Down at Mile 0 in the Florida Keys where it's always Saturday night

After the week of work we had on the boat we decided to take the bus to Key West yesterday (I think it was Friday). Key West Transit runs a lower keys shuttle between Key West and Marathon about 8 times a day for the 50 mile trip. The neat things is that as a bona fide senior citizen the fare is only $1.50 per person. So we walked a couple blocks up the highway to the nearest bus stop and waited for our ride to Margaritaville.

The bus appeared almost on schedule and we boarded. There was another couple aboard who were cruisers from North Carolina on a mooring ball over in Boot Key Harbor. So we chatted about sailing and living aboard.

Leaving Marathon we crossed over the 7 mile bridge. The longest span over water in the Keys. It is also one of only 2 bridges with openings high enough for most sailboats at 65'. The other is Channel 5 that we came through last weekend. Above is a picture of the old bridge that was part of the original railroad bridge built by Henry Flagler when trains running to Key West was the primary transportation. During a hurricane in the 30's part of the 7 mile bridge was destroyed when the railroad was bankrupt so the state took it over and built the Overseas Highway to replace the Overseas Railroad.The highway crosses a series of bridges and islands before making its way to Key West.

One of the many islets on the way. The bus was a mix of locals and tourists all heading west for one reason or another.

We rolled into Key West right about noon and made our way to the terminus by Duval and Caroline Street.

Being hungry from the long ride we headed to Schooner's Wharf which is of course right on the dock by all the touristy schooners but is the place the marina rats like us like to hang out. So we grabbed a table on the roof in the sun and ordered up some beer and oysters for starters.

Aqui es mi esposa Linda with some of the ships in the background. The place was packed with people off a cruise ship when we got there. Fortunately they were leaving to get back to there ship.

We wandered around to famous Mallory Square. We avoided going there at sunset when all the tourists are there. We see enough sunsets. Although some of the folks here saw the green flash last night. We missed it.

  

Of course we had to see the iconic:

And the legendary:

But since we don't usually do tourist places we needed to get serious and we found the Rum Bar. The Rum Bar is our kind of place. Small, quaint and packed with 300 kinds of rum. The bartender Bahama Bob

http://bahamabobsrumstyles.blogspot.com/ is a real rum aficionado and international rum judge. He makes his drinks with real stuff, not mixes like most bars. Linda enjoyed a Pusser's Painkiller just like I make them and Bob offered me 2 very good rums. The first one was Don Pancho but I don't recall the second one which was really good. I just asked Bob to surprise me. I didn't want to drink something I had at home.

After a great time at the Rum Bar, a place we will definitely visit again, we went by Willy T's for dinner. There were lots of tables available because all the tourists were at Mallory Square photographing the sunset over the water. As we were finishing the place filed up. Most of the restaurants and bars have live entertainment so there's always a party going on someplace.

We found our way to the bus stop only to find that the keeper of the schedule misread it and was looking at AM times. Since there was no bus when we thought we went to Margaritaville to sit at the bar and watch the Miami Heat game. The Band started just as we were getting ready to leave. No JB tonight. Ironically it was just last Friday that we were there at the Heat game talking about here.

Well we managed to get the bus back and stumbled into the boat tired and worn from our day at Mile 0. I think next time we take the 5 PM bus to KW and the 6 AM bus back. Nothing starts until 9 and it all goes until 0400.

Today was more boat chores and I got up and did a run first thing. Tomorrow, our friends from Chicago will be here and I'm making painkillers. Yumm!

Establishing the New Normal

The last couple days we have been trying to get about to a routine but  we have a ways to go. This morning I got up and ran for the first time since St Augustine. Of course I haven't worked out regularly since we got this boat. Want to get back to it. Since I can't run everyday I'm hoping for 2x a week. Only ran about 4 miles this morning. Maybe I can run Saturday and get up to 6 miles.

Came back and made my Saturday breakfast, Mexican Eggs. I chop fresh jalapeno and habanero peppers and throw them in some eggs with mexicheese, salsa, cilantro, cholula sauce, oregano and chipotle. Eat them with a tortilla. Gets digestion going for the whole day.

Today we got on with boat chores. Did a pump out actually right after I got back from my run and then got on with changing the engine oil and fuel filters. When I actually checked the hours theyw ere less than I thought but I went ahead because the next time might not be so convenient. Since our initial bout with fuel filter issues we haven't had any and when I changed the filters I noticed they weren't real dirty so I'm hoping we are over the engine choking dirt coming from the tank. Always best to keep ahead of things like that.

After finishing the engine service got cleaned up. During the day Linda made a flaxseed meal bread from scratch and played in her elimination shuffleboard competition. Fortunately she lost so we can go to Key West tomorrow.

We then walked across the street to a Yanmar repair shop and bought some replacement fuel and oil filters on our way to Burdines where we were the other day. Today enjoyed an early hour of beer and french fries. We then walked back to the HCC happy hour. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing on this side the island so everyone was ready to head in early.

Weather has been blustery and hopefully it will come down in the next few days. Also looking for warm-up as it has only been in the 60's and low 70's. Way below average for this time of year. At Burdine's they had the Weather Channel on and noticed more snow coming to the northeast.

Sorry guys. We have an extra room for anyone wants to visit. We have lived in snow country, enjoyed it, but hopefully never again.

Since we've been so busy all week tomorrow we plan to take the bus into Key West tomorrow and spending Saturday again working on the boat.

We're still working tasks that should have been done before we left along with recurring maintenance issues. Once we get through these we will be able to get to the days of rum and kicking back. Hopefully it will be warmer then.
 

This is our real life

As we noted we got here to Marathon on Sunday and spent yesterday doing some exploring and getting about our sojourn on the Island. We started out slowly because it was our first day in weeks with no pressing agenda and enjoyed our usual Sunday morning breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Hmmm, Sunday was the day we got here. Yesterday the wind was blowing in the 20's most of the day. Was great to have our wind generator pump out amps for us. Pretty much since we've been here the boats been rocking very comfortably.

Today we got down to work and the number one project was to replace the long hose that runs from our aft head to the holding tank. About Christmas we discovered that the hose was blocked even though we hadn't used it. So today we got down to it and replaced the hose. It was a major project and a big relief to have it done. So tonight we went out to celebrate our getting here and getting this project done.

This afternoon the Manager of the Association here came by and we met at the tiki hut for happy hour and sundowners as people here do everyday. This week in leading up to the Superbowl there is a shuffleboard tournament and tomorrow we get our chance to be eliminated.

Tonight while visiting at the Tiki Hut I was asked what I did in real life and I replied this is our real life. Each day is a new adventure and the name of the day is unimportant except to know what specials are being offered for happy hour. There are no Mondays and every night is Saturday night. For months we worked to beat the calendar to get the boat south before winter and stay ahead of the cold. We did that and with any luck will have no reason to see cold weather anytime soon. The chill here is cold enough for us. The good news is in a few days it will be warm again.

Tomorrow, more projects, shopping and shuffleboard.

Living the Dream - Just the Beginning

Here we are, nestled in a slip in the Keys for a month with so much ahead of us to explore, new sights to see and new friendships to begin. After many years of careful planning and giving up all our landlubber possessions we are finally here, living on our boat, sailing to wherever we want to be. It's still amazing to me and seems a bit unreal. Everyday is a different adventure. Not every day is or will be a good day. There will always be unwelcome challenges to face. All we can hope for is that most days will be good. Fortune has been smiling on us lately as we've had a string of what's turned out to be good days. Today was among them. Sleeping a little later today we went out and explored Marathon a bit ending up enjoying a beer in a little place with a great view of the Boot Key Harbor Channel.

                                                     View from the bar at Burdines

Tomorrow we will begin to do some needed work on the boat. A few things that we've been putting off till we got here. The forecast will be unseasonably cool in the high 60s the next couple of days so it will be a good time to work on the boat.

I'm sure we will enjoy our stay in Marathon. We're looking forward to exploring more of the Keys, especially Key West. Just the beginning of a continuous journey exploring new places and making new friends. Just the beginning - living the dream.

Destination Achieved

Today about 1600 we pulled into Harbour Cay Club on Marathon which completes our first destination. We left Oxford, MD about 7 weeks ago and despite some setbacks along the way we made it more than 1300 miles on this our first adventure in our new boat. We have lots of work to accomplish here before we head off in about a month.

This is looking across from our slip to one of the Fanny Keys with it's owners home.

We had a great sail today after a wonderful evening last night anchored off Key Largo. Getting into our anchorage was challenging because the water was shallow and so we were limited in how close to shore we could anchor. Of course having 30 kt winds blowing us off in the dark made it more exciting. But, after wishing we were back in Miami we got the anchor hooked and it was all uphill from there. Linda made a great dinner that we enjoyed in the cockpit. Despite the cold front that came through it was still in the low 70's at dinner time headed down to the 50's. Then just as we finished we got a phone call from the HHSA Banquet. Thanks for all the well wishes from everyone and you can follow us on this blog.

The night turned out very peaceful. The wind continued blowing in the high teens with gusts over 20 but the boat floated and gently rocked as the anchor held us in place. We thought we might need to sit up to keep an anchor watch, but I watched Saturday Night Live and checked everything and all was well so I joined Linda who was already committed to deep sleep. The cabin stayed comfortably warm so we didn't even need any heat.

This morning had a cool but beautiful sunrise. So to get an early start (since we didn't get up early) we just hauled anchor and left doing our morning routines and breakfast underway. Wind was blowing nicely out of the north so we went to sail very quickly and shut off the engine doing a very nice 8 kts with a gentle sea. This had to be one the best sails we had in a long time. Kept it up until we had to pull in the sails to go under the Channel 5 bridge to cross into the Florida Bay.  The Marina we are in is on the north side of Marathon. Here is a view of Islamorada in the distance.

After we got back into the inside channel we pulled out the sails and sailed until the wind fell off. Here we were passing the Long Key Viaduct on the Bay side.

We motored for the last hour or so with little wind and as luck would have it the wind came up when we were a few miles from the marina and stayed up while were trying to dock.

Fortunately, all the HCC folks who were home came out to help us dock as we had wind and current to contend with as we backed into a bulkhead with boats in front of and behind and across the channel. Very interesting trying to parallel park a 45' boat with wind and current and conveniently placed pilings to avoid.

Well, we're here. Tucked away for a few weeks as we begin to get work done and visit with old and new friends with the HCC shuffleboard contest this week leading up to the Super Bowl.

Oh well,back to island life until we leave for a visit up Florida's west coast.

Got out of town on a boat for the southern islands...

This morning we left Miami sort of as we expected but it was all a bit tentative and problematic.

Our plan was to leave Miami today to head south to Marathon but as with many things reality got in the way. Forecasts for this weekend began going down hill early and threw in some excitement to our planning. Island Packet's are all weather boats. They perform well in bad conditions unlike some boats that are strictly fair weather sailers. But then that's why our last 2 boats have been IP's.

The forecasts indicated that winds this morning were going to be 15-20 out of the south southwest. Just our kind of forecast for going east but we were going south southwest. But the forecast also indicated it would be turning to the north and northwest after noon. So we dallied a bit this morning as we got ready to leave. We left our slip and pumped out our holding tank and sort of roughly planned to stop in Long Key by the Channel 5 Bridge this evening.

Well, I was hoping to take the quick way from the marina and take the main channel through the port of Miami. As they say the easy way is always mined. Well, this morning there were 6 cruise ships docked along the port any more than 2 makes it a security risk and the channel is closed. As we were turned back by the Miami PD the railroad bridge behind us that is usually open closed. So there we were stuck in the channel with no where to go while a train crossed over our route of egress.

Once the train cleared we motored out the alternate channel and made it to the ocean where the wind had started clocking round to the north and we were on our way.

The other disconcerting thing about the forecast was the possibility of big surf when we  tried to negotiate the Channel 5 bridge. But it now looks like we will be ok.

We managed to sail to an anchorage by Key Largo where we  dropped the hook in winds just shy of 30kts and had a nice quiet dinner although the winds are howling around us. There are actually several other boats anchored here. Tomorrow the temps are supposed to get chilly so we may need some heat in the morning. But right now the wind turbine is keeping the batteries topped off. So no need to burn fossil fuel tonight.

Thanks to all who commented or liked Linda's pix last night. We enjoyed the game and it was a fun thing to do on our last night in Miami.

Tomorrow on to Marathon and then we start to undo the boat and begin several additional projects.  

In the Heart of Miami

Our plans to stay at Dinner Key after leaving our Biscayne Bay anchorage were foiled as all the marinas there were full. So we found a slip in the heart of Miami at Miamarina. We're in the midst of a large shopping complex with lots of restaurants and bars. There is a concert stage where music begins about 8pm every night and doesn't quit till about the time I used to get up for work. It's a pretty cool area to stay in for a few nights. We've met several interesting fellow boaters. The architecture is very colorful and modern, just the way I like it! 

          Here's Amekaya in her slip with the very urban background of downtown Miami.

We're only about 6 miles from famed South Beach so we got out our bikes and went for a ride. The Art Deco area was intriguing and beautiful. We enjoyed our lunch at the Yard House. The streets and beaches were jam packed with people on this gorgeous sunny day with temps reaching the low 80s. Feels great!

Above Maris taking a rest in a park with Art Deco buildings in the background. Below is a shot of the white sand beach.

I hear a Beatle Band playing on the concert stage. Time to grab a drink and enjoy the breeze.