We pulled anchor & left out of Cayo Costa this morning heading for Ft. Meyers. It was a pretty good sail for the most part. We had good winds making a strong list to starboard side. The issues when you list are keeping items where you placed them, walking, and staying on the pot without sliding off!! 🙄😂😂

As we were approaching the bay we passed a small cat with a couple gentlemen on board. We waved, they waved back... And kept waving. They needed help. They had an electrical problem & no longer had navigation & were low on fuel. There was a safe harbor they could get into but we couldn't so they followed us as far as we could go (we have 3ft more draft then they) & pointed them in the direction of the safe harbor. They waved, we waved & we all went on.

I took a short nap & was awaken to Troy loudly telling me to grab a line & the boat hook. There was an abandoned jet ski in the harbor so I hooked it with the boat hook, much easier to hook than a bag of life vests!!, got the line around the handles & Troy got on it to see if it ran then tied it to us. He checked the compartment & found the receipt from where it was rented & a teenage girls drivers license. He then called the coast guard to report it. The kill switch had been pulled so our fear was the teenage girl was still in the water somewhere. He gave all the info to the coast guard, they ran it & called the rental place. There were 3 on the jet ski, a boy, the 18yr old girl & a 12 yr old girl. Coast guard asked us to keep looking for them. I was looking with binoculars all around us but we had drifted quite a ways from where we first hooked the jet ski. About half a mile to our starboard side was a tour boat stopped & I could see someone climbing on. Few minutes later they called the coast guard. They had the 3 kids. THANK YOU JESUS!!! What a scare & what a relief!! So thankful they saw the kids. We weren't very far from them when we got the jet ski but we had the engine running & didn't hear them if they were yelling. According to her drivers license she was from Boulder, Colorado.

Coast guard came out to us after getting the kids off the tour boat & I gave them the girls license. A guy from the jet ski rental came out to us on a jet ski to get the jet ski... Without a line to tow it back. Troy tried telling him where we were going so he could return the line but I swear he was wasted on something. He said ok then asked me how to get to where we were going then asked me again where we were going. The rental place was right outside the Lani Kai Hotel. If you don't know about the Lani Kai, it's the high school college kids place to stay in Ft. Lauderdale. It's a rough & rowdy place. Across the street is a parking lot where the cops & an ambulance usually hang out during the spring break weeks. It's the big party hotel the kids wanna stay at.

We went on in to the mooring field & hooked a mooring ball for the next couple days. Tomorrow I'll fix our ham, stuffing w/gravy, sweet potato casserole, pecan pie & cheesecake. Ok, I bought the pie & cheesecake cause our oven is near impossible to regulate the heat. I made pecan & pumpkin pies in it last year for Thanksgiving & they were very sad! We had a lot happen today to be thankful for the outcome we got! We have a lot to be thankful for every day & are counting our blessings! Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! 🍗

We finally arrived at Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage late Friday evening after a lengthy debacle on 75. We had planned on arriving before dark so we could see to untarp the boat & unpack the car but as luck had it we did it with flashlights instead. It's amazing how tiring riding in a car for many hours can be. Reality is, we're just too damn old to drive it straight through like that any more... Well, Troy is... I'm only 29! 😉

Saturday, Sunday, & Monday were spent putting Cantankerous back together, making repairs, Troy playing karate kid... Wax on, Wax off... Me running new lines & trying my hand at splicing lines together to make nice clean loops to attach hardware to instead of Troy attaching them with a bowline knot, laundry, provisioning, sewing repairs, & engine maintenance.

Our day today started out well. They moved us from the hard to the dock on the water this morning around 9. We finished preparing Cantankerous to leave Charlotte Harbour Boat Storage. We got the sails back on, the dingy on its lift, fuel loaded, water tanks filled, last few grocery items, & lunch; we were ready to go. ⛵️

There's suppose to be 20 knot winds for the next couple days so several of the folks waiting to have their boats put in the water are a little concerned about water being blown out of the harbour making it difficult or impossible for them to get out. We have a 5' draft. That means we need at least 5' of water to get anywhere. This is why it's wise to have & keep a membership to Tow Boat for the "rare" occasional brain fart & need a tow. 😜 Without a membership it'll cost you a small fortune to get a tow... Especially when you lose your mast in Dry Tortugus & are stuck for 4 days waiting to get towed back to Key West... OUCH!!! Kari was the fortunate one to experience that with her dad not me... Thank you Jesus!!! 😅
As I mentioned, many are concerned about getting out so since we were the first to leave out today we were asked to relay back our success or failure (please, like we would fail 😂😂), to those thinking about heading out tomorrow. Leaving the boat storage we travel a small river to a set of locks that dumps out into Charlotte Harbor.

We headed out around 1:30-2. Not too long after we headed out the Troy & Lisa shit show began!!!
We had nice wind & it is a sailboat so Troy put out the sails & shut off the engine. The wind caught the sails & jerked Cantankerous to attention. Ahhh... Smooth sailing! CRAP!!! Someone forgot to lash down the dingy... I'll mention no names, Troy! 😚 When Cantankerous came to attention the dingy flipped, flopped, idk but the bag of life vests that "were" in dingy were now in the river! Troy turned her & I grabbed the pole to try to hook the loop on the bag... Easy peasy. NOT! Clearly my hand eye coordination sucks! We made a pass, I missed. We made another pass, I missed again. We made a few more passes & I freaking missed every time! 😡 By this time the bag is getting to close to shore. We needed to take some sail out so Troy started to furl in the Genoa (the large sail on the bow, front of boat) but the wind was whipping it around so hard the sheets (2 lines attached bottom rear of Genoa used to furl it in & out) got tangled around it. I was on the bow stooped down so it wouldn't hit me in the head while it was whipping around. I needed to get the sheets out of their tracks to untangle them so he could bring the Genoa in. Staying crouched down I turned to get a sheet just as the Genoa whipped around smacking me right in the face knocking my sunglasses off my face & into the water... Script sunglasses no less so there went $300! 😡 By this point I was frustrated, Troy was frustrated & both on the edge of just down right pissed off & now I have a goose egg on my forehead too! I finally got the sheets untangled, Troy furled the Genoa in & we made a couple more passes on the life vests which I FINALLY hooked!

Things went smooth from then on to the lock. We had an issue at the lock trying to get out the other side. We got in the lock, the gate closed, the exiting gate cracked open to let water out so we could go down to the same water level, then the exiting gate opened. We got ready to exit & the exiting gate closed... BEFORE we could exit! So, we went through the process again & got 2/3 way out when gate began closing ON US! This isn't suppose to happen. The exiting gate isn't suppose to close till we manually close it! Troy gunned it to get us out but it left a big scuff/scratch about 3 feet long on the port side. Grrr!!! Hopefully he can buff it out but I think it's a little too deep. After the lock we sailed to Cayo Costa state park & anchored for the night, but not till after we went aground right before the anchorage... Luckily we were able to get off without having to call for a tow! 😊We're now settled in for the night. Glad the day is over... We're both pooped!!! Night! 😴💤💤💤

As usual down here things never go quite as planned, the plan was to leave at first light Friday morning following new friends Jarod and Alex on Ka'imi (means the seeker) plans changed when a buddy of their's (Johnny) wanted to go but wouldn't be off work and ready to go till around 5. So I did boat projects all day, made a run (walk) to publics... We got underway promptly at 5, since Ka'imi had an extra hand on board now, Alex, jumped over onto Cantankerous, on the way out of the harbor. Had a good sail to Key West, running downwind, wing on wing, Geneoa poled out. Ran through a couple squalls on the way down. Cantankerous, made the anchorage in Key West, around 1am, Ka'imi, pulled in 45 minutes later... Or that's what Alex, said, I'd already gotten my shower and was sound asleep. I love having a fast boat!!!:)

Got up Saturday morning and dinked ashore, Jarod, the skipper of Ka'imi had lived in Key West, for two years, and knew the town and it seemed everybody in it. Jarod is an interesting guy with a whole lot of stories for a guy in his late twenties... Everything from surviving a hurricane at sea off the Marquesas, too the classic sailor story of having to much too drink one night and sailing for certain a communist country that lies to the south on a dare in the middle of the night, without provisioning or obtaining proper carts. The story goes the next morning when they sobered up neither him or Johny was willing to back down, so they sailed on... Making landfall at a military base of said country... They were finally directed to a proper port to clear in, and spent two weeks in country. When they left they ran for the Bahama's, and we're intercepted by the Coast Guard (apparently the coast guard watches these sort of things...who knew) enroute, in international waters. Having nothing to hold them on (the law on Americans entry into said country is interesting to say the least) after four hours and several calls to the state department the Coasties being unsure what to do with them let them get back underway. Those were two of his funnier stories but by know means the only ones. By mid afternoon we were getting hungry and Jarod, though fresh fish sounded good. So we got a spear gun, dinked back to our boats, grabbed snorkeling gear, then dinked over to a couple wrecks off Wisteria island, snorkeled around those wrecks shot some Red snapper, took them back to the boat and cooked them up... Fine eating! And no Lisa, I had nothing to do with the preparation of the fish! After a early dinner we dinked back ashore for the Saturday night Duval crawl. Duval street can be one of the craziest places on the planet and any sane person can only take so much of it, sanity is in short supply on that island! I practiced extreme (for me) moderation. The boat was anchored half a mile out in the harbor and it just wasn't the time or place to be tying one on! Alex, didn't share my views on sobriety, by 10:30 Jarod, was running Alex back to Ka'imi, his night was over. Didn't stay out much later, Johnny stayed on Cantankerous, since Alex, was crashed in his berth on Ka'imi. We left out of Key West, shortly after daylight this morning (Sunday) underway on a beam reach, 10knots of wind motor sailing. We should make Marathon, around 4-5. I'll drop Johnny off at his boat, get Cantankerous, squared away and get ready to head home tomorrow.

Made Marathon, rained all day and absolutely poured after I got here. Got signed in and dinked over to Castaways for sushi and happy hour, was pretty disappointed in the sushi... Oh well, met a couple young guys there that had sailed from Massachusetts, in a 25' boat, they left in September, the trip that took me two weeks took them three months. They went around Cape Hatteras on the outside in a 25' boat! Dinked back to the Marina where all the talk was the FWC, being a little heavy handed, boarding boats in the harbor late at night writing tickets for very questionable infractions... Apparently some young guy is on a power trip, trying to make rank. Walked over to Keys fishery for dinner, came back to the boat got a shower then sliced my finger wide open digging through the fridge for a snack... Apparently somebody had put a beer in the freezer and it shattered. It cut pretty deep! It's been twenty four hours and it's still a bloody mess. This morning my neighbor Mike, dinked over. He and his wife are from Evansville, they came down the Mississippi on a 26' sailboat 2 years ago, got here and realized it was too small, they now live on a 36' trawler. After Mike left I went to work on boat projects starting with putting together a power cord for the generator... Half way through Mike, dinked by and asked if I wanted to join him for a beer at the bar... Said sure as soon as I finish this cord I'll stop by. That was literally the end of me being productive today! Ran into the guys I meet a Castaways the previous night, they joined me and Mike, they are sailing for Key West, at first light and asked if I wanted to go... Sure... Why not... I've been in one place about as long as I can stand it... let's go! So tomorrow at first light I'm heading south again... So ends another day in the Keys, waisted away!

So I left off we were beating to weather, I did run Cantankerous inside at the West Palm, inlet, this part of the coast from West Palm to Miami is very upscale, homes of unimaginable size and value and yacht's (more like ships) to match. It's all interesting to look at, can't say I get it all though. The bridges going down the intercostal are terrible, there is many of them and you have to wait on every single one of them to open, most of them only open at specific times, some of the bridge operators are down right rude, most are pleasant enough. Anyhow it was an interesting journey to Fort Lauderdale, but I don't need to do it again anytime soon.

We stopped at Fort Lauderdale, downtown marina, our water holding tanks were dry, Cantankerous, was having power issues which I knew was the fuel filters needing changed and she was due an oil change and good bath. So I took care of those projects and Lisa, got the laundry done, straighten up the inside and fix me some veggie soup so I wouldn't starve this next week!:) which was much appreciated. Oh she also got me to exercise:) we will see if she fesses up to this one!?!

Tuesday, morning it was time for Lisa, to go home and me to get moving south again, so she caught a cab and I headed back out to sea, where both Cantankerous and myself are much happier! Had an uneventful sail down Hawks channel other then being boarded by the Coast Guard, routine safety inspection. They just pull up along side while underway, three of them came aboard did there thing were polite and professional. The whole deal probably took 20 minutes. Now I'm a guy that has always had a problem with authority figures, especially the ones with over inflated ego's on some sort of power trip who have never read the bill of rights and have no respect for ones civil rights... But that's not the coast guard, I know if I ever do something dumb, the coast guard will move heaven and earth to save my sorry ass, risking their own lives if necessary and for that the Coast Guard, can board my boat anytime they want ...

This however does not apply to those jack booted thugs in "homeland security" I hope their black boats all sink and they have to swim ashore... Just who the hell are they hiding from sneaking around at night without any lights on in those black boats anyhow!?! Clearly an over funded agency (congress are you listening?) Nuff said!

Anyhow back on subject... So I stopped at the anchorage off Rodriguez Key, last night, it was probably 9 o'clock when I dropped the hook, got a shower fixed a quick dinner, and fell asleep watching the Daily show... Pulled the hook up and under-weigh around 7:30 this morning, on a pleasant beam reach sail, while writing this and not paying attention a squall blew up, with thirty knots of wind and rain, the cockpit was opened up as were the hatches down below and full sails out. Cantankerous quickly overpowered the auto pilot couldn't hold her down, she weather helmed, I grabbed the wheel and put her back down twice running off the wind, both times she powered back up and weather helmed. Time to get some sails off... Squall passed, wind clock a bit more northerly running downwind with 15knots apparent. If it lays a bit I'll probably deploy my new toy (whisker pole) and run her wing on wing. For now it's raining and I'm not going out there! Five hours out of Marathon, which is the point I'll consider this Journey a success!!!

Spent yesterday making an uneventful run down the intercostal lots of dolphins and Lisa baked some cookies is the only thing of note. Pulled into the anchorage at Stewart, it was two hours before low tide and the waters were skinny to say the least. We anchored in 5' of water (cantankerous draws 4'10") checked the bottom with a docking pole and determined the bottom had 2' of soft mud, Cantankerous, could push through it if she had to. Both the depth sounder and sonar have been inaccurate since I've been Cantankerous's master and having a known depth it was as good of time as any to figure out how to calibrate both sonar and depth finder, so I did. Hopefully we will have accurate soundings now! The harbor at Stewart is packed to the brim with high end sport fishing vessels, and the anchorage had several unseaworthy boat's with people living on them. This isn't uncommon especially in southern Florida. Can you blame them? Living on a derelict boat in the harbor of tropical paradise would have to beat the hell out of being homeless! Anyhow I lowered the dink and we walked to a very authentic Mexican place for dinner, they all stopped and stared when the gringo's walked in... The only way the scene could have been any funnier is if the juke box blaring Mexican music in the corner would have stopped too. It was a good meal followed by shower's and "The bucket list" on Satellite and bed. We got up at Six this morning and got under weigh immediately, I wanted to clear out of the anchorage before low tide at 8. I decided to go outside today rather then pass under the 27 draw bridges between Stewart and Fort Lauderdale, our next stop. As soon as the instruments came online I noticed a freshening breeze out of the East! This was good news... Or so I though...We could sail! I should have though it through... The wind has been out of the south for a week now and the easterly shift would put us on a close hauled point of sail into a very disorganized steep sea with short period wavelengths. There is an old sailors adage that goes "a gentleman never goes to weather" If I ever got a tattoo that is what it would say, and I'd put it right on my forearm so I had to look at it every time I pulled a sail out!!! So here we are 2 miles off shore beating south to weather! Close hauled with all the sails out, the motor running beating into 20 knots of wind and waves struggling to make 5 knots. The sails alone have enough power in them to make haul speed (8 knots) but not beating into these sea's. If conditions persist I'm going to duck back inside at the West Palm inlet and deal with the damn bridges! At least then I can get Lisa to fix me some lunch!:)