Marathon to Marco Island By Sail-- Whoa!!

View from our bow in Marathon 4 days

 

For starters today is my mother's birthday and I first and foremost want to say Happy Birthday Mother- I love you and don't worry we are almost home!  Also, today is Easter and we should all give thanks to God for our Saviour Jesus Christ.  All things are possible with the love of One's Mother and the Great Divine! YEAH....And for those of you whom don't believe ENJOY your CHOCOLATE BUNNIES!

 

Will and I left Hawk's Cay on Monday morning 3/25/13. I believe I told you in my last post we had to wait for a thunder storm and then head down to Marathon.  That was a rough ride for 2 1/2 hours.  UNFORTUNATELY, gadget girl - I lovingly refer to as MYSELF....screwed up the view on the camera in Marathon.  And trying to prove I could fix it accidentally deleted over 100+ photos.  The camera now works and my husband of course just shakes his head and forgets that I can read his mind. Oh well.

 

The majority of this trip thus far has entailed a lot of bad weather. We have gone from winds, storms and cold temperatures to an occasional 83 degree day or two. Marathon was 4 days of  "nothing to write home about." The first night it stormed hard and gusts were over 20 knots.  The second night was pure wind storm.  We had gusts in some instances over 40 knots.  When you are tied up with fenders (rubber bumpers) you heard a lot of rubbing, squeaking and water slapping the hulls(lower bottom boat).

We left Marathon early Friday Morning

Seven Mile Bridge we have to cross under to head to Gulf of Mexico

 The top of our mast going under the bridge. Do you FEEL IT? I guess you have to be there! SUCH  an indescribable feeling of greatness and smallness. This has 65 ft clearance. We require 53 ish. A couple of bridges were only 56 on the Inter Coastal Waterway.  You literally go slow and hold your breath!



Little Shark Harbor- Everglades

 

We can not go the distance power boaters go due to the fact our boat on the average moves about 6 knots.  We had the worst crossing from Marathon to Little Shark Harbor.  It took us from 7:30 am to approximately 3:30 pm to achieve this 36 +  mile distance.  The winds were blowing North to Northeast on our bow and causing white caps. We had 2 and 3 feet waves breaking. (White caps are waves breaking causing white splashes everywhere. Kinda like when you are at the beach and a wave rolls in the front of it is white foamy looking.) There were lobster pots everywhere. LITERALLY EVERYWHERE!!! The hard part is the colors  of the buoys on the top of these traps in addition to the location.  With the white caps on the water the white small buoys on top of the lobster traps made it even more challenging. Some of the traps have different colored buoys like orange thank goodness however, with the boat going up on down hard it was a BASHING, STRESSFUL EVENT. Will had to hand steer the whole time. (Boaters often like to set a course and let the auto pilot steer the boat and just keep an eye out.)  Our speed dropped down to 5 knots and at times even lower. THIS WAS HELL forgive me everyone...I did not think I would be so happy to see the Everglades....land of the mosquitoes and any other creature that bites.

There were six boats in the small anchorage. Five were sailboats and this one power boat.

 

We have screens on our boat's cockpit.  Dusk is when the bugs come out.

 

As soon as it was light outside in the morning, about 6:55 am, we pulled the anchor up and began our route to Marco Island. What a difference a day makes, the waters were calm the wind was 10 - 15 knots and we were able to hoist our sails. Our speed increased to 6.7 knots for the first couple of hours.  There were lobster pots of course, but not as horribly bad as our prior day.  Captain Will was able to set the auto pilot for our new course. Several times we had to put it on standby to sail around lobster pots however, we were able to sit on the bow and let the boat do most of the work.YEAH!!

The star is our Island Packet Emblem (boat builder). Great boats for anybody looking to buy a sailboat.











Captain Hayes enjoying the view underway.  I was busy applying sunscreen.

Heading into the beautiful Marco Island

View from the back of our boat in our slip here in Marco.

Nikki is always on Watch Duty. (Still a Swab tho!)

 

We are going to take our bikes out today and do some provisioning for the boat (water, food etc...) get some fuel and then go exploring. We are going to head to Ft. Myers tomorrow morning. LATERS!!





 













Hawks Cay on Duck Key $$$$

Hawk's Cay Resort and Marina- Duck Key

 

Will and I had decided last year that we wanted to visit this resort as a celebration of sorts when we arrive in the middle keys. It has 4 or 5 pools, restaurants and the dolphin experience all there on site. WOW we thought this will be great! People had mentioned to us in passing it is Spring Break time.  My thoughts were hhmmm...we are not in Daytona Beach where things get crazy so no biggee. WELL what a surprise to me children have Spring Break, not just college students, and that is exactly what had filled this resort! The resort was packed with parents entertaining their children in all the pools except the small all adult pool at the farthermost corner of the resort. This was not exactly what we had in mind however, we did decide that when we have grandchildren this is a place we will take them as well. There are jet ski rentals, kayaks, paddle boards, a swiming pool with a pirate theme, tennis courts, basketball courts, commercial fishing boats, sunset cruises and of course an ice cream parlor.

 

Tio's was the only restaurant we visited. It was conveniently located behind our boat, allowed dogs and the only one that offered a happy hour.

I was surprised at the size of the Tarpon Fish swimming right up between the boats literally 3 to 4 feet long. Will and I took our dinghy out at sunset and went exploring endlessly. I was shocked at the size of the dolphin retreat. I thought it would be huge. it was the size of a back yard (not in California)  about a half an acre. I felt sorry for the couple of dolphins swimming around. We could get 10 feet from their fence from the canal side (boaters only approach not the general public.) We were in our dinghy (rubber boat) when we took this photo.

We left Hawk's Cay this morning around 10 am.  We awoke to thunder storms and decided to wait for them to pass.  We headed to Marathon Marina. What a ride....the winds were coming from the north up to 20 knots and we had 2 and 3 feet swells from the south. It was like we were sandwiched on our port side from the swells and the winds hitting our starboard side and of course  the whole time Will was steering around those delightful lobster pots.

It started storming here in Marathon about 2 hours ago and it hasn't really let up.  The weather is not supposed to be any better tomorrow. :(  We are planning to try and start our route home or to the north through the Everglades on Wednesday.  We are going to anchor there in Little Shark River.  There are not alot of marinas when you leave the keys heading to the southwest side of Florida.  It is a protected area the Everglades.  I told Will if that anchor gets stuck we are cutting it off,  NO ONE is swimming with the alligators. We will keep you posted.   LATERS!!!

 



Welcome to the KEYS!

We made it to the Keys and had a lobster pot line to greet our prop!

 

We were excited to make it to Key Largo and finally be in the entrance to the Keys.  We were cruising in the normal shallow waters of 6 feet and they were dropping to 4 ft here and there. Our 6 knots of speed dropped to 5 knots and Will and I thought we grabbed something however, even in the clear water we did not see that we had snagged a lobster pot line that had previously been cut but parts of it were semi floating.  After our arrival to Gilberts in Key Largo Will dove into the water to remove a line that was floating from our props when we had tied up in the marina.

You are side tied outside the hotel  in Gilberts Marina right on the ICW> (Kinda odd feeling for us!)

We left Gilberts today after staying one night and headed to Plantation Yacht Marina in Islamorada. It is a nice city park marina with alot of amenities however, there is no grocery or restaurants within even biking range. Our dock master advised us to rent a car it is cheaper than a taxi so that we can provision and see some the sights. So we did.

 

 

 

 

We are gonna stay one more night here in Islamorada and make our move down to Marathon, Florida.



LATERS!!!

 

 

 

 

 



Changing Lattitudes Does Change Attitudes

 

Bye Bye Harbour Towne

Our First Bridge - Dania Beach Blvd.



After returning to Harbour Towne Marina the weather continued to forecast small craft advisories and winds from 12 - 20 knots and we had a storm blow through on Tuesday 3/12/13.  We decided to revise our travel plans and to head down the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway)which is located more on the inside instead of going on the outer coast way. We were excited to leave on 3/14/13 and began our approach to the first bridge at approximately 8:30 ish AM.  The bridge operator has to be hailed on Channel 9 and your vessel name, direction of your approach must be given as you request an opening. We were promptly told by the bridge operator that the bridge does not open until 9 am.  This is when we found out that most bridges have a set time of opening.  Most of the bridges were on the half hour some open straight up on the hour and then the thirty and others at 15 minutes after the hour and then 45 more minutes past the hour. We went through approximately 12 bridges - 8 had to be opened and 4 were fixed.  We require about 53 feet so you have hope for the best on the tide level and look for the markings on the bridge to tell you the feet available at your approach.

 

Bridge Operator instructs whom goes first if there are more than 1 of you in an opposing approach and too wide to squeeze through together.



Hellooooo  Miami !

We stayed in Dinner Key Marina also known as Coconut Grove Miami for two nights.  We met another couple Alan and Martha that own the same boat as ours. (An Island Packet Catamaran- only 40 were built and they had Hull #40 ours is Hull #7) We agreed that we will put together and Island Packet Cat Rendezvous.

The water is so shallow 6-10 feet on the average...it's freaky to see the bottom.

Have no fear Captain Hayes is here !

 

We headed to Black Point Marina yesterday and plan to stay 2 days before heading to Gilbert's Marina in Key Largo tomorrow.  The water on the average was about 7 feet on this 3 hour cruise from Dinner Key.  When you look into the water and you see the bottom it is a bit shocking because it looks like you are 2 feet from the bottom. (Beautiful though!)

 

Blackpoint Marina/Loggerhead Club

This marina is located in a National Park and dogs are not allowed. Boaters can technically bring them to shore for there walks however,  absolutely no restaurant attendance for dogs.

And of course, Miss Nikki is having a relaxing time.  She loves crusing and does not get sea sick. She does have a couple of life jackets when she is out on the bow. We have pulled into the slip bow forward and are able to drop our dinghy in this marina. We have a  restricted manatee area behind the marina. We will try to take a few more photos today as we go out exploring today via bikes and dinghy cruising. LATERS!!













PERSEVERANCE HELD HOSTAGE

Perseverance heading for ship to be picked up 2/13/2013

 

Will and I after weeks of delays returned to Mexico on 1/24/2013 and spent 3 weeks waiting for Perseverance to be picked up and taken to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  The cargo ship Billesborg owned by the Denmark shipping company Nordana is pictured above please note the photo does not have the full ship in the photo.

 

 

We had smiles on our faces thinking FINALLY OUR SHIP has come in to take Perseverance to her new home on the east coast. We headed to San Diego the following day to fly out of the San Diego Airport.

 

 

 

We stayed at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and had Valentine drinks to celebrate FINALLY having our boat on her way home.  We will go to Ft. Lauderdale - Port Everglades on 2/28/2013 and start our BIG ADVENTURE home to Punta Gorda.  We received notifications that the ship would be delayed until 3/3/2013.  No big deal we thought because we were used to delays.  On 2/28/2013 we received the email from Yachtpath (the broker whom uses various ships around the world to transport boats) advising us that due to an unwarranted garnishment from the courts they did not have the monies to pay this cargo carrier owned by Nordana and that we would have to pay them directly ALL the monies we had already paid to them. An attorney's name was provided whom was not affiliated with the broker. He was advised by Nordana's attorney that if they did not have ALL the money for the 16 yachts on board their ship by Monday at noon they would not discharge the boats and continue onto Norfolk, Virginia.  Will and I thought PERSEVERANCE IS A HOSTAGE and we have to get her freed.  I will not get into the details specifically however, the 16 yachts varied from 92 ft. down to our vessel of 35 ft and the shipping costs were over 500K. When we recieved the notification of the required funds it was approximately 48  business hours and a weekend for us to figure out how we were going to get our funds together and wired by noon. (Robbing a bank was not an option.)

Well to make a long story boring PERSEVERANCE was released from bondage on 3/6/2013. We brought her to Harbour Town Marina in Dania Beach, Ft. Lauderdale.  We made a trip back across the state to wrap up some details and buy some provisions.  We are now back here in Lauderdale and in the company of several MEGA yachts.  We are waiting for the weather to clear the last winter storm that crossed the U.S. and are charting a course to  head south.

We are charting our way to pass Miami and head to the Keys.  It is amazing to us that the water is Sooooo shallow.  The approach into alot of the marinas can be as low as 4 ft.  We have a draft  of 4 1/2 feet (or should I say we require 4 1/2 feet of water,  MORE actually or our boat is grounded.) Having a sail boat does not get you any where too fast and combined with the tide changes it is alot more challenging than it looks.  It can take 10 hours for us to get 50 miles and the sun fast approaching sun down at that point. However, if it is low tide we may not be able to make an approach into a marina or anchorage. There are some advantages to sailing the Pacific Ocean but as I always say....where there be roses there be thorns.  The Florida waters are beautiful with clear green and blue hues. The waters are shallow around Florida and have coral reefs.  It is an expensive fine to hit coral and the damage to the boat is another story.  We look forward to gaining the experience of navigating these waters surrounding our new home and venturing out  even further.
 

 

Miss Nikki is relaxing after guarding the boat all day. We will continue to update you on our adventures. LATERS!!!