6.6
We made it through the overnight passage and arrived in the beautiful Marco Island around 11am on Sunday morning. We dropped the anchor in a very small bay that a friend had recommended to us. And as soon as we had taken care of all the "boat business", we crashed!
That evening we dinghy-ed into a nearby marina, the Esplanade. It was very upscale and our little dinghy looked mighty silly in comparison to all the nice yachts there. The slips were owned by people who rented the upscale condos overlooking the bay. We tied up to one of the docks and started our tour of Marco. Arriving in the Esplanade after being in Key West is like an out of body experience. There re rich people everywhere, small galleries and art boutiques and 5star restaurants - no dogs, no bikes, no sailboats, and certainly no drunk, half-naked people. It was official, we were back in the real world - and it was refreshing.
We walked around town, took note of where the West Marine and Publix were for the following day's errands and then went in search of a bar/restaurant in which to grab a bite to eat and watch the basketball and hockey games.
We soon realized how different of a place Marco was from the keys when we walked for thirty minutes and never once saw a person out of their car or a biker or anyone walking their dog, and much more to our surprise - not a single bar! We finally found a small "lounge" that seemed to be able to provide what we were looking for - of course it was attached to "Porky's Last Stand" restaurant (not what I would call normal in this otherwise ritzy, sleepy little town).
The TVs were small but watchable, the prices were right and most importantly, the A/C was on high - we were in business. We had a simple dinner and a few beers and were finally feeling normal again after the overnight voyage. Things were going well until a neighboring bar-going started talking to Brad, normal harmless sports banter at first. Then he launched into a story whereupon he referred to himself as "The Legend" at least 12 times - needless to say we left soon after that.
The next few days, we stocked up on food and walked the dog and just enjoyed the general laziness of the town and its residents; this is mostly due to the fact that all of its residents are over the age of 60.
We did run into some trouble with our generator and had to seek out a local small engine repair shop. We walked some 20-30minutes and hit a goldmine. We, of course, had not brought the generator with us but were rather hoping just to glean some knowledge on how to fix it ourselves or perhaps even leave with some magic spray that would fix our troubles. What we got was even better. We were greeted by two Australians, father and son, who heard our situation and quickly launched into rescue mode. Before either of us knew what was happening, Brad had driven away with the son - he was going to our boat to fix the generator on site! - and Koa and I had been ushered into an air-conditioned office and given water and a Popsicle and free use of the internet. Was this a scene from a horror-movie or were these people really just that generous?! Nervous though I was at first, I reasoned that as long as I had my attack dog here to protect me, nothing could go wrong, so I sat back and surfed the web and enjoyed the Popsicle. I even worked a bit - when it seemed he was too busy to answer his phone, I played secretary and also collected payment from a customer who came in while the owner was in the back.
Before I knew it, Brad was back, the generator was fixed, we were given a card with the instructions to call if anything went wrong again, we paid $20 and were on our way home. That was the best repair shop experience of my life!
We went back to the Esplanade, had a few drinks at the pricey outdoor bar overlooking the marina and then, after two bad drinks, decided we could do better ourselves and called it a night.
Wednesday morning, we leave for Naples.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Overnight Passage
6.5
Today was the day we left Key West. Parting with all the wonderful friends we had made was very sad, but we had been there long enough and were ready to move on. After all, what good is a sailboat when it isn't being sailed?! We were leaving behind our very good friend John, who lives up in DC and is a Hokie - so I am sure we will be seeing him again soon. But we had talked our friend Blake into returning to Tampa with us - he will be meeting us there in a few days. He originally lived there for a few years before sailing down to Key West. He hopes to make the trek over to the Bahamas, so we talked him into holing up in Tampa with his boat during hurricane season and then we will all make the trip over together. It will be the first one for us all and we hope to hook up with some more experienced boaters before we cross the stream over to the islands.
The trip up to Marco Island from Key West is a little over 90 miles. This obviously cannot be done within the course of one day, so we were told the best thing to do is leave the evening before and arrive mid-day the following day. You never want to arrive in a new port after 3pm due to changing tides, blinding sun and unfamiliar territory.
So, we packed up the mothership and headed out at 5pm for our first overnight passage. The day started out well; we motored out of Key West and it appeared we would have a southeast wind to push us along. But as soon as we turned the corner and headed North, the wind shifted and was directly off our bow at only 2knots - not enough to sail, especially headlong into a wind. So, we decided to motor without even raising the sails. It was very hazy and the sunset was blurred by the clouds on the horizon so we did not have any blinding conditions. It stayed light until about 8:45pm and then darkness started to creep in. The moon was not due to come up until 2:45am.
At 1am, I took the helm so Brad could get some sleep. As I sat down with my Ipod music and my flashlight and looked out around the boat, I realized that I could see.....nothing. It was pitch black dark; the kind of darkness that surrounds you and makes you feel pinned in. It was the most eerie feeling I have ever had - sitting behind the wheel, (although not steering due to our wonderful autopilot) watching the wheel move by itself, hearing the waves lapping at the boat. Since there were no landmarks to compare our movement to it felt as if we were flying, racing through the waves, when in reality we were only going 6 knots. When I looked up it felt like I could see every star in the universe. The sky was blanketed in twinkling stars; we could see shooting stars and even the milky way. There was no light pollution within 50 miles of us so the sky was pristine.
The wind still had not picked up so we were only motoring. In truth, it was probably better that way. I would rather have light wind and no waves on my first overnight passage than wind piping up to 20 knots and unseen waves rocking the boat onto its side.
Once I settled into my position at the helm, it became relaxing - the constant lapping of the waves, the occasional shooting star and the salt wind in my face. The low glow of the radar provided some ambient light, although there was no point in the radar, as we did not come within 12 miles of another boat the entire night. The ride was so relaxing that I soon fell into a rhythm and even let Brad sleep 5 straight hours as I monitored the trek northward - of course the Red Bull, Mountain Dew and M&Ms may have contributed to my constant alertness for that extended period of time. At 6am, I finally needed to sleep, so I woke Brad - who was very grateful to have slept that long and pleased to see that the sun was starting to light up the east sky.
I crashed heavily and slept for 3hours before we pulled into our anchorage in Marco Island. We pulled in among mansions and anchored in the middle of a small bay that one of the Tortugas couples had recommended to us. Here we were able to dinghy into the local yacht club and rub elbows with the wealthy power boaters that docked there. Although Marco Island is beautiful, it was quite the culture shock - coming from Key West where there are people and bars every 10 feet to this small retirement island where we walked for 20 minutes before seeing another person and the only bar we could find was a "lounge" attached to a local restaurant - "Porky's Last Stand".
We enjoyed talking to a few of the locals one of which called himself "The Legend" of which he was not! We will be heading out Wednesday morning to go north to Naples.
Today was the day we left Key West. Parting with all the wonderful friends we had made was very sad, but we had been there long enough and were ready to move on. After all, what good is a sailboat when it isn't being sailed?! We were leaving behind our very good friend John, who lives up in DC and is a Hokie - so I am sure we will be seeing him again soon. But we had talked our friend Blake into returning to Tampa with us - he will be meeting us there in a few days. He originally lived there for a few years before sailing down to Key West. He hopes to make the trek over to the Bahamas, so we talked him into holing up in Tampa with his boat during hurricane season and then we will all make the trip over together. It will be the first one for us all and we hope to hook up with some more experienced boaters before we cross the stream over to the islands.
The trip up to Marco Island from Key West is a little over 90 miles. This obviously cannot be done within the course of one day, so we were told the best thing to do is leave the evening before and arrive mid-day the following day. You never want to arrive in a new port after 3pm due to changing tides, blinding sun and unfamiliar territory.
So, we packed up the mothership and headed out at 5pm for our first overnight passage. The day started out well; we motored out of Key West and it appeared we would have a southeast wind to push us along. But as soon as we turned the corner and headed North, the wind shifted and was directly off our bow at only 2knots - not enough to sail, especially headlong into a wind. So, we decided to motor without even raising the sails. It was very hazy and the sunset was blurred by the clouds on the horizon so we did not have any blinding conditions. It stayed light until about 8:45pm and then darkness started to creep in. The moon was not due to come up until 2:45am.
At 1am, I took the helm so Brad could get some sleep. As I sat down with my Ipod music and my flashlight and looked out around the boat, I realized that I could see.....nothing. It was pitch black dark; the kind of darkness that surrounds you and makes you feel pinned in. It was the most eerie feeling I have ever had - sitting behind the wheel, (although not steering due to our wonderful autopilot) watching the wheel move by itself, hearing the waves lapping at the boat. Since there were no landmarks to compare our movement to it felt as if we were flying, racing through the waves, when in reality we were only going 6 knots. When I looked up it felt like I could see every star in the universe. The sky was blanketed in twinkling stars; we could see shooting stars and even the milky way. There was no light pollution within 50 miles of us so the sky was pristine.
The wind still had not picked up so we were only motoring. In truth, it was probably better that way. I would rather have light wind and no waves on my first overnight passage than wind piping up to 20 knots and unseen waves rocking the boat onto its side.
Once I settled into my position at the helm, it became relaxing - the constant lapping of the waves, the occasional shooting star and the salt wind in my face. The low glow of the radar provided some ambient light, although there was no point in the radar, as we did not come within 12 miles of another boat the entire night. The ride was so relaxing that I soon fell into a rhythm and even let Brad sleep 5 straight hours as I monitored the trek northward - of course the Red Bull, Mountain Dew and M&Ms may have contributed to my constant alertness for that extended period of time. At 6am, I finally needed to sleep, so I woke Brad - who was very grateful to have slept that long and pleased to see that the sun was starting to light up the east sky.
I crashed heavily and slept for 3hours before we pulled into our anchorage in Marco Island. We pulled in among mansions and anchored in the middle of a small bay that one of the Tortugas couples had recommended to us. Here we were able to dinghy into the local yacht club and rub elbows with the wealthy power boaters that docked there. Although Marco Island is beautiful, it was quite the culture shock - coming from Key West where there are people and bars every 10 feet to this small retirement island where we walked for 20 minutes before seeing another person and the only bar we could find was a "lounge" attached to a local restaurant - "Porky's Last Stand".
We enjoyed talking to a few of the locals one of which called himself "The Legend" of which he was not! We will be heading out Wednesday morning to go north to Naples.
Memorial Day and Margarita Monday!
After returning from the Tortugas, our friends insisted we have a night out on the town. So we headed into Old Town and made our way around to the various bars, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying being around our friends again. Memorial Day was soon upon us, so we decided to have a cookout. We loaded up on hotdogs, burgers, beers, chips and fruits (to even out the amount of carbs we were consuming that day!) and headed over to Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park on Saturday. John made an excellent chef as he slaved over the grill while the rest of us (Blake, Jeremy, Brad, Desi, Koa and I) lazed around on the beach and enjoyed the day. We all enjoyed the grub, especially Koa who got all the leftovers. We cooked, we swam, we drank; and then we left the park, showered up and headed back out to do more of the same. All in all, a successful Memorial Day weekend.
Without even realizing that Monday was Memorial Day, we planned to have a party - Margarita Monday. John's friend was in town, another couple that we had met had friends in town and it jut seemed like the perfect day. We had everyone out to our boat (we have learned in our travels that whosoever has the biggest boat is automatically the host), including some landlubbers (Lori, Desi, Daniella, and Sonia) that we had to dinghy in from the dock. Don't worry, we didn't use our slow dinghy - they would have bailed ship before they even got out to our boat! One of the other guys on the mooring field picked them up in his super fast 25hp dinghy.
It was an awesome day - perfect for Margaritas!! We had chips and dips, quesadillas and frozen margaritas (thanks to our generator!) We listened to music, relaxed on the boat and everyone swam around with Koa - much to his delight!
When darkness fell and everyone had been transported back to shore, the mooring fielders met back at our boat to finish out the evening with some games. It was a very successful first "Margarita Monday" and will need to be repeated on a regular basis!!
Without even realizing that Monday was Memorial Day, we planned to have a party - Margarita Monday. John's friend was in town, another couple that we had met had friends in town and it jut seemed like the perfect day. We had everyone out to our boat (we have learned in our travels that whosoever has the biggest boat is automatically the host), including some landlubbers (Lori, Desi, Daniella, and Sonia) that we had to dinghy in from the dock. Don't worry, we didn't use our slow dinghy - they would have bailed ship before they even got out to our boat! One of the other guys on the mooring field picked them up in his super fast 25hp dinghy.
It was an awesome day - perfect for Margaritas!! We had chips and dips, quesadillas and frozen margaritas (thanks to our generator!) We listened to music, relaxed on the boat and everyone swam around with Koa - much to his delight!
When darkness fell and everyone had been transported back to shore, the mooring fielders met back at our boat to finish out the evening with some games. It was a very successful first "Margarita Monday" and will need to be repeated on a regular basis!!
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