Key Largo is the name of a famous movie starring Humphrey Bogart and one of the bars here is called the Bogie Lounge. Just down the docks from us is a relic from another of Bogart's movies. The African Queen was a movie set in Africa during WWII. The boat in the movie was called the African Queen and what is left of it is here. Apparently, it was once possible to take short trips aboard her hence she has some modern equipment such as the outboard and some electronics. Judging from what we saw, she is no longer seaworthy and merely a curiosity now.

Here are our friends, Jack and Sheila Adamowski at poolside here at the marina. We have enjoyed biking, swimming, walking and playing tennis with them. Our next blog posting will have some news about our tennis game.

Christmas in the Keys

Christmas Eve at Key Largo was different from any we had ever spent. We decorated the boat with rope lights and Christmas lights, including the plant pot hanging off the Garhauer motor lift on the stern. We missed having the celebration at home, but we did have the traditional eggnog which we shared with our friends here. Christmas dinner was at Coconuts but did not in any way match what any of the cooks in our family would have provided. Still sitting here in t-shirt and shorts on Christmas Day did feel good. The New Year was celebrated on the bow of CHorse the 38 foot powerboat to our starboard. We drank champagne and admired the clear night sky in a warm whisper of air. The sounds of celebrants at Coconuts alerted us to the coming of midnight.

Here is Candi Claus, our dockmaster, who likes to celebrate all the holidays. I wish we could be here to see her Easter bunny costume. She and her husband live on a boat here while she works at the marina and he works at the local West Marine Store. Candi takes excellent care of us and is very knowledgeable about the area. There are two other ladies who are dockmasters or assistant dockmasters. The marina was well decorated with lights and flowers and a Christmas tree inside the lobby.

Our Winter Home

The ten and one half hour trip to Key Largo was a slog into the wind. Windy Affair was able to go a bit faster and arrived just ahead of us. Here we are motoring down the canal leading to our berth at Marina Del Mar. As you enter the canal you must make securite calls as large craft coming out could fill up the space available. When one gets to Crash Corner where the casino boat is parked another call is made to alert traffic there. I assume the name is significant. Marina Del Mar has proven to be a great place for us to spend the winter. It is one of three hotels here at which we have privileges. We can get free continental breakfasts at two of the hotels, including right off the back of our boat here at the marina. There are three sets of pools and hot tubs/jacuzzis and restaurants, tiki bars and Coconuts, a restaurant/bar with live entertainment every night. These are all just by our boat or within a one minute walk. We have free towel service, laundery and shower facilities, and HBO cable. The staff is attentive to our needs as much as any guest occupying the rooms in the hotel.

Little Shark River to Boot Key Harbor

The next stop and the last on the Florida mainland was Little Shark River. We left Capri Pass at 0700 and motorsailed 67 miles along the coast off the Everglades. We expected bugs at Little Shark but we thought they would be mosquitoes. What we found there can only be described as stealth jaws with wings, otherwise known as "no-see-ums". The next morning we raised anchor and I told Annette to just keep on going as they were even biting my eyelids.

The eight hour trip across the Gulf to Vaca Key and Marathon was uneventful, with most of the time spent dodging the small buoys marking the crab pots that are everywhere in this area. Here we are approaching the end of our trip on the Gulf of Mexico and the beginning of the segment on the Atlantic Ocean. That's Seven Mile Bridge in the picture. On the other side is the Atlantic. Marathon and Boot Key Harbor are to port. We anchored at the far end of the harbor. There we replaced our batteries as they were no longer capable of sustaining a charge for longer than one day. On December 18th, I was alone on the boat when the anchor started to drag in the increasing wind. I started the engine after getting a second anchor out and motored as far forward as I could and threw the second anchor over. After setting it, I went to retrieve the original one. As I pulled it up, it got very heavy. The owner of the boat behind me came up with his dinghy to help. He kept insisting that the weight was just a ball of mud. I knew it was steel. It turned out to be one of the four anchors he had out! I could raise the two anchors (mine a Bruce and his a CQR) just far enough for him to work on getting them apart on his hard dinghy. He dropped his where it was and took mine out as far as I had rode. I reset that anchor and then motored against it to retrieve the other anchor which was not holding and needed to be reset at a better angle to the first one. This time I got in the dinghy and took the second anchor out. After great effort, I finally got into a position that seemed to work. We stayed put through the night and left the next morning for Key Largo.

Fort Meyers Beach and Marco Island

We grabbed a mooring ball in Matanzas Pass at Fort Meyers Beach. There is a casino boat docked here and just behind it was Total Return, a beautiful Nordhaven trawler owned by a couple from Rochester. We first met them at Grafton where the Illinois meets the Mississippi. They had left our marina there that morning and noticed us. We talked on the radio at that time. Later they surprised us as they walked down our dock to see us. They had rented a car and driven back to see us. The amazing thing was that he was wearing a Brantling Hill t-shirt which I immediately commented on. Turns out Russ had learned to ski there. We had toured their boat at Crowley's back in Chicago when a friend of Russ's, who we had met in the North Channel, invited us aboard. We kept track of each other as we traveled south.

While we were in Burnt Store Marina, we rented a car and drove to Naples and Marco Island so Annette could revisit the area where her parents had spent their winters.
We found the mobile home park still there and looking about the same. Everything else seemed highly developed. Marco was much more built up than when we were there years ago. Annette decided not to pay the money to park and walk on Tigertail Beach. The attendant said that it was all changed by a hurricane and there was now a lagoon between the shore and the beach on the Gulf. Annette's disappointment was eased a bit when we anchored in Capri Pass after a nice sail and motorsail from Fort Meyers Beach. We got the dinghy down and motored over to the beach on Marco just around the corner from Tigertail. There she was able to pick up shells and sand dollars. We had cocktails on a catamaran anchored off the beach that had a parrot named after Jimmie Buffet.

Boca Grande and Charlotte Harbor

We left Sarasota on December 6, then stopped overnight at the Crow's Nest Marina before going outside into the Gulf for Charlotte Harbor and Boca Grande. Here we are in a hurricane hole in this picture, rafted with Windy Affair. This was called Boca Grande Bayou: on one side were mangrove trees shielding us from the wind which was blowing hard out of the north; on the other side were expensive homes owned by some of the wealthiest people in Florida. We attached lines to the mangroves and had our anchors out in the channel. We were quite comfortable there as the wind blew hard against the backside of the trees.

This is a picture of Jazz, a trawler owned by Don Wallace. Don is the author of 7 Miles an Hour, an amusing book about the boating experience for liveaboards. When it came time to leave, we pulled anchor and started to follow Jack out the narrow and shallow channel. Jack quickly ran aground and we, having hung back, stayed put inside the bayou. Windy Affair returned after getting free and we tried to reanchor. Neither of us was able to reanchor after several tries. Jack decided to go again. He ran aground again, but was assisted by a young man in a powerboat who pulled him and washed a channel with his prop. We decided to wait for the tide to rise before we tried. We reanchored next to Jazz and were invited to tour the boat. Later, Don offered to take me out to sound the channel which we did. I decided to wait another half hour and then go for it. We powered out at six knots, hitting bottom and popping up three times before reaching the deeper water in the harbor. We reached Burnt Store Marina across Charlotte Harbor about two hours later.

Bradenton and Sarasota

On November 30th we moved on to Twin Dolphins Marina. The next day we moved across to the Bradenton Yacht Club where we enjoyed several days of marina life. The Yacht Club has a beautiful building and a good chef. Most of the people who belong keep their boats on canals nearby. The yacht basin had only about fifty slips. When we came in to the basin, the wind and current were strong in the same direction. The dockmaster who attempted to assist us in tying up could not pull our bow against the current and wind. I jokingly said he should try pulling it with the Gator he rode over on. He hooked the line up and was able to use the machine to pull our bow over to the position in the picture.

We anchored off Sarasota and dinghied ashore. Sarasota is home to circus museums and clown statues populate the streets like the horses in our area. We enjoyed walking around the city and shopping in the upscale shops nearby.

Tampa to the Manatee River

On November 29th we left Gulfport for the Manatee River across Tampa Bay. It was a grey day but we were able to get this picture of the bridge spanning the ship channel as we crossed. Like many of the bays in the Southeast, Tampa Bay is relatively shallow with channels maintained by dredging.

DeSoto Point at the mouth of the Manatee was our next anchorage. We went ashore and walked the trails of the park celebrating the story of DeSoto and his expedition in the area. Monuments here honor the Catholic priests who were part of the Spanish attempts to exploit the New World. DeSoto was particularly cruel to the natives. One of the lesser known historical tidbits about him was his ownership of hundreds of pigs which represented wealth.

At the park, a replica of the Spanish camp has been constructed. DeSoto left part of his men here while he sought riches farther north. Jack tries this hut on for size in this picture.

On to Tampa Bay IV

Windy Affair, Jack and Sheila Adamowski's 42 foot Catalina, motoring from Clearwater to our next destination. We motored and sailed during this passage as the wind was quite variable. We made the 36 miles in about 6 hours.

We anchored in Boca Ciega Bay off Gulfport. Here are the three boats-Windy Affair, Aerie, and Lady E at anchor. We dinghied in to walk the area. There was a casino onshore and some small shops.

Gerry Hawke, Jack Adamowski, and me taking a break from the strenuous onshore work of trying to keep up with our shopping admirals. The ice cream was good.

While we at Gulfport, Mac and Diane rented a car because they needed to replace their batteries and had located a Trojan distributor in the area. We volunteered to help get the batteries and to go with them to visit St. Petersburg. This is a picture of the pier at St. Petersburg which is the centerpiece of the harbor on Tampa Bay. There are many shops and restaurants here and a neat aquarium in the center of the main floor.

This view of St. Petersburg is from the highest level of the structure at the pier. We could also see Tampa to the north from this vantage point.

On to Tampa Bay III - The Big Jump

The Big Bend of Florida is that part of the west coast after the Panhandle and before Tarpon Springs approximately. We had to jump from Carabelle to the Tarpon Springs area because of the shallow water at potential stopping points along the route and/or bridges that prevent our entry. This reality requires us to sail overnight. After checking with the local expert in Carabelle, we began the voyage at eight in the morining. He indicated that we would be fine but should head a bit east of a straight line route before turning south because of the wind direction and the current. This dolphin was one of many who traveled part way with us.

We said goodbye to the sun the night of November 24th.

And hello to the dawn on the morning of the 25th. The night had been relatively uneventful, with only some three hours of rougher seas around midnight. It was a cold night and we were bundled up as best we could be. Fortunately, our autopilot, Wilhelm, did a great job of keeping us on course and giving us a chance to stay up under the dodger. Gary was able to get two hours of sleep during the previous afternoon and one half hour in the morning. The four boats stayed together during the passage and helped each other with navigation.

After 24 hours, we reached Tarpon Springs which we determined was full. Since we really wanted to go to a marina, we pressed on to Duneden but couldn't make it through Hurricane Pass because of the low water. So it was on to Clearwater, where we found a nice anchorage in Mandalay Channel. We regained our strength after the long trip and spent time ashore exploring the city. The anxiety of the overnight gave way to the sense of accomplishment a successful passage brought to all the crews.

On to Tampa Bay II

The next morning started with a "mini" adventure for us. After we pulled anchor and began to get back to the GICW route, our engine started to make a big racket. We immediately took it out of gear and I went below. A nut had come loose on the motor mount and was allowing the engine to jump around. Fifteen minutes later (it was the least accesible mount), we had the mount secured and were on our way. The other boats did a great job of watching out for us as we were just outside the channel and drifting. Fortunately we were in an area with lots of depth. Our next stop was Destin, which has a nice harbor with a very small and shallow entrance.



One of our traveling companion boats during this part of the trip was Lady E, with Mac and Diane aboard. They are from Ontario, Canada.

Smack Bayou provided us shelter for three nights as the wind piped up on the outside. We rafted the four boats together and held on as the wind whistled in the rigging. It was good to have a break again to just relax.

After sailing outside on the morning of November 22, we returned to the GICW and found an anchorage up Saul Creek. This was the typical scene along this particular stretch of the waterway. We would see hunters go by with boats full of dogs. We believe they were hunting wild boar in the wilds of Florida and Alabama.

We celebrated Thanksgiving, sharing our holiday with our Canadian friends, at our next port, Carabelle. While we missed being with our families, we did enjoy the good food provided by the "Admirals". We ate in the marina's club room and had a wonderful time. Of course we were also anxious about our next day's sail which would be the big jump.

On to Tampa Bay I

After raising the mast and refreshing ourselves at Dog River, we continued our journey on November 17. We cruised down the Mobile Ship Channel and then crossed over to join the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway (GICW). Along the route we found LuLu's, a restaurant operated by Jimmy Buffet's sister. Here the GICW is narrow, a canal really. Fifty-seven miles later we anchored in the lee of Perfido Key.

We dinghied ashore and found our way through the dunes to the Gulf side and one of the most striking beaches on our trip. While it was late, we were able to enjoy cocktail hour and some shelling before we had to leave.

Sunsets are beautiful along beaches and this one proved to be spectacular. This is only one of many such pictures that can only suggest the true experience.

Here we have the sailing crews posing on the beach. Happy and tired, but certainly undaunted, we were ready to get back to our boats on the other side of the dunes and get ready for tomorrow's adventure. At this point and since Dog River, we were traveling with three other sailboats, Windy Affair, Lady E, and Aerie. Annette is taking the picture and Mac was down the beach.

Mac was one of the Canadian Captains. Annette and I thought of him as our Canadian Skip. Here he is striding down the Perdido Key Beach.