Keys & Beyond

Jon & Marilyn,
We will be enroute to Marathon in the morning. Probably take a couple days to get there. All depends on the weather. Frank and Pam of the Tuggin Aweigh will be coming down from Fort Meyers in the middle of next week. We will meet them either at Marathon or Bahia Honda State Park. So hang on we are a comin. We plan on spending a couple months in the Keys.
Hope to meet you guys in a couple of days. Frank will probably be posting his progress. 🙂

captd
 
Man, you guys have the life...... I just keep working to support the SS system so you can keep getting your checks...... That's okay though, Darrell and Dee are great people and deserve to enjoy life to its fullest at this point of their lives! We are just around the corner (five years...) from joining you!

Have fun, be safe, say hello to a Manatee for me!
 
To go or not to go, that is the question.. 6:45 am. Wind out of the east 5 or 6 knots. Expected to be 10 t0 15 from the south with rain toward late afternoon. Seas 4 to 7 ft. Good to go right now. Dee still sleeping. I think we will make a quick shot to Naples where we can go on the inside to pass Romano shoals

I guess my plan right now will be to have some breakfast and make enough noise to wake up my crew. Tell her I'm sorry to have awoke her. Then suggest we get on with it being she is up. 😉

We could get to Coon key at least.Then it is back on the outside.

captd
 
Wow, the wonders of the internet... You posted at 7:59 this morning and I am reading it a 7:40 this morning...
Anyway, have a good day... I am grinding out paychecks and this weeks stack of bills... No one else is here yet, the office manager due any minute and the rest of the crew in about 5 minutes... The eagle lies so they will be on time...

It is 23 degrees... No fresh snow overnight (thanky, thanky, Mother nature)... We are used to snow but when you have almost a half mile of driveways, plus sidewalks, etc. it gets old real fast...

Yup, the Edison/Ford houses and grounds a nice tour... Did you get an ice cream at the shack? We were there on a 92 degree day and the ice cream went down real smoooth... Looking forward to being down there a year from now for the cold months...
 
The computer is still on Montana time. 2 hours diff. Guess i should change it.

Decision is made. Watching the flying flags and all weather reports. Indicates that by 10:00 am there are small craft warning with seas 5 to 7. I still thought it is a go. Then it accured to me.... we have free boarding passes for the casino boat with a free brunch. Dee love casinos and it is her birthday tomarrow. She will be 39. Could everyone wish the lier "Happy Birthday"? For a gift i will give her $5.00 to gamble with. What a generous skipper I am. Course if she wins , I will take posssion of da loot. 😉

In the morning winds are suppose to be about 10 out of the north which will give us a shove.

captd

Time is now right for the East coast
 
CaptD,

I think I caught a typo on your part. Didn't you mean to say that Dee will be TWENTY - NINE? Just trying to help you out in the "brownie points" department. 😉 😀

Eric
 
Dee,

Cathy and I wish you a great birthday. Enjoy the trip!!

Frank
 
We made a good choice this morning. Seas were 5 to 7 footers plus lots of rain in the afternoon.. We boarded the Big M casino boat. 160 ft. Capt. Matt was at the helm. He is only 23 years old and quite capable. He invited me to the bridge and gave me a run down on the Big "M" and it's electronics.

Dee was celebrating her birthday with the $5.00 I gave her. Later I was down $30.00 so I quit and checked on the birthday girl. She had parlayed the $5.00 into $200. I asked her to give me back the $30 I had lost. She wouldn't give it to me, Imagine that. The Moss Marina gave us free boarding passes with free lunch. So in all it was a great day. Even made a coupla bucks.

Tomorrow looks pretty good for getting out of here. Boy! darnest weather we're are having. Every body talks about the weather here but no one does anything about it. I am going to write a letter to a Florida Senator.

You know, think Dee might have held out on me. She might have had more to start than the $5 I gave her. 😉

to be continued

captd 🙂
 
It is about midnight. Wind is still howelling and the boat is rockin and arollin. Wind gusts to 39. I been tieing spring lines to the spring lines. Tide is washing over the dock. Dee said to h--ll with it and took the dog and herself into the boaters lounge. Lumber and parts of someones dock is on top of ours. It has let up a little but i expect more of the same. This marina is a poor place to be with winds out of the northwest. Looks like a couple more days of the same. I will feel more comfortable anchored in a nice protected cove rather than being next to all this hard stuff.

Looks like a few more days before we get on down to the Keys. A big storm just went through there so they are no better off than we are.

It is starting to calm down now, maybe I can get some sleep. :cry:

To be continued

captd
 
Captd,

Things weren't much better here in Marathon last night. Howling winds woke us up just after midnight and it was a rough ride for an hour or two. We're at the Banana Bay Marina and our slip is exposed to the NW, where the wind is from. Yesterday we came down from Islamarada. Although small craft warnings were posted, the wind was from the south and we were in the lee of the keys so it was a pleasant ride. (25' isn't considered a small craft, is it?)

We are hanging out here in Marathon today and need to walk to the local supermarket for supplies. Tomorrow we head for Bahia Honda state park then the next day it's on to Key West.
 
Captd and Dee
A BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DEE. I think it would be a safe asumption that captd had prepared your coffee regardless of the morning weather conditions. Only $5.00? Dee, I had suggested to Darrel a much larger figure based on your contributions during the trip. How about it Darrel?

We were greeted by a 12" drift and a snowy, icy driveway to get into the house. Celebrated our grandaughter's 6th birthday last night. Now that the purpose of our $$ trip home is accomplished I'm ready to catch that big bird back to warmer-yes warmer than here-Florida. After reading the posts of your weather I believe the decison to pull Tuggin Aweigh and dry storing it inside was was a good one. Barring bad weather in Fort Myers, Tuggin Aweigh will "splashed" Tuesday morning and we will be on our way.

Pam and Frank
Tuggin Aweigh
 
Captd,

Snug Tug is docked at the Bahia Honda state park for the night (Sunday). Tomorrow it's off to Key West for a few days. Looks like we'll have to catch up with you on the way back. At least the wind has died down a bit but it's getting colder with a high of just 58 degrees today. (Is this really Florida or did I make a wrong turn somewhere?)
 
To all you Tuggys,
Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes from 1st mate Dee.........................

My Admiral has spoken.

Ranger Tug news for South West Florida:

Frank and Pam of the Tugging Aweigh are going to be on their way back 1st thing in the morning arriving about 7:00 pm in the evening. I'm going to have to hold him down cause he is ready to head south. Of course we are more than ready.

Ron and Marilyn of the Snug Tug, Boy I sure would like to have gone to Key West chasing after you, but the weather has been the controling factor. If we catch you on the way back it will still be nice. You will meet some other nice folks, tuggers of course.

The bright side of the bad weather is we had the opportunity to meet Jim and Geraldine Mockler the proud new owners of the 29 ft. 2010 Ranger. "Moor Than" It may as well been called the honeymoon cabin for they were just married 1 1/2 years ago. Pictures will be in my album "Keys & Beyond ". Jim will have to explain the name of the boat. Obviously he is a romantic. Kind of neat." Like I love you more than"
To be continued
captd
 
Tuesday morning , the 16 of Feb. About 10:30 Frank & Pam of the Tugging Aweigh and the crew of the Lucky Fin got underway. We traveled the inside to Big Carlos pass. Water gets quite skinny through there. Churned the mud and maybe one unmarked crab pot. Jambed my rudder for a bit. We than went to the outside. Surf was breaking on both sides of the channel. Dee's and my discussion went something like this: Dee: Look at all the breaking waves..... Darrel: That is just surf because the water is real shallow close to shore. See, way out there, no white caps. Dee: What are those white spots out there? Fish Jumping was Darrel's reply. Dee: boy that is a lot of fish. Wind slowly switched to the west, swells got a little bigger. Dee cussed and swore a few times. Frank wanted to go on down to Gordon Pass.
Trailing seas coming into inlets can be tough. One large power boat hogged the small inlet coming into Wiggins. Frank was going to back off in the surf, but I plowed ahead and layed on the horn. I would say that Wiggins pass is good for local knowledge. Greenees like us better take our time and make sure you know where to go..

Wind still from north to north west 15 to 20. Calmed down for the night. 14 miles to Naples. From there it will be on the inside.

We are now tied up in the local city dock. $1.25 per ft.

Frank and Pam are now here for cocktails.
Had the glass of wine . Added a few comments.

Hey, Bob G. We are close to your house. I know I got your phone # somewhere, You got our cell? 406-283-1051
To be continued and will correct spelling later.

captd
 
Got to Gordon pass on the outside. Small craft warning , but at the crack of dawn we could see a window so we headed out. Wind was actually calm but way out in the gulf (200 miles) , it has been blowing for a while causing swells. These passes are a pain with following seas. We now set on the door step of Coon Key Pass.

We are now in Goodland parked in a free slip listening to 50 & 60's music. Management welcomed us and said stay over night and enjoy. Stan's "Idle Hour". After a couple beers and some snacks we had a good nap.ZZZZZZZZZZ

We just got back from dinner hour and the music is still playing. Their dock is in a small key hole protected from all directions. Neat old Florida fishing village. Highly reccomend it.

Sold a couple of Rangers, one pudgy, and one hurly mount. Frank gave a couple of tours on the Ranger. I feel like we are constantly doing a boat show. It ought to make Jeff grin. 😉
To me continued

captd
 
Captd,

Snug Tug's been hangin out in Key West the last three nights. Today some people stopped by to look at the Ranger Tug and mentioned that they have been on a ride on Lucky Fin. I think it was last year in Titusville. They are Skip and Sharon Byerly from Myrtle Beach but I'm not sure you will know their names but may remember giving them a ride. They drove down to the Keys to get away from the snow and may look you up if they are still here when you arrive.

We're headed back to Marathon tomorrow. If the winter northerly winds don't change our plans, we'll be heading for Cape Sable and up the west Fl. coast after that. It looks now like we may pass each other in the open water of Florida Bay!

We'll check in again from Marathon and see where our paths might cross.
 
Captd

Great to meet you and Dee. And thanks for the tips. We had a great time with you both. We went to Ballards for fuel as you suggested. They were closed. Good thing too. We found out from a Captain at Fishtale Marina that their fuel may have been contaminated. He used them recently because they were about a dollar cheaper and endended up spending $8000 (he claims) to rebuild his engines and clean out his tank. Claims there was algae that got passed his filters. I hope Frank didn't stop there. Sorry we didn't get to meet Frank and Pam.

Your are correct about me being a romantic. But hey!

Jim
MOOR THAN
Fort Myers Beach, FL
 
Hi Captd,
I am sure that the solar system you have is doing well on your journeys down south. There seems to be much interest out there in the tug community on solar these days. As you know I am putting it my new 29 that we pick up in about 18 days 🙂
So if you feel up to bragging about your solar, I am sure there would be some folks that would love to here about it.
We are having the factory pre-wire for our system so it will be almost as simple as a plug and play. There will be some fine tuning to do but I have a solar guru in tech support where I got my controller who has been a world of help with running all the numbers for a well designed system.
Sounds like you are having a great time. Many of us that are stuck in snow country are living through you and your travels. Thanks for doing that for us. This is the first winter I have been without a boat to escape to in many years, but the wait will soon be over. 😀
Always enjoy reading your post,
Stuart.... Spirit of Gratitude
 
I am enjoying reading your posts. You just passed my favorite spots, Marco and Goodland 🙂 It is very beautiful there. Take some pictures. I look forward to reading more of your journey.

Talk and See you all Soon.

Brian
 
Captd,

Unfortunately we got a phone call this morning about a medical issue with my dad (having a triple bypass on Monday) so we're heading as fast as possible back up the keys past Miami to Delray Beach. I don't know how far you made it past Goodland today but it looks like we'll miss you as we are already up to Islamorada and will be making time towards Miami early tomorrow morning.

Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet with you and Frank and Pam of Tuggin Aweigh too. Maybe another time!
 
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