With Friends in "The Ditch"

When Linda departed from Palm Beach, I was joined by two old friends, John and Beau, who flew in to help me get north. John was actually returning for another tour of duty -- he was with me in the Keys before Christmas. The remnants of the cold front were still hanging around, so it was cool and winds were out of the north. Once again, the winds were coming from my destination, making sailing impossible.



Old Beau at the helm



Johnnio, as his friends call him

Thursday we departed the beautiful Palm Harbor at 8:30 a.m. and immediately called the bridge tender of the Flagler Bridge to ask for him to open the bridge at 8:45. The commuters backed up as he let us through. We felt a little guilty.

We repeated this about ten more times that day as we made our way up the intracoastal waterway toward Stuart, the crossroads of eastern Florida. It is called this because the Okeechobee River crosses the ICW into the Atlantic. Boats with a mast height of less than 49 feet can take the Okeechobee River across Florida to Fort Myers. If I had really wanted to go that way, I could have paid a vendor to put 1,000 gallons of water on the deck in bladders to heel the boat over so that the mast will clear the bridge.

But, we weren't going that way. We pulled into Sailfish Marina in a little cove called "Manatee Pocket." We were the only sailboat among a slew of Sportfish boats. Stuart claims to be the "Sailfishing Capital" of Florida. The marina allows you to use your grill (some don't because of the fire hazard), so we grilled up some steaks for dinner.

On Friday morning, we continued up the ICW toward Vero Beach. At this point, most of the highway bridges have 65-foot clearance so we didn't have any bridge openings to contend with. The weather was beautiful and each day was getting warmer than the last. We were back in shorts and enjoying the beautiful scenery on both sides of the boat.

This would be a good spot to comment on how much I like the Atlantic ICW. I had heard reports of big power boat wakes, narrow channels, etc. Maybe we were just there in a slow period, but every power boat that came by us slowed down to reduce their wake. Maybe they were so astounded to see "Chattanooga" on the transom of a boat that they were slowing down to see if we had shoes...or teeth.

The scenery of mansions and mega yachts slowly morphed into views of mangrove islands teeming with wildlife. Dolphins played in our wake every hour or so as all manner of seabirds put on a fishing show for us.





Bob, my crew from Clearwater to Key West, lives in Vero Beach so he came to the municipal marina as soon as we tied up. He took us on a tour of Vero Beach and drove us to a great restaurant for dinner. Then we went to the grocery store to replenish our food supplies.


As we left the marina on Saturday morning, we had to slow down to snake our way through the the Vespoli rowing shells of a local female rowing club. It was a beautiful day to motor-sail to Melbourne. We saw large numbers of beautiful white pelicans that had black wingtips. When we got to Melborne at 2:00 we decided to continue on for another 5 miles to a little village named Eau Gallie.

What a great decision that was! As we came down the entrance channel a pod of dolphins were jumping all around us at they fed on mullet. They were jumping so high we thought we were at "SeaWorld." The pelicans were also diving on the mullets all around us. When we got to the marina, it looked like we were in New England. The marina office was located in a canvas shop and a local artist was carving a block of cherry into a dolphin sculpture outside the door.


We walked into town and found a local bar called "Squid Lips" where they brought us some oysters and made our favorite cocktails. A couple of musicians were performing and Beau joined them on stage for some percussion assistance.





We came back to the marina and grilled a pork tenderloin. After dinner, we joined some other boaters around a fire pit and told stories. We also listened to an unfolding drama on the VHF radio as the Coast Guard attempted to assist a sailboat that was 100 miles off the coast with an very sick captain.

By the way, We heard some conflicting stories about the meaning of the town name, Eau Gallie. My college french has worn off, but I knew Eau meant water. Gallie means rocky, according to one resident, but another said the combined phrase actually means clear water. Either way, it is a cool little place with loads of character.


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A turn towards home

I don't know when it happened exactly. At some point, as I plotted my way up the east coast of Florida, I started to think about when I would be back home. Now...that doesn't mean I'm not loving this trip. But the further I move north, the cooler it is getting and the more I think about my fireplace at home.

I had a mental image of Forrest Gump when he was running with all those people following him. Then he suddenly stopped. I think he said something like, "The best trip is one that takes you home."

At some point in the last few days, my mental energies have turned toward home. A few cold blasts of arctic air have passed across Florida and reminded me and all the other sailors here that we are not immune from the cold influence of the rest of the planet. And, each day moves me further north about 35 miles. Over the period of a week, that adds up to a couple hundred miles change in latitude.


Full Moonrise under the NASA bridge at Titusville.

I have now made arrangements for Agaliha to have her mast lowered in a boatyard on the St. John's River 50 miles upstream from Jacksonville. I have also made arrangements for a trucker to to load her up and take her back to Tennessee. A look at the forecast says it is a good decision. A couple of small cold fronts are headed this way in the next couple of weeks.

Jacksonville is the logical port because going further north doesn't get you any closer to Chattanooga because of the way the coastline moves east at the Georgia border. Since the trucker charges by the mile, Jacksonville is the best choice.

The only disappointment from my original plan is that I didn't get to the Bahamas. I knew it was possible that conditions might not allow it and that turned out to be the case this year. But that does not take anything away from the fabulous experience I have had. When I finish, I will have circumnavigated the entire state of Florida and traveled about 2,000 miles from Chattanooga.

But as they say, "All good things must come to an end."



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The boating capital of the world

For the remainder of the week that Linda spent with me moving Agaliha north, we stayed at Turnberry Isle (New Year's Eve), Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale (Jan. 1), Boca Raton (Jan. 2).


New Year's Day on Ft. Lauderdale Beach as a cruise ship departs.


Ft. Lauderdale is celebrating its 100th birthday


The Jungle Queen was berthed right behind us in Bahia Mar Marina.


A typical scene along the Atlantic ICW, Jethro.

Next stop, Boca Raton!

This blog post will be short on words and long on photos. Words to explain what it's like to motor your sailboat across Biscayne Bay through downtown Miami would fall short. I can't imagine a better way to celebrate a New Year!

Sunset photos from Coconut Grove on December 30










Photos from the Intracoastal Waterway in Miami on December 31














Photos from the Turnberry Isle Marina









Our neighbor in the marina, complete with Mini Cooper on Deck!

Happy 2012 to all!

Location:Happy New Year from Miami

Miami...from the south

How many times in your live will you approach Miami, Florida from the south? Not many, I'm guessing. But we did on Thursday and what a day it was.

We left Rodriguez Key at 7:30 a.m. after the sun woke us up. An alarm clock is a torture device of corporate America. We turned northeast in Hawks Channel only to find that the wind was NNW! The forecasted direction was due north, and I was expecting to have to motor into the wind all day. NNW allowed just enough of an angle for us to sail "close hauled" to the northeast. About 8:30, I noticed a Juneau sailboat the same size as Agaliha was motor-sailing past us with all her sails up. My competitive juices kicked in and I raised all the sails (with no reefs) and it added a full knot to our boat speed. It also raised my spirits as we were now sailing to Miami.

(By the way, my knot meter cleaning the night before did the trick. We had a full compliment of instruments and it eased my mind.)

We kicked along over very shallow ground making time toward the big city for New Year's. In some places the depth gauge read in single digits. The seas were calm and the winds were light (seven knots). I hadn't seen this since I got to the Keys in November. Finally, the wind gods were calming down.

Linda basked in the sun as we turned the corner toward Key Biscayne with big Miami in the distance. I could almost feel the head cold cooking out of her as the sun baked down in Agaliha's cockpit. The compass read 000, or due north, for the first time in weeks. I spent the day tweaking sail trim to eek out a small bit of energy to add to the engine ticking away below us.


At 2:00 we turned into the Biscayne Cut which carried us toward Dinner Key Marina, our next home for the night. Along this cut are the remnants of about six "stilt houses" that were built in the sixties before someone realized it was a bad idea to allow these to clog the bay.


A "Stilt House" in Biscayne Bay


The Dinner Key Marina is one of the largest in the U.S. with 535 slips (not including their mooring field)! There are several large sailing clubs in the area and they were hosting a huge regatta for young skippers. There were Optimist Prams, 420s, Lasers, and 29ers. There were over 400 boats involved.











We ate dinner at a great little Italian restaurant and walked beck to the boat to sleep like mummies. It got down to 55 degrees and we loved it.

We finished 2011 by sailing 100 miles in two days to get from Marathon to Miami. The calm conditions in Miami were almost strange after the howling winds in the Keys for the last month.


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Good bye Marathon

Linda and I flew to Miami on December 27 and rented a car to drive to Agaliha, who was on a mooring ball on Boot Key Harbor (Marathon). We stopped at the Publix grocery store to provision the boat on our way. My sweet friends (Stan and Judy) left us a dingy at the dock to get our luggage and groceries to the boat. Agaliha was none the worse for neglect..and we fired up her systems and motored back to Keys Fisheries to eat Stone Crab Claws with Stan and Judy.

At 7:30 on Wednesday, I threw off the lines from the mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor and starting motoring for Hawks Channel (the Atlantic side of the Keys). Linda was a little slow to rise because of the the cold she had contracted in Boston. As we turned east toward Rodriguez Key, the wind built to 25 knots and I was glad I had reefed the main. We rolled out a little of the genoa until our angle was too narrow to carry it. The seas built to about four feet and we slammed into the waves. This killed our forward progress. Linda was unphased while reading book on her Kindle and I was relieved that she was not sick.


It was so rough that our horse-shoe buoy got thrown off of the transom after lunch. We decided to to use it as a man overboard drill and circled a few times until I retrieved it with a boat hook. We were both glad it was not a human.

The 48 miles to Rodriguez Key became a slow slog as we banged into the waves. But it was not uncomfortable for either of us...just slow. We finally anchored in the lee of Rodriguez Key at 4:00 p.m. I put on a wet suit and dove under the boat to clear the knot meter while Linda showered and dried her hair with the generator. I cut my finger on a barnacle that was clogging the knot meter sending unit. Lesson learned -- those bastards are sharp! I hope the instruments will work tomorrow.


We grilled steaks and Linda cooked rice and made a great salad as the sun set behind us.


We enjoyed a great anchorage after a full day of sailing toward Miami for New Years. I had to break out the bugle and play "Taps" as the sun disappeared below the horizon.


I called Dinner Key Marina (in Biscayne Bay) on the phone and they took our reservation for Thursday night. The marina market is still slow.

It was the first day that Linda had been aboard during a transit and it felt so good. She even went below in four-foot seas to make lunch. Her steel stomach is impressive. We were tired and had another 50-mile trip ahead of us to make Coconut Grove on Thursday.

It was sweet to be back on the boat after a cold and gray Christmas week in Chattanooga. The fireplace was good, but no substitute for the sun in the Keys. We were ready to get to Miami and ring out 2011...and ring in 2012.


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Daughters on board!

Months ago when planning this trip, I wanted to have my daughters share the experience with me. Given their work obligations, we decided that Christmas would be the best opportunity for us all to be together. I didn't know where I would be at that point, so we decided on Key West as a good guess -- and we made plane reservations. I had to do a little backtracking to get back to Key West, but it was no problem.

Ginny and Betsy arrived on Friday as scheduled. Too bad Betsy's luggage didn't. She was forced to check it by Delta because all the overhead bins were full. Then they lost it. We didn't worry too much about it on Friday night because we washed our worries away at Schooner's Wharf, the best "sailor's bar" in Key West. The food and music were great. The lost bag was delivered before midnight, so no worries.


Saturday morning, after Cuban coffee con leche, we walked to the "Southern most Point" of the continental U.S. We swung by the Hemingway House and the Little White House. After 3 weeks here, I was a walking tour guide. Then, the girls enjoyed a beautiful sunny day by the pool at the Marina where Agaliha was docked.


Late in the afternoon, we walked to Mallory Square to see the sideshows and the trademark Key West sunset. Then we had a great dinner at the Conch Republic Seafood Company. It was a perfect day in paradise.


I have rented a mooring ball in Marathon for the month of December, mostly so I could go home with the girls for Christmas. So, we needed to get the boat back to Marathon. Unfortunately, the only day the weather would permit that was Sunday. On Monday, the Christmas winds were going to pipe up again -- 30 mph out of the east. So, we made our plans to depart at first light on Sunday headed east to Marathon.


Ginny takes the first turn at the helm before sunrise

The weather forecast said the Atlantic could whip up to four foot waves by mid-day. I was a little worried that it might be a little wild for my girls. The wind did blow at 16 to 18 mph as predicted. And we had a few four-foot waves hit us, but all in all, it was a better sea than predicted. Agaliha made great time, averaging 7 knots into the wind with a reefed main, partial genoa and a boost from the engine. This combination gave us the smoothest ride and shortened the trip.





Captain Ron is happy to have his girls on board




By 1:30 we were tied up at the Marathon Marina, where there is a beautiful pool and a great restaurant called Lazy Days. After rinsing all the salt water off of the boat, we lay by the pool and rested up from our voyage in the big water.


Our slip had a great western view of the sunset, and a bugle rendition of "Taps" was in order. We were a tired but happy crew.


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