Christmas in the Keys

Marathon is a very special place to be during Christmas.  There is no snow but there is magic everywhere.....like the miniature railroad set up at the local Home Depot that took five men four hours to assemble or the prayer gardens at San Pablo Catholic Church that is lit by thousands of lights decorated lovingly by parishioners.  The sunsets at the Seven Mile Bridge are always wonderful any time of the year!

The Keys........12/11/2014

Our youngest son, Steven, is visiting us this week in the Keys.  He has been getting tennis lessons every day from Coach Bill and enjoying the challenge of trying to beat Mom and Dad on the courts.  Yesterday we sailed Hawk Channel in 15-23 knot breezes, dodging the crab pots that were everywhere.  Today there was no wind so we headed to Sombrero Reef where the views were breathtaking.  Steve snorkeled but it was so calm that Walt & I could see all the fish and the coral right from the boat.  There were yellow tail snappers, gray snappers, sergeant majors, eels, sharks, and sea turtles-amazing!

New York Thanksgiving 2014

What a surprise to see snow in upstate New York for Thanksgiving......at least we don't have the 6-7 feet of the white stuff that Buffalo received.  The sun is peeking out and the grandkids can go sledding so all is not bad!

Iguana Invasion 11/16/2014

I counted 21 iguanas today in less than two hours.....a record!  This guy is a big one who was sunning himself in front of one of the mansions in Sister's Creek but most of the iguanas are small to medium this year.  It appears that the fellows are multiplying quickly.....they seem to be everywhere.  I have to be careful when I'm riding my bike as they blend in well with their surroundings and then when they move they surprise you.....

Marathon 11/15/2014

It's hard to believe that we have been here in Boot Key for over a week.....time flies in paradise!  The mooring field is already at 70% capacity and it's only mid-November.  FUI and Yasmine Ann came in this afternoon and have joined us here near Sister's Creek.  The sunsets are spectacular and the Sunset Tiki Bar still has great specials for Happy Hour including $2.00 drafts.  I took this photo from the marina deck.

Miami-Marathon 11/7-8/2014

We sailed out of Lake Worth very early and by noon we were at Ft. Lauderdale where the ocean was full of tankers, sport fishermen, divers down and para-sailors....a real maze!   At 3:00 we were directly in front of Miami so we kept on motor-sailing and anchored in Hawk Channel at Elliott Key Friday night.  There was a beautiful full moon with no breeze so anchoring on the outside was a great choice.  On Saturday we made the 83 mile run into Boot Key Harbor.  Between Key Largo and Tavernier there were hundreds of blue-black jelly fish everywhere.  They looked like huge hair nets swaying in the water with a ring of slender tentacles.......  We entered Marathon at 4:30 and took ball N-12.  We were surprised to see the mooring field so full already with some rows already filled to Sisters' Creek.  I guess that Marathon has become a destination!

West Palm Beach Sunrise

We had a good ocean run yesterday from Vero to Lake Worth although the wind wasn't strong enough to use the sails.......we hate to motor in the ocean!  But today we left the anchorage at 6:15 and we are sailing down the coast to Miami with 5 other sailboats.  It's great and we're making good time.  The sunrise was beautiful as we headed out the Lake Worth Channel.

Vero Beach-Katlynn Connections 11/2-11/5/2014

We had a very fast run from Jax to Vero Beach this week stopping to anchor for the night at the cement plant south of St. Augustine and then in Cocoa south of Titusville.  We were amazed to see that a small lake has been dredged across from the Sea Ray Plant at M897.  There are lots of heavy construction machines still on site.  On Saturday night we found protection from nasty gusting winds of 29 knots in Cocoa close to shore and in front of the high rise condos.  Several other boats were anchored there as well.  We pulled into Vero Beach on Sunday and we were warmly welcomed by cruising friends Roy and Yasmine, Bonnie and Sid, and Kent and Jane.  We took mooring ball #40 at the Vero Beach City Marina next to Yasmine Ann who hails from our home port on Sodus Bay, NY - Katlynn Marine.  We discovered that another boat from Sodus Bay is here next to us-Kelly Nicole with Paul and Debra onboard.  We all met later for Happy Hour at The Riverside Grill.  Small cruising world!  Or maybe it's cold now on Lake Ontario!

Marine Connections Liquidators - Ft Pierce

We were delighted to host Larry and Suzi MacDonald for lunch today aboard Waves of Grace.  They have traded in their boat, Kanau, and have bought a lovely home here in Vero Beach.  They now belong to the CLODS-cruisers living on dirt but stay connected with the cruising community here at Vero Beach City Marina.  They offered to drive us to Ft. Pierce to shop at the Marine Connections Liquidators which is a huge warehouse filled with everything a boater could ever want or imagine.  What a treat!  An added bonus was the fact that they played nothing but Christian music in the store.  Above their business name was a sign that said Jesus is Lord.  Awesome!

Green Cove Springs to Jax Landing 10/30/2014

Green Cove Springs boat yard is crazy this time of year.....the southern boats are coming out of the water and the northern boats are going in.  We were launched at 10:30 yesterday and today we went through the East Coast RR Bridge at 1:45 only to find out that the Main Street Bridge is STILL under repair and needs a 2-hour warning before going up........We are tied up at JAX Landing for the night and will leave at 8:00 tomorrow morning headed for St Augustine.

Surfside Beach, SC to Green Cove Springs, FL 10/25-1026 2014

We have just spent a glorious week with the Wing Crew on the ocean at Surfside Beach.  Portofino II 317C, our 4 bedroom rental house, took our breath away with ocean vistas from double porches.  I snapped this sunrise on Sat just before we headed to our boat in Green Cove Springs.  The work yard here is jammed with boats all trying to get into the water.  I've never seen it so crowded.....The good news is that the SunPac Mildewcide that we bought in Florida to control the mold problem worked like a charm.  The boat was almost mold free!  We

are now sanding, painting, waxing, and provisioning for a Tuesday launch....then on to Vero Beach for the week-end.  Another adventure begins!

Jacksonville Landing, then Green Cove Springs and haul-out

We headed to JAX Landing on April 10th knowing that the East Coast RR Bridge was on a restricted schedule but were shocked to find out that the Main Street Bridge needed a two-hour notice before it would open.....but we were lucky and the bridge tender took pity on us and opened.  Next two surprises:  Around noon a sailboat lost engine power and hit the bridge

breaking the top of the mast off, and there was a huge festival going on in JAX with very limited tie-ups to the wall.  We held our breath and brought the boat in close to the bridge....Walt did a great job on the helm!  We were treated to bands, vendors, and all kinds of entertainment for two days before heading to Green Cove for haul-out.  See you next year!

Gulf Stream Crossing 4/1/2014

We had a great Chris Parker weather report so we crossed from North Cat Cay to Lake Worth with Clark & Barb on Undaunted.  We had the Gulf Stream with us most of the way so we made great time...about 9 hours.  We had to check in with U.S. Customs so we stayed on Wednesday, visited Peanut Island, had lunch at the Riviera Beach Marina and then just walked the 3 blocks to customs which is located at the cruise terminal.  It was easy to do despite the fact that there are no signs indicating where customs actually is located.  On Thursday we headed out into the ocean again and headed north to Vero Beach where we met friends from Sodus, Jim and Joyce

and cruising friends, Larry & Suzi who just bought a house in Vero.

Bahamian Basket

Deb from Our Desire not only taught me how to make a Bahamian basket, but also how to identify the silver palm which is strong enough to actually bind the basket together.   There are plenty of palm trees in the Bahamas!  I filled my basket with the shells I found on the ocean side of Stocking Island in Georgetown.

Underwater photos of Thunderball Grotto

Rich and Anna have an underwater camera and took these photos when we snorkeled Thunderball.  It was truly amazing!

Staniel Cay 2X 3/23-27/2014

We pulled into Staniel Cay with three plans:  We wanted to have a bonfire on the boaters' beach, all six of us wanted to snorkel Thunderball Grotto, and we needed a place to wait out some nasty weather coming our way.  Thunderball Grotto was awesome and something I'll never forget.  There were beautiful fish everywhere looking for handouts and the grotto itself had sunlight streaming down from the open top once you entered it from the water. In fact, Saturday was the annual James Bond week-end here with movies and a casino night for everyone.  At the bonfire we met a couple on the sailboat, Providence, who had damaged their prop and were waiting for assistance.  Then the bad weather came in......25-35 knot winds on the nose, from the west for 24 hours.....it was not pretty but the anchor held the boat!

Oven Rock Beach 3/22/2014

We had an amazing ocean run in 20 knots yesterday from Georgetown to Galliot Cut.  Coming in the cut was dicey with stacking 5 foot waves and an opposing current.  Our Desire lost power on their engine half-way through the cut but made it to the Banks under sail.....that was scary.  We took photos of Oven Rock and also of Waves of Grace as we climbed the hill to walk the beach on Exuma Sound this morning.

 We are anchored at Black Point tonight and headed to Staniel Cay to wait out about 10 days of awful weather coming in....20-30 knots with lots of rain.  Hope the forecast is wrong!

Georgetown Vistas 3/20/2014

We are all spending the afternoon today, poolside, at the Peace and Plenty Resort before we start north up the Exuma chain tomorrow.  There is a BBQ here every Thursday with music and free wi-fi so we re-anchored to this side with Our Desire and SnowGoose.  I've included photos of the straw market, the library, and Peace and Plenty.

Cruisers' Tour 3/15/2014

Today we took a bus tour of the island with 30 other cruisers followed by a buffet dinner at Exuma Pt. Restaurant with music by Just Us.  It was a fabulous day.  Our first stop was at the Hermitage Homestead which was one of the first Loyalist plantations.  We also visited the Steventon Jail House which is now crumbling. The statue is of Pompey who led a slave rebellion when the Rolle salt plantation tried to move 37 slaves to another cay.  We walked the beach at Exuma Pt. and saw the beautiful cave where a hermit spend 1 1/2 years.  A fellow cruiser shared his shark story from Friday........he had speared a fish and a reef shark came up and head-butted him several times to get his fish.  He finally released it from his spear but now his lips are swollen...Yikes!

Monument Beach 3/12/2014

We took our dinghy to Hamburger Beach and hiked the trails to the monument where we had beautiful vistas

of Elizabeth Harbor and the three basins by the St. Francis Restaurant.

The Queen Conch 3/5/2014

Conch comprises a large part of the Bahamian diet:  fritters, salad, and chowder.  Walt found two large conch and Anna on SnowGoose showed him how to skin them and prepare them for cooking.  Then Anna made fritters for all of us.  A Queen Conch lays several egg masses with 1/2 million eggs in each mass, so there are lots of conch to be found here.

Georgetown 3/4/2014

It is very difficult to get internet here in the Exumas and the connections are usually slow.....but when I can safely bring in the laptop there is usually a hot spot or two at local restaurants.  We arrived in Georgetown via the western cut and motored very carefully in front of Monument Beach, Hamburger Beach, and Volleyball Beach to anchor in Sand Dollar Beach with Our Desire and SnowGoose.  Two dolphins greeted us as Walt set the anchor.  The harbor here is almost 5 miles long with Georgetown, Exuma Island, on one side and the ocean reefs and beaches on the other side.  There are coral heads in the anchorage so it's good to watch from the bow and avoid those.  The cruisers here have a VHF net in the morning just like Marathon and there are lots of activities.  We've walked the beaches, snorkeled, attended historical talks, gone to the Chat n' Chill BBQ, and attended Mass in Georgetown.  We'll be staying here two weeks to explore the area.  It's a boaters' paradise!