Keys & Beyond

Ron, sorry to hear that. I understand, We have been there and done that.

Very poor conections here. I don't know if this message will make it to the outside world . Last couple did not. Service will be less for a day or two as we are pulling out of Goodland today.
I will send this and see. Have to catch up with the story later.
captd
 
Goodland , the old Florida. We spent one night at the dock of Star's Idle Hour. Low tide put us on the bottom. But it was a good night . We pulled out around 8 before it got any lower. Topped off the fuel at $3.82 per gal. Anchor out for the day. Wind blew all day, from the North north west.
It is now 5:30 in the morning, coffees done. We hope to get all the way to the Shark River today. Never have seen the weather so consistently cold and windy.
Last night we took the Tugging Aweigh to Stan"s. They have some terrific entertainment. Music was exceptional and the guy was funny. Phoo Bear was allowed to attend. The guy even sang a song for him. Called "puppy Love" poo growled at him as if to say " your not funny, get closer and I'll bite you" that dog has no sense of humor. At least he got to go relieve himself. We did to good of a job house breaking him.
Tugging Aweigh had a new experience, Departing Stans in the dark to go back to my anchored Lucky Fin. Sometimes it is not as easy a person thinks. Spot light or not. I have posted my first time for night running. I won't tell those storys again, but I'll tell you what.....I will post some tips next time we have a better connection.

Lets see if this goes.
captd
 
Two nights and we are out of here. Not that it was not fun. Stan's Idle Hour was a good past time with live entertainment
and a free slip for the night. Course the meal for dinner was around $24,00. Easy to end up with $60 for two.

Today is Friday the 19th. It started at 5:00 am with coffee and a post that surprised me. I know this one will not go so I'm
putting it on a note pad. I will see if it works or not.

Nice day of 2 to 3 ft seas and finally ended up flat as we pulled into the Shark River. We passed all kinds of interesting
names of places, inlets and islands. From Coon Key Pass through Gullivans Bay. On past Dismal Key pass and Fakahatchee Pass into the Ten Thousand Islands. We whistled by Indian Key, and Chokoloskee Pass, Rabbit Pass and even Nightmare Pass. Only Passable at high tide. Over the top of Ponce De Leon Bay bar and on into the Shark River. Been here once before, but forgot all the deep water passages you can take to get into the river. Dropped anchor in one of the side channels in 3 to 4 knot tide current. Must set through a tide change to make sure the claw anchor will hold when it changes. It is slack now as I type this and is due to start out the other way in an hour or so. It set fairly well on incoming tide after switching, I will know whether I need to set an other anchor Bahamian style or not.

Should be a nice day tomarrow. Keys here we come. 😀

captd
 
It worked, I did it in note pad and send it from Marathon key. No cell phone, no nothing from civilization in the shark River. Sat. radio worked so if the world came to an end would know it. I asked Dee, what if something happened to me in here , what would you do and what could she do. Interesting answers. So after a few instructions about VHF radio and a bit about the garmin and running the Lucky Fin, she slepted like a baby. I was up all night thinking a little like Red Fox. Kinda like " my old ticker "............
Really.......I was concerned about tide change, how good is the holding? We pulled out at the crack of dawn. Crab pots and more crab pots, mile after mile of crab pots. About 50 miles down range we hit the seven mile bridge. Well we did not hit it , but arguing over whether we could go under it or not. Dee thinks the Lucky Fin is twenty foot tall. Except when the waves are three to fours, then we are in a row boat.

God oh friday, lots of boaters,no mooring balls available, Waiting list to get on. So we dropped the hook and set another, cause there is no swinging room here. Bahaimian type rig. Turn only in the boats own length.


Frank and Pam made the whole run yesterday. All the way from Coon Key, past Shark River on into Marathon. When he got there his engine died. Plugged fuel line. He was lucky, it could have been stalled in the shark River.

I don't think we will need the Wallus tonight for heat. We actually sat on the back deck and had a beer and watched the sun set. Cold front is coming again on monday.

To be continued

captd
 
The Wallas, the solar panels, and the claw anchor ( or Bruce )

The Wallas because the BTU"s from diesel were enough to keep the boat nice and toasty every night during this exceptionly cold weather. No need to run the generater. With out one of the two aperson can be quite uncomfortable in the evenings. Only one silver lining to this cold weather..... There were less mosquitos in Shark River.

Second: The solar panels have always kept the batteries up while anchored out. Again no need to run the genset. We use what ever lighting we want. Two laptops, tv, Clarion radio. Always enough power to start the Wallas.Factory ought to make it a standard or at least an advertized option.

Third: The Shark River show me again that the claw anchor is the best for the main. It reset during several tide changes and allow us to use only one anchor.

Speaking of anchoring: Boot Key anchorage has upwords of 450 boats in here. Very close to one an other. Proper technique on setting anchor is a must. I have posted ( in the past ) why I dislike tieing second anchor to the stern. If I may be so bold, I will explain my thinking. Bahamian anchoring is very important in an anchorage like boot Key. One thing you would notice is all or most of the sailboater are on Bahamian moor. Whistle P---ers are the best at anchoring. Cause they are cheap like me.

Here is food for thought: 10 feet of water. How much rode if you expect high tide or high wind? 70 feet would be prudent. Remember you do not count the distance from the bow to the water.
Example: Ranger with dive platform is about thirty feet long, add that to the 70 foot of rode ,you have a hundred foot. While swinging around with tide or wind you are covering 100 foot radious. that is a 200 foot circle. That is why sailboaters use two anchors set at about 180 degrees apart. They will swing only the length of their boat. The Ranger will swing only aprox. 30 foot with the Bahamian moor. 60 across. Now why than should you not tie to your tern? .....Because it makes you unmanuverable. plus you want to turn with the other boats around you. If you are fixed tight across 180 degrees you will not swing with the rest of the fleet. You might hear that dredfull bump in the night. Plus a good amount of slang words from you nieghbor. Like " you dumb @#$%^$%#@.
If you have used a stern tie and the 60 to 80 mile an hour blow takes you on the beam for a few hours. You do not dare turn loose the stern line you may not sleep to well. If you swing on a bahamian setup you will always be bow to the wind.... Much, much better.

too be continued
captd
 
I have written a post like the one above a couple of times and it goes phoof out into outer space some where. So please excuse my posts without proper corrections. If anyone would like to add their thoughts on anchoring in this thread.... be my guest. I have a lot to learn and readers will find it interesting.

One thing I would add is when hanging on the main anchor the second is laying on the bottom. When switching, the other lays on the bottom. That way it will not fowl your prop. It does not always have to be 180 degrees opposite, but should always be tied of the bow.

Now to see if this goes. 😉
captd
 
Thanks John, A picture is worth 1000 words. 5000 of my words. That is the best explaination I have seen. In fact I have never seen any explanation at all. It was always a known fact to use the Bahamian system and told you how to set the opposing anchors but did not explain why and what could happen in a blow if you did not.
It took me three terrifying times during the night to learn not to tie on to the stern. I'm a slow learner. I think a boater has a tendency to have a few quite nights with the stern tied down and believe there is nothing wrong with doing it that way.
captd
 
Rained night and day. Lots of wind. Good holding here in Boot Key Harbor. Not to worry.
Last night after getting back to the boat I notice that the battery power was down to 12.1. Not much sun shine for the last couple of days so I started the genset. Run it for 2 hours and was back up to full charge. That is with the new 40 amp charger Andrew installed in the Lucky Fin. We do not skimp when drawing on the 12 volt system. Using a couple small inverters.lap tops, sat radio and of course frig is running 24/7. We are really happy with the solar, genset and converter system. One improvement will be a 2000 watt inverted wired in.

Daughter Cherie, son-in-law Steve, their friends, Dave and Kathy got back from their dive trip to the Bahamas. weather was bad the whole two weeks.but claim they had fun anyway. They have a room for a couple nights on Islamorda with a dive sheduled for today in Pennecamp Under Water state park. They had to cancel yesterday because of the wind. Should be a go for today. They had a rental car so we put it to good use.... we went for groceries.

Coffee is done, Plan on moving the Lucky Fin to western end of anchorage to get closer to the dink dock.
So- to be continued

captd
 
captd":wlhj205j said:
Rained night and day. Lots of wind. Good holding here in Boot Key Harbor. Not to worry.
Last night after getting back to the boat I notice that the battery power was down to 12.1. Not much sun shine for the last couple of days so I started the genset. Run it for 2 hours and was back up to full charge. That is with the new 40 amp charger Andrew installed in the Lucky Fin. We do not skimp when drawing on the 12 volt system. Using a couple small inverters.lap tops, sat radio and of course frig is running 24/7. We are really happy with the solar, genset and converter system. One improvement will be a 2000 watt inverted wired in.

Daughter Cherie, son-in-law Steve, their friends, Dave and Kathy got back from their dive trip to the Bahamas. weather was bad the whole two weeks.but claim they had fun anyway. They have a room for a couple nights on Islamorda with a dive sheduled for today in Pennecamp Under Water state park. They had to cancel yesterday because of the wind. Should be a go for today. They had a rental car so we put it to good use.... we went for groceries.

Coffee is done, Plan on moving the Lucky Fin to western end of anchorage to get closer to the dink dock.
So- to be continued

captd
Click to expand...
Glad to here you like your system. What kind of batteries do you have and how many? Do you know your total amp hours you have on your house bank?
Thanks for all your post, Stuart
 
I'll try a quick one .
Lost the las two.
Group 31 AGM House group 27 engine thrusters. 40 amp smart chharger. 3 stage.

See if this goes
captd
 
I have written something like this a couple times and gone into outer space. I'll try again.

Marathon Boot key Harbor. Up wards of 450 boats in here tied to mooring balls and anchorage. The city of Marathon has a marina that has a dingy capacity of at least two hundred. $45 a week gives you access to 12 washer and 6 dryers, pumpout once a week, showers,and place to lock the bikes on a rack. To me it seems quite reasonable. Nothing is free at private marinas. Water is .15 cents a gal. Garbage is a $1.00 a bag. City marina is .05 cents a gal, which is understandable. Dink gas this morning was $4.00 a gal. 2 horse Honda only needed two gals , so I can live with that.

Wind blew like stink last night. We stood anchor watch all night. We must have done thing correct because we did not move for the night. I see one large green sail boat laying on her side whom must have not done it right. She is laying on her side in an area where she may not float off on her own.

Frank on the Tuggin Aweigh heard that terrible bump in the middle of the night. A sail boat with only one anchor out, slipped anchor and hit the Tuggin Aweigh beam on Franks bow. No damage done.
Next couple of days we are expected more of the same. Two fair days and then another front is going to move in. Breaking all records. Must be Gore's theory at play. The colder it gets the more, it is a sign of global warming. 😉

Solar panels are putting out 12.4 amps the last time I looked. After a few days of rain and clouds it is nice to see it pouring into the batteries. My favorite show.

Got to head for West Marine. Spot light quit, must be bulb. Radar quit , it says "must see a tech", so I have a call into Andrew. First time I ever really needed them and they are crapped out.

To be continued
captd
 
Sun is shining and the wind was fairly calm for the night. Wind is now out of the north. A bit cool. Most run their dinks with the same clothes I wear in Montana in the middle of the winter.

I had brought along three anchors , but forgot the extra rode at home. Listening to the boaters net I thought I would see if anyone had and they wanted to sell. A boaters said he had two, one 180 foot and one two hundred foot, 1/2 inch. He said they were like new and he wanted 60 bucks for the two hundred. I went to his boat to see them by an appointment. He wasn't there. His wife and I talked for about an hour. He never showed. I picked a pile the wife brought out, gave her the 60. Later I called the guy just to talk to him. He said he screwed up, the rope he wanted to sell was in a storage locker back home. He really didn't want to sell me the stuff I got, but I guess it is too later now. His wife said when I took delivery from her that her husband would braid a thimble in it for me as part of the deal. He had taken lessons to do that years ago and was really good. All he had done on the new rope was braid an eye on one end. Now I think I better do it myself..........

Well I set that third anchor and slept like a baby, having sat at anchor watch all night the night before.
Still got to get to West Marine. I will put both bike at the marina and chain them to the rack. Maybe I will get there today.
Continuing saga
captd
 
How many computers are needed on board to make sure you can get on line?
I have two that are not working. Have to see if I can find a Nerd on Marathon.

Frank and Pam of the Tuggin Away Have packed up and headed home. They had enough of this weather. Frank went on Cruiser Net and found a guy going to Fort Myers, bumed a ride and was back about 10:30 that night with truck and trailer.
Yesterday they were out of here.

Wind clocked around to north northwest, must have been around 20 knots all night. But we found a better anchorage up close to the mangroves on the north side of Boot Key. Much better and closer to the dink dock. Dog is much happier. Dee is still a little long faced. LOL. Even tho it is windy it still has been sunny and warm. Just poor traveling. All the boats are staying put. Small craft warnings about every day. Not to good a winter for all the snow birds and gray heads.

Signed up dor one more week here for dink dock. We will start biking in grocery supplies for Publics that is about a mile down the road. I still want to get over tto Bahia Honda which is down range 12 miles. After that we will be moving up the coast toward Palm Beach. The plan is still to cross over the gulf stream for the Abacos. We will have two months to get over and back. Hopefully most of the time will be over there not waiting to cross one way or the other. I don't think there has been many days lately when you could have crossed. Lot of sail boats are waiting here in Marathon right now to cross over.

I know my writing is atrocious. I feel like expressing a point like.......I am going to throw the horse over the fence some hay, but I guess you Tugnutters will know what I mean. 😉

To be continued
captd
 
Thursday morning, Had coffee and breakfast. Dog is starting to grumble in dog language which means he wants to go to the bath room.
Today my spot light bulb should be in at West Marine. $16.00 for two day delivery. Plus the $38.00 for the bulb. Napa probably would have the bulb for $8.00. I guess they won't warranty bulbs. I will e-mail a complaint anyway.

Every thing for a couple of days has been out of the northwest or north. and is to continue along those lines for a couple more days. We are anchored within 100 ft of the mangrove to the north of us so it has been no problem.

Looks like I got to go to the Fishermans Hospital and have a EKG under stress. Required by the Coast Guard for renewing
my license. Don't know why I bother with it, but I guess I was suppose to have it done a long time ago as a post op. So I will see today if it can be done. I could just give up and get a certificate of continuance. Well, something like that anyway.To get this far it was necessary to spend a lot of time and money, Twic card, drug tests, physical and all. They give no refunds. I hate to give it up.

Two computers went to the Nerd. $75.00 apiece if he can fix them. Nothing if he can't. Must be done before Sunday.

To be continued.
captd

captd
 
We have enjoyed reading your travel log and admire your efforts to complete your journey. Please keep in touch as you have the time.
 
capt d and your better half.. sounds like your florida weather is a mirror image of wht we are having here in northern ca... without a doubt the nastiest, coldest season we have spent here since 1983.. i feel like writing a letter to that idiot algore but what good would it do?? do you have a crossing date [tentative] for the gulf stream? how long is that passage,, do you have to do any of it at night? our next crossing will be from san carlos to rosalia [about 10 to 12 hrs depending on tides, on the 17 of this month. temps should be in the mid to high 70s the three weeks we will be in the bay of conseption [sp] plan to spend 80 to 90 percent of the time on the hook. if my new bitchin wi-fi antenna works as well as it should we will keep everyone posted,, later,,,, hoping things warm up for you guys,,, steve and tina without a clue 😀 😀
 
Well you guys all have it wrong. I am up here in Seattle, it was 55 degrees today, sunny with just a very light breeze out of the southeast. I took Karma out for a couple of hours today, water was smooth as glass........ maybe you should consider coming north........ this global warming is happening here in the PNW.

Must be all of these earthquakes.... shook up the earth and her weather!

Be safe, both of you have good crossings! We will see you out on the water!
 
Steve,

The plan is to be in Palm Beach at Peanut island on the 23rd. Swap Dee for Bud, me old fishing buddy. Stock in the water , fuel and groceries. pick a nice day with nothing out of the North. It is a sixty mile shot to West End where we will clear customs, pay the $150 fee for 3 to 6 months. Covers fishing and all.

I like to start off at 5:00 am in the dark when it is usually the calmest. As we lose the lights of Palm Beach you can start to see the lights of the West End. Should take no longer than 5 hours. Even stopping to bring in a dorado or wahoo it should not take longer than that.

Must be a 100 mile run for you guys from San Carlos to the Bay of Conception. Are there any islands in the crossing for places of refuge if needed? Do you have scuba gear aboard? Fishing is out of this world over there. Still have 100 lb groupers over there. That is more than you and Tina can eat in a couple of months. LOL 😉 A ten lb cubria or dorado will do nicely.

Hope to pull out of here on Sunday. We will cancel the short shot to Bahia Honda. $50 an night for a slip and the water is to cold for a swim anyway. Water temp was 67 degrees yesterday. So Islamorada or Key Largo will be our 1st. goal. No Name Harbor is a good place to hide out for a couple days. Olas anchorage in Nnorth Miami another. From there it is a lot of idle zones and bridge waits. The mast on the Ranger is about 6 inches to high for a few of them. That stretch, all the way to Palm Beach is "money Row" if you like looking at fancy houses with huge yachts parked right in front of the house, that is the place. 😎

To br continued
captd
 
Oh it is nice to have both these computers working again. Scott, the man said CA was causing most of the problems. Set up Google Chrome for internet. It now works better and faster than new. Sometimes I wonder if all the forwarded jokes don't choke up a computer and screw everything else up. I never have any problems with my nav programs. It is always internet problems. I think there is big money in coming up with viruses and worms and then selling the solutions. Or if they can crash your machine and you have to buy a new one. There is no question , you are force fed information , advertisement and what ever else they want to shove down your throat. They really got total control over your machine.

The sun is just lighting up the eastern sky. Reds, pink and dark purple. Cold or wind never covers up a beautiful sunrise or sunset. Was about 51 degrees last night with wind around 10 miles an hour out of the north. The temp has been 18 to 20 degrees below normal all winter. At least the sun is nice and warm when you get out of the wind.

Dee has now come down with a bug of some kind. Maybe the same one that infected the crew of the Tuggin Aweigh
I may even have a touch. 🙁 We both had our flu shots so maybe it will be a short duration.

Rode the bike to West Marine and Publics yesterday. Picked up the $50 spot light bulb and some wine and groceries.

How many guys does it take to change a light bulb? ( old joke ) In this case, I have no idea. The seal beam is now duck taped into the housing. I spent a good hour on what should take two minutes. The locking band does not fit over the rubber gasket. I think the reason it burned out was water got inside. Jabsco is the the maker. What a piece of junk.
The main housing was set back to far and sprung and riveted so it can not be moved. Screw is not long enough to draw it in. Looks like hell with the duck tape on it but at least it won't leak. I hope Andrew reads this. Jabsco should replace it and my $50. I will be following up with Jabsco and Ranger.

What to do today? Seems like we are busy every day. Running back and forth to the boater lounge or taking Poo Bear to do his daily duty. I have used more gas for dingy and more diesel for the Wallas than ever in the past. Unbelievable.

Still smiling and happy to be on the water. 🙂

To be continued.
captd
 
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