July 14 addendum
We spent an hour or so at the bar here at Burdine's Chili Tiki watching the sunset. The waitress was a lady named Brenda who is English. She lives on a 28 foot sailboat here in the marina. We told her we would be back by in November, and she said she was crewing on a boat going to Guatemala in November. Turns out she owns a house on the Rio Dulce, which is a favorite cruisers place to avoid hurricane season. We know at least two boats that are down there now. She gave us some info to pass to them and use ourselves someday.
Also, Barb was reading the Houston Chronicle online and found an article about the problem which kept the shuttle from launching yesterday. Here is a quote from that article:
NASA's first step in trying to figure out what caused a fuel gauge to fail shortly before liftoff and keep space shuttle Discovery grounded is about as low-tech as it gets: The Wiggle Test.
The only way NASA can launch the shuttle on Sunday — the earliest option — is "if we go in and wiggle some of the wires and find a loose connection," deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said today.
"You laugh," he told a packed room of grinning journalists. "That probably is the first step in any troubleshooting plan. Some technician is going to put his hand on the wires and the connectors ... and start wiggling them."
If only I had done that test before spending all that money on the auto pilot. Lesson learned.
July 15
We awoke about 07:00 and started getting things ready to go. About 08:15 we backed out of the slip and moved over to the fuel dock. I found it funny that once again I got advice about which way I approached the dock given the current and the wind. I guess people expect all sailboats to be unmaneuverable. Mine handles pretty much like a car. I can back it up accurately, stop it on a dime from slow speeds, and I'm not too proud to just go around and try again if I do mess up. We filled up the tank and our jerry cans with 55 gallons of fuel. We were away from the fuel dock by about 08:45 and headed east.
Of course the wind was directly out of the east, so we were motoring as usual. Our course today will take us east and then a little north. We will only be about a mile and a half offshore in the Hawk Channel, so we can watch things go by and will pass the occasional boat along the way. Most of the boat traffic we will deal with will be powerboats going back and forth between the shore and the reefs which lie about five miles offshore. Most of these are no problem, although some of them seem to delight in seeing how long they can come right at us and then adjust their course to pass behind us at the last minute. We also have several close encounters with lobster traps again. There are not many of them out here. I don't think it is the season for them. However, we pass very close to at least four (within 20 feet), and I didn't see any of them coming. The water is quite choppy, and maybe the angle of the sun has something to do with it, but it was unnerving to pass so close after our little incident the other day. I did spot a large hunk of dock line of the size that would be used on a large ship. It was about a 30 foot hunk looped around on itself. I had to change course to dodge it.
Most of the way we had the mainsail up to give us a little more stability. Even as we turned a little northeast, the wind was still not doing us much good for speed. It occurred to me that our chosen anchorage might be a little rough since it doesn't offer any protection from east winds. We are headed for Rodriguez Key which is just off the southern end of Key Largo. A couple of years ago when I crossed from The Bahamas with Brian & Tammy, we spent a night anchored here. The island pretty much runs east-west, and gives good protection from the normal southeasterly winds. But with the wind directly from the east, we would be exposed.
As we approached the anchorage, there were two other boats anchored in the area I was headed for. I figured that with the expected tide drop, I needed to anchor in no less than seven feet of water so we wouldn't touch bottom at low tide. I slowly went in past the other two boats as far as I dared based on the chart and dropped the hook in about eight feet of water. My nice new Delta plow anchor set immediately. I put out about seventy feet of chain, since it looked like there may be some storms brewing east of us. I was pleasantly surprised that at least for now, the waves diminished to about one foot by then time they got back in where we were.
We sat and enjoyed a beverage in the cockpit once we were secure. We marveled at some of the boats we could see in the anchorage. Of the two in our vicinity, one was a well used cruising catamaran. It had people on it, two dinghies, bicycles, a moped, and other assorted stuff. It looked like it really traveled though. The other boat was a large wooden thing, that was in mid "restoration". A person seemed to live on it, although the main cabin was wide open front and rear. It had a noisy gasoline generator on the roof, along with a satellite TV dish. After dark, we could see the TV on in the cabin. I can't imagine trying to rebuild a boat like this at all, but doing at anchor has got to add another dimension to the work. Elsewhere in the anchorage was a collection of odd boats in various states of disrepair.
As dusk was falling, we watched several boats approaching from the east. They probably were returning from the Bahamas. One, a large ketch, was coming directly towards us from the east. Unfortunately, between us and them was a large area that is about two feet deep. We watched them approach this area and then seem to run aground. They sat for a bit, and then appeared to get going again. They anchored right after getting out of the shallow water although they were even less protected than us.
As it got dark, we were watching several thunderstorm cells around us. Since we are at anchor, we count on having all the ports and hatches open to get a breeze. So we are hoping that if it rains, it is brief and before we go to sleep. We took showers on the back of the boat and relaxed for a while.
GPS N 25-03.410 W 80-27.472 Miles made good this leg 48. Total miles covered 1099.
July 16
Well, the night proved to be very restless. We never did get any rain, although twice I thought I heard some and jumped out of bed to start closing things. It was very windy all night though. Although we were securely anchored, I worried all night that we would drag since it was so windy. The noise of the wind was bothering me, both through the rigging as well as our wind generator. And the water was much rougher than when we first got here. By dawn, I was ready to get out of here. Barb was still sound asleep though, so I just went up to the cockpit for an hour or so and watched the sunrise.
As soon as Barb awoke about 07:00, I suggested we get underway. We had a quick bowl of cereal and coffee, and headed out. Since it's windy, and still directly out of the east, we may actually get to sail today. We are far enough around the corner that today's sail will be more north than east. So, once we motor about two miles out of the cove we are in, I turned north and unfurled both sails. The motor was off and we were sailing! What a concept. We were making almost 6 kts with about 10 - 12 kts of wind on the beam. The seas were not too bad either. About two feet on the beam. We sailed for about four hours until the wind speed and our speed dropped. We were down to about 4.5 kts. We have a reservation at the Miami Beach Marina, and I figure if we are going to pay for a marina, I want to get there in time to enjoy it a little. So, I fired up the motor, left the sails up, and we motor-sailed at about 7.3 kts with the motor only doing about 1500 rpm. This was good until about 15 miles south of Miami, when the wind pretty much died. There we thunderstorms in the area, and while we never got rained on, I think they stole our wind. So I furled the sails and kicked the motor up to 2800 rpm and carried on. The downside of this was that the seas had built to about four feet, still on the beam. So that last hour was very rolly. Once we got to the entrance to Government Cut, the main channel into Miami, we turned and had the seas on our stern. Even though we were still going 7 kts, it felt like we were sitting still, since the wind and waves were right behind us. We did hit 8.5 kts once as we surfed down a wave.
Once in Government Cut, the Miami Beach Marina is the first marina you come to. Its on the southwest tip of Miami Beach, which is a separate island from Miami proper. It looks very fancy and large and is protected by a large seawall surrounding it. We hailed them on the radio and were given a slip assignment, and told that a dock attendant would be right there to help us dock. I'm not used to people helping us dock. The friendly young man who took our lines helped us tie up, made sure we had our power connected and checked us in and took the credit card right there on the dock. We are on the end of the dock, closest to the marina entrance, which will prove not to be a good thing.
A couple of side stories from the day - We had one large sport fishing boat take the "how close can I come" game to a new level. This boat was headed offshore well ahead of us. I had seen him and saw that he would cross in front of us at least half a mile away. Well, just after he did cross our path, he turned back, at full speed, and came directly towards us. He then crossed in front of us again, not more than 100 feet distant. I had to immediately turn to cross his huge wake at right-angles so as not to roll side to side. It was all I could do not to salute him with one finger as he went by us grinning. Another fun distraction is listening to the VHF radio. You hear all sorts of amazing things. One was a conversation between two Tow Boats US captains who were discussing a boat that was aground. This boat was a 51 foot powerboat that was on a rock outcropping. The bow was completely out of the water on the rocks, while the stern was still in the water. The owner had somehow gotten off the boat and left, but left a note onboard that he would be back in the morning. The Tow Boats US guys were joking about which way he had been headed in the north/south channel he was in. The guy on-scene said "he was headed east when he found those rocks". This guy had not only done sever damage to his boat, but was also looking at environmental impact. The last humorous thing, I'm sure was not humorous to the persons involved. As we were entering Government Cut, we heard a call from a sailboat to the Coast Guard. Frequently you can hear the Coast Guard's side of a conversation because they have stronger radios, but this time we could hear both sides, so the sailboat must have been relatively near us. Turned out the sailboat was taking on water. While this certainly isn't funny, to listen to the conversation can be. The Coat Guard calmly asked the captain if he knew where the water was coming from. Well don't you suppose if he did he would try to stop it? The captain calmly replied that he had closed all the seacocks, and his bilge pump was working full time, and his crew was operating the manual bilge pump, but the water was still rising. He was still underway back to port, but wasn't sure if he would beat the rising water. Surprisingly, the Coast Guard dispatched a boat which passed us as we were approaching the marina. Don't know what his outcome was.
Once secured in the skip, we enjoyed our arrival beverage. Actually, I made Barb a deal that I would go fetch the UPS package of mail that we had sent here if I would find a drink waiting when I got back. It was a long walk after all. After that we headed up to the nice marina bathrooms to have a good cool shower. Once presentable, we headed up to the dockside plaza where the music and people were. We went into Monty's Raw Bar to have some dinner. There was tons of activity going on, between tourists, locals, people from a fishing tournament, and divers returning from their day's trip. It was fun to watch all the people. We enjoyed several very overpriced drinks and dinner. To my surprise the tab included an 18% gratuity already figured in. They were very clear when they brought the ticket that this was so, so there was no confusion, and I would have tipped that much anyway, but I was surprised they did it this way. I don't recall encountering that before except when in a large group. I have mixed emotions about this kind of deal. On one hand, we are on vacation and I want to enjoy it, but I have to keep reminding myself that I am living off my savings and if I want to keep doing that we can't be having $100 meals.
After dinner we took a walk into South Beach. We didn't really know where we were going, so we just walked about a mile and turned around and came back. We'll explore more tomorrow.
Back at the boat, I was ready for a good night's sleep since I slept so poorly the night before. At 21:00, I was ready to crash. So while Barb stayed up and read some, I hit the sack. I slept well for several hours, until a noise on deck woke me. I got up to investigate and found that the power cords had moved since the tide had changed and tugged a little against the stuff tied on the back deck. No problem. But then I had trouble getting back to sleep. The marina is remarkably rolly, even though it has a seawall around it. Apparently the seawall is not solid from top to bottom. So, with motion that makes it in from the ocean, combined with all the boat traffic, even late at night, we are always moving. The fact that we are securely tied though, lets me get back to sleep finally.
GPS N 27-42.240 W 81-06.550 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 1099.
July 17
I woke up again about dawn this morning. What got my attention was a noise I have never heard before. It sounded like the whole hull was crackling. Kind of like bacon cooking. Except the galley wench was still asleep and there was no wonderful aroma of bacon cooking. I had no idea what this could be, and certainly couldn't think of a boat related explanation. Later when returning from the bathrooms, I saw a crab running around the hull under the water. I guess that's what the sounds are. Since the bottom was just painted a couple of weeks ago, I can't imagine what could be on there to interest them, but the noise continued all day.
After a pancake breakfast aboard, we headed into town. We stopped at the marina office to inquire about a grocery store. There is a small store in the plaza at the marina, but not enough to provision for our next leg. The marina office told us where the store was, and told us about a bus that runs around South Beach for $.25 per ride. We went out to the street in front of the marina and caught the bus. We took it until we passed a Bank of America. We got off at the next stop and walked back to the bank to deposit a couple of checks that we received in the mail. From there, we walked a couple of blocks to the Art Deco Museum. This is a very modest "museum", but it had an interesting display of pictures and told the story of the original building of and now the restoration of the Art Deco district of Miami Beach. From there, we walked out onto the beach. Although there was a red flag for dangerous surf, and a blue flag for "marine life hazards" (sharks) there were plenty of people on the beach and many in the water.
From the beach, we walked up the street, passing by many of the old restored hotels and restaurants with sidewalk seating. After a couple of blocks one caught our eye because of the 2-for-1 drink sign. This place is a small hotel and the whole lobby is part of the bar and restaurant. We sat at the bar and were served by a charming young man from Italy. Barb had a beer, while I had to try a Mojito. A Mojito is made by crushing a couple wedges of lime, several mint leaves and sugar in the glass. Then add rum. They were both very good. While there we also chatted with one of the waitresses who came here from Hungary.
While it was tempting to spend the afternoon here, we had shopping to do. So, we hopped the little bus again and went to the end of the line which is just a block from a grocery store. We walked to the store and did our shopping. Once done, we debated whether to get a cab or walk back to the bus stop. We didn't see any cabs, so we walked the two blocks to the bus top, but just missed one. Not knowing exactly how long they went between busses, and seeing a line of cabs across the street, we hailed a cab. Five bucks and a few minutes later we were back at the marina.
This marina, and the area for that matter, are a little rich for our styles. A boat pulled in next to us this evening. It's an 87' motor yacht named Pauly D. You can click on that link to see it. I was tempted to help them with their dock lines, but instead I just sat in the cockpit and watched their deck crew guy try to lasso the cleats. I doubt I would have been invited aboard if I helped.
Tonight we are eating on the boat. No $100 meals today. We will leave here in the morning, bound for Charleston, SC. Our original plan was to go offshore from here to NY, but with doubts about the cat's tolerance of that and our experience level, we have decided to break the trip into a few chunks. Also, our friends Wayne & Nancy, aboard Dances With Dragons, are there and we may hook up with them to continue north. This trip should take us three days or so.
Speaking of the cat, I don't think I have really mentioned how he is doing. Bottom line is, he does not like being underway. He has gotten sick a few times, sometimes where ever he happens to be and sometimes he actually has gone to the litter box to hurl. On the flipside of that he has had a couple of other "accidents" where he has gone where ever he was instead of making it to the litter box. Most troubling though is that he doesn't drink or eat while we are underway. At least not that we have seen. He pretty much just shuts down. Sometimes he will come sleep in the cockpit with us, or he will find a place below. As soon as we are stopped, he returns to normal. Literally within minutes of docking or anchoring, he will start drinking and eating. This is part of why we are not going to go offshore for a week. I don't know if he would eventually drink or not, but I'm afraid of hurting him if he didn't.
GPS N 27-42.240 W 81-06.550 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 1099.