MY cat has flees

MY cat has flees

Today is Wednesday the 12th of March. We arrived here a day and a half ago with yet another pending cold front coming our way. The engine oil leak has got a little worse but I think it will make it back home. At least I can get tow service from here on. This is a nice styling marina and being owned by the city is cheap. There are a lot of eating places and a lot of watering holes and a LOT of tourists. I am going to make a few more repairs that Sahara Wind is in need of and push on as the front passes. I called up the weather this morning and it looks to be windy for the next couple of days so we will have to stay inside and there are a bunch of bridges we will have to open. It will be a slow ride but safer. Don't know where we will be but will update when we get there.

Today is moving day. We are going here to somewhere north or better said here east. We are leaving Lignumvitae and heading to Miami. The plan is to get underway at 0730, and after a 3 and a half hour scary ride in some shallow water be in Hawk Channel where we will settle in for a 62 mile run.
Up at 0600 and making coffee. By 0645 I had the oil checked and engine was ready to go. I Fired up the engine , which woke Karen up and we began the leaving the mooring process, which we have down pretty good now. First up, the mooring ball anchor chain was wrapped around the keel. I tugged and pulled but nothing. Then I tried a screw driver to try to get the line off the anchor cleat, nothing. I tried going forward and back, nothing. I then cut it free of the cleat and the ball passed under the boat and popped up on the other side. After clearing it well, put Sahara in gear and took off. We had to pass through Bow Legs Cut once again on a low tide. We bumped again about the same place but came through okay.
We made Hawk Channel at 0900 which was faster than figured and got the sails up. We had four boats with us, two ketch two Kats around forty feet each. We all ran about the same making 4.0 to 6.0 kts mostly. The two Ketches broke off and headed for Bimini and so now it’s us and to Kats. After about five hours we were all still together one Kat went back in towards land and the other took off for the Gulf Stream. They were gone. I watched for a while thinking maybe I should try the same thing but said no, stay the course. We ran another four hours and were at Rodriguez Key which is real near Pennekamp Park and I noticed the Kat coming back on the radar. He was in line to anchor there and we were six miles ahead of him. We looked at the chart and decided we could make Ocean Reef by 1900 and we pounded on. Then we got a sweet ocean breeze and took off running 7.0 and 8.0 knots. We dropped the hook at 1800 in calm 11.0 foot of water. This is the first time for me to anchor in the Atlantic for the night.

Today be Thursday March 6th 2014. Woke up nice and early with the intent to go in and shop for some needed groceries and a couple mechanical parts for Sahara and get underway Friday morning. The plan is to move from here Islamorada to West Palm Beach and recheck the weather again. The wind had increased over night and it was blowing 15 to 20 mph out of the west. Checking the radio weather and talking to Randy knew it was our cold front we had been promised opening the door. I did chores around the boat as did Karen and the wind continued strong. Finely around 3pm I decided the best way to do things was to leave Karen with the anchor watch on the boat and go to Bud and Mary’s Marina where I could get ice, maybe milk and some of the small things on the list. Karen and I went over the whatever that she needed to know, put the ships radio on channel 17 and took with me my cell phone and portable radio. Got up on a plane good but the engine was sounding funny like it would slow down a bit from time to time. Still it was running so I kept on. Once I got to the Marina I was surprised to find the convince store was more soda pop and potato chips. I did get ice and a few things but no milk or extra beer. Coming out of the store a mate on one of the fishing ask if I was getting stores for the storm and I ask what storm. He said it was the size of Florida and I went back in the store to see the TV. Crap it was on me, I wanted to get diesel in my jerry tanks but just jumped in and took off. I blasted the no wakes and ran hard. The motor almost died two or three time but got back just as the storm hit. I threw everything at Karen and she threw it below. Winds 40 mph blinding rain the whole works. I started the engine just in case and we rode it out. The dingy started getting filled up with water so I had to jump in and bail it out. We had to move the painter to the stern of Sahara because the dingy was pitching so violently. Once move I had Karen hold the dingy as close as she could and I jumped in. I landed half in half out and started bailing. I found that somehow in all the pitching and diving the drain plug gotten pulled out. That back in I had to get back out.
The wind and rain continued for hours and once again Karen called to me a said the dingy was sinking again. I jumped back in and this time the front drain plug got pulled out. I unloaded all the things in the dingy this time and bailed it out once again. Its death defining to get out of a dingy in four foot seas. It continued to rain and blow all through the night so no one really got much sleep.

Wednesday 5 March, 2014. Here we are still in Lignumvitae waiting out a cold front. We arrived here Sunday and for the next two days worked on the boat trying to find and possibly fix the oil leak. Once I finely decided it was not going to be fixed without taking out the motor I started making plans to leave then the word came in of another pending cold front coming through the Keys. We decided to stay and wait it out as, we have a mooring ball here and that makes things a lot safer for the boat.
Went in to Robbie’s marina Wednesday and stayed to long. It was dark when we left and I did not have a spot light. Had running lights but no way of seeing. Just a sliver of a moon. But we loaded up the dingy with four bags of ice two cold beers and took off. Well it was around 730 pm when we left. I ran the first part of the private channel well, but missed the third marker. Shortly we were aground. I broke out the oars and attempted to row us out of this mess in a direction I thought we should go. I could make out the outline of Lignumvitae sort of. Shortly Karen announced she had lost part of her oar. We tried to use one oar and one pole but mostly went in circles. I got out of the dingy in an attempt to drag it free. I sank up passed my knee of white clay. We kept working at it and finely got the dingy free. At first I could make out the outline of Sahara but soon lost it. No I did not leave the anchor light, but we could see a light so took off in that direction. After a long ride we discovered it was not Sahara. We turned around and headed for the island, thinking at least we could tie up to the bank and wait for morning. On the way Karen spotted Sahara again. We made it back to Sahara at 1100 pm. and most of the ice had melted. The dingy was a mess with water, clay, anchor rode and money that I had taken out of my pockets before jumping in the water.