Trip to Molasses Reef

All eight of us (Pekabu III has weekend guests Ann and Howie) boarded the glass bottom boat Key Largo Princess for the 10 o'clock trip out to Molasses Reef. The reef is part of the John Pennekamp Coral Reef Park and is about 6 miles off the entrance to Port Largo Canal. The trip out took about 45 minutes and other than the excitement of watching Ann and Pete feed Cheetos to the terns that followed us out the trip was uneventful. We spent our time on the upper deck watching the birds and occasional Portugese Man O War jellyfish. Once we reached the reef everyone moved down to the lower deck with the glass panels and spent the next half an hour slowly drifting over the reef while one of the crew explained what we were seeing. She stressed the fragility of the reef's eco system and pointed out several fish and different types of coral. It was interesting, but it doesn't compare to actually diving on a reef!

After lunch I did a little sewing for another sailor here at the marina and then joined Dan at the pool for a swim and relaxed with a book for a while. When we returned from the pool, we Skyped with Katherine and Zoe and Kinsey, and got to watch Zoe pull out a loose tooth! I got a hankering for a Dark n Stormy, so I worked on making some ginger beer syrup with moderate success I think. Which means I had to send Dan to Walgreens for some dark rum. Yes, Walgreens has liquor here in Florida! Dinner on the veranda - this time supplied by Pekabu III, chicken fajitas with all the fixings. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Betty and Dan swapped pictures yesterday.

The trip out of Port Largo Canal gave us a different view of some of the amenities along the way. Lower left shows "crash corner" . We also saw the manatee on our way out.

The Key Largo Princess took us out to the Molasses Reef, marked by this tower. The water began to show color changes as we approached the reef. The view through the glass bottom was very clear.

These guys are just looking for a handout.

Another mast high view of Key Largo

Before we left Key Largo last month to head to Key West, Dan went up Andiamo's mast to repair their wind vane. The fix worked but was temporary, so Dan went back up the mast today to install the new Raymarine wind vane that had finally arrived. He took his camera again and got a few pictures, luckily Betty was able to also get a picture of him at the top. I'll get a copy from her tomorrow. This all happened right about noon because Pekabu III had the rental car until noon and several more forays we taken to try to load our boats down with more "essentials".

We also painted our Spartite mast collar, so that job is complete, or at least until the first big rain or strong spray tests its watertightness. More time was spent this afternoon studying all the different weather forecasts that are available to us---really too many to be able to decipher which one is the most accurate. Each has a slightly different slant on the next week's weather, so we still can't be sure when we will have three days in a row with no strong winds and none from the north. A north wind whips the Gulf Stream into a raging mess, not something we want to deal with. Pekabu III had guests arrive tonight for the weekend, so our numbers have swelled back up to 8. Tomorrow we plan to take a two hour ride on the glass bottom boat that goes out to the reefs around the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

We heard from Sevilla that their transmission is in and working and they have moved north to Marathon where they will leave the boat for a week while they visit friends in Islamorada. We doubt we'll get to see them before we leave unless we are delayed more than expected. We also hope to connect with Bob & Lucia, fellow C-400 owners from our CCYC fleet, who are joining Bob's daughter Connie and her husband Wally on their C-350 which is also in Marathon.

Bird's eye view of our three boats, we have the white canvas and Pekabu has the red. Betty standing on the pool deck snapped a few pictures of Dan. The water is very clear in the lagoon and Dan was impressed with how clearly he could see the bottom from 85 feet ( 65 mast height + 20 feet of water depth.) Last shows our mast head and the rest of the boats down the wall.

Dan's view out to the ocean. Some of the landscaping that surrounds the marina and resort and one of the three pools at our disposal. We've tried two so far.

I swear these guys have internal clocks, they all take up the vigil right about 1 pm - - the usual time that the fishing boats return from a half day of fishing. Just like clockwork we see them fly in same time each day.

Drive to BJ's up near Miami

Today as promised was stock up day, but not without a little excitement this morning, well, I wouldn't actually call it excitement...watching a manatee s-l-o-w-l-y make its way through the marina. We first spotted him drinking from Andiamo's air-conditioner recycled water. It then moved on to nibble along the bulkhead and wandered down to catch the drippings from Irony who was getting washed down. We girls got underway in Pekabu III's rented car at 9:30 and headed up Rt. 1 toward the mainland. It is about 30 miles to BJ's, but we made several stops along the way looking for specific items that each of us needed. We didn't find everything on our lists, but by the time we left BJ's at 2:00 we had the Chevy Tahoe packed to the gills and then had to face actually stowing everything on three already well packed sailboats! We should be able to eat well from now until the 4th of July! Unfortunately our weather window seems to have closed up for the moment, and it won't be until at least the middle of next week that we may be able to cross the Gulf Stream.

The guys got a shot at the car once we returned but just can't seem to spend as much time shopping and were back in less than an hour. They do plan to make another foray tomorrow morning before Pete and Kathy return the rental. We dined on salmon with a chutney and pilaf on the veranda this evening courtesy of Pete and Kathy. Another delicious end to a well spent day. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

This manatee liked the warm salt water pouring out of Andiamo's air conditioner so much he rolled over and let it just pour into his mouth!

I tried to capture some of this guy's battle scars from run ins with propellers and such. Upper left shows his left flipper all tangled up with green fishing line. Lower left show the right flipper with a scar from some other wrap of some kind. His back is covered with "stripes" caused by a propeller, and his tail has scars and a nick out of it. He kinda has a hangdog puppy look when he comes up for a breath.

Key Largo update

The bikes got a workout today. The day was another "GD gorgeous day" as an old friend of my father's used to say. We breakfasted on the veranda, did some shaping of the Spartite collar (to make sure water would run off, not down the mast) and discussed the weather for crossing. Mid morning John and Dan rode the bikes to West Marine and other places while Betty and I contemplated a trip to the pool, luckily we hadn't left for the pool when the PumpOut boat arrived. (There are no facilities here in the Port Largo Canal for pumping out, you have to make a "date" with the PumpOut boat and hope he will arrive sometime on the day you have an appointment!) Well he showed up and was about to leave when both Betty and I noticed him cruising by our sterns slowly. John had made the "date", but he was off gallivanting with Dan, so Betty and I had to wrestle with the large smelly hose (with NO help from the driver of the PumpOut boat) and had a terrible time getting suction. Anyways, you don't want to hear any more about it. Needless to say we felt the guys owed us a lunch out when they returned!

Betty and I met them at the Tiki Bar at the Holiday Inn after a dip in the hot tub and had a lovely late lunch. Then it was our turn. Betty and I rode the bikes to Publix to get the fixings for a lucious Caesar Salad (prepared by John) and are getting quite good at maneuvering the bikes and finding our way around. The trip seems to get shorter each time we make it. Before dinner we took John and Betty on a dinghy ride to see the sights in the canal system that surrounds our marina (and to show off our new depth sounding system in the dinghy.) Pete and Kathy had rented a car this afternoon and were running some errands. We all plan to take advantage of the car tomorrow and do some last minute (we hope) stocking up. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

The sun was setting as we ventured out to dinghy down several canals in the Port Largo system. The top pictures show two of the canals that branch off the main canal. The bottom left shows the main canal that leads into the basin where our three boats can be seen in the bottom right picture.

You can go slow ...or you can go fast! Irony is a Florida Bay Coaster owned by Frank and his bull mastif puppy "Buster". Frank's wife is back home visiting a sister, so Frank and Buster join us on the veranda often. We don't know who owns the three and FOUR 300's, but they obviously are in a hurry to get somewhere!

Another day in Paradise aka Key Largo

Today was Spartite day. Before we left the Chesapeake, we had a rigging survey done and dealt with almost all the issues detailed in the survey, BUT didn't get around to creating a new mast collar replacement. We bought the Spartite kit, and have been carrying it with us until today. It was a long process to get the old system of wedges and mast collar and lots of silicone sealer off before building a "dam" around the mast with closed cell foam and modeling clay and then mixing the two part stuff and pouring it in. They claim it can be done in a couple of hours, but it took the entire morning. It got pretty warm before we finished, so we rigged the jib with the whisker pole to create a little shade. It worked like a charm.

After lunch I finished my sewing projects and Dan worked with John to understand the Sirius weather application on Andiamo's Raymarine chartplotter. We hope it will help us predict weather while we are in the Bahamas. We all decided that it was still a good plan to swap off dinner prep while we are side by side here in the marina, and tonight was my night. Dan found out that it was acceptible to use gas grills while we are here, so he grilled a pork loin roast and it was yummy. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

As promised,

our "walker"

(really called

the "Ding-eze"

bar) that helps

us get in and

out of the

dinghy plus

the drink

holders I

made to fit

on the bar.

The "dam" is already full of Spartite mix in the top left picture. Bottom left shows all the parts we used: closed cell foam tubing and beige modeling clay to build the dam; vaseline to coat the dam and the metal collar so it will release from the Spartite collar when you un-step the mast. The Spartite will remain stuck to the mast when it is un-stepped. The two part Spartite solution that works like an epoxy when mixed together. The finished system is in place (right). We still have to paint the navy blue collar to help protect it from UV rays. I know, more than you really wanted to know.

Betty snapped this photo of us as we sailed by one of the causeway bridges on Rt. 1 on our way to Key Largo last week. It is so great to be sailing with others so that we can get pictures of ourselves when we're sailing.

Slip # 11 to Slip #10 Marina del Mar

Another gorgeous day, warmer than yesterday with just a few puffy clouds. We spent the morning finishing up the installation of the dinghy depth sounder and I set up shop to sew a carrying bag for all the parts (that aren't epoxied down) and drink holders for our dinghy "walker". I forgot to get pictures of them today - - - tomorrow.

Big move today, all the way from slip 11 to slip 10. Pekabu III was coming in today and they need two 30 amp plugs when they plug in and we only need one 30 amp plug. Slip 10 has only one working plug, so we moved over to make room. We moved just before noon and as we settled down in the cockpit to eat our lunch two great egrets flew in between our mast and the forestay, one of them landing on our dock box, I was sure he was looking for a handout.

Pete and Kathy arrived a little after 4 pm, so we are back together again. We took a little spin in the dinghy to check out the depth sounder and to test out the drink holders, all worked well! It was a short trip because we had pizza ordered for 6 pm and it was movie night at 7. We watched "Captain Ron" a classic sailing spoof which we all enjoyed (again - - - we had watched it on Resolve's big screen {sheet} last summer.) ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Key Largo (Marina del Mar)

We contemplated the Sunday breakfast buffet at the Holiday Inn (part of our Marina complex) but at $9.99 without anything special to offer we opted for our freebie here on the veranda. The table swelled to 9 (plus three dogs) as we were joined by other regulars that we had met two years ago. It is a very easy atmosphere here and everyone is very friendly. After breakfast John, Betty, Dan and I headed over to the weekly flea market which also includes several produce stands and then headed to CVS to pick up several prescriptions we had ordered and to look for a watch for Dan. No luck until we happened onto Divers Direct, a large dive store and found the perfect watch for him.

We had lunch aboard and right after lunch I noticed a tall Great Egret standing watching a fishing captain clean his catch three slips over. He didn't seem to mind all the people milling around him, so I grabbed may camera to try to get a close up shot. While I was shooting, the captain left his cleaning table for a brief moment to talk with his guests and I watched the egret slowly walk closer and closer to the table. His head was just about even with the table and he gave a brief flap of his wings and was up on the table in an instant. Just as he began to peck at the 6 red snappers being filleted on the table the captain returned waving arms and screaming. As he flew away, he managed to kick the filleting knife in the water! Luckily the knife was retrievable and none of the filets were affected, but I felt a a bit chagrined that I hadn't shooed the bird away instead of busily snapping the episode!

The rest of the afternoon was spent greasing the steering cables and then actually relaxing around the pool for a while. We took a short swim and then headed to The Galley, a local eatery for a light dinner. We have spent a lot of time the past two days studying the weather forecast to see if a three day weather "window" will open up for us to make the crossing - first the Gulf Stream and then the Bahamas Bank. Between the search for a "window" and the wait for the new propeller, we aren't sure what our schedule will be the next few weeks. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Here's what happens when you leave your freshly caught fish unattended for less than half a minute. The bottom right show the filleting knife on the bottom.

I swear this guy was laughing at the whole episode!