Mooring Ball...Bingo 1/19/2012

Lots of people wonder what we do all day here in the Florida Keys......well, we've been so busy since we arrived in Marathon last Sunday that I've forgotten to blog! We have started playing tennis again every morning at the community tennis courts which are awesome. We played singles yesterday and doubles today. Monday we provisioned the boat and I attended a pine needle basket weaving class taught by Libby, a friend aboard Tarwathie. Yesterday we had a Boot Key Harbor pot luck dinner and today we went to Hurricanes's for their wing night special. Walt had someone from Shoreline come over and check our dinghy which is having issues in the transom with faulty glue. It seems that the glue is only good to 74 degrees, not the 80 plus we encounter here in Florida. we'll know more tomorrow. Today we finally left the anchorage and went to ball V-3 in the mooring field...and then celebrated at wing night...the gaudy lights in this photo are proof that there is night life here in Marathon!

Marathon, Boot Key Harbor 1/15/2012

We had a great motor-sail today on Hawk Channel to a packed Boot Key Harbor...every mooring ball taken, every inch of dock space gone, and a full anchorage! Winds today were 15-24 knots with white caps but lots of sunshine! The craziness today were the crab pots everywhere, on port, then on starboard and difficult to see bobbing in the waves. We didn't snag any! We've anchored and we're number 12 on the waiting list for a mooring ball.

Rodriquez Key 1/14/2012

FIU met us this morning in Key Biscayne and we both sailed Hawk Channel to Rodriquez Key where we anchored at 2:15. The winds today were from the north at 15-21 knots with a broad reach so we had a nice motor-sail. This photo of the Biscayne Light has a view of Miami in the background. The turquoise water today was stunning....we have arrived in the Florida Keys! Yea!

Miami and No Name Harbor 1/13/2012

We enjoyed our stay in Vero Beach for 4 days and 5 nights. We met with Capt Larry and Saltwater Suzi, friends from Charleston and Marathon, Wed. night for happy hour. They are buying a house in Vero beach and selling their sailboat-they have lived aboard for the last 15 years! Wow..... We sailed to Lake Worth via the ocean yesterday for 66 miles while Bonnie and Sid aboard FIU took the ICW. This morning we left Lake Worth at 6:45 and took the ocean route to No Name Harbor in Key Biscayne where we anchored outside at 5:30 with two other boats. FIU anchored in Miami and will meet us tomorrow. No Name was packed with sailboats as this is a three-day week-end. This photo of Miami was taken under cloudy skies as we sailed past with light winds from behind and an opposing current.

Vero Beach 1/7/2010

Today was a beautiful ICW day from Mosquito Lagoon to Vero City Marina...89 miles and 11 1/2 hours. Yes, we came into the marina after dark at 6:30 with our spotlight out. We are on mooring ball 41 and we were surprised to see so many boats here in January. The ICW was very wide but very shallow, especially around Haulover Cut, Titusville, Cocoa Beach, and Melbourne. We did see a collection of pink roseate spoonbills...their wings are pink and they have white heads. There are only 450 know nesting spoonbills in all of Florida and many are located near Haulover Cut. I also saw some huge black vultures....yuck. I took the photo of the sunrise at Mosquito Lagoon and the egret was perched next to our boat here in Vero.

Mosquito Lagoon 1/6/2012

We left San Sebastian River at 7:00 this morning in light fog but by the time we pulled out into the channel we were in deep fog...and no radar. We slowly motored south at about 3 knots until almost 9:00 and then made some great time with the current going with us. Some of the ICW is VERY shallow and I hit some mud in the middle of some crab pots but it was a touch and go. We got behind a huge barge in Daytona and finally passed him, then on to Ponce de Leon Inlet. The sun set before 6:00 but we had light until 6:30 and then anchored just off the ICW at Mosquito Lagoon with one other sailboat in just 7 feet of water. It was dark, but the moon was out.....82 miles today... 11 1/2 hours! Why do we do this? Actually we love the water, the adventure, the dolphins playing near us, the sunrises and sunsets, playing rummy in the cockpit with just the candles burning....what's not to like?

St. Augustine, Florida 1/5/2012

We left the Fernandina anchorage at 7:00 and pulled alongside the marina dock so we could walk Ranger, go to the post office and walk to my cousin Marilyn's shrimp dock (she is not here on Amelia Island yet). It's very quiet along the docks.....probably because it's January and it's cold! We headed out into the ocean where we sailed and then motor-sailed in 17-24 knots of wind from the NW to St Augustine and made the 4:00 Bridge of Lions opening. On to the Sebastian River where we wove around many marinas filled with deserted sailboats till we finally anchored across from Oyster Marina. There is not much room here but it's calm and quiet.

Fernandina Beach, Florida 1/4/2012

Wow, is it cold down south!!!! Yesterday was a long day on the ICW with winds between 17-27 knots. We left Beaufort at 7:15 and had a real nasty ride for an hour in Port Royal Sound but we did Field's Cut, Skidaway narrows and Hell's Gate all at high tide. We covered 80 miles and put in at Kilkenny Marina so we could have heat on the boat. Today we left the dock at 6:30 and went out St. Catherine's Sound to Fernandina and took a mooring ball. We did 88 ocean miles instead of 103 ICW miles. Not much wind but the sun was out, the ocean was stunning, and we didn't have to worry about bridges or skinny water. Wish we could sail the ocean everyday!

Beaufort, NC 1/2/2012

Big surprise this morning when we turned on NOAA radio.....a cold front is coming through today with gale force winds. It's never fun to anchor in 25-35 knot winds and it's especially bad when the wind chill will be down to 12 degrees. So we pulled into the City Marina here in Beaufort with a collection of other sailboats and trawlers. It's sunny and beautiful with porch swings the entire length of the waterfront. The roses and pansies are blooming right now.....wonder what they'll look like tomorrow morning! The marina is shutting off all the water to the docks at 4:00, otherwise the lines will freeze. We'll be warm-the heater is running!

Fleeing the cold....

It is so good to be back aboard Waves of Grace and on the move south! We arrived at Osprey Marina in SC on Thursday, Dec. 29th and were greeted with sunshine in the 70's! It was wonderful! We loaded up the boat, filled the water and fuel tanks, and got some sleep. On Friday we celebrated New Year's Eve a day early in Murrell's Inlet with a bucket of oysters and a view of the water from our table at Nance's Restaurant. This morning we left at 7:00 and motored the ICW south for 79 miles. We are at Mile 452 anchored in Whiteside Creek where we can see the fireworks from Charleston, 11 miles south. I took this photo of the sunrise on the ICW through the trees...they look like they are on fire.