Beautiful and Breezy
12/18/2010, Key Biscayne

Hi everyone! We left Rodriguez Key and sailed 33 miles in 6 hours to right outside No Name Harbor, on Key Biscayne, Florida. We got there in time to see their lighted boat parade, pretty impressive, but nothing like the one we have at home in Punta Gorda, they only had about 15 boats!! The one thing I can say about it was that they were huge boats!!

In No Name Harbor they have a restaurant and laundry and you are in walking distance to Win Dixie, the banks and all kinds of shops. We met some great people, one of them was an old Brit that is 83 years old, suffered from polio and a single sailor who lives in George Town in the Exumas and sails back and forth in a 40 year old 30' catamaran. Incredible knowledge, he sat with Dave for 2 1/2 hours talking about where to go in the Exumas. No Name is also a great place to people watch, there's no recession here, the huge yachts and gents with mile long cigars (you'd like that Ron!!) sipping champagne with hired captain and crew was something you don't see every day. We stayed here for one week, shopping for provisions everyday, doing laundry, little fix-its on the boat and are leaving Christmas morning for Bimini in the Bahamas, it's a small window, so we are going to take it. I've posted pictures in the folder called No Name Harbor. Happy Birthday Suzie Q I hope everyone's Christmas was wonderful, out present to us will be finally getting to the Bahamas!! More later!!

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Sunny with little wind
12/17/2010

We left Boot Key Harbor at 7 am and had to motor all the way down to Rodriguez Key. We had huge seas and after m.otoring 11 hours I was pooped! We dropped anchor and had a wondereful dinner of steak, asparagus, tomatoes with cucumbers!! I fell asleep right after the dishes were done. While at Boot Key we had a wonderful visit with our friends GEORGE AND DIANA thank you so much you two for your hospitality, the dinner and the meet and greet, hope to visit again on our way back!!

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Windy and Cold, Clouds coming in
12/06/2010, Marathon Key, Boot Key Harbor

Now, where was I.....Ah yes, we were fixing the battens on the main sail. We screwed the battens in the way they were supposed to be and used some sail tape to repair the rips. Luckily, the rips were only in the pockets and not on the sail itself!! The hurricane hole we were in was simply amazing!! There were so many different types of birds you couldn't count!! Pelicans, egrets, herons, geese, ducks, you name it, it was there, all I can say is WOW!!! We fixed some dinner, I got a chance to read some of my book and we rested up which was much needed. Later that afternoon, we got some new neighbors. A sailboat named Xidaco. A beautiful boat with a couple about our age one it. We never spoke with them but we had seen them in Pelican Bay a few days earlier.

The next day, Friday, they got up early and left, we were about an hour after them and followed them down to Marathon. The trip from Cape Sable to Marathon was hell on earth!! There were so many crab pots you couldn't sail a straight line, you had to dodge them and zig zag, but we made it through and got to Marathon.

Our friend, George, was at the fuel dock to greet us. We got fuel, water and washed down the boat before motoring in the the harbor to be assigned a ball on L row, ball 5. Right now I am in the marina at their facility using their electricity to post this.

We will be here at least one week and hopefully move on up the East Coast to Lake Worth where we will cross over to the Bahamas. I sure hope it gets warmer!!! BRRRRRRR it's cold today, it must be in the 50's!!! I'm still in shorts but I have a sweat shirt on!!

The dog, Jack, has been a trooper!! It took him awhile to learn that it was okay to poop on the fore deck, hey, now we have a poop deck!! har har!!

More later folks and I'll post more pictures..

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North Wind, Sunny and Cool
12/06/2010, Marathon Key, Boot Key Harbor

Well, we got here on Friday after an exciting travel down. The Friday after Thanksgiving we were at Pelican Bay where we stayed all night and awoke to a foggy morning (see pictures) Then we sailed down to Captiva where we anchored off of Redfish Pass for a restful night. Monday we sailed down to just South of Marco Island where we dropped anchor and had the most horrible night imaginable. The seas were rough and pounded us on the beam. We rocked back and forth so hard we thought the boat would come apart at her seams!! We pulled anchor while it was still dark and headed south with Dave on the bow watching for crap pots and me at the helm. Sunrise came and Dave took over the helm and we sailed down to Cape Romano Shoals where we cut in to get to Indian Key Pass.

We anchored inside the Everglades National Park had dinner and hit the bunks early, we were really tired after the previous night having no sleep (or much of it). After a good nights sleep, we got up early, pulled anchor and sailed down to Little Shark River. We caught winds of 18 to 35 knots, the seas were kicked up, it got a little scary, scary enough to put the life jackets on, but we made it into a nice little hurrican hole where we decided to stay and rest up for a day. We met the captain of a small trawler who had pulled in before us the next morning. He told us he was from Port Charlotte (wow, we were neighbors from home!!) They had been out cruising since June and were trying to get to South America but the weather was preventing them from doing it so they decided to travel back up the Gulf of Mexico and go around through Texas and Mexico!! Must be nice to take your time like that!!

Our day of rest turned into a repair day. We noticed that our battens on the main sail had ripped through their pockets. Upon closer look, we found that the battens hadn't been screwed into the plates on the bolt rope of the sail.

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Lynda - Early morning fog, afternoon showers
11/26/2010, Still behind the house

Well, we finally got everything loaded on the boat and got her all cleaned up and looking spiffy! We will be leaving early tomorrow morning and we can't wait. We aare very anxious to be on our way. We will most likely sail over to Pelican Bay and stay a day or two there to just chill since we've been working just about 24/7 and are very tired! She really looks great, we hope she handles well too! So, until the next time, and, sorry that this was so short, I'm dead tired and need some much needed rest!! The town of Punta Gorda is all decked out for Christmas and it looks gorgeous!! We will miss her......NOT!!! We have to buy decorations for our house but not this year, going sailing. Sorry this wasn't more interesting, being wiped out will do this to you. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day, more later when I'm not so tired. I'm falling asleep right here on the keyboard!!

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Sunshine with a breeze
11/14/2010, Punta Gorda

Well, we are finally starting to load the boat for our wonderful Bahamian Adventure. We will be leaving right after Thanksgiving and heading down to Marathon, Boot Key Harbor, in the Keys. We will be visiting some dear friends for a few days, no time schedule so it may be longer. The boat looks wonderful with everything that Dave has done with the upgrades and giving her a good cleaning!! She's like a new boat!! We are very excited about getting under way, it's been way too long since we've had her out!! The next update will be when we depart. Pray for excellent weather!! Calm seas!! And great attitudes!!

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