Coconut Grove / Miami

Had a great couple of evenings eating out here.  We went to the downtown area in Coconut Grove for dinner one night and a great Cuban restaurant the next.  Descent City Marina, ok average at best but a great location and $2.85 per ft per night compared with downtown Miami and $5.

Key Largo to Coconut Grove

We departed John Pennycamp State Park after 1 night on the mooring ball and 3 nights in a slip.  We had a beautiful day of cruising as we traveled up the Atlantic side for about 22 miles with 1-2 footers slightly of the Starboard side, no issue.  We cut across to the Gulf at Angelfish Creek, there are a couple of pics showing some unbelievable homes! Once in the gulf we had unbelievable aqua green water and  slight chop. You could easily see the bottom as we had 3 feet of water underneath the props for the entire trip up Biscayne Bay some 30 miles.  We pulled into the mooring field at Dinner Key in Coconut Grove.  We got tied up and I dinged over to our buddy boat to assist. Some how they ended up bass acwards on the Ball.  We were fighting pretty strong winds and 2 footers in the mooring field.  Once tied up Cody and I put our life jackets on and Dingy the half mile to an island for Cody's releif.   We just got back to the boat and we got a call, Dicks Dingy wouldn't start and back to the island to get him and Bailey ( their Lab) sea tow to the rescue.  Finally back to the boat we were bobbling like a cork on the mooring ball with a 12 knot wind  and 2' + chop.  We had a light dinner and had a glass of wine looking at the Miami skyline wow what a day.

The morning started out well, but the winds and chop were not letting up so we swallowed our pride and headed for the Marina! Brigitte was driving and I was getting us off the mooring ball. Tough to do in the wind and seas.  We inadvertently caught the mooring line around the starboard prop.   S@&$!,,,,, we were now back acwards ourself hung up.  We called Sea Tow and Brian (from sea tow) came to the rescue!  For you boaters this is how it's done.  We put our anchor in his boat and he took a 100 ft of chain upwind. With the anchor set, he came back to the boat  and free dove on the mooring ball. Once freed we pivoted and the anchor held us in position.  After checking forwards and reverse we pulled anchor and headed to the Marina.  Brian came over to the Marina and we did the paper work.  What an interesting Guy, Probably 50 from Switzerland. He had taught sailing to the German Navy in the Canary Islands, has sailed the Atlantic and Caribbean . And his next goal is a sailing around Cape Horn . You meet some of the most interesting people boating.  Headed into town for some action tonight and maybe South Beach Miami Monday night! More latter.
Cheers

Islamorada to Key Largo

We left for Key Largo Tue. and John Pennycamp State Park.  We cruised up the Atlantic for about 22 miles in 3-4 ft seas. We stayed closer in shore as waves in Hawks Channel farther out were 4-6'. We tied up on a mooring ball for the night. We bounced around a bit with 15-18 knot winds and 2 ft chop.  Not great taking Cody into shore at at 10pm. The next day we called the Park and they had 2 of 3 slips that would fit our boats and in we went. 52 bucks a night sweet!  The park here is spectaclar diving is as good as it gets in Florida, unfortunatley with 18 knot winds out side, going out to the reefs was out of the question. We road our bikes and did some dingy rides.  Coming back into the Marina with a strong incoming tide got Lil Putz up to 30 mph. One of the pictures you can see our boat in the moring field.  Another picture shows Cassiopeia  Jellyfish in about 3 feet of water.

Islamorada

On  Saturday morning we left Banana Bay and headed up the Gulf side of the Keys some 38 miles to Plantation Yacht Basin and the Islamorada City Marina.  What a great place with a pool,  tennis courts, band shell,  soccer and baseball fields. It also had Good showers and a clean laundry facility. The rate was  3 dollars a foot which included water and electricity.  We hope to spend a Month here next year. Their monthly rate is not too bad.  Islamorada is by far nicer than Marathon.

Easter Sunday was very different, first we could not find a church close enough by, and cabs are very pricey.( more on that latter)  Our friend Dick had looked up a cousin he had not seen in 30 years and on Sunday afternoon we were all invited  to attend a fund raiser for hospice.  This took place at the Safari lounge , it is also called the dead animal bar because of all the African animal mounts on the wall.  What a joint, they had live music and charged $5 dollars for a ham dinner and a buck for Jell-O shots. It turns out Dicks cousins husband was the past mayor of Islamorada.  We were  treated like visiting dignitaries, what a hoot.  Great people and we had a great time.

Today we spent doing  chores including getting Cody the most expensive doggy haircut we could imagine. Cab fare was $20 each way for a 15 minute ride.  Cab , grooming, and tip came to $126!
We are leaving in the morning (weather permitting) for Key Largo and the John Pennycamp State Park Mooring field where we might stay for a week. We will post from there in 4 or 5 days.

Still in Marathon

To sum up our week in the mooring field, I would state a great cheep place to hang out. We a had a nasty thunderstorm blow throught with 40 Knot gusts and that good old moring ball keep us safe and secure. At 9AM each morning I would tune in to VFH channel 68 for the Boot key Harbor Cruisers Net. This consisted of announcements, a call for assistance if you have any boat issues, buy sell give away, triva and general comments.   We took multiple dingy rides to some of the  joints along the Harbour and took a Sunday afternoon ride to the beach.  I also started a project of installing DC fans in our state room. It's just not practical running the generator and AC while swing on a hook.  One of the special events occurred  at sunset every evening, someone played taps and others blew conch shells over the mooring field.  On one of our explorations we found a Resort and Marina called Banana Bay.  The resort looks to be a 70's vintage and in a state of disrepair.  Actually it went bankrupted and new owners are starting to remodel and bring it back to shape.  However the 34 slip Marina is a tropical paradise and the pool is outstanding.  The place is overgrown with tropical vegatation! On Tuesday we took the 8 mile cruise around to the gulf side and are currently currently at Banana Bay until Saterday.  As the crow flys we are about 3/4 of a mile from the moring field but the feel puts us a world away.  We went grocery shopping by bike yesterday and latter for a dingy ride to check out other spots.  I threw a spoon in and did a little trolling, low and behold I caught a 13 inch Mangrove Snapper- dinner!  Brigitte and I have enjoyed the sunsets after relaxing afternoons at the pool.  We are off to Islamarada on Saterday morning weather permitting.  Hard to believe we are down to a month before we head home. We would like to be home for Mothers Day.

Boot Key Harbour

We arrived at Boot Key Harbour in Marathon Tuesday morning.  We tied up to a mooring ball and settled in.  We checked in and checked out the place.  It has a project room, showers and bathrooms, TV theater area, Internet area where we saw many kids being home schooled. The  mooring field is huge and holds 226 boats and is pretty much filled up.  We are planing on staying a week here.  Including tax and a free pump out the bill came to $120 dollars.  This is a city operated facility.  I will try to describe it, maybe eclectic? maybe a trailer park on the water?  a safe anchorage for sail boats and Yachts passing through?  Our a place where folks from 20 to 95 have just dropped out?  Quite the diversity!

The weather is about 85+ and humid, but a good breeze up most days.  Last night it only cooled down to 80 so sleeping was not as comfortable no issue!.  We are glad we are here as the winds are going to kick up to 20 Knots and seas on the Atlantic side are. 4-7 footer.  We are well protected here.

We have been dingying in to joints for happy hour most nights, can't beat 3 dollar well drinks and 2 dollar beers. This afternoon we are going to check out a Marina for a possible spot to stay next year for  a month.  Its the week end so Brigiite just told me

 I am making lunch! Bloody's  it is!  Cheers!

Bahia Honda Key to Marathon

On Sunday we took a leisurely cruise of about 14 milw to Bahia Honda Key which is a State Park.  We anchored between the old railroad bridge and US1.  More on that fiasco later. We took the dinks into the harbor watered the dogs and went for a swim on the beach (Atlantic) had ice cream. We basically chilled out.  This a very beautiful spot!  As the day went along the boats rolled a little bit at anchor but nothing to un comfortable.  In the morning Brigitte , Cody and I went for a two mile walk along the ocean. Dick and I watches all our weather sources and decided Monday might be a little rough on the outside so we decided to stay another night.  Hey, the anchorage is very free and great access to get the dogs off. As the day progressed so did the roll of the boats.  Our anchorage between the Briges is exactly were the Gulf and Atlantic meet.  The current ripped through here swinging the boat 180 degrees at each tide change 4 times a day.  This was fine until the winds picked up to a sustained 13 knots and gusts to 20 from the West.  Now the boats  were pinned by the current and taking all the wind on the beam hence the roll. I would guess a good 20 degree roll with some to 30 degrees. This known as being in a bath tub!  We felt confident our anchor would hold as we a hundred feet of chain out in 7 ft of water.  I took Cody out around nine  through 2-3 footers in the dingy yes we both had life jackets on.  We went to bed to tried to get a couple ours of sleep. I got up every two hours to keep watch.  At around 3:30 I got up and noticed that our buddy boat had change anchorages and was much closer to us, Strange why anyone would reset an anchor in this storm,  I forgot to mention it was raining cats and dogs and gusting to 23 knots.
In the morning I meet up with Dick at the Park and I kind of kidded him if he got a good nights sleep.
The reason he had re set the anchor was that during the middle of the night his anchor broke free and he was washed up on shore. Luckily his keel hung up in some sand just before the all coral shore line.
He called Sea Tow and they they arrived in about 45 minutes and pulled him off.  He had 60 feet of chain out! More is usually better if you have room. We both decided to pull anchor and get the hell out of the still heavy rolling seas. Inga stated that in their nearly 6000 miles of cruising it was the worst night they had ever had. As we pulled out in to the Atlantic we were managing 4 foot swells which we managed well and once behind the islands it went down to a 1 foot swell. We only had 12 miles to Boot Key Harbour and Marathon.