July 2014 – Have Wind Will Travel

A “Sloppy” Sunset at Mallory Square

July 29, 2014anniedike

April 23, 2014:

It had been 20 days, 5 overnight passages and 550 nautical miles, a busted Jenny shackle, a beat-down outside of Charlotte Harbor, and we were finally here – KEY WEST. We were ready to take that town by the cahones! All hail the fighting conchs! And, it seemed fate wanted us there. She’d been expecting us. Because the minute we backed in to our slip at the A&B Marina, we had a buddy there to greet us – Postal Bob! No, not because he is – or had ever – gone “postal,” because he used to BE postal. Bob retired from the good ole’ USPS and now sails his 34 Catalina down to Key West and beyond every year. A sharp sailor, super generous and knowledgeable about the area, and just all-around a great guy. Here he is:

Bob was the perfect tour guide for our first steps off the boat. He showed us around the marina and gave us the inside scoop on the best dives, the coolest beach bars, the marina and the facilities (four free washers and dryers and four locking bathroom/shower suites) – Suite! He also made sure to point out the place where they serve 50-cent oysters at happy hour. I mean … is there really anything better? You’re right – a cocktail … perhaps:

That was certainly on our radar. We spruced up immediately and hit the closest food joint we could find – Alonzo’s Oyster Bar – not 100 yards from the boat!

“We’ll start with mojitos and your oyster platter, please.”

The oysters were delicious – they did them up three ways on the platter – rockefeller, baked with garlic and parmesan, and buffalo style. The mojitos weren’t too shabby either.

Cheers!

But, that was, of course, just for starters. I mean, we HAD been sailing for about 30 hours. We were ready for a full-on, three-course landlubber meal. The catch of the day – Mahi Mahi – done two ways – grilled with rice pilaf and garlic green beans, and

in a juicy wrap with fresh tomatoes and some secret Alonzo’s sauce – YUM!

Full of fish and rum, we were ready to explore! We found the famous conch train tour and decided it was probably the best way to get a good layout of the island right out of the gate and learn some interesting facts about the architecture, tourist attractions and history of the area.

All Aboard!

Our tour guide really cracked me up, though. He had the most smooth, buttery voice, and every old house or monument he pointed out in the town was “just lovely,” “divine” or “quite keen, don’t you think?” I would bet if someone lit themselves on fire on the back of the train and started jumping around, he would reply calmly, “Please be sure to contain your flames and exit carefully off the back of the train. Oh, and have a lovely day!” He cracked me up.

But, he was an excellent tour guide. Along the way, he showed us the Southernmost Point of the United States:

Hemingway’s House (that was definitely going on the list):

And some of the most picturesque houses on the island:

Once we had our bearings, we set out on foot and found Mile Marker Zero – the Southern End of U.S. Highway 1.

We also found some not-so-famous, but just-as-fun, monuments as well.

Oh my! Is that the REAL Marilyn, or are you just blowing smoke up my skirt?

Well, you know how us sailors like wind!

We walked to several end-points on the island just to admire the view of the coast.

It was particularly liberating looking out at the Southernmost Point – to look across the water and know the next dry shore was a-whole-nother country. Cuba! We had really brought our Niagara 35′ all the way to the southern tip of the United States. Certainly that was worth celebrating!

And, you know how the Crew of the Rest like to celebrate … that’s right. With a hearty drink! It was time to get sloppy!

We’d heard a lot about this place. Sloppy Joe’s Bar. It was apparently Hemingway’s Hangout back when he used to traipse around Key West, a sloshing drink in one hand and the wadded clutches of a fiesty chap’s collar in another. While we weren’t planning to get that sloppy (at least not yet!) we were hell-bent on stopping in to have one or two, or a few!

Sloppy’s was definitely our kind of salty, sea-bar place. It reminded me a lot of Pirate’s Cove down in our neck of the woods. You remember Jerry Garcia and the Riff-Raff?

We settled in nicely at the bar, and I found the “Sloppy Rita” suited me just fine.

And, Phillip had no qualms downing a pink drink!

Probably because this chick poured it:

How you doin’?

We had a great time hanging at the bar, watching the Key West wildlife and cheersing each other on making yet another successful passage. We ordered another round and then things got … well … a little sloppy:

Nice drunken pic!

Still upright and mobile, though, we decided to stumble on over to Mallory Square where the Captain knew they put on quite a carnie sideshow show every evening at sunset.

It reminded me a lot of Clearwater and the panty-dropping time we had there! It was literally just a few blocks from the boat:

With loads of street performers, tourists and lookie-loos. Total entertainment.

The sunset was “quite keen” as well:

It was a great first venture out in our new locale. Key West … What a sight! After watching the sun dip out of sight, we made our way back to the boat and decided to grill up the massive king mackerel we had caught on our way down there. You remember him:

What better way to honor the poor fish we’d ripped out of the Gulf than to haul him all the way to Key West and grill him up on our boat our first night there!

I guess you could call it a moveable feast!

The mackerel turned out excellent. The Captain grilled it to perfection and we just added a little butter and lemon. With fish that fresh, that’s really all you need. We crashed hard on the boat that night, thankful to have made the overnight passage safely to the Keys, and grateful to be, now, safe and secure at the dock, able to sleep through the entire night. No night shifts tonight! We had made it! And, tomorrow was going to be a big day for us. Day two on the island, Hemingway’s House on the agenda and a pretty significant leaf for the Captain to turn over. The big Four-Oh. So much in store!

You’za Fine Sailing Vessel, Won’t You BACK That Thing Up!

July 23, 2014July 23, 2014anniedike

April 23, 2014:

Well, now you are familiar with our night shifts, and my goggle-wearing, Cookie Monster, dance party antics up in the cockpit in the middle of the night. (But, really, does such behavior from me in any way surprise you?)

She’s just a tad cray …

But, thankfully, our night passage from Ft. Myers Beach with Johnny to the Keys was our calmest yet. No beating our way across the Gulf, no fighting for every inch of ground, no pulling out and making a risky night entrance into a difficult pass. Thankfully, none of that! It was a perfect night. The wind held all evening and we were on an easy broad reach, averaging six knots, until daybreak. The stars that night were mesmerizing. There really was no need for dancing or snacking. You could just sit and look out on the twinkling sky and think all night long – in complete contentment. It was such a rewarding, peaceful passage, it almost felt unfair to have it followed by a breathtaking sunrise.

We were definitely in our element that morning, watching the sun creep up over every inch of the boat.

Johnny was behind us – bringing up the rear!

We sailed until around 7:00 a.m. when the wind finally died out and we had to crank up. But she cranked just fine and was running like Rocky Balboa that morning.

We were so proud of that engine!

That boat was cruising right along. And, so were the dolphins! We had a pack of them racing each other up at the bow as we were making our way in.

I did attempt to take some fun footage, but I believe there was a bit of operator error. It’s just a little blurry, and just a little upside down. No big deal. For your viewing pleasure – the dolphins are definitely worth it:

Johnny lead the way as we motored into the channel.

It was about an hour and a half through the channel in to Key West Bight.

There she is! The Bight!

We were going to be staying at the A&B Marina.

The only problem with the A&B Marina was that you had to back in.

See? All of the boats are backed in. It was a “stern-to” configuration. There are no finger docks between the boats, nothing to space them apart other than the tie-up poles. The boats are literally about two feet apart. It was definitely going to be tight!

While the stern-to docking definitely has its perks (easy boarding and loading of supplies via the cockpit, easy access to power, easy leaving), it was definitely not going to be so easy coming. We were going to have to make a backwards entry! Yipes!

The A&B Marina even had a whole section on their website devoted to the stern-to approach and docking, complete with a diagram:

and video:

This was serious business. Phillip dropped this little nugget on me somewhere between Ft. Myers and Key West and, I have to say, I was a little uneasy about it. With my history of docking debacles, I get a little apprehensive when we’re about to attempt a bit of a hairy one (okay, attempt one at all). But, I mean, I feel like I try really hard. I jump around a lot and move real fast and squeal. Like a …

But somehow it doesn’t qualify as very helpful for the whole docking process.

In all seriousness, though, I am getting better. But, it doesn’t mean my heart’s not racing the entire time (or that I’m not jumping a little and squealing – I still do that). This time, though, I was determined. I was going to nail it! I was going to lasso those poles while Phillip backed her in. No problem. I grew up country remember?

I can lasso anything!

Yee-haw!

Unfortunately, despite the similarity in the name, I certainly wasn’t clad in fringe and leather, and didn’t look quite so badass in my lasso attempts. Let’s just say I did try. Very hard. But those poles are like 50 feet out! I’m not kidding. Every slip at A&B is set up for an 80-foot yacht, if not bigger. We seriously had to tie two dock lines together to make a springer that would reach those poles! But, the Captain did an incredible job of backing her in. It was his first time to do that, and I was able to hold on to the guide ropes and catch a pole later so that we could get her nice and secure.

There she is! The ole’ Rest, resting her tired lines at Key West! What a treat! We had made it all the way down there. And she was easily the smallest boat in the marina, but she had, by far, the biggest heart! She wasn’t shy at all. It seemed she kicked back and inched her mast up just a little higher to fit in with the Big Dogs. We were so proud of her! We couldn’t wait to get out and explore — well, shower first, we HAD been at sea sailing, fishing, and what-not for a day and a half — but after that … we were going to take the Key by storm!

SIDEBAR – Night Shifts

July 18, 2014July 18, 2014anniedike

“Gonna be a sweet sound! Come. In. Down. On the NIGHT SHIFT!!”

Ahhh … Lionel Richie couldn’t have said it any better. We get asked about this a lot, so I thought, now – as we’re about to ease into our final night’s passage before the Keys – was as good a time as any to delve into it. Our night shifts. One of the first questions our friends and followers ask us when we start talking about making a 24-hour run is how you sail through the night: Do you have to stay up all night? Do you have to hold the wheel? Do you take shifts? Can you see? The answer to these questions are — No, no (most of the time), yes and yes (most of the time) — respectively.

A lot of people are curious, so let’s talk about it — our night shifts. I recommend you let this play in the background while we do. It just sets the right mood.

So, sailing at night. Usually, when Phillip and I set out for a passage it’s going to be an overnight passage, typically ranging from 18 to 24 or so hours and 100 nautical miles, plus or minus. While we have done two-dayers. Our longest run, from Pensacola to Port St. Joe during the first part of this trip – a whopping 44 hours – was a long haul for sure. But, typically, a shorter run suits us better. We met so many cruisers while on our trip, however, who were surprised by how often we make a 24-hour passage. It seems it is far more common for couples who cruise together to just make short, 5-7 hour jaunts during the day and anchor or moor up at the next stop before nightfall. It seemed we were the odd balls who liked to actually keep sailing after the sun sets.

But, while overnight passages were a bit of a necessity during our trip to the Keys (I mean, we DID have to get to the Keys AND back in less than two months), we kind of liked it. After three or four days docked up or anchored at one place, we would get a little restless and find ourselves excited about getting that boat going again. It’s what she loves to do, and we do too!

I’m proud to say since we purchased our Niagara 35′ back in April, 2013, we have sailed her approximately 1,500 nautical miles …. give or take, and successfully completed thirteen overnight passages.

So, to answer some of your questions and quench your curiosity – here’s how we do it. We do not stay up all night. We hold the wheel if Otto (our auto-pilot) won’t. And, we can usually see just fine, barring some heavy clouds or freaky fog. (You remember our sail into the black abyss coming into Port St. Joe):

And, we do take shifts. Two hours each at the helm, all through the night. Of course, that is NOW (now that I have duly earned my stripes as First Mate and Phillip trusts me more to hold the wheel).

That was certainly not the case in the beginning. Do recall that we had the infamous Mitch along during our first two overnight passages (from Punta Gorda to Carabelle) and that we had to hack the dinghy off in the middle of the Gulf during the second. Somehow, despite that debacle, I decided this whole sailing bit was still right for me. When we have three crew on-board, shifts are taken 2 on (two members up in the cockpit) and 1 off (sleeping down below). During Phillip and I’s first overnight passage together (from Carabelle to Panama City) he held the wheel firm while I sat up with him in the cockpit, which certainly didn’t hurt my feelings. Driving our big beautiful boat into the deep black yonder, being the one who would surely strike something and thereby being responsible for ruining all of our big travel-the-world plans, I was MORE than happy to just sit and be in no way in control, in charge, or in trouble if I screwed up. But, Phillip is a smart man and he knew if he was ever going to get a break, we were both going to have to break that habit. So, on our second overnight passage (from Panama City to the boat’s new home in Pensacola) he let me hold the wheel in small increments while he stretched out in the cockpit sleeping Eagle Eye style and jumping to attention at the slightest sound.

Can’t say that I blame him. We really don’t have the best of reputations …

But, thankfully I kept my wits about me and everything turned out just fine. Whew! Better than fine, really. It ended up being what we still call the best sail of our lives. So, fortunately or unfortunately – however you want to look at it – Phillip now feels I’m capable of holding the helm unsupervised for short shifts and he now often makes his way nice and easy down below to get a true nap while I take my night shifts up in the cockpit. We usually break them up into two-hour shifts, give or take, beginning around 8:00 or 9:00 in the evening. I like to take the first shift.

Night Cap’n!

It’s kind of like getting something you’re dreading a bit over with early. The bad news before the good, so to speak. Not that we really dread it, but some shifts can seem long and be exhausting. When the sea-state is rough and Otto won’t hold, it can be tiring holding the wheel the entire time, particularly when there is fog or it’s cloudy and you can’t sail by the stars. My good buddy Mitch taught me that trick during our very first overnight passage together.

Say hey Mitch!

I’ve never forgotten it. If you are having to hold the wheel at night, it is much more enjoyable, by far, to sail by the stars. Make sure you are on your correct heading, then find a star or some fixed point on the horizon and place it somewhere on your boat–say on a stanchion or at the tip of the sail or between two spreaders. Then all you have to do is hold it there. Light, easy movements of the wheel to keep your point in place. Also, taking your eyes off of the glowing GPS or compass not only maintains your night vision but also makes you feel more at one with the night sky around you. You are literally sailing the way they used to back in the days of Columbus. It’s just you, the boat, the wind and the stars–such an incredibly freeing feeling. But, that’s why I say I hate a cloudy night. If you can’t see the stars, you can’t sail by them. Blinking away two hours while staring at the blinding GPS in the middle of the night is never anyone’s favorite thing to do, but it sometimes has to be done, so you do it.

When the conditions are not ideal and you’re holding the wheel tight the entire time, focused on the course, getting sleepy is not really a concern at all. Adrenaline and worry keep you wide awake, which is–in a way–a blessing.

There are other nights, though, where the wind is perfect, you can see all around you by way of moonlight, Otto is holding just fine and all you have to do is take a look around every few minutes.

Those are beautiful nights, but that’s when the need for sleep starts to set in. There is nothing more relaxing than a peaceful, gentle night under the stars to put your mind at ease and lull you off to La-La Land. But you must STAY AWAKE!!! SNAP OUT OF IT MATE!

On nights like that, I like to occupy myself with thought, at first. Think about something that’s been puzzling you for a while–some new project at work, a solution you need to reach for something, some sort of problem you need to solve and work on it. If it’s been nagging you, you’ll find your mind can easily burn through ten minutes thinking about it and time will fly.

And, hopefully you’ll come up with a solution, while you’re working through your shift (win-win). I hate to say “work” through your shift, but if sleep is closing in, that works for me. As a writer, I’m often stumped with character conflicts, bad plots, etc. and I like to try and work through those things during the solace of the night. It was during the overnight passages on our trip to the Keys that I came up with the new storyline, character and title for my novel. Let’s hope that one’s a winner.

But, thinking can be boring if you’re not really feeling it and staying awake is the most important part. So, if you don’t have any pesky puzzle sufficient enough to keep you awake exerting mental energies alone, I recommend food! Ahhh, yes. Food!

Snacks, yes, but healthy ones. Sorry. I know, the old Cookie Monster would not approve.

But, gorging on those tasty, sugary, carb-heavy snacks is just not a good idea when you’re trying to stay alert and focused. I like crackers – Triscuits or Cheez-Its – and I try to eat make myself eat them slowly.

I know, not easy for me. But, I nibble on them. Take my time. I mean, what else am I doing, right? It’s three in the morning and I’ve got another hour at the wheel. I eat one every few minutes and really suck the flavor out. Dried fruit is fun, too, because it’s so flavorful and hearty. Banana chips are a staple for us. But, whatever you snack on, I recommend you take small portions up into the cockpit with you. Bring a whole bag of cookies up there and you’ll be at the bottom in 15 minutes with an hour and 45 left to go on your shift.

And, trust me. This is coming from a gal who knows how to eat …

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

We also keep a steady log book. Entries are made every hour on the Plaintiff’s Rest, or that’s the goal at least. We note our heading, GPS coordinates, the sea state, weather, etc. and any other occasional tidbit that seems worthy of jotting down.

When you’re up in the middle of the night, counting the minutes, you actually find you start to look forward to the end of the hour. Oooh, it’s almost time for another log entry! Yes, very exciting. But, hey – whatever works.

Gear is important, too. We usually wear our safety harnesses always at night.

And, we keep our knife, flashlight, jack lines if we need them, etc. all in the cockpit for easy access in case you-know-what hits the fan. A red flashlight is also highly recommended.

We try to use only the red light to check the engine temp or do anything that requires light (like the log book entries) to maintain our night vision.

And movement is good too. When you get up to take your “look-about,” be sure and stretch! Reach your arms up to the sky, bend over, arch your back, really stretch it out. Make yourself do a few calf raises, squats or squeeze your butt. Whatever it is, just do something that gets your blood moving for a bit. Workout a little if you want. And, my last resort, the final straw, the ace in the hole. When my head is dangerously bobbing and my eyelids feel like they weigh 1,000 pounds each, then I go for the Hail Mary — Dance, Dance Revolution Baby!

I put on some Black Eyed Peas and get down with my bad self. Just me, the moon, the stars and my friggin’ killer dance moves. Ooga Chocka!

But, the night shifts can be fun. Sometimes you have friends come and visit!

Like this flying fish that jumped on board during our trip to Port St. Joe!

And sometimes you just have to get a little crazy with it. I tried out goggles one night because the wind was drying out my eyes.

Yes, I know how good I look.

Some nights are tiring. You don’t really want to get up again after just an hour and a half of sleep, at 3:30 in the morning to hold the wheel in heavy winds. You don’t really want to, but you do, because you know you’re on an adventure. You’re traveling somewhere completely new. In just a few hours, you’ll watch the sunrise over the bow of the boat,

and the work of the night will make it all the more beautiful, all the more rewarding. The sky will be pinker, the air crisper and your coffee richer,

because you stuck it out. You served your shifts and sailed your boat under a blanket of stars into a new day.

That’s how we do it. Team-work. Once we get that boat going, we like to keep her going. 100 nautical miles usually. So, let’s hear from the masses. How do you all do it? Tell us about your night shifts.

Back at Sea! Me, Phillip and the Mackerel Makes Three!

July 14, 2014July 14, 2014anniedike

Yep, a mackerel! Which we originally thought was a wahoo, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Back it up. Rewind. Bzzzwwwhooop.

April 22, 2014:

We woke to a beautiful sunrise on our last morning in Ft. Myers Beach. While we love being on anchor (or on the ball, or at a marina, or however we find ourselves stopped and secure for the time being), what we really love is sailing. Getting that boat going! She loves it too. It’s what she was built for. We brewed our coffee, filled our mugs and tossed our line off of the ball. We were going to do some sailing today kids!

See how we smile? Like Donna Summers at a disco! Just doing what we love!

We expected about a 30-hour passage to Key West. We left Ft. Myers Beach around 8:00 a.m., and we expected to arrive in Key West around mid- to late-morning the following day. While there is a mooring field near Key West, the Captain had booked us a few nights at the A&B Marina in Key West Bight. He figured since it was our first time there by boat, and the expected highlight of the trip, might as well splurge a little, huh? Go big or go home! Isn’t he great? He called the marina that morning to confirm our reservation and learned then that we were going to have to back in to our boat slip. *Gulp* I’ll save that nugget of a story for another day!

For the time being, we were thrilled to find that the motor cranked that morning on the first turn, using the engine battery. After the issues we’d had the night before with the dead starting battery and the engine overheating, we were incredibly pleased to see everything charged and running so well. After we got to thinking about the overheating a bit, we figured it might have been one of those freaky amoeba-like snails we’d seen swimming around in Ft. Myers Beach. Have you guys ever seen these?

They’re hard to capture on film but I kept trying. They look like some strange slimy Darwinian organism that hasn’t quite evolved yet. I imagine it’s what a conch looks like once it’s spilled out of its shell, and they swim by flapping their wing-like … things.

Some riveting “flapping footage” for you:

Some were tan and spotted, others black and splotchy. They were just so weird. Phillip first spotted them when he spent a solid three hours changing the oil of outboard on the dinghy. You remember the day the car wouldn’t start …

Yeah – he got up close and personal with the water that morning and said he saw like fifteen of them swim, or flap, by – whatever it is they do. With so many of them in the water, we started to think perhaps one of them weird snail things got sucked up against our raw water intake through-hole the night before, causing it to clog and the engine to overheat. It was totally possible, likely probable. I have to say I derived a small bit of pleasure imagining the little snail turd, panic-stricken, stuck up against our hull, unable to flap away. Serves him right trying to screw with our boat!

But, we watched the engine temp closely that morning and found she was holding just fine, so whatever had happened, we figured it was a fluke and counted our lucky stars. We made our way out of the mooring field and headed out to sea! (Or the Gulf … same thing … to me, anyway. Whenever we head out to go sailing, anywhere, we go to the SEA!!)

It was nice this time to have a boat buddy along for the passage – our friend Johnny Walker and his son, Jeremy, on Johnny’s 38′ Morgan, s/v Windwalker. They were making the passage as well from Ft. Myers Beach to Key West.

There’s the Walker – coming under the Matanza’s Bridge!

It was a gorgeous morning. Blue waters, a bright sky and big billowing sails.

Yeah … billowing. Unfortunately, the wind was a little lackluster that morning, so we had to motor for a few hours, but we were thankful to see the engine purring right along, running just fine. It was right around noon, though, that the wind kicked in, and we found ourselves on a perfect beam reach for the afternoon.

There’s Johnny up ahead!

All you could see was beautiful blue water to the edge of every horizon.

It felt incredible to be back out in the Gulf! Otto (our auto-pilot) was holding great, we were making good time and the sea state was perfect. We tossed out our fishing line a little after noon and kicked back to enjoy the sail. Around 2:00 p.m. Phillip decided to cook up our “big meal” for the day – broccoli and beef stir-fry – as we figured if you’re going to eat a big meal and get sleepy, better to do it during daylight hours so we would be refreshed and ready to hold our respective shifts that night.

But, of course, right when we decide to cook something we brought, we find food from the sea! (See, again with SEA!). We had a fish on the line!! Who knows how long he’d been on there. The stretchy band we used as our “indicator” had broke clean off and the line had been taut for, likely, quite some time. Phillip was occupied with lunch below so I started to reel him in.

Yes, it took that long …

But we finally got him up to the boat, and MAN, what a beast!

It took a team effort to get him hauled in to the cockpit, but we got him in there. We bagged him up mafia style, but I swear he kept trying to eat his way out and nab Phillip’s toes! Chomp, chomp!

He had some wicked teeth!

That’s actually what helped us identify him. We looked through the fisherman’s guide to try and find some identifying characteristics to determine what he was.

The spotting on his back and body looked kind of like a wahoo, but his teeth and upper dorsal fin gave him away.

We had caught ourselves a king mackerel!

A thirty-seven incher, too!

How’s that for royalty!? But, then the fun began … Guess whose job it is to clean the fish we catch on the boat. Go on. Guess! That’s right … it’s the First Mate’s. I busted out my fileting tools and set to it.

While the Captain …

Well, he was hungry. And, to be fair, he had cooked us up an awesome lunch.

One of our go-tos on the boat. Broccoli and beef stir-fry. Recipe HERE.

To be honest, though, I’m not sure how he could find the scene in the cockpit very appetizing …

It was a bloody mess. (No British accent intended).

But, it seemed I was getting better at it. I carved off some pretty sweet looking filets.

Trying hard to get every last morsel of meat off.

If I had to guess, I’d say we carved off about 9 one-pound filets total. Quite a bit of fish.

Yum!

But, also quite a bit of work. From the time of the catch-and-bag, then the gut-and-clean to the dreaded wash-and-scrub of the cockpit, the whole fish debacle turned into about a three-hour chore. But, I mean … what else are we doing, right? It seemed our buddies on the Windwalker smelled the blood, sweat and toil and they ventured over to have a look at our spoils.

That Morgan sure looked great glistening in the afternoon sun.

And I sure wish we could share the pictures they took of us while we were underway, but let’s just say I don’t have them yet … (Jeremy – you know who you are, and what you have not yet done!).

In all honesty, though, it was a great day sail. A lot of fun with the big fish catch and nice to have boat buddies sailing along beside us. After the big meal and the boat chores were done, we settled in for a nice evening of leisurely reading as the sun dropped down in the sky.

We were still on a perfect heading easing into the night. Our bellies were full. Our hands were finally clean (albeit still tainted just a bit with that distinct fishy smell). But our hearts were content. We were really out there. Sailing across the Gulf.

When the sun rose again, we would finally be there — the Florida Keys!

Bonnie the Bunny

July 9, 2014July 10, 2014anniedike

April 20, 2014:

Tomorrow was it. We were going to head out around daybreak to make our final passage south to the Keys. We were beyond excited. We spent the morning cleaning and readying the boat for the next day’s passage – re-tying the fuel cans we had filled the day before, re-checking the fluids we had topped off, taking out the trash. You know, real exciting boat stuff. We were planning to meet our buddy Johnny and his wife Cindy around mid-morning to make a mega run to the store for provisions. Cindy had driven down to spend the weekend with Johnny and had been nice enough to offer us boating bums a ride to the store before she left. Don’t mind if we do! Knowing we weren’t going to have to haul our supplies back pack-mule style, we made quite the luxurious list and even planned our attack from produce to paper products. We were going to get all Supermarket Sweep on them – matching sweatshirts and all.

Yeeeeahhh!

But, sadly … as ready as WE were to do some serious grocery shopping, it seems the rest of the world wasn’t ready for us. We found Ft. Myers tends to take their Easter pretty seriously. Every place was closed. Every … single … place. We drove by Publix. No. Target. Closed. Winn Dixie? Shut-down. I hate to say it, but we finally ended up at the all-American icon of convenience shopping. Mmmm-hmmmm. Wal-Mart. You can always count on old Wally World to be open. We each made our rounds and packed Cindy’s little car to the brim. And, of course – what do you always want to do after grocery shopping? EAT! After planning for and picking up everything we would need to cook and eat for the passage and the following week, all we could think about was food. We stopped at this little McGregor Cafe in Ft. Myers and scored pretty good.

A juicy Rueben sandwich and a lobster cake salad.

Yum! But, the best part was our waitress. Bonnie … the Bunny.

You see? As much as I love to write fiction – I really don’t have to make this stuff up.

Bonnie (“the Bunny”) pranced around the entire time sporting fuzzy purple bunny ears and offering up what she called her “Special Bunny Peeps Cake” to any poor customer who couldn’t turn her away. She even suffered it on the entire wait staff like office birthday cake.

When I walked through the dining area to go to the restroom, there were ten of them in there, at least, all picking with plastic forks at pieces of neon peep fluff on their styrofoam plates. They would stuff mouthfuls in their cheeks and give Bonnie an exaggerated “Mmmmm” smile-and-nod when she would walk by, telling them “It’s my special recipe! I make it every year!”

It was … hilarious.

After our big venture to all of the closed stores, we headed back to the boat and packed her up for the next day’s passage to the Keys. We still had some beautiful afternoon hours left, so I decided to bust out the old inflatable SUP and get to it.

See Annie pump.

Pump Annie pump!

Whew! I tell you. I love that my SUP is inflatable (so we can break it down and stow it down below) but she is a chore-and-a-half to blow up. By the time you’re done, the thought of paddling is exhausting. But, somehow I managed!

I tossed her in the water and set to it.

Go Annie go!

Ft. Myers had lots of residential inlets where the houses are all waterfront along the seawall and you can paddle around in each of them, checking out peoples’ boats, backyards, pools, houses, etc. I love paddling around nice waterfront homes. I like to imagine all the costly upkeep and maintenance they must require and bask in the contentment of living on a boat!

And, I was feeling pretty content … that is, until I returned to the boat and Phillip told me the engine wouldn’t crank. Say what? We’re leaving for the Keys tomorrow. Could you repeat that?

But, sadly, it was true. The engine wouldn’t fire – at least not on its own battery. Luckily, we have two different battery systems on our boat. One battery system is dedicated to starting the engine while the second bank (the house batteries) is much larger and equipped to run all the other systems on the boat. We also have a nifty device that allows us to combine the battery systems together if necessary by the simple flip of a switch. When we combined the circuit and pulled from the house batteries, the engine would crank, but she would not fire from the starting battery alone. Errgghh … What did I say about those big waterfront mansions being more trouble than they’re worth? Well, forget that. We had boat problems!

We traced the connections and wires from the alternator to the battery combiner (which regulates which set of batteries get charged) and found the inline fuses for the starting battery had blown.

This meant the starting battery was not getting a charge when the engine was running. This was good news because it was an easy fix. Replace the small fuses and we figured we would be in business. Then, all we needed to do was run the engine for a bit to be certain the starting battery was in fact charging.

We replaced the fuses, combined the batteries and cranked her up. Everything was running great. We had water coming out of the back and plenty of gas to give the boat a charge, so we let her purr. It was just about dusk, so we poured a couple of glasses of wine and headed topside to watch the sun set.

Ahhh … Isn’t she beautiful? We sipped from our glasses and drank in the pink horizon. Life was tranquil and serene. Everything was perfect … until the alarm went off. Yes, the ALARM. A high-pitched, shrill tea-kettle whistle rang out from the cockpit. Phillip and I jumped up, knocking over our deck chairs and glasses as we scrambled back to the helm as she shrieked angrily at us. It was the high-temp alarm. Picture a car steaming on the side of the road.

It meant our engine had overheated. What next?

We immediately shut her down so she could cool. But, we were stunned. What in the heck had happened? Our temp had been holding fine. Water had been spouting out the back. Then all of a sudden it overheated?? We didn’t know what to think. After she cooled a bit, we got back down in the engine room and started checking out the heat exchanger, making sure the seacock (that allows raw water to pull in to heat the engine) was open and working fine, basically just troubleshooting … again …

But, while we didn’t find any obvious issue with the cooling system on the engine, I did notice something on the battery combiner that we had missed before. There was a little green clip that plugged into the combiner that had apparently wiggled its way out of its slot. This little guy:

Who the heck knows when that happened – likely when we were beating our way into Charlotte Harbor during our last horrendous night in the Gulf – if I had to wager a guess. But, the good news is, we spotted it. An easy fix. Just push her back in. *Click* And THEN our engine battery would get a charge. I can’t stress enough how important it is to know your own boat. Tinker around on it, try to troubleshoot things yourself, try to fix things yourself (to the extent possible) and, basically, just piddle around with the systems. I, personally, like to sing this while I do and recommend you do too:

Phillip won’t admit it, but he secretly digs that tune!

It’s amazing what you’ll learn. Most of the systems on the boat are really simple if you just take the time to figure them out, and the confidence you’ll gain in handling everything on the boat yourself is easily worth it. So – take some advice from Julia Andrews and get to know her!

And, while I say that, as much “knowing” as were doing on our boat that evening, we were still totally stumped by the engine overheating. Phillip jumped in and checked the seacock through-hole on the hull of the boat to make sure there wasn’t some trash bag or something caught up in it.

Nothing. We let her cool completely down, checked the coolant levels and the seacock (again) and decided to re-crank and see what happened. We both sat in the cockpit watching the heat gage like a hawk.

Still sipping our wine, of course. I mean, we’re boat people, but we’re still cruisers …

Thankfully, though, she held at her standard operating temp of 180 degrees.

To this day, we really can’t tell you what happened. The most likely explanation is that something got temporarily sucked up against the through-hole under the boat and the engine could not pull water in to cool itself. Then when we shut off the engine, the suction stopped and whatever it was floated away. We suppose … That’s all we could do. Was suppose. But, it was getting late and, either because of, or despite, all our efforts, the boat was currently running great and was ready to get under way the next morning. So, we supposed ourselves right to bed to get some rest for the passage tomorrow. We were just a 24-hour run away from the Keys!

No Autographs Please!

July 4, 2014July 4, 2014anniedike

April 19, 2014:

I don’t know if I’ve ever said this before, but for those of you out there who think cruising is all cocktails and sunsets, I can assure you it’s not. Owning a boat is a lot of work. You may recall our “million mile march” through St. Pete to pick up a portable pump from the Back-Door Marine Supply Guy to change the engine oil. As the previous day in Ft. Myers had been devoted primarily to getting the dinghy to crank, the next bright and sunny day was committed to changing the oil in the diesel engine on the boat. Fun, fun!

It was definitely time to do it, though. With all of the motoring we had unfortunately had to do to “weather” the weather in the Gulf, we were well over our allotted 50 hours, so we set to it.

It certainly was a cleaner job, though, with our new, smaller plastic oil pump.

The oil dumped right in, and we were able to seal her off and plug the tubes nicely with Q-tips, so no mess!

We also checked the raw water strainer to make sure she wasn’t clogged.

Unfortunately, she came out looking like a love-child mix of Bob Marley and Medusa.

Yipes! It was definitely time to clean her out as well and we noticed a significant difference in the flow rate of the water exhaust on the stern after we did. Let’s just say she had a lot more “oomph” – I believe is the technical term.

We also checked the sacrificial zinc on the heat exchanger. He was almost toast!

Because the metals that are immersed in seawater in the heat exchanger create a battery, that also means they lead to corrosion. If you’re interested, read more HERE. And, this little guy is meant to take the brunt of that. He corrodes first (hence the term “sacrificial”) and then we replace him with a new soldier so the other, more important metals, don’t corrode at all. Or so the theory is.

That is one battered warrior! Thanks Zinc!

We also checked the fuel filter as well.

“Umm … sir, I definitely see some build-up here.” It was time to change that as well. Not much of an issue, but when we began to disassemble the housing for the secondary fuel filter, we ran into a slight issue.

The connector ring broke …

But, never fear! That’s why we carry back-ups! And back-ups for our back-ups! I got my little First Mate fingers back there and fixed her right up.

Good as new!

We then cranked her up to make sure everything was running just right, our engine was maintaining temp, water was flowing out of the back (this time with “oomph”) and that our oil level was right where it needed to be. All systems were a go, so we hopped off the mooring ball for a bit to head up to the fuel dock to fill up and dump our oil. The Diversified Yacht Facility there was huuuggee!

They had handfuls of 100-foot yachts stacked in there like toys. It was incredible. They were also very friendly and got us filled up (water and fuel), dumped out, scrubbed up and everything in between. We were ready for our next passage for sure.

We were thinking of heading out the next day, Sunday Funday!, to make the jump across the Gulf to Key West, but our buddy, Johnny, whom we were meeting up with in Ft. Myers, was going to wait to make the crossing on Monday, so we decided to suffer another day in Ft. Myers Beach – ain’t life tough …

The minute we got the boat back on the ball, we cleaned up, spruced up and made a right proper to-go drink for shore:

Phillip: “I’ll have an ‘Oh Shiiiit’ please. Heavy on the rum!”

Annie: “You got it Cap’n.”

We trolled around downtown checking out the local tiki bars and scenery.

And, the local wildlife as well …

I think this one may be extinct real soon …

Then the craziest thing happened. We were walking on up to Petey’s Upper Deck, above the Matanza’s Inn, when this guy on the dock hobbled humbly up to us and asked “Are you Annie, on the Plaintiff’s Rest?”

I mean … Total record-scratch moment. Errrruunnnhh (or however you spell a record scratch sound?).

“Excuse me?” I asked, thinking I surely had never seen this man before and didn’t know how he could possibly know me, or my boat …

“I’m friends with Bob,” he said. “McDonald. He got me hooked on your blog.”

Eek! A real live blog follower? An honest-to-goodness fan? And, he’d spotted me on his very own in Ft. Myers Beach?? The fame went instantly to my head.

Okay, I wasn’t that bad … hopefully … but I was certainly smiling from ear to ear. Here he is – Capt. Doug on the s/v Puffin!

He’d been “on the ball” in the Ft. Myers mooring field for about six months and has been following our blog for quite some time. He was a great guy – a lot of fun – and certainly living the right kind of salty life there in Ft. Myers Beach. Like many in the boating community seem to do, he offered to help us with anything if we needed it or provide us names of fellow mechanics, riggers, etc. if we needed any work done in the area. We had a big time chatting with him about ‘old blog times’ – the original Gulf Crossing and other debacles. He was great. Thanks Doug!

And, you’ll be happy to know I wasn’t too celebrity about it. I gave him an awesome autograph, which I’m sure he’ll hang right on top of this one:

See? Didn’t go to my head at all …

After the exciting celeb sighting, Phillip and I hit the deck! Petey’s Upper Deck for their famous Key Lime Coladas.

Mmmmmm …

Those things were awesome. And, totally calorie-free I was told. Or, was it calories don’t count at the beach? I can’t remember. Either way, they were incredible. All three of them!

We finally met up with our buddy Johnny Walker on the s/v Windwalker who was making the trip down to the Keys with his son, Jeremy. Say hey Johnny!

Johnny is an incredible diesel mechanic, a life-long boater and fellow die-hard cruiser. He’s also just a few months shy of 72 and still living on his boat and living out his dream. No matter what story we told (and I’ve got some really tall ones – hacking off our dinghy in the middle of the Gulf, fixing a transmission leak with a Dasani bottle and some duct tape … ) it didn’t matter, Johnny had heard it three times before and knew of someone who had done the same thing in 6-8 foot seas with one arm tied behind his back. The man was full of colorful tales. Oh, and spare parts as well. No matter what minute little part we may have noticed was having an issue on our boat, he had three of them and was happy to share.

See – here he is now: “Oh, I’ve got one of those. I’ll drop by your boat later and bring it to you.”

Johnny was a trip. Beyond generous and full of spunk. And, that’s his wife Cindy, a real salty survivor. She’s been through some serious times on the boat with that man. Her stories, and her perspective, rather, actually impressed me the most. She can remain calm through anything. That’s the kind of gal you need on a boat. She had drove down to spend the weekend with Johnny in Ft. Myers Beach during his trek to the Keys with his son, so she was just staying a day or two. (But, that meant she had a car! A real, live car, which also meant a full-fledged trip to the store for us the next day! You know how we love our provisions!).

We had a big, hearty time hanging out with Johnny and Cindy, scarfing up their great greasy pizza at Petey’s. (Which I was also told did not have any calories). We continued to tell tall tales until nightfall, then we dinghied on back to the boat and crashed hard, yet again. This beach living is rough!