Home

Our last few days were big mileage ones for us and yesterday afternoon we found ourselves in Ceder Creek tucked around back where almost nobody goes. It was a good thing because last night big thunder storms and winds to match rolled in around midnight. By 2:00 am I was wide awake counting the interval between flash and bang. It was always quite a few seconds. Traumerei did a little dancing on the end of her chain and our sleep was pretty spotty.

This morning we left as soon as we could see the crab buoys and got into our slip at Blackbeards just before the winds on the Neuse turned northwest - the worst direction for heading home.

In our travels people we have met a number of cruisers who have a great respect for the Neuse River - acknowledged as one of the two or three worst patches of water on the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway. Today Carol and I both wore our PFD's for maybe the third time in over 3,000 miles of travel which included 140 miles off shore in the Gulf of Mexico and some pretty wild sounds in Georgia

Wrightsville Beach Again

We "enjoyed" a slow motorsail up the Cape Fear River today. It was against the current all the way with a brisk following wind. Boaters will understand that this means some spectacular following waves. Fortunately we were able to get a pretty comfortable ride with varying amounts of jib sail rolled out. With 6 hours of adverse current, you are pretty stuck with duking it out, traveling at night, or waiting about a week. Anyhow we pulled into Wrightsville Beach the scene of our big anchoring scare last fall. We stopped for some diesel fuel and it was fairly easy to dock against the current with 20 knot winds blowing us into the dock. Carol and I looked at each other and decided to spend the night pinned to the dock and not anchor out.

Homeward Bound

We are now in North Carolina - Saint James Plantation Marina and feel like we are almost home. The long pennant below the Blackbeard Burgee is the Homeward Bound flag. It was a long day very much out of phase with the tidal currents. Tomorrow we need to wait until about 11:00 to catch a favorable current on the Cape Fear River. We are now paying for the sleigh ride we had through Georgia and most of South Carolina.

It is pretty cold here and we are happy to have shore power and electric heat.

We were lucky to make the Sunset Pontoon bridge before they shut it down for low tide. We stressed our 25 year old Westerbeke at top speed for about a half hour to make the noon opening. The bridge was then shut down until 3:00. Some people in a small power boat were going the other way. They must have been listening to our radio conversation with the bridge tender. They gave us a cheer as we passed through the bridge.

We passed by Lockwood Folly Inlet just after low tide. The new dredging was great 16 ft all the way!

Homeward Bound

Myrtle Beach

We are in Myrtle Beach at the famous Osprey Marina riding out a pretty windy day. We had a real treat today, Bill and Karen Gaughan from Blue Moon drove up from George Town and took us out to lunch! We met them in Marathon and it was great catching up and sharing sea stories with them. We are posing next to a dead marlin we didn't catch outside the restaurant.

There are many good and some painful aspects to cruising. But it is the great people you meet along the way that makes it a terrific experience.

Tomorrow we head north into NC and a stop at the St. James Plantation.

Soggy in Charleston

We are at the City Marina in Charleston and it is raining, raining, raining. But we feel fortunate at the moment. We got a call from our former neighbors in Boot Key Harbor. They were sailing outside North from Ft Lauderdale and a major storm came up so they headed into the inlet near Lake Worth and were struck by lightning. Right now they are on the hard which is a little difficult because they are traveling with a full size Golden Retriever.

We expect solid rain for the rest of the day today and all of tomorrow. Then we will take advantage of a promised respite of two days to push north as fast and as far as we can before the next cold front and gale force winds arrive. The tour is over, it was a great trip, but now we are in delivery mode and just want to get to our dry house and automotive transportation as soon as possible.

A wild night at Isle of Hope.

Our last post was at the Isle of Hope shortly after arriving. The day got more exciting as it went on. We had the crews from Little Wing and Mistress over for cocktail hour so the could enjoy the rainstorm in the comfort of our enclosure. There had been a tornado watch on all afternoon and just before we sat down, I checked the weather radar on the Accuweather site. The storms seemed to be tracking to the west of us probably pushed inland be the sea breeze. About 45 minutes into our party the local fire siren went off and we began discussing the best place to be during a tornado. Some were inclined to be inside their boat and some thought the concrete block laundry and shower building would be the best place. Anyhow after a very few minutes we reconvened with wine bottles in the shower building. No tornado in view but lots of rain and all the boats got deck leak tests big time.

Carol and I were getting ready to head for the bunks around 9:15 and we saw a very bright pair of lights which I thought were car head lights and Carol thought was a boat. They swept through the boat and then went away. Our next sensation was the sound of a very powerful diesel engine followed within seconds by the sound of fiberglass being crushed. It took a few minutes for us to get on deck just in time to see lights from the tug Miss Sarah out of Jacksonville Fla and it's barge pulling away from the marina and heading back out into the channel. In it's wake lay a badly crushed Lagoon catamaran Sabbatical which was tied to the outside floating dock. The crew of Sabbatical was unable to reach the tug by radio but we did learn the boat name and hailing port as he called for a bridge opening up stream. The story we heard the next morning is that the Coast Guard did board the tug that night and the captain claimed he didn't know he hit anything. Supposedly he was tested for controlled substances.

We are now to days north of the Isle of Hope in Dataw Island South Carolina. Tomorrow is Charleston for a couple of days.

Georgia on my mind

We are in Isle of Hope Georgia near Savannah. We have been blessed with 5 days of south winds. Amazingly it has not been particularly warm but the winds have pushed us along nicely and we have been sailing or motor sailing most of the time.

Monday night we spent at the Palm Coast Marina. The community of Palm Coast is a little like Fairfield Harbour with some nice waterfront homes and apparently some problems - the marina is a little long in the tooth, there is a huge and largely defunct shopping center and we saw signs proclaiming that the golf course was reopening soon.

Tuesday we sailed right by St Augustine since we had visited on our way south and anchored in a creek a little north of the city. Wednesday was a little uneventful as we motor sailed almost up to Ferinando Beach Fla and anchored in the same quiet creek we visited on our way down.

Wednesday was an exciting day! We started bright and early crossing the Cumberland Sound inlet and heading north on the sound past the big naval submarine base. As we crossed the lower sound we noticed a submarine headed in and being attended by two large tender boats. Well the submarine along with a full complement of Coast Guard escort boats and the tenders caught up with us as we approached the base and the Coast Guard asked us to actually navigate outside the channel as the sub passed. I wasn't all that comfortable being on the wrong side of the nuns but we never saw less than 25 ft of water. At that point the sub was not going that much faster than us and took for ever to pass. As we continued north toward the Georgia/Florida line, we approached the dreaded St Andrew Sound which can put up a nasty rolling sea when the wind and tide are opposed. Fortunately for us the winds were south east and the tide was ebbing. So we had some mild rollers as we sailed out toward the inlet at an amazing speed of 9 Knots. Turning back to head into the Jekyll Creek we were opposed to the current and had a stiff tail wind. So it was a big following sea, the boat was surfing off waves and making all of about 4 knots of speed over the bottom. We made a 3o minute pit stop at the Jekyll Island marina for fuel, water, garbage drop, and a pumpout. We then spent a quiet night in Federico Creek which is an off shoot to the ICW.

Thursday and Friday morning brought more sound crossing with the same current and wind situations as we found in St. Andrew sound. However the effects were less dramatic. Today we pulled into a nice marina at Isle of Hope to wait out some severe weather and will use their courtesy car this afternoon to visit Walmart and other stores in the area

New Smyrna Beach

We are here in this neat coastal North Florida town just south of Daytona. We have been weathered in for 4 days of heavy north and northeast winds. But we are not complaining! We found a good restaurant, great farmers market on Saturday, and a big party last night celebrating St Patrick's Day. Quite a feed and a great time to socialize with fellow travelers and residents of the NSB City Marina. This marina was wiped out by the hurricanes of '94 and is now a sparkling new facility.

Sailflow.com promises a week of east and southeast winds. We aim to make time northward in a big way including some offshore sailing off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina.

New Smyrna Beach has an interesting history dating back to colonial times when people from the Mediterranean were recruited to build a community. The settlement failed and most of the immigrant's ended up in St Augustine. But the Mediterranean heritage is still very much in evidence here.

We met two boats from Nova Scotia and have enjoyed hearing their sailing experiences.

Titusville Again

We're anchored outside the municipal marina in Titusville. Wind is out of the east around 15 and it is a little bumpy but it's supposed to die down tonight.

We had a miserable motor slog into a stiff north wind yesterday between Vero Beach and Dragon Pt. Dragon Pt (Melbourne area) proved to be a quiet anchorage and we slept well. Yesterday before the wind picked up Carol was driving under the Wabasso Bridge she saw her first Manatee. She has been looking for one for the last four months so it was a big sighting for her.

Today we had an east wind around 15 and gusting higher. It offered a terrific sail and great diesel mileage. Tomorrow we head into a marina in New Smyrna Beach. A major cold front is supposed to pass through so we will probably spend the weekend there.

Vero Beach Again

We're back in the terrific Vero Beach mooring field again. It feels like summer is on the way here. Mid 80's during the day and mid 60's at night.

Yesterday afternoon a strong sea breeze developed and I went body surfing at the beach. At one point heading out I found my trunks down around my knees - luckily I saved them and no cameras around. We were also treated to another shuttle launch just after sunset last night. I wasn't expecting to see much since it was not totally dark. But I was wrong! We got a good view from deck and since the sun was just over the horizon the shuttle and smoke plume changed color and brightness dramatically as it gained altitude. Thanks to Joan and Jack Morris on Razz Ma Tazz for the photo.

We leave to start our trek home tomorrow.

Crossing Okeechobee

Today's crossing of Florida's big inland lake was a pretty tame motor job. The lake is infamous for a nasty chop given its shallow depth and large dimensions, but there was little wind today and the ride was smooth if a bit boring. Yesterday we went all of 12 miles from Moore Haven to a spot in the waterway just before entering the lake. We stayed free there tied off to dolphins provided by the Army Corps of Engineers to moor vessels waiting for lock passage. The ride down to this place from Moore Haven featured the best wildlife display of the entire trip. Yes those are alligators in the pictures and we say dozens of them in the 12 mile passage.

Tonight we are are at the Indian Town Marina. Tomorrow we will be anchored out in Manatee

Pocket and hopefully Carol will actually see a Manatee. We'll be back in Vero Beach on Thursday as I may have mentioned before. It is actually hot here and we put up our screen enclosure. Maybe it will be up all the way north to NC. One can only hope.

Okeechobee Waterway

We made dockside at Ft Myers City Marina on Friday, the first tie up & plug in in a little over 60 days. Well the Traumerei was just a little salty after over 14o miles of exciting Gulf of Mexico sailing. So the first order of business was with the garden hose and a fresh water rinse down. After a couple of liberal doses of "Salt Away" the old girl really sparkled.

Last night (Saturday) we spent the night at the Franklin Lock - a combination Army Corps of Engineers campground and boat dock - pictured to the left. We enjoyed visiting with some of the RV'rs from all over the Midwest and really enjoyed the full facilities and an overnight rate of $12.

We're now tied up to the town dock at Moore Haven Florida, a little town on the cross state Okeechobee Waterway. It's a nice quiet spot next to the town hall and library. Tomorrow is a short day (12 Miles) to Cleuiston which is close by to Lake Okeechobee. We cross on Tuesday in what is promised to be a rare southwest wind - terrific for a northeast course. We will take a few days getting to Stuart on the East coast of Fla and head for a brief stay in Vero Beach to rendezvous with folks we met during the trip down and during the winter in the Keys.

Ft Myers Beach

We spent 4 nights in Marco Island's Smokehouse Bay. It wasn't a bad place to be but the 4 nights were dictated by some rather nasty weather. We took advantage of our stay by having some much needed sewing done on our cockpit enclosure. When we made the enclosure, we were planning on using it only occasionally. But it hasn't been off the boat since we left in October and the rip stop nylon top had just about disintegrated from sun exposure and some very high winds. We had a nice 35 mile sail in the Gulf of Mexico up to Ft. Myers beach where we picked up a mooring ball. The winds were out of the North East so we were close hulled the entire 35 miles and it was pretty cool until the wind died at the end of the trip.



This place has some very nice shower and laundry facilities. Carol and I took our first shower off the boat in over a month in a private and clean ceramic tile shower room. Its nice to have an unlimited supply of hot water once and a while

Everglades and Marco Island

We slipped our mooring at 6:45 on Friday morning and headed nearly due North to the Little Shark River in the Everglades. It was one fine beam reach sail with speeds in excess of 7 knots several times. The anchorage in the Shark river was quiet and dark with a star filled sky.

Today the wind was down and we motored over 9.5 hours in the Gulf of Mexico to arrive in Smokehouse Bay interior to Marco Island. It's a remarkable change in scenery here - condos and waterfront homes. It looks like we will be weathered in here in Marco until Tuesday as yet another cold front drops down on Florida.

Preparing to head home

We've settled into a comfortable routine here in Marathon's Boot Key Harbor. While we're still having a great time, it's not been very blog worthy.

It's been an unusually cold winter everywhere on the East Coast including the Florida Keys. Although cold is a relative term - I have been swimming in the ocean just about every week we have been here.

We have been awaiting a change in the long term forecast which might signal warmer weather to the north and now we finally see it. Barring any change in the weather prediction, we will slip our mooring and head north across Florida Bay to the Everglades this coming Friday morning. We will continue up the west coast of Fla to Ft Myers and enter the waterway across the state to the east coast of Fla. expecting to be home in late April or early May.

We will miss the many cruising friends we have made here including some folks from our former Lake Ontario cruising grounds. It's impossible to become bored in Boot Key with the hundreds of fellow cruisers nearby who are all eager to share their stories and maybe a glass or two of wine.

The may issue of Soundings contains a nice article on the transformation of Boot Key Harbor from a blight in the Keys to a really nice cruising destination. It still has a way to go reach its full potential, but as soon as US citizens are allowed to travel to Cuba, this place will become a major hub for pleasure boat travel.

We will post regular updates of our travels Northbound as access to the internet permits.

Key West Visit

Several days ago we became dirt dwellers, took a bus to Key West and spent three nights in a very nice B&B on the quiet end of Duval Street. We had terrific weather for our trip and attended one sunset celebration in Mallory Square, had some great restaurant meals, took a fast ferry to the Dry Tortugas, and visited some museums.

The highlight of our visit was the 70 mile boat ride to the Dry Tortugas. There is little out there besides the amazing coastal fortification "Fort Jefferson" and some great snorkeling within the ruins of old coaling docks.

According to our guide, Tortuga Jack, Fort Jefferson was built over many years as a response to the war of 1812 and the perceived need for coastal fortifications to protect shipping lanes. It was hard to visualize any real usefulness for this fort being out in the middle of no-where, and in fact it was most useful as a prison during and after the civil war. It has the distinction of being the largest masonry fortification in the world and the masonry is extremely well executed and preserved. Tortuga Jack provided a colorful description of the life of the workers who built this huge structure. Perhaps you can detect the color change in the brick in the photo of the front entrance to the fort. The lower light color bricks were made in the Florida pan handle and shipped down the Gulf of Mexico by sailing vessel. The darker red bricks at the top, were added during the civil war and were shipped by sailing vessel from New England!

The Sunset Celebration is a must do at least once in Key West. There are street performers, bands, and lots of people crowded onto the square to view the sunset. I managed to hold my camera high and get a picture as a sailboat cooperated by passing in front of the sun.

The tree in the picture is one of Key West's several large Banyan Trees. The picture of the butterfly was taken inside the Butterfly Conservatory. I was learning how to use the manual focus provision of my digital camera, a process hampered by the fact that my camera has spent the night in an air conditioned room and the conservatory was controlled to be both hot and humid. So there was lots of condensation on my lens for a while. We saw some spectacular butterfly's but the one shown here was the most in-focus shot I got.

We just paid for an additional month here in Marathon. We probably won't stay until March but the break even point on the monthly rate is two and a half weeks and we think that it will be at least that long before it is warm enough to head north.

Bahia Honda

The weather was nice yesterday so we left our mooring in Boot Key Harbor and sailed about 13 miles down the Hawk Channel to Bahia Honda Key. There is a State Park there and you can anchor between the new and old overseas highway bridges. The protection there is pretty minimal so you need to have a good forecast before deciding to stay overnight. We explored the park and walked the beach and took a dinghy ride into the mangroves where we spotted a pelican rookery. Enjoyed a quiet night on the hook with no generators! The sunset was pretty spectacular as well. The original railroad bridge was directly on the concrete pilings. The rickety looking superstructure was added to accommodate cars making the bridge both higher and wider. It sure looked flimsy as we passed through a section which had been removed to accommodate boat traffic.

We are now back "home" in Boot Key. We leave for Key West on Wednesday where we become dirt dwellers for a few days.

Cold Weather

I guess we shouldn't complain too much, but it has been uncharacteristically cold here in the Keys as well as everywhere else on the east coast. It's been in the 40's at night and low 60'during the day. The sea water temperature has taken a big hit with the northerly winds as well - so no swimming. The forecast is for gradually warming weather and we plan to head out to Bahia Honda State park tomorrow for a few days change of scenery. Hopefully we can post some nice beach pictures.

Seven Mile Bridge

Today was another full day in the keys. We start our days with a little routine - Coffee, a breakfast usually featuring lots of fresh fruit, one half hour of engine time to replenish the batteries and make hot water. By now it is 9:00 am and time for the Marathon Cruiser's net. This is a controlled conversation among the 260 or so boats in the harbor on CH 68 VHF. On the net, we learn who is new to the harbor, who is leaving, announcements which include activities for the next several days, problem solving, buy / sell / give away, and a nautical trivia game. It's amazing how many problems are solved and goods are exchanged each morning.

After the Net, Carol and I headed ashore for our day which started at West Marine to pick up a new inspection port. We then peddled east to the famous 7 mile bridge. Actually two bridges are standing, the old bridge which is a car conversion of the original RR bridge and a modern span featuring a 65 foot high span for us sailboats. We peddled our bikes across the old span for about 2.5 miles into a little history from the early 1900's. Our destination was Pigeon Key and home of a work encampment for folks building Henry Flaglers overseas railway to Key West. Henry Flagler, a partner of John D Rockefeller in Standard Oil of Ohio, is largely credited for modern development of the East Coast of Florida. He built railroads and luxury hotels eventually all the way from St Augustine to Key West. His impact is perhaps most dramatic right here in Marathon. The seven mile bridge which starts here and heads west is a true marvel. The original bridge was just wide enough for a train. After a major hurricane in 1935, the railroad was destroyed and eventually the overseas highway was built on the old rail bed. As we biked across this span the lane markings still exist for car traffic. Let me tell you there was just barely enough room for two cars to pass on this roadway - see picture above! After the 2&1/2 miles, we landed on Pigeon Key (in the background of the picture) and observed the buildings used to house the original work parties. There was a small museum and we enjoyed a video featuring Henry Flagler's amazing life story.

We continue to enjoy the social scene here in Boot Key Harbor. We have made a number of friends including a couple from Brockport, New York. We're looking forward to watching the inauguration and having brunch aboard a Lagoon 42 Catamaran which is about a luxurious and roomy as it gets for a sailing vessel.

Cat Overboard

While most readers are freezing at the moment, it is not all that warm here either. Maybe low 60's outside. We have had a brisk northeast breeze for a couple of days and it will continue through at least half of the weekend. So today was planned to be spent aboard doing some chores and reading. I was busy installing an electric raw water backup electric pump and Carol was in the cockpit where it was a toasty 85 and reading.

All of a sudden we heard quite a ruckus and actually thought a person was yelling at us. It turned out to be a good size cat swimming next to our boat and screaming for help. I got out our boat hook and the cat grabbed on for dear life. My dinghy was up on it's davits and we don't have a net so we were lost for what to do next. Fortunately Larry next door heard the noise and got in his dinghy with a small landing net. We managed to snag the cat and I jumped into his dinghy to help with the rescue. Neither Larry or I are cat people and we didn't want the frightened animal clawing at us in the inflatable. The woman on the next boat upwind is a veterinarian technician and she volunteered to take the distressed animal - Larry and I were happy to oblige.

We later discovered that the cat belonged to a neighbor, Risky Business a young couple from Ocracoke Island. Risky Business doesn't have an outboard for their dinghy, since it was very windy they were offered a ride into the marina by a neighbor, Tom who also has a cat. So the cat from RB was left with Tom's cat to hang out for the morning. Apparently she got bored and decided to swim over to her own boat which is equipped with a cat boarding ladder. (Large diameter rope hanging over the side). But she did not figure on the wind or current and ended up screaming for help along side our down wind & current boat.

Anyhow all is well that ends well.

Crane Point Nature Center

Yesterday we left our mooring and motored out to Sombrero Reef for a swim in crystal clear water. It was a light wind day, but the southerly breeze did generate a swell that Carol didn't exactly like. The nearest land mass is Cuba some 85 miles from Sombrero Reef. Anyhow I went swimming under the boat to check for growth on the metal parts and for the condition of the zinc's. Just a grassy substance on the prop and the zincs look just like they did at Cape Lookout last summer.



We have been in Marathon for a month today and just got around to visiting the Crane Point Nature Center. We spent the entire afternoon there. Started with a terrific tour by volunteer Naturalist Carol who acquinted us with the Flora and Fauna of Vaca Key. We learned of the dangers of the Poison Wood Tree and the healing powers of the Gumbo Limbo tree which is found growing nearby each Poison Wood Tree. The most spectacular creatures seen were the large and colorful spiders. Unfortunately these were nearly impossible to photograph with a camera with only automatic focus. No matter how close I got, I could not get the focus feature to lock onto the spiders. This nature center is the result of a trust which acquired the Vaca Key estate of the Crane Family in the 70's. We hart

Full Moon

Today was a full moon. We went to the beach at low tide and saw a lot of ground for first time. The birds were having a feast.

This is a shot of the moon taken just after sunset. We headed out for some music in the tiki hut at the marina and then for a play - Steel Magnolias by the Marathon Civic Theater. It was a terrific performance.

Life on the Ball

Today is a beautiful clear sunny day in the low 70's. It got a little exciting Wednesday night. It had been in the high 80's, humid and very still. All of a sudden a cold front swept in with 45 mile per hour gusts and some rain. We were on our boat and able to close things up, but many folks were ashore with boats open. There was some panicked dinghy traffic.

We have decided not to take our boat to Key West next month. We will leave the boat here in Boot Key and bus down for 4 days and three nights in a B&B. This gives us the opportunity to sample Key West night life, resturants, and a trip to the Dry Tortugas without the expense and hassle of having our boat there.

Boot Key Harbor

Last Saturday, having completed the boat projects, we moved off the dock to a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor. We love the new neighborhood!

Both the inverter/charger and new hi-amp alternator make living on the hook more practical. A half hour of engine time at idle restores the house bank and makes hot water for the day. Our solar panel maintains a full charge during the day. So life is good - electrically speaking.

We bought a basil plant for the cockpit and have been enjoying fresh basil in our cooking. We made an eggplant parm the other day which is about as complicated as anything we want to do in our small galley.

We went down to Key West by bus the other day and checked out the marina spot we had reserved there. We concluded that Key West was a nice place to visit, but we don't want to live there. So we will maintain Marathon as a base and take a few overnight trips to other anchorages by boat, and a few more bus trips to Key West. We will head up the West Coast of Florida sometime in February.

Happy New Year

We had a great New Years Eve celebration on the boat of friends from Vancouver Island. A memorable meal and great company. This morning Dennis, Barbara, and Abby stopped by to wish us a Happy New Year and show off Abby's new hat.

Carol and I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year.