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February 24, 2010 8:26 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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We're having a pretty good winter down here in the Keys, but we've been so focused on projects and chores that we haven't had much of a life. Jim is on the "home stretch" of the big electrical upgrade project - the last big project that we have planned for the boat. All eight of the 135 lb. batteries have been moved into their new boxes (we did it ourselves), and Jim has the second inverter/charger installed and working. He's been replacing a lot of old, undersized wire in the engine room, as well as old terminal blocks that have gotten corroded over the years. He's adding fuses and switches to make the entire 12v system safer and easier to use, and the overall impact will be to halve the time we need to charge the batteries when we're anchored. I have no idea how he learned so much about marine electrical systems, but he's a wizard!
I've been keeping busy with a lot of smaller to-do's - refinishing the swim ladder treads, refinishing the pilothouse table, repairing some damage done by the wake of a fisherman up in the Chesapeake, fiberglassing and painting battery boxes, small repairs, and now preparing for the Bahamas trip in April.
I still get out to kayak whenever I can, though we had a few weeks of high winds and weather fronts that made it tough. It has also been unusually cool, but that makes it nicer for Jim working in the engine room.
The last time I was out in the kayak, I caught this nice tricolor heron hunting...
We still plan to head to the Exumas in early April, and we're starting to update the inventory of provisions and make up our shopping list. There is still a long list of things that we want/need to do before we leave, so the chores aren't over yet.
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January 22, 2010 8:50 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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The winter season is in full swing here in the Keys, with the post-holiday arrival of the rest of the snowbirds by boat and RV. The marina is nearly full and the dock is often lively with little pockets of people watching the sun set every evening. It's something that makes life special here - no matter what's going on, people stop to watch the sun set every day. It may be just a brief private pause, or it may be a social gathering - but what matters is that people care.
The nights have been clear and we can appreciate the bright stars in the night sky. We're still seeing some of the after effects of the unusually long cold snap though - a lot of reef fish were shocked by the cold and it's sad to see them wash into the harbor. The water is still much colder than normal and the visibility has been quite poor, so we feel bad for the tourists who have come for diving - it will take a bit more time for the water to get back to the usual clarity.
We continue to work on our big projects - Jim has been pulling new 12v cables in the engine room, and I have been reinforcing the heavy plywood boxes and shelf reinforcements that will support the batteries in their new locations in the engine room. I've also been building up the varnish coats on our swim ladder treads - the secret to durable varnish is lots of coats, and I'm half-way to 10.
It's not glamorous work, but winter is our time to work on boat projects (in nice weather) before we head over to the Bahamas for a few months this spring. We think of boat chores as "the price of freedom"... not a bad deal. We still try to make time to do something fun now and then, since we tend to forget to stop working. Last night we went to the Marathon Community Theater's production of "Sylvia" - we laughed until our sides hurt! Today is the semi-annual Nautical Flea Market down on Big Pine, so we'll head down there for a bit, check on the progress of the seawall construction at our house, then meet friends (the Hurricane has a wonderful $5 lunch!). Then it will be back to the projects... and now I need to run so I can get another coat of varnish on the treads before we head out.
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January 4, 2010 10:28 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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The new year was just a few days old when we received some shocking news about the sudden passing of our friend and fellow boater, Pete Androski. He was young and healthy and there was no good reason for him to leave us. We will never forget him.
Pete was a husband to our dear friend Heidi, a father, a talented natural athlete, a brilliant thinker, and one of the finest mariners we've ever known.
Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote this poem about passing that speaks in the language of the mariner. Godspeed, Pete.
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.
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December 28, 2009 9:46 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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Christmas tradition holds that our "stockings are hung by the chimney with care"... so in the spirit of the season, this post is about socks. Maybe some of you even received some for Christmas?
Living north of the Keys, we took socks for granted. We all owned them... we rarely thought of them, but we wouldn't consider getting dressed without them except for the occasional trip to the beach or the pool on a hot summer day.
Annapolis was a little different since it's such a boating town. People love to wear their deck shoes without socks, but when the cold weather comes everyone dons their socks and waits until the First Day of Spring when the Maritime Museum hosts the annual "burning of the socks" party to signify the arrival of warmer weather (usually more theoretical than actual) and the ability to once again wear one's deck shoes sans socks. We have been known to wear our socks long after the Official Sock Burning since thermal comfort outweighs the fashion statement of bare feet in deck shoes... until summer, at least.
Living in the Keys it's easy to forget about socks since virtually no one ever wears them. We were talking to several locals just before we left for the holidays, and inevitably the topic of socks was raised by people who had to trek north to visit family for the holidays. These people didn't even own a pair of socks. Their ankles hadn't been covered in years. One fellow was heading to Pennsylvania to visit his sister, and she asked him what he wanted for Christmas. "Wool socks", he told her. Just give them to me as soon as I get there. The lady at the Library said that she and her husband have a big lumpy parka that they can use when one of them goes north to fetch their grandchildren... but they didn't have any socks. Seems strange, but it's a common problem in the Keys.
So the real question is: what does Santa do when he doesn't find any stockings hung by the chimney? No socks... no chimney. Makes you wonder...
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December 13, 2009 2:00 PM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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We've put just a few Christmas lights around the boat and we have some decorations out - including our 8' inflatable snowman. Some other boats in the marina also have lights, small lighted trees in a cockpit or cabin window, a tree in the marina office, etc. The Chamber of Commerce has put up lighted decorations along Route 1 - a holiday dolphin, lighthouse in holiday colors, and a palm tree with a bow are the common themes. It's a bit different getting into the holiday spirit here where it's 80 degrees every day (this is a very good thing). No one has shorts with a sleigh or holly motif... people aren't wearing red hats with white fuzzy trim (too hot!)... though the local real estate office has a mailbox in the shape of a manatee and it's always wearing something appropriate for the current holiday (an elf hat; you should see the red teddy it wears in February).
The other interesting thing about the Keys is that shopping isn't a big deal because we don't have malls and lots of chain stores. I don't miss the eroding of holiday spirit from fighting parking lot traffic and crowds in malls. But it's harder to wrap things when the wrapping paper is damp from the humidity. It's all a trade-off, isn't it??
Last night was the annual Holiday Boat Parade here in Marathon. I'm sure the one down in Key West was much bigger, but we decided to stay put and cheer for the local crowd. Many folks from the marina decided to make a party of it all. We had cocktails and snacks before parade time, then we all trooped down to the fuel dock to sing carols and applaud the parade boats.
The parade started with the Coast Guard and two other boats, but then there was a bit of a delay when a boat ran aground outside the channel and TowBoat/US had to come to the rescue. We cheered for them when they came by too!
There were only about a dozen boats, but everyone's spirit was great and the efforts ranged from fabulous to interesting.
One of the Customs and Border Patrol boats brought up the rear of the parade - probably making sure that Cuban Santa didn't sneak in.
All in all, we decided that watching a small parade with about 40 people when it's 75 degrees and the sky is full of stars beats watching a bigger, fancier parade with 30,000 people when it's 30 degrees and there are too many city lights to see many stars - no offense, Annapolis. Maybe next year, we'll get our boat really dressed for the holidays and enter the parade!
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December 2, 2009 10:03 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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We left Baltimore on September 9th and arrived here in Marathon on November 25th, putting 1405 nautical miles (1616 statute) under our keel. We had a good trip this year - we left early so we were ahead of the migration herd, and we kept nicer, temperate weather throughout the trip. This is the first trip south where we've had a chance to meander a bit, and we really enjoyed shorter underway days and stops in some new and familiar places. We spent a lot of time visiting friends along the way, and that was the highlight!
Now we're shifting gears from running the boat every day to working on our big boat projects - electrical upgrade including second charger and bigger alternator, moving batteries and wiring; some interior varnish, painting and repairs.
Monday started with a bath for the boat, oil changes for the main engines and transmissions, and fuel filter changes - primaries and secondaries. This is the cart full of oil to be recycled (14.5 quarts for each engine and 3 liters for each transmission). We have so many projects and repairs going on that we have to maintain it all on a spreadsheet.
Once we get into "project mode" we tend to forget to take some time to play, so we've been making note of art and music festivals and other fun events. We bought tickets to the Marathon Community Theater for Friday night, and we're going down to Key West this afternoon.
Nature is still the best reason to be here - this big dragonfly landed on the boat - he's even wearing the local color... "key lime", and we've had a green heron on the stern lines.
I had to put my kayak in the water right away - I missed all my birds and underwater critters. I paddled for about an hour until the sun set, and saw lots of stingrays, a small bonnethead shark, a 5' shark cruising along Boot Key, herons, ibis, pelicans, and kingfishers.
The marina is still somewhat empty, but boats are starting to arrive for the season, and the sunset gatherings on the dock are a good way to catch up with old friends and to meet new ones. We're trying to take the time to stop whatever we're doing and watch the sun set every evening.
We've put a few Christmas decorations around inside the boat, put up our wood "boat tree", and strung some colored lights in the cockpit - so we're ready for the holidays!
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November 26, 2009 9:32 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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After our nice little pause in Palm Coast, we decided that we were ready to just get down to the Keys and settle for a while. We have a big list of projects that we're anxious to start, so we left Palm Coast early on Saturday morning (after a very nice send-off from a few friends there) and ran to Titusville, near the Space Center.
White pelicans are unusual, but there's a colony just north of Titusville and I finally had a chance to shoot a few photos of them in the fading afternoon light.
It was a long day down to Titusville and another one down to Fort Pierce, and it was dark by the time we got the anchor down both nights. We've been spoiled by our meandering pace so far this trip, so we weren't used to running long days! The next day we had a shorter run to N. Palm Beach to visit our DeFever friends Hank and Nancy for an evening.
Tuesday morning was another early one - we left just after sunrise, through our last bridge, and out into the ocean for an 85 mile run down to Key Biscayne. The ocean was a little lumpy all day, but it was a decent ride and we were treated to the Goodyear Blimp right overhead for a while. We dropped the anchor just outside of No Name Harbor after dark, and we got to see Miami light up as the sun was setting. Nature still has the best light show.
Some weather systems were moving in on Thursday and would persist for a while, so we decided to make the long run to Marathon in one shot yesterday (Wednesday). We knew we would have some lumpy conditions for a few hours in the morning and we expected some rain and cloud cover - an advantage for the later afternoon when we're pointing directly west and trying to dodge crab pots.
We left in the dark through the narrow Cape Florida channel, and the shallow water and brisk wind directly on our nose gave us a lively ride for a while, until we could get to deeper water and turn southwards. The dawn sky was fiery red with billowing clouds, but our ride was too lively to try to get a photograph.
The seas settled down nicely for most of the later morning and early afternoon, though we had a few rain showers - some quite hard - to rinse the salt spray off the boat. We kept watch on the weather radar online as well as with the boat's radar, and we could see squalls well to the west and north of us. Unfortunately, we coudn't avoid the last squall line - though we could see that most of it would pass while we were out in Hawk Channel, before we made the approach to the marina. We named this simply "The Ugly".
This photo was taken about 10 minutes before the leading edge hit us - the temperature dropped by 10 or more degrees and the wind piped up at 5pm to 30-35 knots sustained. We were in touch with friends at the marina, so they confirmed that the worst of the front had already passed. We got into the marina after dark, but also after the storm - winds were 10 knots and we just had a bit of spitting rain. We were tired but glad to be settled, and Heidi and Peter were waiting to catch our lines and feed us a nice lasagna dinner - perfect!
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November 20, 2009 8:30 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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We've been paused in Palm Coast, Florida for a week to visit friends and to bring our car down to the Keys so it will be waiting for us when we arrive there in another week or so.
Earlier this week the Space Shuttle Atlantis was scheduled to launch. Our local friends suggested driving over to the beach to see it, and we were really glad we did! It's just a thrill - so exciting to see such great human accomplishment.
It was a perfectly clear day, and we could see the separation of the two solid rocket boosters from the main shuttle.
It was over all too quickly, but left us feeling excited and very glad we took the time to go where we could see it best. Godspeed Atlantis!
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November 14, 2009 5:03 PM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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We stopped in a few places in the tidal marshes of Georgia, including St. Simons Island to visit our friends Grady and Dottie, and Grady pointed out that we are actually west of Pittsburgh here on the Georgia coast. The shape of the land acts as a funnel for the incoming tide - which explains why the tides in Georgia are so great (9' or so).
We anchored in a number of little salt marsh creeks and since we've been running for shorter days I've sometimes had the chance to put my kayak in the water and go exploring in the tidal shallows.
The marsh grass is simply beautiful - tan at the base, then gold, then green, then tipped with gold again. It's no surprise that this area is known as the "Golden Isles".
The marsh is full of birds - herons, egrets, hawks, redwing blackbirds, and little sanderlings and plovers skittering around at low tide. We'll occasionally hear a dolphin blow nearby and we see their fins as they cruise around, and the shallows are full of tiny translucent shrimp and interesting fish.
Our next stop was Cumberland Island National Park, just across the St. Marys River from the north end of Florida. Cumberland is a barrier island with a variety of ecosystems: salt marsh, maritime forest, intertidal dunes, and beach. The island has a rich history starting with early Spanish explorers in the 1500's, and eventually becoming a winter resort for the ultra-weathy like the Carnegie family. The biggest mansion is in ruins, but there are other smaller family mansions on the island that have been preserved to some extent.
We loved the variety of the landscape and nature, particularly the maritime forest with live oaks that have grown gnarled and windswept, with masses of saw palmettos on the ground.
We saw wild turkeys foraging along the shoreline and the edge of the woods...
Sanderlings, semipalmated plovers, and red knots on the beach...
And a big flock of royal terns.
The dunes were also quite beautiful with berries and plant life, and sun-bleached tree trunks..
We only spent two days exploring, but we'll definitely be back for more!
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November 9, 2009 7:09 PM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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We left Georgetown and headed to Charleston - another wonderful place to stop and explore. We decided to try the Maritime Center marina on the Cooper River side since it's closer to the historic downtown, groceries, etc.
We got to watch a crane dredge working along the marina bulkhead the whole time we were there. When it was close to the basin opening, we'd get rocked a bit by the wake from the huge (40' or bigger) scoop hitting the water.
Our first day was cool and cloudy so we went to the post office and grocery store, then we spent the rest of the day at the aquarium. We love aquariums - with all the diving we've done, we know the names of so many of the fish and critters. The aquarium did a good job of showing the regional ecosystems, so that helped us understand more about the areas we've been traveling through on the waterway.
The next day we walked around the historic downtown, with the market and the vendors that sell the regional baskets made from sweetgrass.
We took one of the horse-drawn carriage tours - it's a great way to learn about some of Charleston's rich history and see some of the gorgeous homes.
A Charleston traffic jam...
The palmetto palm is a classic symbol of South Carolina...
This plaque located on the tip of Charleston, at the convergence of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers at the Battery, shows some of the significant historical events and places. Our short little visit barely scratched the surface of all that's here.
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