Monday, May 6
Got a fairly early start from Sunset Lake.  It was a very peaceful night. No wind or waves rocking the boat, and the temperatures were cool enough for a very pleasant night of sleeping.  The guys started the engines kind of early, in order to charge the 'house' battery.  The boat has a series of batteries.  The only one I really worry about is the one that runs the inverter.  This allows me to be able to use AC power for the skillet, microwave, ipad/iphone charger, etc.  I guess the house battery was run down by either the anchor light, the refrigerator, or both.  After a cup of coffee and wiping down the eisenglass, we headed north.  The remainder of this 'leg' of our voyage will all be on the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW).  The ICW takes you right through the different cities.  There are many canals that join the ICW.  Imagine your neighborhood, but instead of streets, you have canals.  There are many, many exquisite homes/boats that must cost in the millions.  Every once in awhile there will be one or two for sale.  One day, I looked at a realty site online, just to get an idea of what the asking price was. Oh my... $28,000,000!  Beyond comprehension for me.

How the poor people live....

Since we had a light breakfast, we decided to stop for lunch at a restaurant conveniently located on the ICW.  Our meals were large enough that we had enough for lunch Tuesday too!  After lunch, we were back on duty.  Speaking of duty, the way the Captain runs the ship, each of us is required to perform 1 hour at the helm.  We normally rotate on the hour, and only when docking for lunch/gas/overnight, do we alter the schedule.  Tim, Beth, Joe has been the norm.  I admit, there have been a couple of times that a low-height bridge has come up, on my watch, and I asked Tim to take it through.  Some open on the hour and half hour.  Some on the :15 and :45.  All that we don't fit under (anything less than 18'-19') require contacting by radio.  One time Joe was at the helm and we followed 2 other boats under a raised bridge.  He tried to call the bridge operator on the radio and the guy didn't respond.  I'm sitting next to Joe at the time.  We continue on through the bridge and as I look up at the bridge tender, he's pointing at his radio and shaking his fist at us.  Turns out we were on channel 16 instead of channel 9, the channel bridge tenders use in FL.  Oops!  I learned a very powerful lesson about hitting a particular button on the autopilot too quickly also.  I came pretty close to a bridge bumper before re-gaining control.  Whew! A few more gray hairs for the Captain! 

Lunch stop.



Juli-IV docked for lunch.

One of many bascule bridges we maneuvered under.

Monday nights stop was at the Lighthouse Point Marina.  A very nice marina with a very nice restaurant and swimming pool.  We arrived mid-afternoon and after getting tied up and powered up Tim and I changed into our swimming attire and headed to the pool.  Joe had some laundry to do and got busy doing that.  Also, both Joe and Tim caught cold, they think while wading through the streets in Key West.  Joe got it the worst and was really feeling poorly.  There were two couples up at the pool.  I struck up a conversation with them (surprise, surprise).  They were on a 37' Mainship and lived in Georgia.  They vacation aboard their boat and travel back and forth from Georgia to Florida.  They visited with us for awhile and gave Tim some information about stops up the road for us that hopefully will be helpful.  It really has been fun making acquaintenance with new people during our travels.  After swimming, Tim walked to a convenience store nearby to buy a jar of Vicks (his cureall for head colds) and after he returned we went up to the restaurant for dinner.  Ate swordfish for the first time ever. Yummy!  And, I convinced Tim to share some warm bread pudding with me.  It was delicious.  Back to the boat/air conditioning for a restful night. 

The Captain, baking out the head cold.



Sweet little Elisha, just because! Pam and her mom have been sending me pictures!!

Friday, May 3
Since the gas dock didn't open until 0700, we slept in until 0600 for a 0630 departure.  Why, you ask, since we were in Key West for 4 days, didn't we gas up earlier? Well, you see. It's quite a hassle to untie all the ropes, unhook the electricity (and deal with the air conditioners properly pumping cooling water), pull out for fuel and then return to the slip, retie the ropes, hook up the electricity....well, you get the picture. So, it's just easier to do it either on the way in or on the way out.  ANYWAY....we were at the dock, tied up awaiting fuel when the gas dock opened, promptly at 0700. After fueling we headed back on the 'inside' of the keys to Marathon.  The weather was pretty nice and the seas were a little choppy, but overall a nice day at sea.  Again, we saw a few turtles, but the little buggers are so skittish they don't hang around long enough for a picture.

Departing Key West in the early morning.

We did stop atop a 6' white sandy area, anchor the boat and do a little snorkeling.  One disappointment on our trip has been our inability to find any decent places to snorkel.  We never knew we would be dealing with the strong currents.  Guess we figured there wouldn't be any. ?? Anyway, we were almost to the bridge to go outside to the Marathon Marina where we were spending the night, and we came upon this little sandy area. The seas were relatively calm. We were all pretty hot and needing to cool off, so we decided to take a dip.  Joe and I got in and snorkeled a little. Tim just got wet and back out.  Found/touched our first live sponges. Really neat. They are legal to harvest as long as you do it properly, so we have one that is currently rotting on the back deck. Smells delightful! (jk)  We read about how to 'clean' them and we're trying it, sans the proper equipment, ie burlap, vinegar, etc.  Who knows????

Me, snorkeling. Still had to hold a rope due to currents.

Remember when we 'went outside' trying to take the short cut to Key West, and the seas were rough?  Well, in order to get to the Marathon Marina, we had to go out there again, just the opposite direction.  This time, the seas were nice to us and after about 45 minutes we arrived at our stop for the night.  Nice marina with a very nice restaurant.   After supper we retired to the boat for a little TV.  One thing about being on a boat is you never know when you will have TV reception.  Not, that we miss it or anything, but every once in awhile it's nice to catch a baseball game, FOX News, or the guys favorite "Dancing With The Stars" :).  Well, this night there wasn't much on and the guys went to bed.  I happened to turn on Blue Bloods (I think that's the name?)  The one with Tom Selleck.  It didn't start until 10pm, (EST) and it was a 'to be continued' show.... And, a good one.   Aargh! Hoping we're somewhere I can watch it this Friday.....


Saturday, May 4
Arose fairly early, but didn't get underway until 0900.  Enough time to do a little laundry.  Today's journal takes us back outside the Keys in the Florida Straits.  Sometime we will hit the Atlantic Ocean waters.  Another uneventful day.  Weather and waters were good on the outside.  The people on the inside were taking a beating with 15-20mph winds and rough seas.  Joe and I listened to a conversation between a sinking 23' center console fishing boat, with 3 people aboard, and the US Coast Guard.  That kept us intrigued for about 30 minutes.  Last we heard, the boat was being towed, still taking on water and the 3 people were fine.  USCG at work!!  We saw more turtles....still no pictures.  Dolphin/porpoise sightings are really down.  Tim has a ton of documentation, both hard copy and online.  Some official, some written especially for 'loopers' with recommended anchor sites, marina locations, tourist information, on and on.  Well, tonights stop was going to be 'on the hook', or anchored out, just south of Key Largo.  The spot chosen was a little farther off shore than anticipated, due to no-motor bouys keeping us from being any closer :(.  The wind, she was a-blowin'.  We have 2 anchors and got set. Spaghetti for supper. Joe has the best little cook stove. Needed it for boiling noodles, since the skillet was full of meat sauce. Yummy!  When we went to bed, with the sunset, we felt relatively comfortable we were secure.  And, we were.  Unfortunately, the waves beat upon the bow all night long.  Right by Joe's head.  He said he had many strange dreams (when he was able to sleep).

Pardon the mess.....

 

Windy!!

Sunday, May 5 (Cinco de Mayo)
The guys got up really early.  Or, maybe they never really went down.  Anyway, we pulled anchors and were underway with the sunrise.  The journey today takes us to Miami!  We had normal chop (waves) most of the day until we were within about 10 miles of Miami (Biscayne Bay).  What a zoo!!  I suppose the fact that it was Cinco de Mayo didn't help matters much.  But, my goodness, big boats, little boats, loud music, fast boats, rude boats (those who don't obey the rules), million dollar boats, on and on.  I challenged the guys to make it through to our anchor spot without using the words 'idiot' or 'moron'.  Well, they did fine. However, I should have included a couple of other, more colorful ones ;)  Our stop this night was an anchorage in Sunset Lake.  I don't know about you, but when I think of a lake I think of a large body of water.  Well, Sunset Lake happens to be about 1/2 mile long and 200 yards wide.  It is basically at the end of 4 canals, all lined with 3+million dollar homes.  There were 3 sail boats and about 20 little sunfish boats anchored there.  One of the sailboats was an older catamaran.  There was a 30ish couple and their dog living aboard.  They came by in their dinghy, on the way to the grocery store, to welcome us to the neighborhood.  Turns out they are from Oklahoma! They have been living on their boat about 3 years.  Although we wanted to, we did not ask them what they did for a living.  Oh, I forgot. When we arrived we had trouble anchoring.  Tim pulled up the anchor and there was a plastic bag stuck on the flukes.  Success on the 3rd attempt.  Another sailboat owner drove up on his dinghy.  He lives on another one of his boats and uses the sailboat as a weekend getaway for he and his girlfriend.  When he saw we were from KS he had to tell us that he had a friend from Lawrence.  Oh, nice KC Royals comeback, by the way!!

Up at dawn

Biscayne Bay. Miami skyline.

More Miami

Cinco de Mayo madness!





Tuesday, April 30 thru Thursday, May 2
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were spent in Key West doing ALL sorts of things. As mentioned earlier, we met up with some old friends, attended a wedding, ate many good meals and toured quite a bit of the island.  It rained a record 4.07" on Thursday, but that didn't stop us from visiting the Hemingway House and Truman's Little White House.  The only good thing about all the rain is that the tour bus we were on had to cancel because of it.  As a result, they told us if we sent our tickets back to the company we would get a full refund.  Definitely worth the effort/envelope/stamp. Won't be holding our breath for the refund.  We ate at the original MargaritaVille, but we didn't get any pictures!!  We were all trying our best to get warm because when we got there we were all soaked!  We took quite a few pictures of other things and I think I'll just let you "take a look".

Taken atop the Galleon Resort Hotel
 

Same location in Panorama

Vickie, Pete, Sammi and John after dinner Thursday night.

The White Heron mentioned earlier in the blog.

Paddleboarding in the streets

At Truman's Little White House

Funny who you'll run into in Key West...

The very beginning of US Highway 1

Painting of Hemingway

One of the many 6 toed cats at Hemingway House

Hemingway's studio

Chickens roam free ALL over Key West

The pencil palm. Good thing we had a tree expert with us to help identify this one.

Marina kitty

Cone head?

Joe's place

Joe getting/giving advice at the Fort Jefferson Museum. Interesing place describing the Dry Tortugas.

The entertainment at Rick's

It was quite deep walking back to our boat!

We head to Marathon Friday morning.  More from there

Monday, April 28th (cont'd)
I failed to mention that, as fate would have it, a friend of Tim's is down here to get married on May 1st.  Pete is an almost-retired Army National Guard officer, whom Tim has worked with.  After we washed the salt off the boat, filled up the fresh water tanks and cleaned up a bit, we met Pete and his fiance Vicky downtown.  Most of the eating/drinking establishments here have live entertainment in one form or another.  In one of the places we went, the guy that was singing sang a special wedding song for them.  We enjoying watching the locals and visiting and parted ways before supper.  We walked down to a restaurant on the pier to watch the sunset, along with a whole bunch of other folks. Tim ordered some conch fritters.  He said he won't be ordering them again. After the sunset we headed back to the boat.  Since we've been sleeping 'on the hook', without electricity, we've not used the air conditioner.  When we got back to the boat tonight it about froze us out.  It did make for a nice night of sleeping, however.

Panoramic view of the pier

Pete and Vicky

Tuesday, April 29th
Ate breakfast at the marina snack bar. $38. Ouch.  But, we already figured out that everything here is expensive.  Our normal dockage fee has been between $1-$1.50 a foot.  Here it's $4 a foot.  It does go down to $3.25 if we stay more than 3 nights. There are a lot of "Everything is $5" stores all over the place, so I guess not all is expensive. :)
Each day we've been here, local fishermen catch and clean their fish right on the dock which runs along the back of our slip.  There are several cats that come out hoping to get a bite.  There is also a white heron that, according to one of the marina workers, has taught herself to not be afraid of people.  He said it has taken her quite awhile to 'socialize' and you still can't get very close to her, but she will walk the dock while fish are being cleaned and watch.  The marina worker said she is building a nice nest in the rocks which serve as the break wall for the marina and he is hoping she finds a mate and they stick around. Once the fishermen have cut their filets, they take the remainder of the fish (spine/head/tail, etc) and dangle it above the water close by.  Very large tarpon are waiting and will jump up and swallow the fish carcass whole.  The tarpon look an awful lot like carp to us, but we're told they are tarpon.  Big.  Ugly.
Another couple that Tim knows (Col(R) John and Sam), from St Augustine, came down to surprise Vicky for the wedding. While we were waiting for Pete and Vicky to get done kayaking, we all had a little lunch and toured the Turtle Kraals museum.  In the mid to late 1800s Key West was the center for turtle processing and canning. At that time, turtle soup was considered a delicacy in parts of the United States and especially in Europe.  Turtles caught throughout the Caribbean were shipped to Key West, kept alive by cruelly placing them on their backs aboard the turtle schooner ADAMS. Upon arrival in Key West, turtles were kept in dockside corrals called 'kraals' until they were slaughtered and processed into soup.  By 1970 the turtle population had been devastated. Through the courageous efforts of visionary conservationists, in cooperation with the Governor of Florida, the first catch size regulations were enacted on March 23rd, 1971, establishing that any turtle smaller than 41 inches was to be released. Turtle canneries went out of business, and the turtle trade came to an end in '71 with the passage of the Endangered Species Act.  The curator of the museum was a very friendly, knowledgeable individual.  He has written a book (available on kindle) that supposedly his agent is delivering a hard copy of to Michelle Obama.  He's hoping if she likes it that she will mention it to Oprah.  He said "hey, you never know.."  Now, back to the surprise for Vicky.....
Tim, Joe and I played a small role in keeping the secret and making arrangements for a 'surprise meeting'.  After the surprise we came back to the boat and ate a little supper.  The boys went up to the local Tiki hut and listened to the entertainment, and visited with some of the local 'crews' that work the snorkel/dive/cruise boats.  I stayed 'home' and worked on the blog and found a Royal's game to watch on TV.  Lucky, they are playing Tampa Bay for a 3 days series and I'm hoping I can catch at least one more game.


Tarpon

Sam and John

Turtle Kraal Museum Curator

Wednesday, May 1
Happy May Day!!  Well, the big wedding on the beach is today.  The guys are getting ready, as I type this.  We met John and Sam for lunch today.  It's been raining mostly all day, but about an hour ago things started clearing up.  The wedding is at 7, and it looks like it will be nice for the ceremony.
Well, we're back.  Decided to rent a 4 person electric car to drive to the beach and maybe do a little site seeing while we had it.  It was nice to not have to walk the 2 miles to the beach for the wedding.  The ceremony was very nice. Very nice, indeed.  Best wishes to Col and Mrs. Peter Seaholm!

Our little smart car

Colonel and Mrs. Peter Seaholm

Florida Keys or bust....

Wednesday, April 24th

Tim and I left KC (thanks Jeremy for the ride to the airport) and arrived in Fort Myers, FL by early evening. Thanks to Dave and Patt for a pickup and delivery to the boat (home on the water)! After supper at the marina, we settled in for the night. Much to do tomorrow, including leaving for southern water....


Dave and Patt

Joe, 'living the dream'.



Now bear in mind, Joe had been back at the boat since the 15th. After purchasing a round trip ticket when we all last departed FL, he determined that it would take a 'letter from the Dr.' to change his return flight without significant expense. So, he had a very leisurely week awaiting our return. Well, not too leisurely, as the boat was in tip top shape when we returned and clean as a whistle! One of the reasons....well, actually the ONLY reason we didn't come back when Joe did was because we were awaiting the arrival of our 2nd grandchild. God has blessed our family with a little brother for Jeremiah. Elisha Christopher Layden was born on April 22nd. He weighed in at a lofty 9lbs 2oz and measured 21 1/4" in length. All are doing well. Pam's mother is helping out for a couple of weeks and Aunt Jessica is coming up a little later to help out for a week. 



Jeremiah and sweet Elisha

Now, back to boating......

 

Thursday, April 25th

Dave and Patt came to get us bright and early for 1-breakfast, 2-another trip to West Marine and 3-a grocery store run.  All 3 steps completed in time for Dave's 11-ish tee time.  Thanks again to Dave and Patt for providing much needed support and great company during our stay in Punta Gorda/North Fort Myers!!  After returning to the boat and putting away all the supplies, I started a load of laundry (for some reason I had left a FULL hamper of dirty clothes (tmi?)), while the guys drove the boat over to the gas dock for a pump out and a fill up.  We got to visit one last time with our new 'buddy' Don Fortune.  His nametag says Don Fortunato. Who knew??  It's kind of funny. We all really enjoyed talking to Don and his co-workers couldn't understand all the fuss.  Don tells them that he was a "FBD"(Former Big Deal) in the KC area.  Whatever... WE had a great time talking to him!!




Joe, Don, Beth, Tim









After exchanging email addresses and saying our goodbyes, we pulled away from Burnt Store Marina a little after noon.  The waters were relatively calm heading into Charlotte harbor as we made our way up to Gasparilla Island, where we would head back south.  We saw a group of boats near shore. Some were anchored. Some were not. Some pleasure boats. Some fishing boats.  For those from Lake Perry, it sure beats our little Party Cove!  While heading back into the gulf waters, we saw a very large sea turtle.  The guys figured it's head was the size of an NFL football.  To date, we have seen 3 or 4 more, but they are very elusive and we've never been able to capture a picture.  We contined on to Sanibel Island where we intended to anchor for the night.  We had a beautiful sunset and a full moon and settled in for the night.  Now, bear in mind that the boat was positioned on the side of the island that would protect us from the NNE winds the NOAA 'weather people' predicted.  At about 23:49 (that's 11:49 p.m. for you civilians) waves started beating on the back of the boat...from the south...from the oppposite directed the weather 'experts' had predicted.  As a result, the boat was being pushed off anchor, towards land.  Tim and Joe jumped into action and quickly got us straightened out and underway.  We initially thought about heading to another side of land, but we would have had to travel approximately 6 miles south, a couple miles east and then another 5-6 miles back north to get behind protection.  Since we only travel about 7 mph we decided to go ahead and continue on south, as opposed to traveling several hours and getting nowhere.




Gasparilla (party cove)

Full moon at Sanibel Island



Friday, April 26
We ended up driving all night and finally anchored around 6:30 at Marco Island and got some sleep.  We anchored near shore, close to what appeared to be a white, sandy beach.  The guys got the dinghy out and Tim and I motored to shore.  Not a lot of sand, but did find some pretty nice shells to take back for the grandsons (LOVE the fact that that's plural now!!).   Had a fairly uneventful day, got plenty of rest, ate a little (we're all trying to lose weight..see picture above with Don :)), and went to bed.  When you're on a boat that is anchored out (no shore power), you have a tendency to go to bed when the sun goes down. 

Saturday, April 27
Arose with the sun (about 6:30ish), had morning coffee/diet coke and got underway.  On the tip of the island we saw these unusual, igloo-looking structures.  They turned out to be someone's private home. It is known as the 'dome home' and is located right on Romano beach, at the tip of Marco Island. It sustained severe damage in hurricane Wilma/2005 and has not been 'restored'. Photo courtesy of 'The Marco Times'.  From Marco Island we set a course to Key West.  20 miles later, we changed course, due to bad seas, and ended at Sandy Key.  If you look on a map, it's easy to miss it.  It's in a group of small islands, 85% of which are underwater at high tide.  Made for some tricky maneuvering and anchorage, but we've got the best Captain, so no worries!!  He even steers without a steering wheel (more on this later).  As the sun set, we got out the cards and our little battery operated lantern and played some Hearts.  Everyone was pretty tired though, so we retired after 3 hands. Tim was ahead....


Cape Romano's Dome Home



 

 

After wiping 2' of boat rail...salt anyone?
 

When hats are below...improvise

Sunday, April 28

After another calm night, we arose with the sun and headed for Marathon, FL.  Arrived a little after noon and had to determine whether to go 'outside' or 'inside' to Key west.  The difference is miles and days it takes. Outside is much shorter and much quicker.  Going out to the Gulf you cross under the famous Seven Mile Bridge.  In an effort to save time, we decided to attempt the outside path.  Forecast called for SSE winds at 10-15 knots with 3'-4' seas.  This time, they were right and "golly bob howdy vern" HANG ON!!  The deal is, once you're outside, you stay outside until the next cleared passage back in.  In this case it was 7 miles.  The seas were at our back, which is known as 'following' seas. In other words, the waves pushed you wherever they wanted to....up....down....left....right....high....low.  Tim piloted the entire way. Joe had a blast and I held on for dear life.  We reached the bridge (thank you God) and headed back inside.  Upon further review, we decided that the seas we were in were no more rough than ones we had experienced before.  The difference being the direction they came from.  It's pretty difficult to steer/control the boat while being pushed.  Somewhat similar to why airplanes take off and land INTO the wind. 

Seven Mile bridge

The path through the 'inside' is very narrow in many places.  Overall, the depth of the water surrounding the keys is amazingly shallow.  We saw many fishermen, some pleasure craft and 'millions' of crab pots.  Ever since reaching the Gulf, crab pots have been a part of life.  They do tend to break up the monotony at the helm, dodging left and right around them.  On our way to our evening stop we passed many areas where it looked like the water was neon blue/green.  The channel took us close to one such area only one time.  We decided that this phenomenon was a result of pure white sand/rock on the bottom, reflecting the blue sky.  We took several pictures, but they in no way accurately reflect just how beautiful it was/is.  That night we stayed at Jewfish creek.  It was pretty windy and we had quite a time setting the front anchor.  We were finally successful on the 3rd attempt.  But not before Tim noticed his bare feet getting dripped on.  Turns out that hydraulic fluid was dripping from the steering column. It only dripped when being used, so what do you do? You don't use it.  Not a big deal for Tim because he is very adept at steering with the transmissions and throttles. Joe and I just use Gary (the autopilot) and leave all the difficult situations to the Captain. :) After we were all settled in and supper was eaten, we played a few hands of Hearts and retired with the sunset, once again.

Our favorite! The crab pot!

The neon seas



Helm, minus steering wheel.

Monday, April 29

We awoke to a very beautiful red sky. This is not a good thing for those at sea, but it was awfully pretty.  As always, we monitored the weather and had plans to drop anchor, let out lots of line, and go below to allow any bad storms/lightning to pass.  As it turns out, we only got a little rain. Not enough to really worry about.  As we were leaving Jewfish Creek, a pair of dolphins swam right up on our port side, stayed along side and then took the lead out front.  One of them jumped/played about 50' in front of the boat.  It was like they were saying "good morning". Beautiful!  We love it when we see dolphins. Next time you see Tim, be sure to have him do his 'dolphin call' for you. We only had to go about 15 miles to reach Key West and could see it from many miles away.  There was a Carnival cruise ship in port when we came in.  The local folks tell us they are here 5-6 days a week.  We pulled into Galleon Marina and Tim skillfully snaked us in and around 1-5 million dollar boats and into our slip for a few days.  It's hot, hot, hot, but we are loving it.



Beautiful morning sky

 



Our escorts