2/23/22 Time for new scenery

 

Manatee in her "safe place" in Tarpon Basin

Ed keeps a close eye on the power in, power out situation.  We use a 12 Volt refrigerator  and freezer which demands enough power to become a challenge to keep our batteries topped off. Running the engine for an hour twice a day helps but only for a couple of days. We don’t want the noise of a gas generator, so motoring South it is.  Besides, its time to see new shorelines.                                                                                                                                                                                                          

The day usually starts with taking pictures of sunrise  

It was a nice weather day, winds out of the East, 13-15 with gusts to 18 kts. Sunshine, 78 degrees. 

We left Tarpon Basin after lunch and motored about 3 1/2 hours through the turquoise clear waters of Florida Bay.                                                                                 

                                                 Ahh, green clear water! Motor sailing

                                                     Rick on Wind Gypsy, following along

Cowpens Cut has what is called Toilet Seat Row. There are tons of them, painted or left natural, but all in a row. Only in the Florida Keys! 

The turquoise stripes created with the sun’s help

     Stake Key for the night, it’s small and will provide some protection from the East winds. 

2/20/22 Tarpon Basin, Key Largo

Monday  February 20, 2022

The start of a beautiful day

We usually start our day with greeting the sun. We watch the sky get light, watch the cloud formations and the sky evolve into different shades of pink, red, orange and yellow. Today’s was pretty. Shades orange, yellow and gray clouds. We had decided that this morning Ed was going to fish around the mangroves in Lil Big’r (the dinghy), while I took solace in the mangrove forest on my kayak. We had been through this creek before, but it’s worth going anytime. 

 

That’s my kayak route today

                                            The reflections in the water made for a cool picture

If you look closely you can see two rope swings, left behind by local kids perhaps. The ropes were still in decent condition. Kids will be kids everywhere!

                                                         And they go swimming in this! 

We had a quiet afternoon, the weather was great, windy and warm. Rick on Wind Gypsy, a friend sailed down from Stuart and met up with us. 

Welcome to the keys, Wind Gypsy and Rick

2/18/22 Snowbirding South

 February 18. 2022 

                                                  We woke up to the full moon setting.
 

The weather has calmed down, winds are mild today, almost non-existent. We are all provisioned up and time to head South again.  But first, a quick trip back to Gilbert's for a fill up of diesel and water.  We weighed anchor at 7:05 am and got to Gilbert's right at 8:00, opening time.  Jackie, the dock master was held up in traffic and was running late.  We slipped into the fuel dock and filled our water as we waited for Jackie to arrive.  After a fill up of diesel, we were on our way again.  We decided we needed to get back to solitude, aqua blue waters and found our anchorage off Stake Key, very close to the Manatee Keys.  We dropped the hook in 6.4 ft. of water, all alone in paradise. 

Stake Key

Pelican watching us go by

We watched a sea plane circle and land, what fun!

Splash down, as kayakers came to greet those in the plane

There hasn’t been another boat in sight for a while, very strange bubble formations on the surface!

Good bye, Sun. Thanks for another great day

  

February 19, 2022

It was quite a warm and sticky night.  The breeze dropped down.  We woke up to gray skies, but the forecast promised a beautiful day.  Our plan was to explore Stake Key in the morning and sail around the bay after lunch, when the wind was to pick up. We dropped my kayak and I paddled around the key while Ed kept an eye on me and trolled, cast his lure and paddled in the dinghy.  The water was such a beautiful teal blue color and clear.  I paddled in about a foot of water, in and out of the mangroves.  I was so quiet so as to not disturb the sea life, and came upon sharks, barracuda, snapper and numerous little bait fish along the coastline.  

                                                              Beachball got loose

Horseshoe Crab sex?

                                                         

Look closely at the top of the picture, a barracuda swimming by, very curious fish

                                                Shark! Small one, scurrying away from me

And when it’s been a few hours and I’m getting tired, Ed’s there to give me a ride back! I guess I’m a little spoiled!

We got back to the boat and it was HOT!  We dove in and took a QUICK swim before thinking about 

the rest of the day.

Wind Alert forecast shows North to Northwest winds in the teens and gusts to 28-30 kts.  Our peaceful anchorage would not be comfortable with winds from the north and Ed would not sleep well worrying about our anchor dragging into the mangroves.  The winds always seem to pick up between midnight and 3 am.  We decided to weigh anchor after lunch and sail if there's wind, motor and to top off the batteries if no wind.  

And there was none.  We motored slowly along the crystal clear blue water and made our way back to the protection of  Tarpon Basin in Key Largo.  We anchored in our same spot.  

                                Trust me, different days, different spot, same gorgeous sunset!  

10/2019 South Florida West Coast to East Coast

We had nice uneventful weather the first few days of our trip.    We got up at the crack of dawn, had a quick breakfast and weighed anchor at first light each morning.  We motor sailed when we could, and sailed when the wind was favorable.  We had to keep  moving if we were going to get to Stuart for Ed to start work on Monday October 28.  We used our usual anchorages down the coast, Naples and Shark River.  Then we hopped over Florida Bay to Channel Five Bridge and headed North to Tavanier Key and weighed anchor in the beautiful Florida Keys water.

                                                    Sailing down the coast on a light breeze

A beautiful sunrise over Naples, Fl

Dinner!

                                     Ahhh, The beautiful Florida Keys, Channel Five Bridge                                        

Sunrise, Tavenier Key

Our next stop was Key Largo  and to Gilbert's for a quick fuel and water fill up.  We were happy to see our friend Dennis, on board "The Beast".  He came by the fuel dock and said hello.  We had met him on our last stay in Key Largo, when we purchased Manatee.  He's a dear friend of Ed's sister Georgeanne.

We headed out Jewfish Creek and into Barnes Sound and then Card Sound.  As forecast, the wind and the chop picked up out of the North Northwest to 25-35 kts.  We had a wild day of sailing on that breeze,  it was fun.  But wet, and cold!

Cape Florida Lighthouse

Miami!  First sight of the skyline

Miami's waterfront

  

Haulover Inlet Lighthouse

We had a nice run up the ICW,  past Miami's waterfront district and further North until we dropped anchor in Ft. Lauderdale.  

The dreaded Julia Tuttle Bridge.  We figure we need 54 ft. clearance.  Yikes! 

Close!  So close.  The VHF antenna wacked itself on every beam under the bridge. 

We continued north along the busy ICW requesting bridge openings. At one point, we approached a slow down and a “traffic jam”, just before a turn. We weren’t sure what the holdup was, there were just so many large motor vessels just moseying along. None of the boats were passing others, as if something around that bend must happened to stop traffic. We were patient, got in line behind a large yacht. We saw a Coast Guard boat go by, we saw a couple of police boats go by, they waved at us. Some more rearranging of boats occurred and a captain of a yacht was thoughtful enough to ask if we were going to the boat show. Huh? Boat show? It was Ft. Lauderdale’s big yacht/boat show they hold every year. We were stuck in the staging area for the upcoming show! We thanked the Captain for asking us the obvious. We managed to excuse ourselves and got around the insanity and continued on our way. 

            Lots of very large beautiful yachts 

One of the yachts just got into its spot. 

                                                This guy just showed up for the show

                                                                   Hillsboro Inlet Light

                                         Southern Blvd. Bridge (under construction) Palm Beach

                                                        Jupiter Lighthouse (with scaffolding)
                                                   

Hobe Sound, Peck Lake

Feels surreal. After 43 years, we are back!

The beach can only be accessed via boat, it's usually deserted

Our new Homeport 

Our hosts, Nancy, Wookie and John

A nice welcome home

                                           

We plan on staying at this dock for as long as we are able.  It's a perfect spot for hurricane protection, we are near family and the waterways around Stuart are beautiful.  Ed will continue his part time job while we continue to do improvements on Manatee.  I will be able to use the garage at the house to sew, thus completing all the re-canvassing to forest green.  Life is good!