Some general observations and lessons learned from our trip.
Navigation
We found navigation for our trip to be pretty easy. We didn't cover any great distances and so simple DR navigation would have sufficed. Getting into Bimini, Great Harbor or our other areas was also simple enough. The only real challenge would have been White Cay, I would not have attempted that anchorage without the Explorer Charts.

The Explorer charts are excellent and well worth the investment. The recommended course lines and the additional information about anchorages, island services etc. will enhance the safety and enjoyment of any trip to the Bahamas.

We utilized a Garmin GPSMAP 540. It was amazingly accurate. With this unit (which has the Explorer Charts built in) made island navigation a no brainer. We had no issues at all with any of our electronics. That said, a prudent sailor will never depend on any single instrument. GPS or any peice of electronics or mechanics can fail and for reasons I don't think will ever be answered, will always fail when needed the most.
I would suggest:
--Always keep a plot somewhere somehow so when your GPS fails you know where you where when it failed.
--Know how to do DR navigation
--Always have paper chart backups
--Study your charts, then study them again.
--Study your charts and know alternative anchorages for various weather conditions, understand what may make a particular pass good or dangerous, get a feeling for the currents in your area.

Anchoring & Mooring
Anchoring may be the art of going nowhere, but it is amazing how much work going nowhere takes. Our boat tends to drag anchor. We have a 45# CQR primary with all chain rode and a 35#CQR with 75ft of chain and rope rode. At White Cay, we had both anchors out with 10:1 scope and in 15kts of wind, we dragged. We have since decided to change anchors. We will be going with a Manson Supreme.

Energy
For this trip energy wasn't a concern. We would run our engine if needed. We did spend a week of the month in Great Harbor tied up and plugged in. For future trips we will be using a mix of solar and wind.

Getting Around
Walking of course. We didn't use any cabs etc. I mean, the islands just are not that big, a bicycle is the prefered method. I've given thought about a scooter or some motorized transportation but I really don't care to carry fuel on board. Bicycles are just hard to beat.

Of course the other "getting around" is by dinghy. We used a West Marine inflatable with a 5 horse 2 stroke engine which worked well until Bimini. By this point, the ethonal had gelled some and while off Bimini our dinghy engine began to cough and spit like someone with TB. My conclusion was to stop carrying gas in the future. This begins a future plan for a nice wooden dinghy with electric motor and sails.

Engine Service
This is simple. Fuel, Filters, Filters. Give a desiel good clean fuel and and it will run well. The filters are rated for 100 hrs. As we were by the Marker 5 bridge I was wondering just how long the filter would actually last and not a moment later the desiel chocked to a stop. The filter needed replacing right at 106 hours.

Weather
This is always a concern for myself. We bought a cheap SSB receiver on the Amazon and used it to get the daily reports via Chris Parker and can input to our laptop to receive weather fax. This did prove useful as when we were at anchor off White Key, we listened in and heard about unsettled weather heading our way. We made our way the next day to Great Harbour and stayed there. The weather did indeed turn for the worse with some wicked storms one night but it didn't effect us at all. If we had been at anchor it would have been a rather sleepless night. Aside from that we do have XM weather. Overall, our weather was excellent for the whole trip.

To view our gallery picasaweb.google.com/svjohngalt.

We've been watching the weather and today seems like a good day to head back to Naples. The strong east winds will continue for a week or so and we need to be careful of the afternoon thunderstorms. Our plan is to head out once we see the storms developing, then make it to Cape Sable as the storms are moving off the west coast of Florida, then continue through the night as the skies clear.

On our way out, it was breezy, the waters around the bridge were smooth, but strong currents. As we cleared Marathon, the seas picked up due to the large open fetch of Florida Bay. We were under double reefed main and just a small amount of jib. We were easily making 6 kts to 7 kts. We watched as small storms developed over the everglades and marched off to the west. All those storms were small, and we were certain by the time we got north of Cape Sable, they would dissipate. There was another monster storm building 40 miles off Key Largo. We were pretty certain it wouldn't be an issue, but it deserved watching.



We made Cape Sable and then as we got into the lee of the cape, we took in the jib and slowed ourselves down. The seas were calmed by the cape. We enjoyed something to eat and watched the sunset. As we pulled away from Cape Sable, the seas slowly built back to about 4ft. The winds calmed a little, so we went to full main and jib and continued at 6 kts to 7 kts.



It was a great sail, 100 miles from Marathon to Naples. Once in our slip, we rested for a while then began the job of off loading and cleaning up. Overall, we covered 731 miles and really enjoyed ourselves.

We got ourselves secure at Boot Key Harbor and rigged out our dinghy, checked in and pretty much just relaxed for the evening.

05/29/2022
Snorkeling Marathon
Our plan for today is to dinghy to the windward side of the island and explore a bit. It is windy and wavy, with the wind coming from the east we need to be cautious. We managed to anchor in the lee of a small island that sits just off Sisters Creek. It is a private island. We snorkeled some. Although we enjoyed ourselves, it wasn't nearly as nice as Bimini. We forgot our dive flag. A police boat felt it was so important to let us know we forgot our dive flag that they came at us at full throttle, then after talking stern, hit the throttle and sped off. I think they were the danger and their lack of courtesy wasn't appreciated.



05/30/2011
Key West Memorial Day
Our plan for today is to have a good breakfast at the Stuffed Pig, then head to Key West via public bus. We've examined the bus schedule, and we can pick up the bus around 10:00 just a block south of the Stuffed Pig. It will take two hours to get to Key West. We are not sure where we will get off or how to get back, but it can't be that difficult.

Our ride to Key West was pretty nice. There were plenty of stops, but it was nice to just sit back and watch the scenery. Our bus had to make a pit stop for fuel, so on Stock Island we all had to get off, stand around 15 minutes while they fueled the bus, then get back on and get dropped off 20 minutes later. We did some shopping, purchasing some Kinos for my mother. She likes Kino sandals. The Western Union tall ship is now doing tours full time, but wasn't sailing again till the evening so we couldn't get aboard to see her. One day, we need to take a weekend and sail the different tall ships they have in Key West.

We decided to take the bus primarily because it would take a day to get to Key West from Marathon by boat, but also because we've heard that Key West is giving boaters hassles about anchoring. We spoke with the operators of the city marina, and they felt there were no issues. We also spoke to a guy living aboard out by Christmas Tree Island, and he said that he's seen some of the problems, but they've not bothered him. Anchoring rights are being challenged all over the state, and Florida is becoming an unfriendly place to boat. In some cases, boats have been boarded and crew held in the cockpit at gun point while the sheriff inspected the toilet. We didn't want any such problems so we just stayed away. We spent less money in Key West.

We walked around some and found a place to cool off as the day got hot. Later, when it was time to head back, we found our bus stop and waited for the bus. Another couple from Scotland was on holiday and was also waiting for the bus. We were all happy when it showed up, as we were not positive about the stops or schedule. In typical Key West fashion, as we were heading off the island, we picked up a guy with no shirt and pants that were about 10 sizes too big. The bus driver refused to allow him aboard. Well, the guy sitting next to us grabbed a shirt out of his back pack and gave it to him, so now we had an additional passenger. Over the course of the next two hours, we learned that he was homeless and lived in the mangroves on Marathon. He wasn't sure why he was in Key West, as he apparently blacked out and woke up in the hospital with his clothes cut off. As odd as it seems, we did find out it was all true. The guy that gave him the t-shirt happened to operate the homeless shelter on Marathon and knew him. When we are in Key West, we frequently run into random people that are in some strange way connected, some what like the TV show Lost.

Well, this homeless man had only one possession, a small flashlight used for reading. He insisted we take it. How do you take a homeless guys only possession? Anyway, we finally agreed and took it. He got off just as the bus arrived on Marathon and we got off about two miles later. As we were walking back to the boat playing with the flashlight, we spotted a scorpion just in front of our feet. It reminded me of that Twilight Zone show, "this is what you need, what you really need". It was windy and dark, and we took our dinghy out to the John Galt and retired for the night.

05/31/2011
Crane Point Museum and Nature Center
Another hot and breezy day yet we will walk north to mm 50 to visit Crane Point. The museum is filled with information and pictures of the history of Marathon, the Flagler railroad, the harsh and deadly 1935 hurricane that wiped out the railroad, the Calusa and Tequesta indian tribes, plants and wildlife. We spent several hours there and almost ran into several spider webs as we walked the trail. The spiders were huge. We saw the George Adderly house. He, a Bahamian, lived there in the early 1900's with his wife and his two children who sadly ended up dying. He and his wife adopted a daughter. We saw the Crane house of whom Crane Point is named after. This couple lived there starting in the 1950's with their many dogs. We also bought some gifts from the nicely stocked gift shop which was nicely air conditioned causing our exit time to be delayed since we knew the walk home would be long and hot.

After making it through Angel Fish Creek, we sailed south through Hawks Channel. Today will be a long day as we have about 50 miles to cover. It was a really beautiful morning, and we enjoyed sailing Hawks Channel off Key Largo. By early afternoon, we heard reports of the weather turning bad in the lower keys and our XM weather was showing storms off in the distance. We also saw a waterspout form out to sea a number of miles away.

As we were running our motor, before turning to Channel 5 bridge, I was wondering about how many hours we have on our current fuel filters. They are good for about 100 hrs, and I am thinking we must be real close to that. I probably should change the filters soon. Well, about the time I finish the thought, the engine just slows then stops. Yep, time to change the filters. I always care spare filters aboard. I guess tomorrow when we get to Marathon I will change the oil too.

The entrance to Channel 5 ran about 8ft of water at mean tide and the back bay was about 7ft at mean tide. We anchored at Matacumbe Bight. There were other small motor boats that ran by as the area is a resort area, but they didn't really bother us. We swam some, relaxed and calibrated our depth gauge.

05/28/2011
Marathon
After a good pancake breakfast we headed out. Today would be a short day as we only have about 25 miles to cover. We need to go on down to Marathon, get fuel at Burdines and get ourselves a mooring at Boot Key Harbor.

Points of Intersection
This is a bitter sweet day. Today we cross our track from when we left to Bimini and our return. Our trip has gone exceptionally well and we have enjoyed our time and enjoyed the time together. At this point, we are coming to terms with our month long trip coming to an end.

Our plan is to sail on the outside down to Angel Fish Creek, then come in and anchor off Pumpkin Key for the night. As we head through the unmarked channel by Cape Florida, it becomes evident that the seas were rougher than we wanted. We decide to sail south via the protected waters of Biscayne Bay. The wind was about 20kts from the east. We sailed with a double reefed main and some jib pulled out. The sail went well till we got to the southern end of Biscayne Bay. The depths were getting very shallow and we were concerned about running aground. The shallow depths continued for over an hour.

We anchored just off the south west of Pumpkin Key. There were several other boats at anchor and before the sunset, a total of 9 boats anchored here. We reviewed the guide books and charts and concluded we couldn't make it through Card Sound and on down to Matacumbe Bight, our next stop.

The next morning we sailed through Angel Fish Creek to Hawks Channel. Angel Fish Creek was interesting and a bit shallow at either end, but plenty deep elsewhere. We draw 5'8" and I would never go through Angel Fish Creek except at high tide.