Some Pics from Clearwater

The camera has been acting goofy lately when it comes to downloading pictures onto the computer or into blogger. We think it's the usb cord. Perhaps it's time for a new one.....
In the meantime, here are some recent photos of our recent life in Clearwater!

Last week we sailed 3 miles out into the Gulf to take care of business, as it were. Here we are leaving the beach area then hoving-to in order to take care of the pump out business.













We caught a pretty good breeze coming back in and beat a 3 masted sailboat which is one of the more scenic boats on the water. There are several 'head boats' here including a very obnoxious 'Pirate Ship' that we think looks like a big shoe! They go out at least 3 times a day and yell and scream the whole way. It's usually filled with kids for parties and such but Scott just told me that there's free beer for the adults. Hmmmm, maybe this ship has possibilities after all.

As you've heard we joined the Clearwater Yacht Club as social members. We've been trying to be as social as we can ever since. We cool off in the pool almost everyday; have dined in the lunchroom a couple times (although watching the Cubs lose a 1-nothing game yesterday almost made me lose my appetite); sit in the breezeway or lower level to hook up to the internet; and visit the tiki bar whenever it's open, which is only on weekends, thankfully for our livers.



At left Scott 'works' on the computer in the lunchroom and bar area while I watch out the window for dolphins. We get a great view of them from this 2nd floor.









The pool is usually empty except for Tuesday and Thursday mornings when 'the ladies' do some kind of water aerobics. I think that's what you'd call it. They play music and move their arms around sometimes holding weights. I'm not sure I'm ready for such energetic activity.

We also see a variety of birds in our neighborhood and they all seem very friendly.

I believe this is an egret who does an amazing balancing act while waiting and watching to make his move on one of the tiny fish below. He snatches his lunch and keeps on swinging. By the way he's swinging on our electrical cord.










To the right is a blue heron. This guy was so big I was a bit afraid to get close to him for a photo op. However he never moved, although he kept a close eye on my every movement. I'm not sure if it's the same one but a blue heron appears in our yard almost every day. If the back door would be open to one of these apartments on shore I think he would walk right in. And I know I wouldn't stop him!

This bird is my favorite so far. We think he's a green heron, although I haven't seen any green feathers yet. They have the most intricate coloring on their feathers with a stylish brown stripe down their fronts. And of course very friendly. This guy is perched on the stern rail of our boat as we sit in the cockpit only a few feet away. Gracie? Where are you....there's a bird on your boat!







No Comment Necessary!!!



So what's Scott doing while Sue is taking all the pictures? Of course he's working on a boat project. This time it's a new table for the cockpit. With the help of the master, Les, he shapes the boards then paints them and installs the finished product. We're both pretty happy with the results.















Now we can actually eat a meal on the table instead of holding the plates in our laps. This ship is shaping up.

What's Clearwater About?

Spending some time at the beautiful Clearwater public library. Always like to get a little in tune with a place that I know I'm going to be staying awhile.

Apparently this place started to become a vacation with the building of rhe Belleview Biltmore. Looks like there is some fighting going on as to whether to tear this beautiful structure down or not. Take a look at the links and I think you'll agree that that would be a shame.

We are located in an area that is rapidly turning from the classic 50's - 60's mom and pop motel with exotic names like "The New Yorker", "Stay and Pla", stuff like that to multi-story and multi-million dollar condos. I would guess that in a couple of years all the old places will be gone and you'll see a stretch of condos not unlike Miami. Oh well...things change

The other bit if infamy for Clearwater is that it is the world headquarter for Scientology! Apparently they bought a huge bulding downtown some years ago under another name. Only later did the city fathers find out that they had been invaded by these pod people. It is creepy to be downtown where 2 out of every 3 people is walking around in black pants and white shirt - The official Scientology uniform. Well, maybe Sue will get a look at Tom Cruise someday! Check out THIS LINK for an attack on Scientology. Some funny stuff.

Oh, and the name Clearwater comes from the fact that there are or were numberous springs in the area and in the harbor making for very clear water.

Scott & Sue join Judge Smails at the Yacht Club

Yes! We've become social members of the Clearwater Yacht Club. For a trifle each month we can use the bar, resturant, showers, pool and wifi. It is about a 50 yard walk from our boat so it seems like a good deal.

On Tuesday we went for a day sail. This is something we NEVER do! Why would we? We're usually going some place. There was a nice, 10 knot north wind that allowed us to reach out past the 3 mile limit and flush our heads. We also took the opportunity to see how this Enee Marie hove to. She did great. We drifted easily down wind at about 1 knot and could take care of our head business without dropping sails. Sailed back to Clearwater at over 7 knots! I guess the bottom is still pretty clean. Anyway, great to feel the boat move under us again.

It is warming up here in central florida. The days are low 90's and low 70's at night. We are sleeping ok with our wind scoop and fans but expect that to become a bigger chanllenge as we head into summer.

Going to explore St. Pete tomorrow and take in the Dali Museum.

No pics today...camera is being bad.

Gracie!

Well, it finally happened. Gracie has stayed high and dry since we left on June 12 '05. Two days ago however either jumping to the dock or back to the boat she must have come up a half a cat short. We heard some horrible howling and when we jumped up we realized it was coming from under the pier. This pier is supported along its center by piles. Gracie had her back feet (with claws) dug in to the barnacles on the pile and her front legs wrapped around the pile. I could just reach the scruff of her neck by laying on the pier and thereby rescue the old girl. Needless to say she was NOT happy. After drying her a little we stuck her into the shower to get the saltwater off of her knowing that she would begin to lick herself. Nothing kills this old girl though but we hope she learned her lesson about this dock.

Still reading "Breaking the Spell" (see the left side of screen). He quoted the old comedian, Emo Phillips, who once said that when he was a kid he prayed to God for a bike. Then he realized that God didn't work that way so he stole a bike and prayed for forgivness. Buy the book...I get points with Amazon!

Thirty Hours to Clearwater

Made it! We left Marco Island at 9 in the morning on Saturday morning. NOAA website showed light west winds (~5 kts) for the next 24 hours along Florida's west coast. Perfect. This is why we stayed in Marco Island...to wait for helpful winds.

We started out with enough wind enough a-beam to motor sail with all sails up. About an hour into it the wind had spun back to the north west! By afternoon it was right on our nose and had piped up to 15 kts. This is what we DIDN'T want to do. I don't understand how consistently wrong NOAA can be. During the late afternoon we were bouncing in 4 foot seas. We had to bear off our rumb line (~340 degrees) and head more and more to the north and then north-east to keep some pressure on the sails, our speed up and avoid going straight into those seas. A couple of times we had to hike out to the west to get another angle. Our speed was down to under 4 knots at some points. We considered going into Charlotte Harbor since we were making little head-way. However by the time we were at the mouth of the harbor it was dark and we both decided that we didn't need to navigate a new channel with following seas in the dark. It was safer out in the wide open spaces.

After sundown we sailed over toward shore south of Venice hoping to catch an offshore wind. That worked. During the dark hours we motor sailed along the coast and just navigated with the depth sounder. Kept the boat in about 25 feet of water and we kept that off shore breeze. By morning the wind was down to nothing which is better than having it on our nose. We made the rest of the trek to Clearwater motor sailing in either no wind or, later, more wind on our nose. The wind NEVER blew west. It was North or northwest for 30 hours. Why do I even listen to the weather radio?

We found our way easily to our slip next to the Clearwater Yacht Club and tied up around 3 pm. A thirty hour run. Our friends Ange and Wendy were waiting for us there aboard their 44' Hunter - Big Kahuna. Now for some sleep! While making a long run we only sleep in 2-3 hour hunks and when it was rough we didn't sleep at all.

Good news is that the Perkins engine ran 30 hours non-stop. It's good to have some confidence in the iron genny!

Stuck?

Scott says...

Ah, sailing…or NOT! After a wonderful 18 hour sail/motor to Marco Island we have been stuck for the past 4 days. From here you have to sail to the NW to make it around Sanibel Island and, sure enough, the wind has been exactly NW ever since. We tried to get out yesterday and the 3-4 foot waves coupled with the wind being right on our nose sent us back to our anchorage. I know, why not just be a sailor and tack back and forth in to this wind. We could but…we choose not to! With an open ended schedule like ours we can choose our days. This boat is not very weatherly (doesn’t sail very close to the wind) as we have known all along. You sail this boat ‘full and by’ as they say. I wonder what that means? I think it means you’re looking to go on reaches but not beat hard to the wind to actually get anywhere. So another day on the anchor today…gets a little hard after spending more than a month in Key West. I’m really itching to travel again. But there’s books and boat projects…and books.

I like to keep a cheap trashy novel around. A page turner hopefully about serial killers or vampires or, if possible, both. With that I also like to have something of quality working. I’ve recently finished ‘Godel, Esher, Bach’ by Douglas Hofstader - a book I’ve tried to read ever since I bought it in 1979! I’d tell you what it’s about but I’m still not sure. Maybe artificial intelligence. Maybe Godel’s imcompleteness theorm. Both? It is not an easy read but it certainly got my attention! Now I’m reading ‘Breaking the Spell’ by Daniel Dennett. In this book he asks the question, “Why are we so committed to religion on this planet? To what gain? Is it really good for us?” Big questions like that. Interesting. He makes the point that no matter to what religious belief you adhere (94% of the planet believes in something) your religion is a minority. How do people stick with the idea that THEY and THEIR religion is THE one in the face of that sort of thing? Things like that have also puzzled me and so I find this book very interesting. Dennett is a smart guy and although an atheist does not attack religion (although a theist reading this book may feel attacked he’s really just asking reasonable questions) but asks questions about how things got this way. I highly recommend it especially for the religious among you. He is pretty much preaching to the choir with me to use a backwards metaphor!

Boat projects. You know, I’m more fond of saying that there is always something to work on than I am actually working on it! Something about the sun, blue sky, gently rocking of the boat, and music that doesn’t make me want to jump up and crawl around in the engine room! Maybe I’ll attack some more of the bright work…that is ALWAYS there for me.

Sue says……

Stuck? What’s stuck? I’m not stuck. Why would I feel stuck? I suppose one could say I’m ‘stuck’ with the captain, with this boat, with this cat, with this weather, with this place (Marco Polo Island). But I actually don’t feel stuck. I chose to be with all of the above except of course for the weather. I can’t choose the weather. Weather happens. What I can do is choose when to sail in it and when not to. I like having that choice.

We’ve been here since Monday late afternoon and originally planned to leave the next day. What have I done in the meantime? Lots of soduko. Lots of reading (currently “The Plot Against America” by Phillip Roth). Lots of looking and photo taking. I’m still on the mission to get a video of dolphins. There are plenty of them here. Some boat projects such as cleaning, groceries, laundry. It was kind of fun washing clothes in the rain water we collected. The clothes dried quickly in the brisk NW wind and the bright sunshine. I just like living on my boat, breathing the fresh air, traveling to new places, meeting new people, and having good conversations and fun times with the captain. So I don’t feel stuck.

Gracie says...
Hey, it's all the same to me. Get up, eat, poop, sleep. Stuck? Yeah, I'm stuck. I'm stuck with these two losers who think they're Captain Blood and Maureen O'hara! Yawn...time for another nap!

Key West to Marco Island Sunday May 14 (Scott and Sue’s 18th!)

We begin our trek north with the ultimate goal being Clearwater Fl. by making a run to Marco (Polo) Island. This is a run of about 90 miles from Key West at a heading of about 10 degrees. We always figure on averaging about 5 knots so this run will take us about 18 hours. We like to arrive to new places in daylight so we decide to leave good old Key West at 6 pm and sail through the night. The day of our departure we go to the Conch Marina for diesel, gas and water. A new problem crops up then…Back when we had the fuel ‘scrubbed’ we opened the tank at the fuel gauge port. This port has a rubber gasket and the (non working ) mechanical fuel gauge above it screwed to the tank with 5 machine screws. We noticed at the time that some of these screws were stripped. I tried to put in sheet metal screws and a new gasket at the time and thought I had things down tight. Upon filling the fuel right up to the deck level (no working gauges so I have to do it by sound…what?) I then noticed diesel on top of the fuel tank and into the bilge! Apparently the gasket is not down tight and with about 3 feet of hydrostatic pressure (dieselstatic?) it oozed out of the tank. We cleaned that up with absorb pads and decided that the bigger problem would be if water got on top of the tank and oozed IN. When I get to Clearwater I’ll drill out all 5 holes and move up one screw size and re-tap. Anyway, I love the smell of diesel in the morning!
We then moved over to the east side of Christmas Tree Island and hung out for the afternoon and prepared the boat and ourselves for a night sale. This means rigging jacklines on both sides of the boat, making sure our tethers are ready, checking flashlights, laying in a course on the GPS and so forth. At 6pm, after a spaghetti dinner for our long run, we headed out the northwest channel out of the Key West area. This is very wide and well marked. Once you get to bell buoy #1 you can turn and head direct to Capri Pass 80 miles almost due north by Marco (Polo) Island.

We were able to set sail around that buoy and sail our course on a broad reach in about 10 knots of south east wind. We were making between 4 and 5 knots. The sun set was spectacular in a perfectly blue sky followed by even more spectacular sail under the stars. We love sailing at night. We tried to set the autohelm so the helmsperson could sit back at the helm and enjoy the ride and the stars. It ain’t working! I thought I had fixed this some time ago but now it is not getting any signals from the compass at all. Nothing. Hand steering through a long night can get tedious especially for one with a short attention span. Scott! He’s all over the map when he steers. However, sailing north is easy on a clear night because rather than stare down at the compass you can stare at the north star! We found we could position ourselves with respect to the mast so that when the north star was just to the right of the mast we were on our plotted course. Well of course you can do this….this is how most of the planet was discovered! At one point Scott saw a shooting star that looked like the ones they draw in cartoons. It looked like a fiery snow ball and it covered about half the sky.

We took 2-3 hour hunks at the helm depending on how we felt. Around midnight the wind pooped out and we began to motor sail with just the reefed main up. (We always reef the main at night no matter what!) The nearly full moon had come up and as it got high in the sky, washed out many of the stars but we could still see the north star and use it to sail by. It is so good to be on the move again! We love the sound of the boat moving through the water. We love the feeling of aloneness when you look all the way around and only see the horizon. No lights, no boats, no shore. It is a weird and wonderful feeling and we never (yet) tire of it.

Sleep happens in 2-3 hour hunks and is not as sound as when you are on the anchor. Around 7 am we spotted the southern tip of Marco Island…Land HO! We’re a little tired and ready to put the hook down. Around noon we were finding our way into Capri Pass at the north end of the island (see photo at left). This leads up the Marco (Polo) river to a place to anchor in Factory Bay. But wait…it doesn’t look like the chart at all! There is supposed to be a center channel buoy AFTER you pass Coconut Island but we encounter that buoy (or is it?) before we even get to land. Go on? We turn back and go out the channel while working the charts, binoculars, and computer charts. We encounter a sailboat coming out and ask them, “Which way in?” I can see the river and I can see red markers up in the river but the center channel buoy has me thrown. These guys wave there hands and seem to say that you can just head up the river. We try. When the depth sounder went down to 2 feet under the keel Scott rammed it (the boat) into reverse and back out we went. Scott is for continuing north at this point and Sue wants to try again. Sue wins. This time we call Sea Tow (note: we’ve learned earlier that the Coast Guard will NOT give you any navigation help or info on water depths. They are afraid of being sued.) Sea Tow guy was very helpful and told me yes I DID have to take that center channel to port and yes buoyage has changed since last hurricane season and yes, well, the hurricanes pretty much took Coconut Island with them! The lesson: Have up to date charts. Mine are brand new! If you’re not sure get some local knowledge. We also called a local marina for help coming in and they were also helpful. Nobody likes to look like a fool by asking for help but believe us: There is NOTHING more foolish looking than a sailboat sitting sideways on a shoal. ASK!

We came easily up the river now and made our way to the anchorage area. The little Factory bay is surrounded by homes and tall condos. There is room for about 3 boats in the anchorage and we’re number 3.

AHHHHHH…the hook is down. Nothing broke and nobody died. Well nothing new broke anyway. Another great sail and now for a well deserved Budweiser. If only it were Old Style! We also celebrated our anniversary by dingying over to the ‘world famous Snook Inn’ restaurant. Sue called to see if we could park the dingy while eating. The guy said they have plenty of boat slips available. Sue said our dingy isn’t very big. He said their slips weren’t very big either. We had a good dinner but had to endure a karaoke like performer who abused every song he sang. Anyway we still enjoyed our celebration. Getting back into the dingy we found that as the tide went down (about 2 ½ feet) our motor stuck in the mud. So the valiant Captain jumped into the water to free the motor as the princess, or should that be maiden Sue (oh, please) climbed down the steep pier into the boat.

We were definitely ready for a long sleep. But wait. What’s that at 12:30 a.m.? Of course, thunderstorms! Back to our 2 to 3 hour sleep schedule. It turned out not to be very violent storms but Sue kept close watch anyway. Our new hatch covers (remember Ft. Lauderdale?) held out most of the rain but the v-berth hatch does have a leak so no sleeping there. Yet another project for Clearwater. Today is Tuesday. We woke up very sleepy and the NOAA weather predicted several storms all day so we stayed tucked in Factory Bay. Tomorrow evening we plan to head out again sailing 90-100 miles up to Egmont Key just in the mouth of Tampa Bay. We are almost there!

Post Note: Well the winds are still strong from the northwest so the current plan is to leave Thursday morning as the wind shifts to the west and sail on through to Clearwater, about a 26 hour sail. Today we'll reprovision a bit in the town of Marco Island and wash clothes with the fresh rain water collected during Tuesday's day long rain.

San Marco Island

Scott and Sue have successfully made it to San Marco Island. They were able to sail all the up untill midnight and Scott said that it was a really beautiful & amazing sail. Although I have finally updated the map and you readers on time for once, they will be leaving San Marco tomorrow already to continue their journy north.

Turn Right!

The adventure has taken a bit of a surprising turn. A couple of incidents have conspired to make it interesting to sail to.....

Clearwater Beach!

This is where we will probably spend hurricane season. The events leading up to this are 1. being able to help my dad who lives in Tampa and 2. finding an affordable slip in Clearwater Beach thanks to our 'new best friends', Ange and Wendy.

While in that area we hope to take care of some largish unfinished projects using my dad's woodworking shop. Also we can use the time to get the SSB working (yeah, it's still NOT), get a ham license, work a little maybe, and, of course, explore the waters in and around that Tampa/St. Pete area. Didn't plan to go there but it looks interesting. We already are poring over new charts of Florida's west coast.

We will probably sail to Marco Island from Key West and then maybe Venice or a long jump all the way to Clearwater. We'll see.

Oh boy! More dirt to follow!

Our newest 'best friends'

We've spent the last two evenings with our new best friends, Wendy and Ange, the wacky Canadians. They have a beautiful, new 44 foot hunter sailboat and are moored right by us in Garrison Bight. They were the ones that found our blog and used it to figure out these damn mooring balls.

As we watched them dingy back to their boat the other night something didn't look right. Really not right! Just as they reached the stern of their boat we see their dingy apparently try to climb aboard under full power! It tipped up, dumped them in the water and then proceeded to do full throttle donuts with Ange clinging to the side. He was afraid to let go because where would the prop go next? He couldn't climb in. Finally we see him let go and swim to his boat while the dingy continued its nutty dance by itself. I jumped in our dingy and rushed over to see if they were ok. they were fine (though wet) and as luck (or fate, Wendy!) would have it, in trying to climb aboard Ange had grabbed the fuel line so when he let go he pulled it off of the engine and the tank. The dingy only raced around until the fuel in the engine was used up. I was able to tow their dingy back to their boat then. Those crazy Canadians!

It's funny now but not so much at the time. Now we both ALWAYS hook that little kill switch to our belts like you're supposed to! This also shows how useless it is to simply have lifejackets on board. Those were instantly left behind. Now big deal in this case but you could get dumped by a big wake and be miles from the mother ship. Food for thought!

K.I.S.S.

Just a note that Andrea has posted some pics and stories from her recent vacation to Enee Land. Go here to see them!

We have a KISS wind generator. No, this doesn’t generate wind, although that would be nice, it is a wind mill type thing that generates electricity in the wind to recharge the batteries. We always welcome free energy! There are two problems with this unit. When the wind is light there is too much static friction in both the bearing that allows it to turn in the horizontal plane to align itself with the wind (it has a tail like an airplane) and also the prop shaft itself which cannot get spinning even though if I give it a start it will spin just fine. The solution to the light air problem is probably to take the unit down, take it apart and grease whatever bearings I can find. The other problem is when the wind is heavy, say 15 knots and up, the unit spins great and generates nice high currents. The problem is what comes with current is heat and at some point the unit gets so hot that it shuts down. That is, it quits generating electricity. The company said this is because the permanent magnets inside have overheated and it is supposed to shut down like this and it is normal. Now there is no load on the propeller and it freewheels. This is scary as to how fast this thing is going. Usually to stop it I can flip a switch and short it out. This extreme load (0 resistance) grinds it to a halt. But now when it is freewheeling that doesn’t work. The only way to shut it down is to reach behind the unit with a boat hook and turn it off of the wind then jump up and grab a fin and lash it to the post.

In staring at it the other day (yes I'm always thinking! Sometimes it just LOOKS like a nap.) I realized that one problem was the solution to the other. When the unit is off of the wind it doesn’t spin efficiently. Well, when the wind is high it is spinning TOO efficiently! So I tied a long line to the tail and brought it over to a cleat. Now I can force the unit off of the wind when the wind is high until I find and angle where it will generate electricity but not go nuts and start free wheeling!

It really is a KISS brand wind generator (made in Trinidad) and this is a nice K.I.S.S. solution!

In other news we await the return of our front sail probably tomorrow. The sail maker in town has been repairing the roller furling cover. The parts to repair the cable that runs from the SSB radio to the tuner should be in today and maybe I can finnaly have a full functioning SSB radio. We require that to work before we head to Mexico. Speaking of Mexico, we’ve ordered the charts we will need for the Mexico/Belize/Guatemala coast. That’s about $200 and, I know, why not quit sinking (don’t say sink!) money in paper charts and buy electronic charts for the laptop? Because I don’t trust the laptop! If I ONLY had electronic charts and the laptop goes on the frits (which it has) I’d be totally screwed. Especially in foreign waters!

A couple dingyed up to our boat yesterday to say hi and tell me that we were the reason they were there! They typed in Flemming Key in a search engine and it directed them to this blog where I described the adventure of getting hooked to the mooring ball. Sometimes I forget that you guys are actually reading this! Weird how things are connected now via the internet. So keep reading and we'll try to think of things to write while we prepare for Mexico and points south.

Where To?

We came to Key West by following the dirt off our starboard side. Now that we are at ‘lands end’ it’s time to really decide where to next. Ever since we began planning this trip three years ago people have asked us, “What about hurricanes”. We never had a definite answer but knew that hurricane season would be a real concern once we got south. Now we’re there and here comes the next round of hurricanes.

We considered the Bahamas but decided that we’d feel like targets out there on the open Atlantic. Considered the west coast of Florida but they get hit like anywhere else. We’re NOT ready to head north so soon like many do and spend summer/fall in the Chesapeake or farther north. We feel like we just came from there.

Then we talked with an old cruiser who just came back from the western Caribbean. We’re talking Isla Mujeres, Belize, Guatemala and the Rio Dolce. There are many things to recommend this tack. For one we like the idea of continuing on. To reach Isla Mujeres we’d sail nearly west from Key West and a little south. Just continuing on. Isla Mujeres is just off the coast of Cancun and is around three hundred miles from Key West. From there we can follow the Mexican coast to Belize. Around there you encounter off shore reefs much like we enjoyed in the Hawk Channel off of Florida’s east coast. Here you have regular trade winds but calm seas within the reef.

The image above shows a satellite view of the route from Key West to Mexico. Isla Mujeres is located off the tip of Cancun.

Continuing south you come to Guatemala and the Rio Dolce. You can follow this river about twenty miles inland where there are two large lakes. Fresh water! There has never been a hurricane down here. One it is too far south and for another it is in the mountains. While we probably won’t want to spend months and months up the Rio Dolce it would be good to have it within a day or two sailing and then maybe hide in there for the heavy hurricane time of September and or October.

One of the most exciting aspects of this tack is the run to Isla Mujeres. Three hundred miles of open ocean. The typical trade winds should be with us but there can be fairly strong current against. We feel like we are ready and maybe need a run like this to move this adventure up one notch. If we’re interested in continuing this cruising life, and this is Sue speaking, yes we still are, then two and three hundred mile treks will become a regular thing. Of course we’ll look for a good weather window and be our usual cautious sailor selves. It is exciting, scary, and adventurous. That’s the idea, right?

Before we go we have much to do. The boat is in pretty good shape overall. We need to get the SSB working for sure before we leave. We still plan to have the front sail cover repaired and that should happen this week. There is still a lot to read and learn about the beaurocracy of entering and leaving various countries. As we plan this now we could be shoving off for those foreign shores around mid May. Stay tuned.

A Three Hour Cruise…

Easter Sunday and our first guests for an actual cruise! I was pretty excited and nervous as we had a big crew to accommodate: Mike D, his wife Julie, her brother, his wife and four kids! Oh and Mike D’s mom! Hoo boy. I wanted everything to go just right. Our plan was to pick them up at the fuel dock for A&B Marina. I had called on Friday to make sure they would be open on Easter Sunday. A nice guy named Mark said, “Sure we’re always open.” I asked if I could pick up some passengers and at first he said no, not if we were not renting a slip. I asked where we could pick up people and he was stumped and then said, “Oh that’s ok. You can pick them up here for a day sail.” Fine.

We brought Enee from the mooring ball on the east side of Flemming Key around to the west side and down to Key West Bight. Our crew was there on the dock waiting with lots of food and snorkeling and swimming gear. We get moored for fuel and the first thing I hear form some little shit working the dock is that we can’t pick up crew here. I explain that I was told my Mark that I could. He backed down. Based on engine hours (no working fuel gauge, remember?) I estimated that we’d need around 30 gallons of diesel. It took 12. I couldn’t really figure that out right then with all the confusion of getting people and gear on board so I just let it go. The little guy said it was $35. I gave him two 20’s. He bitched at me for correct change! I said sorry, that’s what I have. In retrospect I think this guy didn’t want to walk the length of the pier for the proper change. We settled on using plastic. He complained that this wasn’t a retail outfit and had some other general complaints about sail boaters in general. After that and getting everyone on board one of my crew said that the little guy said we couldn’t off load there. I had to get back in his face and said I damn well WAS and what did he think I was going to do with a crew of 8 sail them to Cuba? He complained about Mark (Like I care!) and another guy pulled me aside and told me to come back and not worry about it. Apparently he too knew what a jerk this guy was. Short people!

OK, Everyone settled in and we are off. We are planning to sail out to one of the reefs about 3 miles out where you can tie to a mooring ball and go snorkeling. Nobody except Mike had ever been on a sailboat before and I explained the workings of a few of the more obvious pieces of equipment and so forth. We raised the main and kept the engine on as the wind was very light in the channel as we passed one of the huge cruise ships moored there. Then it happened…

The engine sputtered, slowed…and stopped!

(Julie and 'the kids' during a happy moment)

Let me point out that we have been in Key West for about 3 weeks and have run the engine once or twice a day to keep the batteries charged and all has been fine. Now I have my first sailing guests and having been there before I know that this will now be a day from hell.

It was.

The last time this happened we were coming into Miami and had to bleed the entire fuel system. I checked the Racor paper filter and it was black! Why hadn’t I been monitoring that? Swinging on the anchor for too long can make you really lazy. I replaced the filter and we tried to start the engine. No. Stupid! Upon looking at this filter, it was already solid black from the dirty fuel that was in the Racor filter bowl. Damn! I have sucked tons of chunks up into this filter. Why? I empty the bowl and put in some clean diesel and another fresh filter. Start? No. I take off the fuel line and blow through it. A nice high ensued but did nothing for the engine!

Mike and mom, Charlotte enjoying the view from the poop deck

Meanwhile Sue is sailing up and down the channel like a schizophrenic sailboat! It is hot in the engine room from our morning run and now smells of diesel in which I am drenched. Yes I glisten in sweat and diesel but it is NOT a good look. Well, when this happened before we had to bleed the entire fuel system. Everyone topsides seems to be having fun. The kids were great and easily entertained by each other and by being on a sail boat, so might as well get to it. I start with the bleed screw by the screw-on filter and pump that about a thousand times. Start? No. From there you have to bleed all four injectors. I loosen them all up and put paper towel under them as Eric taught me to see that fuel is coming out. Sue cranks the engine and I look for the pink drips of diesel which I find on all four towels. The nuts for these are not the most accessible but I finally get them all tightened up again. Now let’s start it. Crank, crank, sputter, pop…..VROOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

A cheer goes up from the cockpit which I can’t hear but which the crew gladly recreated for me. I decided to shut the engine down and only use it at the end of the day for fear we would suck up some more junk and be back where we started. Now to the reef!

Todd and Cindy enjoying non-Minnesota weather!

The wind had died and what there was was on our nose. Is this the day in hell as predicted or what. We tack back and forth or as Hornblower would say, “Clawing our way up the coast.” We finally get clear of the southern island off of Key West and head a little west. We decide that it will be a very long day if we go all the way to the reef and back especially if what wind there is dies even more. We opt to anchor right off that island and eat the delicious food that Julie had made and brought. Now, when you are anchored and there is some boat traffic the ONLY motion you get to experience is up and down. And up. And down….and up….and down…This had the unfortunate effect you can imagine on Julie. I could see her separate herself from the crowd and begin that long stare at the horizon.

So after eating and straightening up a little I thought the best thing to do would be to sail right to the mouth of the harbor and then motor in from there using minimal engine that way. The wind was a little abaft the beam now and we headed up the channel under full sail. At one point Mike said, “Hey, we’re on a treadmill.” I watched the cruise ship beside us and sure enough our position was not changing with respect to the ship. Now what? Of course! The tide was falling and there is about a 3 knot current in this channel. Remember me predicting this day? Well, there’s nothing to do but start the engine and use more than I wanted to. She starts right up and runs for about 20 seconds. Dies and refuses to start again.

I. do. not. want. to. live.

Now even if I could get it started I’m not going to trust it in a tight harbor with million dollar boats all around me off of which I would probably be bouncing. The alternative? Our good friends at Tow Boat US!

The boat came out within half an hour and a guy by himself did a great job getting us in. I listened to the radio as he talked with that little guy back at A&B Marina who said that we were the ones who picked up crew ‘when we weren’t supposed to’! He’s still mad about that! It was agreed that we could be put at the end of their fuel dock behind a catamaran but we could only stay one night and then we’d have to leave. Big fishing tournament coming in. I’ve never felt less welcome in a marina.

We got tied up and the nice guy helped us. Passengers and gear off loaded and apologies fill the air. Mike says not to worry. Since nobody knew what to expect whatever happened was fine. Nice to say. Still…

Sue leaves to get beer. Do we have priorities in a crisis or what? I poke at the engine a little and think what the hell. I give her a start. sputter, pop…grind…sputter…VROOOOOMMMMM. Ran perfect for about 5 minutes until I shut her down. What’s left to say?

OK now that all this has happened we think about the clues we were getting before this day.

1. When we ran the engine lately to charge batteries the rpm’s will slowly climb all by themselves. I figured it happened as the current draw from the alternator is decreased.
2. We only took on 12 gallons when it should have at least been double that.
3. When an engine runs lean (not getting enough gas) it will run fast.
4. The trouble started right after adding fuel.

Ok boys and girls, today’s quiz. In 25 words or less what was happening to Scott and Sue’s engine that could have been avoided.

Times up. Pencils down. The answer is the fuel filter was no doubt slowly clogging up. I promised to always check it but became complacent. As it clogged the engine was running but starving for fuel (lean) hence the fast rpms. When we added fuel we stirred up the gunk in the tank, sucked large amounts of that into the paper filter and that was the last straw. I like when it all makes sense but not so much when it is after the day in hell. The reason it started ok later in the day was probably because gunk had resettled to the bottom.

On Monday morning we called around and found a guy (Cory Stuard) from Atlantic Marine who agreed to come right out and polish our fuel. What he did was suck fuel from our tank and put it through a filter/water separator and back into the tank. We found LOTS of water in the tank. Probably 5 gallons or more. It sits on the bottom and nothing too bad happens as long as it doesn’t reach the engine but you don’t really want water in your fuel, right? After about 3 hours and several filters we were no longer getting water and no longer seeing chunks of stuff floating in the fuel. Cory did a great job and taught us a lot about fuel and fuel tanks. You might be wondering how the water got there in the first place. Diesel engines return unburned fuel to the fuel tank. This fuel is warm and the engine compartment is warm so at the end of the day you have warm fuel. Now it cools off at night and the air above the fuel has moisture in it which then condenses on the inside of the tank and sinks to the bottom being more dense than diesel. The other growth in there needs oxygen to grow and that can be provided also by the oxygen in the water.

So once again we learn our lesson the hard way and our passengers had to pay for it. Tomorrow we are getting more Racor filters and inspecting them every, oh I don’t know, 15 minutes of running time? Sound about right?

Stay tuned...our next blog will be "Where in the World are Scott and Sue Going Next".

Moving to the Mooring Ball…

On Sunday night we heard the weather report regarding squalls and high winds. We’ve been living just off of Christmas Tree Island for just over two weeks and with the frequent boat wakes from fisherman and the worry about dragging our anchor we decided to move the boat to the mooring ball field on the other side of Fleming Key first thing Monday morning. No problem getting there and no problem finding an empty ball. The problem is in retrieving the mooring ball. The way it is suppose to work is that the mooring ball has a heavy line or chain that passes through it. On the top side of the ball this line will have a ring attached to it. When you come in you grab the ring with a boat hook, haul it up on deck (the mooring ball line is typically plenty long enough), thread your dock line through the ring and cleat that line to the boat at both ends (both ends of the line not the boat!) making a long yoke to the mooring ball ring. We’ve done this a lot and other than the occasional miss on grabbing the ring it is pretty routine.

We pick a mooring ball and head for it. I don’t see a loop or ring on top but there is something there. When I put the boat hook down I see that the ‘ring’ is the line itself with a loop formed in the end. That’s fine. Attached to this loop is a large shackle. What the hell…There is no open space within the loop to insert the boat hook. We tried three times and then went to another ball. Must have been a malformed ball. The next ball was the same! Nothing to grab! What moron designed these? With some reflection I see what has happened here. The designer made a nice loop (with cloth around it even) to put your mooring line through. What he didn’t allow for is that when the ball starts moving due to wind and waves, this loop is going to get sucked into the hole in the ball! That’s why a metal ring might have been better. The ‘solution’ was to screw a big ass shackle to the top of the loop to keep it from getting sucked all the way through the ball. The result is that although the loop does in fact stay with the ball it still gets jammed really hard down in the hole making it impossible to retrieve.

Our solution: A woman on a boat nearby, watching our frustration with the boat hook, told us to loop a line UNDER the ball to hold the boat near then she made swimming motions. I get it. So we looped a line around and under the ball and cleated each end. Now the boat will stay near the ball and I can get in the water and wrestle with the loop which is exactly what I did. The loop won. The loop is jammed in so tight that I can’t put a needle through what remains of the hole in the loop let alone my half inch mooring line. I can’t lift the loop out of the hole in the ball either because it is jammed so tight and I now have my boat pulling on the underside of the ball making it even harder to expose the loop! What to do? We got another line and formed a slipknot around the loop/shackle. Sue then motored up a little to take pressure of the mooring ball line so that I could pull some line up out of the ball. I then cleated this line and jumped back in the water. I still had to force my mooring line through the loop but managed to do so. With the free end of this line back to Sue on board we are now properly moored to the mooring ball. Oh, one more thing. We have to untie or uncleat the line we tied to the loop to pull it out of the mooring ball. It is so tight we can neither untie it NOR uncleat it. So we cut it! I can form another loop in this old line some other time.

All in all it probably took us 30 – 40 minutes and three swim sessions to moor our boat. No wonder there were so many empty balls!

Now to town. We took dingy to the dingy dock for this mooring field. It is a longer ride than we had from our anchorage but we are gaining security and surrendering some convenience. Cleverly, Key West City Marina has put the very nice floating dingy dock on one side of a big bridge and the dockmaster, bathrooms and showers on the other! Who builds stuff like this? We stopped back in later in the day to sign up for a month on the mooring ball. The dockmaster didn’t seem to know what she was doing. She gave us a 9 page legal document that I had to initial on each page…like a house sale agreement but this document has no information about how to USE the facilities or where anything is. She took our money and then looked at us. Now usually, a place like this gives you either verbally or in writing, where the showers are, where the water is, how to get about and so forth. Nothing from her. We had to remind her that we’d like a shower key. Oh yeah. She gave us the key (and took a deposit) and still never told us where they were! We had to remind her that we needed some kind of sticker for the dingy. Oh yeah. For this she gave us a ‘temporary’ sticker from a sheet of labels like you’d make mailing labels from on your computer. Not exactly ‘all weather’. Still no general information about facilities and so forth. Very unprofessional in keeping with the design of their mooring balls!

Oh yeah, the sticker blew off on our way back to the boat as predicted. We came back to the boat just ahead of some ugly weather but it all missed Key West. Since Monday the wind has been blowing a steady 20 knots with occasional gusts. This is supposed to continue through thursday and maybe into Friday. Looks like we moved to a ball (even a stupid one) at the right time!

So, let’s summarize where you can keep your boat in Key West. Anchorage: You can anchor on either side of Christmas Tree Island but are pretty open to weather. On the south side you are especially open to boat wakes from fisherman. You can anchor on the west side of Fleming Key with probably less boat wake problem but same openness to weather especially from the north. You can take a mooring ball for more security and the problems above. Finally you can go to a marina but they are crowded and expensive going for between $2.20 and $3.50 per foot per night. Our mooring ball is $261 for the month. I’d say that this mooring ball even with the moronic design is a good solution for a long stay. If you are just staying a few days you might as well anchor and keep a close watch.

No storm AND a rainbow. Life is good...

Good and short!

Epilog: A little bit after writing this piece I heard the repeated blasts of an air horn. That usually means some boat is drifting through the mooring field and sure enough there goes a big Morgan ketch dragging her mooring lines and heading right for another moored boat. The couple on board got the engine started and beared off just in time to avoid collision. I took a look through the binoculars to see what had broken. As I suspected, their looped mooring line was sliced in half. Here is the other bad thing about attaching a big ass shackle to the nice cloth loop: Chafe! We are sitting in 20-25 knot winds today and tomorrow so there is a lot of movement on boats and lines. I went out in the dingy to inspect our line and sure enough it is starting to show significant chafe after only one night! I put my feet on the mooring ball to shove it down a bit and was able to pass another mooring line through the loop. Now it would be very unlikely to have both lines wear through at the same time. I’ll have to keep inspecting them while we’re here.

A walk around town….

Thursday morning we dingyied into town about 8a.m. You can tell when it’s 8 o’clock because the Coast Guard Station plays the national anthem. Piped music traveling throughout the town while the roosters crow. How quaint. We both walked to Scott’s worksite and I took a few photos of the 'regular' neighborhood on the way . Regular in that the houses are very small and a little run down and priced at around $500,000. We're not making this up! Of course the picture of his building he’s working on has the lens cap in it. Bummer.

I continued on to the Publix with my little blue West Marine cart. It took awhile for the bus to show up but then a quick ride to the grocery store where I replenished for another week or two. Everything except booze. Hmmmm. It was a short wait for the bus return trip to town. While waiting I threw away all extraneous packages like cracker boxes and such. No need for them on the boat and less to haul around. When the bus arrived I pulled my little cart up the short step and found a seat by the back door. A few minutes later I was loading the dingy with the goodies and heading out to Enee. It was very warm and calm this day and very little waves on the bay except for the power boaters, which there weren’t many, thankfully.

As I unloaded the groceries Gracie came out of her slumber and joined me in having some cheese and carrots. Well she only ate the cheese. I ran some engine to charge the batteries while doing these chores which unexpectedly included washing the sheets because Gracie decided to hurl a fur ball right in the middle of the bed again. Yummy! Not a big deal since a quick rinse, wash, rinse of the bad spots then out on the life lines to dry. By the time the batteries were charged the sheets were back on the bed.

So back into the dingy I go this time with the computer and my camera. More photos to be taken of Key West as I walk around town. I walked down Simonton to Flemming heading toward Duval. Oh look there's our favorite book store and, who knew, a liquor store right across the street. I think there might be just enough room in this backpack for a bourbon treat.

There is only one cruise ship in town and Duval Street is pretty quiet. Although it's only 1:00 in the afternoon, Irish Kevin’s is jamming, as usual but it’s not our favorite guy! The 'I love you man' guy must have a day off.

I pass a church on the corner of Duval and something where I hear music. I look closer and notice a rooster at my feet. These critters are everywhere and still part of the charm of Key West.
Duval Street is a shopper and drinker's delight. T-shirts, jewelry, tatoos, sunglasses, cigars are readily available among the many, many restaurants and bars. In fact there are beverage stands to get a beer for the walk to the next bar! We love this town!

Finally I made it back to the harbor neighborhood where our favorite internet café is located: Coffee Plantation. A great place, very friendly, accommodating to lounging and internetting, and they accept packages and mail for you! Talk about a home away from home. You can sit inside or out, the signal is strong and you can stay all day if you want.

At the end of the day when Captain Stinky comes home from work it's time for a swim and some anchor untangling. The boat turns 180 degrees twice a day which makes for very confused anchor rodes. Captain Stinky is to the rescue!

Paying Taxes in Key West

The nice days just keep on coming. It is about 80 every day and about 60 at night with a breeze. On Saturday Scott, Sue and Andrea decided to go out in the dingy and explore on and around Christmas Tree Island near where we are anchored. We too some sandwiches and beers. The island is really ragged and pretty trashed up from prior visitors. Lots of cans and bottles and even an abandoned port-o-potty! We thought the view from the dingy was better so we began motoring around the island. On the East side of the island is the best evidence for why you don't stay here during hurricane season!

When we reached the far end of the island we passed the local fish and wildlife police...and yes, they 'pulled me over'. Jeez-o-peet!

Officer Friendly: Where's this boat's registration?
Me: Well, it has vaporized in the sun and I can't read it (expired a year ago).
Officer Friendly: But it IS registered, right?
Me: Oh sure...out of Illinois
Officer Friendly: Any ID.
(note I'm in a swimsuit in an 8 foot dingy)
Me: No
Officer Friendly: Do you have some on your main boat?
Me: Yes
Officer Friendly: Lifejackets?
Me: I have three seat cushions (which can be used as a floatation device in case of a water landing)
Officer Friendly: Those don't count.
Me: (to myself...uh oh)
Officer Friendly: Hang on to this line and we'll tow you back to your boat (OK, I don't know why...I guess we were being 'apprehended')

Once back on the boat Sue and Andrea went below to switch our y-valves to holding tank in case these clowns boarded us. But no, just gave me a ticket for not having life jackets and a warning to get the boat visibly registered. $61 for the life jacket fine. Oh well, since I'm basically living here for free I guess I should put some money in the Key West kitty.

Now for our first guest columnist. Here's Andrea's report on her first night aboard Enee Marie.

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE FROM ENEE MARIE
by Andrea

I’m going to blah,blah,blah my trip down to the keys, and start right in to when I met up with Sue & Scott. There were hugs and beers – my kind of greeting. We walked around Key West a bit – added more beers, and decided to head out to Enee. I was certain I heard whispered asides between them, but did not understand what it meant until we were in the dinghy, and heading out to the boat.

BOY was it choppy. OK – it’s a little dinghy, with three adults plus my bags, and a few supplies in it, so I assumed that once we got on board, everything would be a lot smoother. Never assume.

“Hey Andrea, would you like another beer?” (pitch,roll, pitch,roll – don’t hurl,don’t hurl) “Oh, no, I’m good.” (pitch,roll, pitch,roll – don’t hurl,don’t hurl)

I go below to the vee berth to stow away my stuff. (pitch,roll, pitch,roll – don’t hurl,don’t hurl) and hurry right back up top. The scenery is beautiful, the stars are breathtaking (pitch,roll, pitch,roll – don’t hurl,don’t hurl) . Sue says “It’s going to calm down soon.” I say “Oh this is fine – I’m a little woozy down below, but I’m OK now. (pitch,roll, pitch,roll – don’t hurl,don’t hurl) As bed time approaches, I begin saying things like “It’s so nice here under the starts – I think I’ll sleep out here.” In Budde-speak, that means “I’m going to hurl any minute, I have no idea how I’m going to survive this for 5 days, and OMG what have I gotten myself into?” (pitch,roll, pitch,roll – don’t hurl,don’t hurl)

THE NEXT DAY

We head into town – and I am NASEOUS, but of course, keep saying things like “I think I’m a little dehydrated – maybe some water.”, Or “I could really use a diet Coke” We walk around – the place somewhat defies description, so I won’t try right here, and end up in Mallory Square for the sunset. One of the street performers with a dog act, who looks like Jimmy Johnson on acid with long scraggly hair takes a “likin” to me and asks if I would move to West Texas with him. He asks where I’m from. I say “Illinois.” “Where in Illinois?” “Joliet” He asks – and I am not making this up – “Are you a guard at the prison?”

Well, I can do nothing else but smash my beer cup into my forehead and walk away.

It takes Sue and Scott at least 20 minutes to stop laughing.

But miraculously, I am no longer nauseous at all, and have no more trouble with (pitch,roll, pitch,roll – don’t hurl,don’t hurl) .

More to come on WRB Junction when I get back home & download some pictures.