've been to Tai Chi already, stopped by the library for movies and made our first run (or rather walk) to the grocery store. As some may be aware, the reason for getting movies at

One of the regular customers at the Keys Fishery

the library is that there is no TV reception this far from the cities. We get our news from our phones and our entertainment from the library's movie collection and from Red Box. As is one of our traditions here, we head out to the Keys Fishery for our first meal, although we didn't get a lobster reuben this year.

Once we get the boat arranged for our current setting, I'll begin the work on boat projects. It seems that whenever we travel, something on the boat needs attention. I have enough work to keep me busy for some time...on a part-time basis, of course.

While we enjoyed the brief visit to the cities of West Palm Beach and Miami Beach, we prefer the small town atmosphere we find here in Marathon where passing dinghies offer a wave of greeting and there are lots of other friendly greetings once ashore.

South from Vero (Velcro) Beach, Finally

A good deal of time has passed since I last made an entry into this blog. During much of the time we were not on the boat, but were visiting family up north. We had great visits friends, with my sisters, Sandra's sisters and our daughters and their families including our three grandsons. One of Sandra's sisters made the trip south to spend nearly a week with us on the boat in Vero Beach...great visit.

Saying "Good-by" to Vero as the sun rises

After we returned from all our visiting, we decided that once we got into October, we'd begin thinking about heading back south to Marathon. After a couple of attempts which got delayed due to weather and other issues, we finally made the move this past Monday. Given our lengthy period without traveling by boat, our first day was less than perfect, due to human error. Nothing serious, and we always try to learn from our mistakes. We had hoped to spend the night in a quiet anchorage off the ICW at a state park. The anchorage is misnamed Peck Lake. It's really not a lake – just a wide spot in the waterway. But it was closed to us due to a dredging operation. We found another good spot a bit further south and enjoyed a pleasant evening.

The next day we kept moving south, this time to Lake Worth – another area misnamed. It's a wide swath of salty to brackish water between the barrier island and the mainland. We anchored by the West Palm Beach city docks that made it possible for us to go ashore and walk a bit in downtown WPB. Across “Lake Worth” is Palm Beach, home of many of the rich and famous. Of course this group is hardly limited to Palm Beach. From Vero Beach south we've seen ample evidence of wealth equal to or exceeding that of Palm Beach. And as I've mentioned in earlier blog entries, this evidence of conspicuous consumption extends all the way to Maimi and beyond.

The day we traveled south from WPB to Ft. Lauderdale could be described as a day of bridge openings.

A bascule bridge in the open position

We face bridges regularly on the ICW which are lift bridges called bascule bridges. (The two segments which form the bridge over the channel lift in the middle providing a space for our mast to get through without issue.) In fact we must call and request bridge openings 36 times between Vero Beach and Miami. Several additional fixed bridges span the ICW in this stretch, but they are high enough for us to slide under without issue. Needless to say, this slows our travel down a bit, especially since many of these bridges open on a schedule. If we arrive at another time, we must wait till the scheduled opening time.

Of course, like all mechanical contraptions, these bridges require maintenance from time to time or upgrades. Some even require replacement. On this particular trip we were surprised by the number of bridges being worked on while we passed. In a couple of cases, this work required adjustment to their schedule. For those who might be heading through the area this fall or winter, you might want to note that the Royal Park Bridge and Southern Blvd Bridge, both in Lake Worth, open 15 minutes later than normal. Not far south of these, the Lantana Bridge is undergoing a rebuilding. There is no bridge tender (the person you talk to about opening the bridge). The work crew must manually work the controls to open. They don't seem to have a schedule but will make plans to open it when called upon to do so. In our case, they first reported that they would get it open in an hour which stretched to an additional half hour before we could pass. Then there is the Las Olas Blvd Bridge in Ft. Lauderdale which now opens only once at 15 minutes past the hour instead of the normal every half hour. The remaining bridges opened as scheduled although in one case only one span opened. There was still enough room, but we had to be careful to keep the mast in the middle of the smaller opening.

Then there was a bridge just north of Miami that closed off traffic at the appointed time and then must have been distracted. A few minutes later, he let the traffic pass over the bridge again without ever opening it. He did see the error of his ways thanks to a phone call from the next bridge tender. He then promptly opened the bridge to allow my passage. That next bridge tender then delayed is opening till I got there – very nice of him.

My final message to those who might follow our path this fall relates to a stretch of water just after the Bakers Haulover Inlet. There's been a bit of shoaling there, nothing new I guess. But this year it has gotten worse. I read about others who had run aground there when passing at low tide who also mentioned where the water was particularly skinny. Based on that, I arranged to pass through the area two hours prior to low tide. It wasn't soon enough as it turned out. I still managed to find the bottom. There was a handy tow boat ready to help at a high cost. I chose rather to call TowBoatUS with whom I have insurance to cover such problems. He came quickly, and we were once again on our way. Another sailboat traveling the other direction quickly went aground also. I think he may have paid the price and also got off quickly. In the future, I'll not pass that way unless it's at high tide.

So as this is written, we are enjoying a little quiet time anchored near South Beach in Miami. We've already been ashore to visit a grocery store (several are within easy walking distance). We'll get some fresh water and do a little people watching in an interesting city. We took a couple of photos here. The first is a night scene of Miami. The building most lighted at the time of the photo was using the lights to create a video of a woman dancing. The photo may not show that clearly. The second shows what happens when plans go wrong...or perhaps when planning was not done as thoroughly as needed. This truck, at a boat launch ramp, had a trailer attached, though at the moment still invisible.

Finally, I've included one of Sandra's latest basket creations. She is still busy at this craft and is doing some oil painting. Perhaps I'll include one of her works in a blog at some point.

Carpe Diem

Captain Bob

New Kayaks...again

There are times when we make decisions or take actions that, on the surface, may appear to be a bit odd.

We made one such decision recently, but first a little background. Last fall as we prepared to head south for the winter, we decided not to bring our kayaks along. They take up space on the deck and get in the way of some of our regular activities while traveling – particularly the anchoring process. We weren't sure how much we'd actually used them in the Keys, so we decided to leave them in Gloucester for this trip south.

When we didn't return to Gloucester this past summer, we had to decide what to do with them. In the end we moved them to our daughter Jennifer's home with the plan of putting one on the top of the car for the August trip to Vero and pick up the other on our return south after the Christmas car trip north. Getting a rack became the problem – a bit pricey for most, so we opted for the cheap approach with foam and straps. This worked for a day, before the kayak began to move around on the roof. We ended up deciding it wasn't a safe approach and left the kayak with a friend we visited in North Carolina. We made the decision that we'd done our bit with kayaks and we could live without them. It would continue to be nice not to have to deal with them on deck. We could give one to Jenn's husband (Jenn already has a kayak) and try to sell the other one. So far, so good.

Then we got to Vero Beach and found that another boater here had two inflatable kayaks for sale, both at what would probably be the cost of a car rack for one kayak. When not in use, we could store them on deck in their cases or put them in the V-berth. The more we thought about the idea of inflatables, the more the idea became appealing. We also determined that we could transport them by car either in the back or even on the roof in their cases without a great deal of difficulty. So now we actually own four kayaks. Within a short time, we should get the number back down to two. Our previous experience with inflatables was not too positive, but these appear to work well. Maddie even likes to ride on them and is more content than she was on the hard kayaks in the past.

So how have the worked out so far? Well, not bad. We've been out for a couple of rides, and they have helped to remind us why we like kayaking. There are several reasons worth sharing. First, they are quiet. We can hear the osprey screeching as it calls its mate. We can hear the fish jumping in the evening as we paddle along. We find it remarkable how we can be so close to evidence of civilization and yet slide along with the wild things. For birds, we see the osprey, kingfishers, herons, gulls and pelicans. Fish of various sizes jump from the surface. Sometimes we wonder what might be below chasing them. On one of our kayaking trips we were visited by a half dozen dolphins who traveled past, seemingly unphased by our close proximity. As much as we enjoyed the dinghy ride the other night, getting rid of the noise of the outboard brought us that much closer to life around us – really quite special. And to think that so many people live close by in expensive homes and condos, and they never really experience this aspect of life so close by. It reminds us what special opportunities we enjoy as boaters.

I'm confident now that we will continue to enjoy these new purchases in the weeks and months to come.

Captain Bob

Carpe Diem

Of Docks and Clouds

 Since our return, we've lived at the dock. We didn't sense how different that is from our normal arrangement on anchor or at a mooring until we got out for a dinghy ride one evening. It reminded us of what it's like to be out in a boat away from shore-side security. “This is what we like.” we commented as we putted along – out on our own, unattached to land. We clearly missed this sense of being out on the water while we were in a slip at the dock.

As we live here in south Florida during the summer months, we find that the weather remains rather unsettled and the cloud formations quite interesting if not spectacular at times. We notice this most along the beach and while out in the dinghy away from the shore side trees which partially block our view. Even if the sky is pretty clear at sunrise, the daily heating of land by the sun combined with the moist air by the ocean create numerous showers and thunderstorms in the area before the day is done. Below is a sampling of the often complex cloud patterns we enjoy.

Even in September this is a daily occurrence. We are reminded that the sun rises higher in the sky here in September than what our daughter in NH sees in July. It's still pretty intense. And the daily threat of showers impacts our progress on boat projects. Right now we're attempting to get the teak rails covered, but we can't do it with the sun high nor when it's likely to rain. Since these are both likely to be daily occurrences, our progress is a bit slower than we'd like. However, we find other activities like swimming at the beach or morning and evening beach walks to fill our time. Life is good.

Sandra during an evening beach walk

Captain Bob

Carpe Diem

Back on the Water

After nearly three months with no blog additions, I'm back at it. We spent the summer away from the boat up north engaged in lots of great adventures with family and friends. These included among a number of others: camping in the White Mountains of NH, camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Shenandoah National Park, visiting with children and grandchildren as well as visiting sisters and their families.

Blue Ridge Mountains from Skyline Drive

But now we're back home on Carpe Diem in Vero Beach, Florida (for those who've forgotten where we left the boat). This brings to mind an interesting phenomenon we've experienced as we move about. Most people know that when they are home, they are also in a specific geographic location. Not so with us. Hence we have this problem occasionally. We sleep in our own bed at night, but we wake up in the morning with the familiar surroundings inside the boat, but it takes a minute or two to remember where home is at that moment. Usually we can remind ourselves by knowing what month it is and then determining where we should be during that month. Not so this year. Here it is September, so we should be up in Virginia or even further north. We've never been at home in Florida in September, so we can't even use the date. This helps to keep our life interesting.

The view of the Vero mooring field from our cockpit

All things haven't changed this year, however. Since it's September, we are doing the usual annual cleaning and fix-up chores. These normally include waxing the hull, checking each of the sails for tears or failed seams and taking care of the boats bottom paint. We also have this year, as most years, a variety of fix-it chores to address before we leave Vero. This year, however, we're not repainting. Since many cruisers manage to do this biannually or even less frequently, we're going to give the biannual schedule a try this time around. We will have a diver do a thorough cleaning of the bottom, scraping off the barnacles and algae that have accumulated over the summer.

Of course we're not in a hurry to leave the protection of this marina, since we're still in active hurricane season. With Sandra's sister Paula coming for a visit in early October, we'll stay a bit beyond her visit before heading out.

In the meantime, we aren't spending all our time working on the boat. We're also enjoying our current “home” location. The beach is a mile away and the ocean water temperature is really nice and warm. We've been swimming several times and plan to continue enjoying that option as well as evening walks on the beach which is never crowded.

The views of water and clouds are spectacular on our beach walks.

My sister Mary Jo is in West Palm Beach, so we've already been down to visit her and her family.

The rocket that carried the shuttle

Additionally, we drove up to Cape Kennedy Space Center for a tour. We hadn't been there since our girls we quite young, so we could remember little of that visit and knew that much more would be displayed now perhaps 35 years later. We were correct on that assumption. What a spectacular visit. We heard lots of what has been happening here over the past decades and learned that NASA is beginning to reorganize the station for the next phase – that of moving from serving as a launch pad only for NASA scientific explorations to that of providing similar services for commercial and private entities. Already SpaceX has launched a vehicle from here to bring supplies to the International Space Station. No people on board yet, but that is bound to happen as well. Boeing also has facilities at the Kennedy Space Center. It sounds as though other corporations as well will be getting actively involved in space travel.

Taken by the Hubble telescope - Orion will never seem quite the same.

We learned lots about the space station and the Hubble telescope and saw photos of the far corners of our known universe, thanks to Hubble – really spectacular!

I know that we're not getting along with Russia these days as much as we'd like on many fronts. However, when it comes to space, we seem to be working pretty well together. The space station residents have been getting shuttled up and back by the Russians, since our shuttle operation is on hold, waiting for the new vehicle that I believe Lockheed Martin is building. The crews have been a mixture of US, Russian, Japanese and European astronauts with perhaps representatives from other places as well. It's great that we can work together on such projects. Too bad we can't extend that cooperation to all aspects of our life here on this small planet.  

Fast Travel North

Another two weeks or so have passed since the last entry to this blog. During that time we managed to remain fairly active and got a bit of work done on the boat as well.

I'll begin with the boat issues. Boat work included getting the engine's fresh water pump replaced as was noted earlier. This was accomplished without any issues. The water pump for our use with the fresh water system on the boat seemed to have an air leak. Such a leak could come from so many places; I struggled to find the solution. I ended up talking to clerk at West Marine who suggested where the leak might originate. Upon checking, I found he was correct – fixed.

I knew the dinghy bottom needed its periodic cleaning after dealing with this task a few times during each winter in Marathon. I was surprised to find that in just three short weeks, barnacles covered the bottom – a very different situation from that in Marathon where I'd see few barnacles but lots of soft growth. After seeing the situation with the dinghy, I dove under the boat to check the prop. It too had lots of barnacles.  Barnacles on the prop can rob it of much of its power, so it's important to keep the blades clean.  Then it was on to the teak toe rails and grab rails. Since we've stopped varnishing them, the cleaning process goes quickly – about a day's work to get all of it looking good again.

I'd been having problems with my anchor windlass as noted in an earlier addition. It has been repaired, but I still find the chain getting jammed on occasion. I determined that the rust on the chain was the culprit, so I pulled it all out – all 200 feet of it – to find that some of it was really looking pretty bad. I determined that the first 100 feet was salvageable and cut the remainder off. I then bathed the better half in a solution of muriatic acid and water. Wow! What a great job in just a matter of 15 minutes. It doesn't look like new, but does look so much better, and most all of the rust is gone. I didn't like loosing the 2^nd 100 feet, but I came to the conclusion that I rarely use more than 100 feet when traveling the ICW or in the Keys. I still have 200 feet of nylon anchor line attached to the chain, so I'll be safe on the rare occasions when more anchor rode than 100 feet is needed.

Since we'd be leaving the boat for at least two months, we had to clean out most of the food. Those of you who know Sandra know that she always carries enough on board for emergencies … and perhaps a bit more. But with real effort, she has managed to use up most of what was stored away.

We also decided the safest solution for the boat while we were gone was to put it back on a mooring. Leaving it in a slip was not as desirable. If a hurricane came through, we'd have to have it moved to a mooring or I'd have to fly down to do the moving. Having it on a mooring already just means one less concern.  Mac and Pat Rice (who live in Vero Beach now) offered to watch it for us. That is a big help, since we know that they will recognize a problem with the boat if it arises.

Leaving the boat in south Florida for the summer means lots of moisture and likelihood of mold. Therefore we purchased packages crystals that are supposed to reduce the moisture build up. We know we'll have to deal with mold upon our return, but we're hoping this addition will reduce the extent of the problem. Time will tell. We also had to take down the bimini and secure the sails and anything left on deck for possible strong winds as well. Then, of course, we had to be prepared for a hurricane in another way. We had to be sure to take with us any important papers and insurance info in the event that a big hurricane came and sank the boat. We aren't expecting that outcome, but we still must prepare for it. If we're in NE when it comes, we won't be able to zip down to grab such items.

Finally, we had to deal with the fact that we'd be away from most of our stuff for the two plus months. During that time we'd be doing some camping, and we'd be spending time in Virginia and New England where the weather may vary a good deal. So clothes and camping equipment and anything else we think we might need that was on board had to be packed to take with us. Since we live in a small space, one might think that we shouldn't have much to deal with. Those who think that would probably be amazed by the quantity of personal belongings we have stored aboard.  Sandra worked through  that and got a lengthy list of items we had to bring with us as we went north by car.

So we addressed all these issues with time to continue enjoying our stay in Vero Beach. As we neared our departure date, Sandra celebrated a birthday, so I had a few plans to make her day a special one. However, our daughter Jennifer had a bigger surprise. She drove our car down to Vero and arrived on her mother's birthday! We were both surprised and pleased. We quickly changed our plans to stay a couple more days and share the local highlights with our daughter and her dog, Kaya. We went to the movies as I had already planned and went to one of the nicer restaurants along the beach for a special birthday dinner. We went swimming a few times and even took the dogs to a beach where they could play a bit. During one of those beach trips, we saw manatees swimming just out beyond the surf – a first for us.

Jenn with Kaya and Maddie in the surf

On Thursday of this week we finally did move the boat out to the mooring and began our drive north to Virginia. Since we had to move the boat and do the last minute securing that morning and then had to make a stop in St. Augustine to pick up mail that we were supposed to gather as we sailed up earlier in the month, we decided not to push the travel but take two days to complete the drive. We stopped the first night just outside of Savannah, and then finished the trek on Friday. It was a bit strange to note the signs along the highway for places we'd visited during our travels up and down the ICW. Of course, we'd travel in an hour what would normally take us a full day to do by boat. This “fast” travel made for a very different experience.

Savannah riverfront - and interesting place

Our evening stop in the Savannah area was memorable for a couple of reasons. The only other time we'd been there was in February. It was cool then with few tourists. This time it was not cool and there were lots of tourists. In fact the temperature hit 100 that afternoon. We did our tour of the river front and enjoyed a meal in the evening with the temp cooling down to 95. Even the pool at the motel was less than refreshing, but we enjoyed our time there in spite of the temperature. We would like to return for another visit – perhaps during the fall or spring if we travel that far north again by boat. (You see, given our experiences over the past few years, we are reluctant to be sure of any plans. Now that we've left the boat in Florida once, we might do it more often. We will address those future travel concerns when we are closer to a decision time.)

So now we are at Jennifer and Greg's home where we will remain for a couple of weeks before pushing further north to New England with our other daughter Samantha,our other son in law and 3 grandchildren in NH. Blog additions will be missing or infrequent till we are headed back to the boat late in the summer. So until that next addition, best wishes to one and all for a wonderful summer.

Carpe Diem

Captain Bob

Learning about the "velcro" part of Vero Beach

As I sit down to write this entry, I look back on an interesting and unexpected week here in Vero

Live oaks shade the streets

Beach, one that has increased our awareness of all that is available here. We've enjoyed regular walks in the neighborhoods near the marina. They are beautiful with a combination of southern and tropical vegetation. Live oaks are everywhere with their long, low branches providing shade to many yards. We also see lots of different palms as well as banyan, banana trees and many more we can't name. Lots of bushes are blooming now from hibiscus to jasmine. Even the mangroves are blooming. During our winters in Marathon the mangroves were everywhere, but we never saw them bloom. Just the wrong time of year.

loggerhead nest site

Beyond the neighborhoods is the beach. We've been swimming twice so far. The water is warm and the surf is up – great fun. Lots of people are at the beach, but since it goes for miles, there are no big crowds concentrating where we've been. But what was surprising we learned that it's not just people who use the beach here. This is a nesting sight for sea turtles. They come ashore at night from May till late summer. The last time we biked down to the beach, we saw a small area roped off – turtle nest – right near where people were sunning themselves. We've also noted the birds here. They

look big enough to be considered parrots, but they are a large species of parakeet. Apparently they are native to this area, but they've gotten loose or were released over the years and have been able to establish themselves. They help to give validity to the local promotion of the area as the beginning of the tropics.

bird of paradise

As those who know us realize, we are big on fresh fruits and vegetables. So we were pleased to learn of a farmers market every Saturday within walking distance...and it's advertised as being pet friendly. We went to it this past Saturday. It offered lots of good things and Maddie got to meet several dogs. I suspect we'll be weekly visitors to this.

It's also been a busy week visiting with others. This aspect began as we waited for the bus to take us to the grocery store. As we approached the stop, we noted a woman doing Tai Chi and then realized it was Kathy Duffy from Marathon. She and Steve had recently arrived and were headed off to a movie – the 3D version of the latest Star Trek saga. We decided to join them. A bit later in the week we were invited over to the home of former cruisers we'd first met in Virginia. Mac and Pat Rice have moved off the boat and are now members of CLODs (cruisers living on dirt) here in Vero. We had a great evening with them and look forward to more time together while we are here. Over the weekend, my sister Mary Jo and her husband Scott and son Toby came up for a picnic here – another great visit. They live in West Palm Beach, just 90 minutes south of here.

Of course our time isn't filled just with touring and visiting. Since we aren't taking the boat back to Virginia, those projects we had planned to address up there are now on our list for our time here. Fortunately, the engine's water pump issue should come to a successful conclusion sooner than expected. We learned last Friday that the pump that supposedly was in Japan in fact came from St. Petersburg, FL and arrive already. Unfortunately the gasket that is needed with the pump was in Japan, but is supposed to arrive early next week. Therefore we may have the engine back up to good working order by the time we drive north. The best part of all that is the fact that it appears that the fix will be covered under warranty.

We are finding that, with use and time, our boat parts continue to age and fail. We've got a list of items to replace or repair before we leave this spot sometime in the fall. Once we return late in the summer with our car, we'll have a bit more flexibility to get the last of the list addressed.

Finally, all should know that Sandra continues work on her baskets in spite of spending lots of time cleaning and preparing for our departure in a few days. Her latest result is below. She also continues to help others learn how to make the baskets. She seems to enjoy helping others as much as making them herself.

That's it for now. We'll continue to enjoy our time here as well the opportunity to meet fellow cruisers who stop in.

Carpe Diem

Captain Bob

Stuck in Velcro Beach

Well, how do I begin this entry? I guess it's about following plan C when plans A & B don't work out any longer. In our case, plan C is the result of a minor problem with our “new” engine. The fresh water pump which circulates coolant through the engine has begun to leak indicating that the bearings are worn. The pump needs to be replaced. We learned this while we were on a mooring at Vero Beach and about to leave to continue our northern travel.

The problem is that these pumps don't generally fail. So one question still to be answered is “why did it fail?” The practical situation related to this pump that never fails is that there are no replacement pumps available in this country. The engine is a Yanmar built in Japan, and the nearest replacement is also in Japan. The wait for a new one would be 2-3 weeks at best, perhaps longer. Our summer plans don't allow for us to stay here several weeks and still get north on time. Soooooo we put the boat in a slip here in Vero Beach where it will stay for the summer we'll go north via rental car early next month and then plan to return here in late August to deal with the issues.

We had talked about leaving the boat south at some point to avoid the long trek north, but we didn't imagine it would be this year and we hadn't considered Vero Beach, although it's a good place to spend time. Hence the nickname among cruisers of “Velcro Beach.”

We had spent a couple of days here already. The city runs a free bus service that stops at the marina and also a several shopping centers. We had used this to get our groceries and also took a morning to visit a local botanical garden. It was jungle-like in appearance but also boasted 50 varieties of water lilies, most of which were in bloom. The ocean beach is less than a mile away, so we walked there yesterday and enjoyed a swim in the waves. The water is near 80 degrees, so not difficult to get in. Now that we know we'll be here for a while, we looking into more of the local hotspots to explore. In spite of all plans, we can never say for sure that we'll have another opportunity here.

                              The botanical garden photos

When built, this was the largest bamboo structure in North America

While I had planned to continue blogging our travel, since we are no longer traveling up the ICW, my entries will be a little less frequent. We are still adjusting to the forced change in plans, but we are looking at it as a new and unexpected adventure that will offer good times that we have yet to learn about.

Till the next blog entry....Carpe Diem

Captain Bob

Leaving the Keys

As a slight change in approach to these blog entries, I thought over the next several days of travel I would share a few of the thoughts and concerns that we address as we travel. It is in this way that we might share a bit more of life on the ICW.

Well, the trip didn't start out quite as planned. We'd checked the weather reports from several sources. They all seemed in agreement that the winds would be out of the SE and blowing from 10 – 15 kts. This would give us wind to sail but not so much as to create uncomfortable waves. That way, the Hawk Channel up the ocean side wouldn't be too rolly. We woke up to winds blowing more like 15-20 with lots of it near the 20 level. That created steep, choppy waves from 2-4ft with several five footers in there. The result was that, even though we could sail and did, Sandra didn't feel good all day and Maddie was sick five times in the cockpit. She wasn't a happy camper at all. At this point I was concerned about our anchorage at Rodriguez Key. You see, there aren't any good anchorages along Hawk Channel for sailboats with a five foot keel or more. Rodriguez Key offers a bit of protection if the winds are out of the south or north. Winds coming due east aren't good. And that is what it appeared we might have. Then the forecast changed a bit with predictions of winds out of the SW at 5-10 kts. That looked good for anchoring on the north side.

By the time we got there, the winds were light and the water flat, so we had a pleasant evening which naturally included a swim in the clear water. The only negative moment came at about 3 in the morning when a fellow in a small fishing boat had music blaring and buzzed us and other anchored boats yelling crazy comments. We soon were back to sleep, though.

The forecast for the next day as we would move up to Key Biscayne was to include light winds becoming 10-15 out of the northeast by afternoon. That would mean we'd have winds right on the nose, so we decided to leave early, so we could make the 50 mile trip mostly during the morning when the winds were supposed to be light.

We were on our way by a little after 6:30AM, just before the sun rose for the day. It was beautiful. The

Sunrise on Hawk Channel

winds were light, so the water was flat. Nobody was getting seasick today. The water in the northern Keys along Hawk Channel was really clear. We watched the bottom 20 feet below us as we slid by. We also saw two manatees along our route and noted an interesting ring around the sun. I guess the humidity caused that – not really sure.

Again, so much for accurate weather forecasts. The winds never picked up much and none of it came from the NE. We anchored off of No Name Harbor for another quiet evening. We did get ashore and provided Maddie with a little exercise. And did I mention that we went for another swim?

Guess we're out of the Keys!

The forecast for Tuesday was more accurate. We were to get drier air and wind blowing 15 – 18 out of the NE. But by now we were on the ICW, so there was little wave action. Tidal current was more a factor as we planned to arrive at each of 10 bridges at the scheduled opening time. We were successful most of the time, but twice had to do circles in a tight area waiting for the next opening, usually a half hour later. In spite of those minor issues, we arrived at our anchorage in Lake Sylvia in Ft. Lauderdale by 2 PM. For those not familiar with Lake Sylvia, it's not really a lake. It's really just a wide area in the extensive canal system there. It provides a safe anchorage with views of multi-million dollar homes along the shore.

How's this for a humble winter cottage?

Because we got there so early, we decided to try a dinghy ride to someplace where we could get out and walk around a bit. We followed a route described in our guide that took us under a low bridge and along a couple of canals to a small restaurant at the end of a canal where, if we bought some food, we could tie the dinghy for free. The trip over to this spot included views of so many million dollar yachts and homes. I'm sure we saw at least 25 boats over 75 feet long – some over 150 feet. And this was on the short dinghy ride. As we traveled through Ft. Lauderdale the next day, we must have seen 100 or more such yachts.

We just had to duck a bit.

So much for our astonishment. We had a bite to eat outside on the restaurant's deck (Maddie was with us) and then went for a walk that took us to the largest West Marine store in the country. It's described as their flagship store. On the walk back as we waited to cross a street, a young woman stopped in her car to offer us a ride. We had met her first in Marathon three years ago, then again in Bimini and last in Miami a year and a half ago. She said she noticed a couple who looked like cruisers (we do seem to have a look) and then recognized Maddie. What a surprise and a welcome gesture!

Just a few of the many large yachts we saw, a couple of older ones, but most new.

After a quiet night, we headed out first thing the next day to deal with 19 more bridges most opening on a schedule designed for boats just a bit faster than ours. It was a long day, but otherwise uneventful, and we arrived in Lake Worth by Palm Beach by 6 PM. After a meal, we put on the TV to watch programs for the first time all winter. You see, we can't pick up any stations on our antenna from the Keys, so this was our first chance since heading down there in early December.

Today has another long day from Lake Worth to Vero Beach. We started even earlier – 6:15 AM – in order to be on time for the first of several more bridge openings. Once again the weather was great as were the views from the ICW of beautiful homes and lots of nature from dolphins, to osprey, pelicans and even a few frigate birds. By late morning we had dealt with our last scheduled bridge opening. We still had a couple more bridges to get openings from, but they were on request, meaning we didn't have to get there at a specific time. In fact, most of these bridge tenders (the official who runs the bridge opening) have the timing down so well that we never had to slow down. The only exception was by the Jupiter Inlet where the bridge wouldn't open at all till a technician performed some maintenance. We only had to wait a few minutes, though.

We finally arrived at the Vero Beach Marina about 5:30 PM. We'll spend a couple of days here restocking and enjoying the chance to get on land for some sightseeing and walking. This is a popular stop for many cruisers, due in part to the free bus service that takes you practically anywhere in town. It's so popular that it has the nickname of Velcro Beach, because cruisers just have a tough time leaving. In fact some cruisers don't leave. They stay long enough to sell their boats and move to dry land. They formed a group called CLODs (cruisers living on dirt) and still get together regularly.

OK, enough of this blog entry. It's time to get this posted. I'll just leave you with a couple of extra photos to let all know that Sandra is still busy making baskets even as we travel.

Carpe Diem

Captain Bob

It's time to leave Paradise and head north

Well in spite of my best intentions, it's been now a whole month since my last entry onto this blog. We have been busy, so I'll use that as the excuse.

Shortly after the last entry was posted, Samantha, Jeremy and family arrived for a two week stay. They had rented a house on a canal within view of our mooring. We went to Ft. Lauderdale to meet them and help transport the family back. They'd have needed a van because the boys each are young enough for a car seat, and three just don't fit in one seat. So we took the two oldest boys with us. First stop was Robert Is Here. It's a popular fruit and vegetable market with lots of tropical options to choose from. They also have lots of animals to see and a splash park for the kids. (Go to: http://www.robertishere.com/xcart/home.php to see all that is offered there.

From there we took the short drive to the Everglades National Park and a walk on a trail to lots of alligators. It was rather warm for our northern guests, so we didn't linger and continued south the Keys and their home for this vacation. During the next two weeks we managed to fill each day, and the older boys slept in the boat each night. We went to the beach on four occasions, went to a pool on four days, got down to Key West where we stopped at the Butterfly Conservatory and the aquarium. The kids got to the Turtle Hospital and the Dolphin Research Center twice. They managed to get in a handshake and up close meeting with dolphins while there. They also enjoyed another splash park. All in all, everyone seemed to have a great time. The two weeks ended all too quickly and it was time for another trip to Ft. Lauderdale and a plane flight for them.

Sam, Ryan, Chris and Nathan were busy at the beach.

The boys taking a break at the Butterfly Conservatory.

It's good luck if a butterfly lands on you. Sandra was having a really lucky day!

Chris was about to shake with a dolphin.

Mother and daughter were happy to be together.

We headed back for a few days before we too headed north – in the car to return it to Virginia. During the two day trip north, we managed to stop at a marina in Brunswick, Georgia to check it out. We expect the day will arrive when we won't want to make the trip all the way up to VA again, so we're looking for some place acceptable that is closer to the Keys. Brunswick is about the halfway point. People we've met here use that marina as summer base, hence our interest in checking it out.

We arrived in Virginia in time to take the car to the marina we plan use this summer for the boat – Salt Ponds. We hadn't been there for 17 years, so we wanted to check it out and leave the car. Jenn met us there and then took us back to her house for the night. After an all-too-short visit, she drove us to the airport in Richmond the next morning for our flight back to Florida where we rented a car for the final leg of the journey back to Marathon.

Since our return, we've prepared the boat and done the provisioning. Of course, since we are about to leave, problems arose. Our fresh water pump died; our outboard was running poorly, our toilet was backing up a bit and Sandra's bike got a flat tire. All this in addition to taking the dinghy to shore to clean the growth off the bottom and taking the big boat out to Coconut Key to clean its bottom. Boot Key Harbor is a fertile spot for algae and barnacle growth. I must hold my breath and dive down to either scrape or use a stiff brush. The result of this is that we'll travel a bit faster and use less fuel.With diesel fuel costing between four and five dollars a gallon, the fuel cost for the trip will be near $450 if we do well. It could end up costing an additional $200 with a dirty boat bottom, so I spend some time working on it. ( I know, you think this is a sailboat, so why all the fuel? Even for sailboats, most of this trip is done with the engine running, contrary to popular thinking.) We've also enjoyed some final social connections with cruisers and permanent residents who have become friends. One couple just arrived (Larry and Terri Howard). Another couple, Nicki and Franz on Skybird III were hoping to travel with us. (They have the identical boat to our Carpe Diem.) But time pressures forced them to leave before us.

All the above issues got resolved, and we are now anchored outside Boot Key Harbor ready to head up the Keys in the morning. We couldn't leave before now, because we had offered to help our local Tai Chi group put on an open house for new recruits. It went quite well today, with a number of new trainees ready to begin next week. We will miss our instructors Jeff and Susie along with Beth, Jack and a number of other participants, but we look forward to seeing them again upon our return.

So here we sit watching the sun get lower in a clear blue sky. The temperature is about 80 degrees, the breeze is light and the water is near the same temperature as the air. There are moments like this when we ask ourselves, why are we leaving this paradise? But we know we have things to do and people to visit north of here, and we also know that we plan to return in the fall. New adventures lie ahead for us, and we'll keep you abreast of most of them.

A Change of Seasons is Evident

We continue to enjoy our time in Marathon this winter. It seems to me that most of our activity is not so much boating related, so I haven't been motivated to share a blog update. Now that we're into April, we find ourselves noting the change of seasons here, so I thought it time for an update.

One of Sandra's most recent additions

Our activities haven't changed much from the earlier reports. Sandra is still involved with the basket classes. She has helped start quite a few in this craft. Now they have gotten so excited about it, they are planning trips to Big Pine Key for needle collection, trips to flea markets for items to add to the baskets and finding places to order supplies online. We both continue with Tai Chi. Since this is our second year going through the beginning classes, we have been able to help some of the first timers. We've also enjoyed the contra dancing.

Much of my boat work has been focused on power generation. Our wind generator and solar panels provide what we need most of the time. In looking for ways to eliminate a bit of our power demands to reduce charging demands, I've replaced our lighting with the more efficient LED lights where they would make a difference. This has gotten our power generation vs use to the point where we need to run the engine only about once a month, given the breeze and sunny days here during the winter.

The windless is working again, so I won't have to pull the anchor and chain up by hand on our trip north. However, it won't run as smoothly as I'd like, since the part of the chain rode that doesn't get used much has rusted and therefore hangs up when running through the windlass. When we get back up north to VA this summer, I'll plan to clean up the chain a bit. That should help. I've also completed a few other minor projects while putting still others on the list for completion once we get back to Virginia.

The harbor is no longer as full as it has been for the past two months. The breezy days are not as consistent, so weather windows are opening up for those wishing to move on to the Bahamas. Others are finding that it's just time to begin the travel back north. As a result of the exodus, the morning net is not quite as full of announcements for events and activity here. In spite of that fact, we continue to meet people and enjoy time with new friends. The harbor staged a dinghy poker game for St. Patrick's Day. Five boats in the harbor had decks of cards. We were instructed to find each boat and pick up a card. At one boat we also got to sample some green beer or wine. At a set time all participants met at the marina. The dinghy participants with the best and worst poker hands were awarded prizes. This was just a different way to meet other cruisers. One of the couples handing our cards was on a boat just like ours. One thing led to another, and we ended up heading out by boat with them to visit Bahia Honda State Park and then spend a night at Coconut Key, one of our favorite spots for just getting away from it all.

Keeping our schedule full, we managed to volunteer our time at the annual seafood festival here during March and also volunteered at the local community theater. This got us in to see their current production of Sound of Music with great performances by the cast, some of whom were boaters here in the harbor.

We've continued to enjoy the company of visitors here in Boot Key Harbor. Our friends on Tarwathie, Dick

A long awaited swim for Dick and Libby

and Libby, arrived for a visit.  They apparently missed Marathon, since they were spending the winter way up north in North Carolina. We had a great four-day visit with them, during which they also got to catch up with a few of their other friends.  Libby even got to a basket making class, one that she had started a couple of years ago.

As we got to the end of March, Jennifer and Kaya arrived for a week's visit. Jennifer appreciates the warm weather more than most, so it was unfortunate that a cold front passed through shortly after she arrived. This meant that some of the clothes she brought for traveling to and from Virginia were needed while she was here. We managed a nice trip to Key West and another to the Dolphin Research Center in addition to getting out for a night a Coconut Key again. We also got over to Boot Key for a walk as well. Kaya loves the water and thoroughly enjoyed her time at Sombrero Beach, even if the water was a bit cool for us. She didn't want to come out of the water. We don't know if her swimming and barking while doing so was what

Jenn & Sandra enjoy great weather at the beginning of her visit.

attracted the dolphins so close to her

As Jenn drove back north, my sister Mary Jo and her husband Scott and son Toby came down for a day visit from West Palm Beach. We managed to get them out for a nice sail with several dolphins coming by very close to the boat.

Although many of our friends on boats have already left or are planning to do so in the next few days, the locals are still here for us to enjoy. We got a front row seat while a local fisherman caught and fought with a six foot tarpon for what seemed like a half hour. The following afternoon he was back with another big tarpon on the line. The fish were either released or got free of the hook after a good fight. On the

same day as the first tarpon fight, I noticed another local cleaning up the algae at the dinghy dock – a manatee. And of course, it's always fun to watch the pelicans diving for dinner in the harbor.

Samantha and family are our next visitors. They are due here in a little more than a week. We really look forward to spending time here with our three grandsons. It's such a different place from their home in NH.

Come the first of May, we'll begin to get ourselves heading north. Because we have the car here, we'll be driving that to VA first and flying back to move the boat.

In spite of all the planning, we try to live each day fully. This is a great community with lots to do, so we do our best to remember that. An example of how helpful the community can be when one is need came this morning. During the overnight we got hit by a line of thunderstorms with winds gusting up in the mid 50s. One sailboat had some worn shrouds which let go, causing the mast to come down. This morning, a call went out for help to get the end of the mast out of the mud and get it back on deck safely before the next round of storms came through today. They had more help than necessary within a short time and quickly got the mast secured on deck. Yesterday I got to help another boater who, in attempting to move their boat past other moored boats, managed to get blown into the shallows where they ran aground. With the assistance from several of us, they got a halyard stretched over to another boat and then got their boat healed enough to free the keel and get the boat into deeper water. They were appreciative, and it felt good to be of help to them.

As we prepare for our last weeks here and then head north, I'll try to be a bit more regular with blog entries. Hope all is well with you readers.

Carpe Diem,

Captain Bob