After arriving in the Keys mid-month, we traveled the “inside” route for the first time to pass through on our way to Miami. By Martin Luther King Jr Day, we were tied up to a mooring at Dinner Key, beating Pat and Fred by only a few days. We spent the time since catching up and seeing more of south Florida. Oh yes and fixing things on the boat.

The Back Side of the Keys

The headsail was giving us a nice boost as we made our way east from Islamorada toward Tarpon Basin off Key Largo. Wind on the beam and we were doing over 5 knots. For Jr, that was fast. We wanted to make Tarpon Basin to weather a front that was coming. Its anchorage would have protection from the northwest to northeast where the worst of the winds were supposed to come from. But right now, the winds were out of the southwest, meaning the front wasn't too far away. However, you didn't have to be a weather guru to know that a storm was on its way. The black clouds on the western horizon were making that pretty clear. Having left early, taking time only for a quick run to shore for gas, we were hoping the boost in our speed, would get us to the anchorage in Tarpon Basin before noon and before those clouds let loose. The front was supposed to have arrived this evening, but we planned to be anchored long before then. 

However, the clouds approaching meant that the forecast was a little off. In a few seconds everything changed. A sudden drop in the temperature and we both had the same reaction. It's here. Before we could grab the furling line, the jib backwinded, meaning it was only a matter of minutes before the rain found us. We furled the jib, and began stowing anything that could get wet. Although our course was into the wind for the moment, shortly we would be turning putting it behind us. That would be great for speed, but would mean any rain would pour into the cockpit from astern. Cathy put all but the top companionway board in, hauled out our rain gear and hoped for the best. The rain began and the wind was building. Our lovely speed was gone as we slogged into it, making less than 4 knots. Visibility was diminishing, making marks and other boats hard to find. The anticipated course change helped our speed, so much so that we regained what we lost, and we had no sails up. Dave held us on course and Cathy helped find marks and tried to keep the water from pouring into the companionway. (She couldn”t put the top board in because of the clamps that hold our chartplotter in place.) To think we had left early to avoid the storm. Sigh! Best laid plans.

But it only seemed to last forever. In reality the worst had passed in about 30 minutes. As we pulled through the cut from Buttonwood Sound into the anchorage, we realized our other worries about finding enough room to anchor were laughably misplaced. There was plenty of room and with the wind shift we would be anchoring in a direction much closer to the storm's highest winds. So, we motored through the open space, looking for sandy patches where the anchor would set well. Cathy noted spots that Dave identified with waypoints on the chartplotter. Once we had a few choices we swung around and headed for them. With the wind kicking up again, we had no need to back on the anchor. It seemed to hit the sand and set well. And as these things tend to go, the weather calmed down and stayed that way until late than evening when the front came through as forecast.

The next day, we headed to shore to explore this section of Key Largo accessible from the dinghy dock. We pulled into a dock that bordered a park outside the County office building; There was a place to get drinking water, dump trash and there were restrooms in the public building. A short walk north was a hardware store and the entrance to John Pennekamp State Park. Turning south, we found a plaza with a K-mart, Publix, a library and a place to mail letters. We decided to stay a day more to explore before heading out again.

After the front, we were facing several days of north winds, which would make travel north across the large sounds and the much larger Biscayne Bay virtually impossible. After a couple of days of high winds, the forecast finally settled down on the Sunday of the holiday weekend. Since another front was likely behind these winds, we headed out at first light to make as much distance as possible in the lighter winds. As the day progressed, the winds died, making it a placid trip across the sounds. We decided we were making good enough time to try for the anchorage off Key Biscayne, sometimes referred to as Nixon Harbor (yes, that Nixon). It would be close to sunset when we arrived, and once we passed Elliot Key, we had no more bailouts. As we passed the open flats that separated Biscayne Bay from the open ocean, the number of power boats darting by us increased and the swells from the ocean started rolling in. Although it was hard to tell the difference between them and the power boat wakes. As the anchorage was coming into view, we were trying to make sense of all the boats we kept seeing near shore. There were too many. Wasn't this Sunday? Why wasn't everyone headed home? Oooooohhhhh! The holiday! As we got closer we realized that our anchorage was FULL of boats anchored everywhere. Cathy counted 12 boats in a single raft. And boats were darting in and out, towing water skiers and kids on rafts. Ugh! We had no choice though, we had to find a spot. Once again, Jr's shallow draft saved us. We headed behind the mark into the shallows that no one else wanted. We easily found a spot and anchored away from all the excitement., but not the wakes. As the sun set they gradually diminished. By morning, we were virtually alone in the anchorage. 

But with Miami's skyline hovering in the distance, we enjoyed the view and knew we had a very short day to Dinner Key tomorrow. By noon, we were on our mooring, ready to stay put for a while after traveling almost every day for 2 weeks.

Boat Stuff

“What's that noise? “

Those three words can be the start of some of the biggest projects on any boat. In our case, it was the bilge pump. And it was running. And running. And running. We first discovered it when we arrived at Fort Myers Beach. When the noise of the engine was gone, Cathy heard the pump running. After hauling everything out under the companionway stairs, we discovered the bilge was essentially dry, but the float switch must have been triggered by water sloshing in the bilge from all the wakes en route. When Cathy lifted the switch up and dropped it down the pump stopped. The switch must be faulty. This was something to watch. However, the next time we discovered it running was after a day away at Tarpon Basin. Given the amps we were down, it must have been running a long time. We had purchased the replacement float switch at Key Largo. As we pulled into Dinner Key, we decided it was time to replace it and the bilge pump. Since it had been running dry a lot, it was suspect. 

Cathy wedged herself into the opening and managed to remove the old switch from the board in the bottom of the bilge where it was mounted. Dave wired the new one into line and the new bilge pump. Then we just needed to mount the new float switch on the board. Since Cathy could only get one arm into the bilge, this became the longest part of the job. After repeated failed attempts, Dave tried. Although he was also unsuccessful, he made some suggestions that did the trick. Cathy got the switch in place and it worked great.

But there was one more thing.

We discovered where the water in the bilge was coming from. Our freshwater pump was leaking. This was disturbing for a number of reasons. We had just replaced the faucet part of the original kit, which had failed in November. But now the pump half needed replacing and it was out of warranty. Also, if the leak had deteriorated while we were in the Everglades, we could have run completely out of fresh water. We needed a better solution. Dave called Shurflo to talk about the problem, and was impressed by their customer service. They offered to replace the pump with a better one at no charge. Within a couple of days of the conversation, we had the new pump in hand. Since the new pump didn't need to be installed below the water tank, we decided to use the space right next to the tank to plumb in a water filter before the pump. We then moved the pump to a location under the sink. And since the new pump maintains its own pressure, if the sink switch fails, it won't need to be replaced. Since all its doing at this point is opening the flow of water.

And there's no more fresh water being pumped overboard from the bilge.

Together Again

We had been monitoring Marianna's progress as she made her way south. Pat and Fred had been traveling almost every day without stopping for 2 weeks. Their efforts were paying off. By Thursday, the 24th, they were underway toward Miami, right on schedule or maybe even a day early. We talked to them throughout the day and headed out to meet them as they turned down the Dinner Key channel. As they tied up to their nearby mooring, we came aboard with hugs all around, having last seen them in person over a year earlier.  

Over the next week as January came to a close, we helped with boat projects and got together to sightsee, renting a car to travel to South Beach to meet their daughter Jen and her friend, and to the Everglades. Cape Florida and Big Cypress National Wildlife Area. It's been a great time so far, and we plan to enjoy more time here and in the Keys.  

Shortly after Marianna arrived, we were joined by Fred and Debbie on Early Out. The three of us were last together on Cat Island in the Bahamas. We got together a couple of times before Early Out was again under way to the Bahamas. They joined us on Marianna to celebrate Dave's birthday the night before they headed out. We've also re-connected with other friends here. Larry and Lynn on Two Morrows were already here when we arrived, as Lynn is recovering from a severe illness that had her in the hospital for 3 weeks. Mike and Sue from Indecision have made this their destination for the winter. They hailed us shortly after they arrived and we caught up as they came aboard and checked out the changes in Orion Jr. Who knows who we'll see next?

Upon arriving back in Bradenton, we had exactly a week to get the boat ready and get moving.  We packed a lot into that week, and then early on the morning of the 7th, we headed out of the marina to make our way down the west coast of Florida.  By January 16th, we had traveled 250 miles south down the West Coast of Florida, arriving in the Keys, just ahead of the front that was bringing an end to more than a week of unseasonably warm weather and the SE winds that had foiled our attempts to sail most of our trip south.  Since we were now planning to head up the Keys, it put our direction mostly northeast, which was now the wind direction in the forecast at least a week ahead.  It figures.

One of the bigger upgrades we had been planning for Orion Jr was to install a tiller pilot. This is an autopilot for a tiller. It is mounted perpendicular to the tiller and uses a motor to control the boat's steering. The controls allow you to choose a heading which it will maintain or to tie into a route on your chartplotter. Given the size of our cockpit, Dave determined that only Simrad's model would span the distance from the side of the cockpit to the tiller. 

Since we had to drill a new hole for the power plug, we decided to use this opportunity to move the remote mike to a more centrally-located position and higher on the transom. Dave took over its original location to install the socket for the tiller pilot. He then wired it for power and made the NEMA connections to the chartplotter to allow it to receive route information. With the wiring done, he then needed to mount the control arm, which required a hole for the pin on the side wall and installing a pin on the tiller to connect to the driving rod. After some careful measurements, Dave got some help from his brother-in-law (and his garage full of tools) to drill a hole in the starboard aft cleat and a hole to receive the pin in the tiller. With the holes drilled, Dave epoxied the pin in place in the tiller and fitted the control arm in place. It fit perfectly and responded as designed to the control buttons, extending or contracting as directed. Now we just had to get underway to put it to the test. As we sailed across Sarasota Bay our first day out, the tiller pilot took the helm and took over the driving. We've used for many hours since.

Leaving Sarasota the next morning, we decided to take advantage of a favorable forecast to head outside in the Gulf and sail down to Venice. We called BoatUS for some local information about Sarasota's Big Pass inlet. The Coast Guard no longer maintains the marks at this inlet because of shoaling. However, the Sarasota Yacht Club took over the job. Dave had used the yacht club's waypoints for a few of them, but we wanted to be sure we understood how to navigate the shoal and that we should be able to navigate through. After a conversation with Boat US and a report from a boat in the inlet, we decided to go for it. It turned out to be a good decision. The passage was easy and we were quickly under full sail headed down the coast, with dolphins playing in our bow wake. As we made our way toward Venice, we were unhappy with the options for anchoring there. This prompted another conversation with Boat US about our options, which introduced us to another inlet, Stump Pass, a little further south. It wasn't something many boats could do, but with our shallow draft, it was a reasonable option, and there was an anchorage just inside the inlet. As the sun began drop into the late afternoon sky, we picked up the two outer marks as they had been described and motored over a flat sea into the inlet. After rounding the point into the anchorage, we found we had it to ourselves, sharing it only with some sea birds and a fishing boat or two passing though.   

Since It was a much shorter run to Cayo Costa, our next stop, we made it a late start out of Stump Pass. That meant a lower tide state, but we were still fine. The winds picked up, but as would become a recurring theme on this trip, they were mostly too close to our direction to sail to. After a bouncy trip in the inlet with wind over current, we dropped anchor in Cayo Costa in early afternoon. We weren't sure how long to stay, since this is one of our favorite spots, but after a conversation with Pat and Fred, who were heading to Miami for the end of January, we made a decision which would shape our travels for the next week. We would head south around the Keys and meet them there. That meant a short stay in Cayo Costa and a series of hops down the coast. The winds weren't in the best direction, but they were mostly light, which meant we could do it without too much impact on our speed. So, at sunrise on the 11th, we pulled anchor and headed out for Fort Myers Beach beginning what would become a week of long travel days with stops only long enough to get supplies and head out again.

We managed to pick up a mooring around 1pm, snagging the closest one to the dinghy dock. Alright! Once secured, we headed in to check-in and get some fuel. However, we ran into a stumbling block when we checked in. The mooring we had was supposed to have been marked as unavailable, but wasn't. The irritating thing was that Cathy had called in to see which moorings were available and was told to “take any one”. So, we went back to the boat and moved to the farthest ball in the east field, which was now a long dinghy ride in. After a run to Publix that took over 2 hours because of much-delayed bus, we made another round trip to the boat to drop off the food and get stuff for showers. By 9pm, we were back on board and Cathy made a quick dinner before we crashed. Tomorrow was going to be another pre-dawn wake-up call to get underway at first light. 

As we prepared to secure the dinghy early the next morning, we saw the current was running through the mooring field at a amazing clip, making the simple process of removing the outboard a challenge. Then when Cathy turned on the instruments, she was shocked to see less than 4 ft depth below us. We strategized how to leave the mooring field to find the deepest water. As we pulled out, we saw 3.5 feet before we got to the channel. In checking the tide tables, we were leaving at 0,8 foot below normal tide levels. (Leaving Cayo Costa the day before, we were at 1 ft below normal tides and saw some pretty skinny water leaving there as well.) And apparently, we weren't the only ones to be surprised by how shallow the water was. An Army Corps of Engineers ship was aground in the inlet as we made our way out to the Gulf. The rest of the day was uneventful. We were headed into the Capri Pass inlet off Marco Island by mid-afternoon and decided we had enough time to get to Goodland before sunset. This would give us Sunday to get the last fuel and water we would take on before the three-day Everglades trip.  

But as the sun set, instead of relaxing after a long day of travel, we found ourselves swatting at a flood of mosquitoes that poured into the boat through gaps in our netting. It had been good enough for last year's conditions, but it appeared that the warmer temperatures brought by all the southeast winds were also a boon for the bug population. That changed our plans for the next day. Instead of a quiet day provisioning, it became a marathon sewing session. Cathy re-cut the existing cover and bound it with sunbrella to hold velcro on the edge, which would provide a gap-free seal on the companionway. With 2 nights planned in the Everglades, we'd get a chance to test it well. Once the chores were out of the way, we dinghied into Goodland to Stan's, where we had a great burger and picked up some fresh fruit and vegetables at the produce stand. We were sad to learn that Stan had passed away this year, signalling the end of an era at this little town.   

From Goodland, we headed into the Everglades, trying to make longer hops that would put us in position to jump to the Keys further east than Marathon. Since the closest anchorage east of Marathon was Matecumbe Bight, that would make for a run that might be too long to make in daylight, especially if the winds took our speed down. We had 3 options to choose from for the first night. Russell Pass, off Everglades City was not far enough away. Little Shark River was too far for us to make with the conditions. That left New Turkey Key, which was about 30 miles from Goodland. The only caution in the write-up was a 4 ft shoal at the entrance. That wasn't a problem for us. As we headed into the anchorage, we were 2 feet up on the tide and saw nothing less than 5 ft. We pulled up between Turkey Key and New Turkey Key (clever names) and dropped the anchor. We thought we were going to spend the night all by ourselves, but found shortly before sunset we had a neighbor. A couple motored up to the nearby beach and set up their tent. This turned out to be a pleasant stop. There was enough wind that the bugs stayed away long enough to grill out. And when the sun began to set, we put the new screen in place and the bugs seemed to be held at bay. BUT then we started getting bit. We looked at the screen, but could find no gaps. Where were they coming from? It turned out the wind had blown off the screen on the forward hatch. They were pouring in through the wide opening. It looked like Cathy would be back at the sewing machine.

Leaving the next morning, we were once again seeing depths that were surprisingly low. If the tide tables were right, we were a foot up on the tide, but we saw depths as low as 3.5 ft. Could this be right? Obviously, Jr's 2.5 ft draft had no problem, but if the tide was really a foot up, even we would have to watch our approach in the wrong tide state. At any rate, as we headed out, we had to wait for sun-up to get the weather on the VHF. That would determine where we would stop for the night. The forecast supported our traveling beyond Little Shark River to anchor in the much less protected Cape Sable anchorage. If we were wrong about the wind direction, the fetch would encompass the entire Gulf of Mexico. By mid-afternoon, we found a spot about a mile off little Cape Sable and dropped the hook. Unlike our previous anchorages, the bugs here didn't wait until sunset to show up. How they found us so far off shore is anyone's guess. So, Cathy scrambled to finish the replacement screen for the forward hatch to ensure we could keep them out. It worked well, but these mosquitoes were certainly persistent. The next morning, as we were leaving, we covered ourselves from head to toe to keep from being eaten alive as Dave went out to pull anchor and Cathy manned the helm.  

As we rounded Cape Sable, we heard the cell phone ping to say that we had received a text message, the first activity in 2 days. We had received a message at New Turkey Key from our son, that must have been a fluke since we hadn't been able to respond. The message raised concerns, but we couldn't follow up. Luckily the text message we got off Cape Sable was an “all is OK” message from him which caused us to breathe a sigh of relief. The signal was enough for a brief call and then it dropped until we started to see the Keys on the horizon. So, our route to the Keys was the much shallower Yacht Channel toward Channel Five that we had mostly to ourselves. We pushed past Matecumbe bight to make it to Islamorada. After all this good weather, the next day's forecast was for a front to pass through. We wanted to get to Key Largo for an anchorage that would have protection from the strong NW winds.

So, as we rounded the bottom of Florida to head toward Miami, the southeast winds would vanish and be replaced by – what else – north to northeast winds. Because that was the direction we needed to go.

Family and Friends

New Year's Day was our first day back in Bradenton and was a busy one as we ended our travel and put the boat back in order. So, we were surprised in the midst of our settling in to be greeted on the dock by what turned out to be a fellow sailboater, Julie, who lived in the condos that overlooked the marina. She said she had been enjoying our Christmas lights all season and wanted to come say hello. She invited us up to meet her husband, Rick. We learned that their sailboat, Believe, is in Scotland, where they sailed to it a few years ago. They return each summer to explore new cruising grounds throughout Europe, planning to eventually end up in the Mediterranean. We had a wonderful evening learning of their adventures and hoped to see them again if we make it back to Bradenton in coming years.

January is a busy month for the extended family, starting with Dave's sister Wendy's birthday and ending with Dave's birthday. Being in Bradenton where Wendy's family was gathered, we had the rare opportunity to celebrate both events with family at our niece's house.