2-17-17 Allan-Pensacola Cay

Why 2 names for this Cay you might ask?  They used to be two separate Cays but during a hurricane years ago sand filled in between them forming one solid cay now.  There is your history lesson for the day.

We arrived and attempted to set our anchor but there were already quite a few boats here and the pickings were slim.  The grass bottom is extremely dense and most anchors cannot penetrate it.  We were trying to drop the anchor in one of the few patches of sand. I guess I wasn’t such a good aim as it took us 3 tries.  But alas, we succeeded and held.

It was too late to explore the Cay that night because we spent the day at Moraine Cay. But the most amazing thing happened!  It was very dark out due to no city lights.  We were out star gazing.  We heard fish jumping.  I got a flash light. There were smaller flying fish literally flying across the water.  I called Scott to see them. But the light scared them off.  I shined the light in the water next to our boat and first there were little fish, then bigger fish, THEN….. an enormous sea turtle swam right up to and under our boat.  If we could have reached the water from the side of the boat we could have touched it.  It was 3 to 4 feet in diameter.  It’s head was huge, at least as big as Scotts.  It was the most amazing thing either of us have experience on this trip.

In the morning, we dropped the dinghy to explore the Cay.  The first thing we found was a makeshift Tiki bar.  It was rather interesting.

What we were looking for was a path that lead across the Cay to the Atlantic ocean.  It was unclear where it was until we found our sign.

When we got to the other side this is what we found:

It is the sign tree.  People made signs, mostly with boat names on them, out of the Flotsam that has washed up on shore. It was a little disheartening to see so much plastic trash on a shore, but in the same breath it is like an art museum with the creativity people put into their signs. There will not be my usual Unique and Random Photo of the Day because these all take that position.

We hiked down the beach.  Scott was itching to snorkel and I wanted to chill in the sand.  Off he went. After a while I came down to the water to see what he was finding.  He came out of the water and said “there isn’t much to see……except for that shark right there”  OMG  We both saw it at the same time.  He was swimming with the sharks again!  He actually went back into the shallow water, spear in hand, to see if he could get a look at him. No way! He was off like a rocket. We actually followed him all the way down the beach. He knew we were there and kept the same, safe distance in front of us.  Darn. We wanted to watch him.

Seeing the snorkeling wasn’t good we headed back to the Abaco Sea side of the Cay to dinghy to another beach.  We snorkeled there and didn’t see tons, but there were small fish sea urchins, sea cucumbers etc. We found another sign “Matty’s Track”

We we started off.  This path was much narrower and in denser woods. There were markings along the path so no one would get lost.  The markings were made of junk that had floated up on shore.

 

When we got to the Atlantic Ocean, it was a very different shoreline.  Very jagged rocks!

There was tons of petrified brain coral washed up on the rocks. I would have liked to keep a larger one, but if I keep that up our boat will sink with all my treasures!

We heard voices coming from the trail.  Someone else braved the trail. A man sees us and says “Oh thank goodness you’re not naked”  We all laughed, then we realized we knew these people. It was Cathy and Michael on Trawler Life, fellow loopers.  Talk about a small world. We will both be staying at the same marina in a few days down at Green Turtle Cay.

We really enjoyed the Cay and the eclectic art.

For those of you that may be counting that is the 4th shark we have seen.

Thanks for reading,

Scott and Karen

 

Moraine Cay

Our next stop was at another uninhabited island, Moraine Cay.  This is a privately owned Cay but Active Captain (0ne of our resources for anchoring, marinas and just about anything else we want to know) said the owners welcome visitors.  They just ask that you pick up plastic trash and take a bit with you. Which of course we did on every island where we stopped.

There is a beautiful beach that we dinghied to.  We saw some rather large sea trout on our dinghy ride in.  Scott had his spear in hand hoping for a little luck. We snorkeled just off the beach not really expecting to see much and we didn’t.  That is until we really started looking.  On the edge of the grass there were beautiful tropical fish, purple and yellow and black and white.  We saw a flounder.  What a weird fish.  He was the exact color of the sand and was partially buried in the sand to hide.  When we got close you could see his eyes watching us. He wasn’t big enough for dinner and the trout were too skittish to get near. So the spear goes unused again. We also saw large conch crawling along the bottom.  We didn’t have internet to google how to clean and cook them so they got to stay. Sea urchins, sea biscuits, pencil fish, etc.

On the Cay there are three homes and one shed.  There was also a dock to land a boat.  On the dock it said: morainecay.com.  I guess you can rent these cottages.  I wonder if you have to bring all your own water food etc. And what about the bathroom.  hmmmm? Will look it up someday. There is now power or fresh water on these Cays that are uninhabited.  It sure would be a treat to stay there for a week.

This stop was just a day stop. Now off to Allan-Pensacola Cay….stay tuned. There will be lots of random photos from Allan Cay.

Thanks for reading

Scott and Karen

Unique Random Photo of the day:

 

I am a little out of order on my blogs sorry. Getting pictures to upload has been a challenge. I post what I can.  We lost power and internet last night and it is 12:30 and we now have it back.

2-14 through 2-16 Double Breasted Cay and Sand Cay

After we left West End we had a flotilla of 4 boats heading to Sale Cay.  Surprisingly we knew Hard Dock Cafe and Tidings of Joy. It was so good so see them both again.  Sale Cay is a very protected anchorage on an uninhabited island that most people stop at. From there you start for your destination.

On the way to Sale Cay we caught dinner. At Sale Cay we were enthralled by the clear water and couldn’t wait to go snorkeling.  We thought it might be a good idea to wait to clean the fish and dump the bloody bucket of water AFTER we swam in case ol’ sharky wanted to come check it out. There wasn’t tons to see snorkeling but the water was crystal clear and refreshing. As an added bonus our baths were done after we did a quick wash in the saltwater and freshwater rinse on the back of the boat.

After to swim, I learned to clean a fish. I didn’t do too badly…..we actually had some meat left to each when I got done. 😉

We chose to go north to the Northern Abacos Islands.  There are 7 of them with only 2 that are inhabited. On our way to Double Breasted Cay we got a feel for what it was like traveling in the Bahamas.  Lots of rock and shallow spots.  We had to follow the charts closely.

We got into our anchorage safely  and had to do a Bahamian Moor. Where we put out two anchors one to the Left and one to the Right due to strong current the runs back and forth between the Cays. (BTW: Cay is pronounced “Key”)

 

After we got settled we did our usual and dropped the anchor to go exploring.  There were many many Islets that were mostly covered  in mangroves. There was a strong current between them. We were glad we have a 15h motor on our dinghy.

On our way back to our boat we saw a shark running along the drop off of the sand bar.  Of course I had just put my camera down, but I got a few shots off.

Before we went back to the boat we stopped off at Sand Cay where we found a few new treasures.

There are conch shells all over the Sand Cay.  This area had a higher concentration because there is a fire pit near by made out of them etc.

 

The Islands and Cays are obviously made up of old coral reefs.

Here is a closeup of the rock on the islands.

Found this tiny purple fan in the shallows.

My new favorite shell.  It is called a Sea Biscuit.

As you can see we made the best of the windy weather and made it to shore everyday to get some walking in and to explore.

Thanks for reading,

Scott and Karen

Unique Random Photo of the Day:

2-15-17 Anchor gives way in wind.

We were safely anchored and are now on day three.  We saw a 50-foot sport fisher name Bounty Hunter heading our way.  They were going through the area we were concerned with the depth in our dinghy. However, It was high tide now they may be okay.  We turned on our radio in case they had issues.  Surprisingly they made it into our anchorage and started to anchor. Scott radioed them asking it they would like help putting out their second anchor with the dinghy.  They declined.  They took multiple stabs at it and finally they said on the radio they were going to do what we had done. The wind was howling and voices were raised both for sound and out of frustration.

Our observations:  1)Little or no chain, 2) captain backed down on the anchor too fast not letting it dig in deeply 3) they didn’t put out enough rode(rope) 4) too much testosterone on the boat- 3 men. What communication there was, wasn’t very constructive. 5) being stubborn and not accepting our help.

After several more tries they finally settled. We watched them carefully because if their anchor let loose they could easily hit us.  Thankfully the guy in the orange shirt was on the bow checking thing often.  That made us feel better.

The wind kicked up  even more during the night and we could hear yelling again.  Scott and I are both up now. Their anchors must have given way and they had the engine running and lots of bright lights on and were trying desperately to re-anchor for hours.

At first light they left.  We saw them move to another spot. It looked like they were rocking pretty good.  Next thing we know they were gone (not surprising) We think they are anchored on the other side of the island as we can see an anchor light sticking up.

We truly felt sorry for them. But were proud of ourselves for taking anchor classes. Buying the extra chain, rode and a better anchor.  We have been through some storms and so far, we have held.  Someday it will happen. But we take every precaution and have done due diligence to be prepared.

Needless to say, we didn’t sleep well either, but that’s OK we are still stuck here with the wind howling and safe.

The worst part is not having easy access to weather.  In order to get to our phones weather  apps on but there was no signal. We are not picking up any Bahama weather on our radio just Florida in bits and pieces Not enough to help.. We knew before we headed here that the wind  was going to last several days and we are thankful we are in a decent spot to ride it out.   Until it breaks we are prepared to stay right here out of harm’s way as long as Bounty Hunter doesn’t come back.

Thanks for reading,

Scott and Karen

PS Bounty Hunter was from Seaview, IOW. We have since learned that is Isle of Wight. a small island off of England.  The had very strong english accents

Unique Random Photo of the Day:

2-12-17 Miami to the Bahamas.

This is a big step for us to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream to get to the Bahamas.  The trip to Miami was rough we had waves hitting us on the beam (side of the boat)  That made us rock bad from side to side.  We did this for 8 hours.  Ugh.  Why you might ask?

When crossing the gulf stream there can be no north component to the wind.  Why?  Because the Gulf Stream is like a giant river out on the ocean running north at around 2.8 knots which is just over three mph. If there is any wind out of the north it collides with the stream and makes waves the size of an elephant even if it is a light breeze. We had been watching the wind modules and originally it looked good to go on Tues. As usual things changed and Sunday was the only day with mild winds out of the East. We endured the rough day to Miami so we could cross Sunday morning.

We got up before dawn and headed out into the ocean in the dark.  Once we got out of the channel we cruised for a bit only to decide it is too rough to go. We aborted the trip and went back to Miami. The waves were supposed to relax throughout the day. We waited until 6:45 and gave it another go.  Yes, it was still rough with 3 to 4 foot waves, but somehow it felt better during the daylight when you could see what was hitting you. We both were feeling okay but were both willing to abort again if it didn’t get any better after 2 hours. Four hours would be better than the predicted 8 hours.  After two hours, it got a little better. We thankfully continued as it got better and better throughout the day.  By the time we got to the Bahamas, we had a nice smooth ride with only 1 foot waves. It is a good think we made it because we would have sat in Miami forever waiting for weather.

At one point during the trip, I was driving and Scott was taking a snooze when right in my path on the charts is an area designated as an explosives dump site.  I didn’t know if he had ever seen anything like this before so I woke him up.  We quickly  started reading charts and seeing it was 2400 feet of water we were in no danger.

 

The other thing that happened was a huge 1000’ freighter called us on the radio. We were the only two boats visible on the ocean and were on a crash course. Of course we are many miles apart.  He asked if we would cross his path on his stern.  It was cool to have a freighter call us by name (they could see our name on their AIS).

Other than that, we caught no fish and had a boring day.  I have never been to thankful to be bored.  If we weren’t bored, we would have been having issues.

We knew before we left the States that Tidings of Joy would be in the West End Area. They hailed us on the radio and it turned out the only boat we could see was them anchored.

We were like giddy children.  We had done some much research, we couldn’t believe we were about to land in a foreign country with our own boat. Up went the yellow quarantine flag. You must fly a yellow flag until you have been cleared by customs.

Scott Raising our quarantine flag.It was Sunday just after five when we arrived.  Jeff told us the customs office stays open different hours than are posted.  We hailed and hailed them to no avail.  The “rule” is you are not to enter the harbor without permission.  Jeff said go on in.  They never answer the radio.  He was right. We went on in, tied up and Scott got off the boat with mountains of paperwork needed. There were two boats checking in ahead of us, but we had printed it all out ahead of time and had it all filled out so we got to go first.  There is no power at the marina and Customs ever since Hurricane Matthew. We could hear generators running. We were a bit surprised to see the customs office still had blue tarps on the roof.  Scott said he and Larry would have that reroofed in a day.  But it’s the Bahamas where money is scarce and time is plenty.

This is the Marina office. Not much to it. I wasn’t allowed off the boat until customs cleared us so I had to take pics from the boat.

We took down the quarantine flag and raised the Bahama Courtesy flag and felt quite a sense of accomplishment.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott

Unique Random Photo of the day.

 

2-10-17 The Man at the Post Office and The Seal Lion and the Shark

We were at Marathon and decided it was too crazy for us.  After visiting Key West (which we actually liked better than Marathon) we left and headed to Lignumvitae  Key.  It is a key that still has its original Hardwood forest.  We picked up a free mooring ball and took the dinghy exploring.  The Park didn’t open until Friday which we had planned to stay for. However, there was a blow coming and we needed to get to a more protected port. I found John Pennekamp State park which had a slip for only $55 a night.  Usually in the Keys it is more like $4.00 a foot or more and we are 39 feet.  Do the math.  This was a great find to ride out the blow.  There was a bike path right outside the park. We rode to the store to pick-up our supply of fresh foods before heading to the Bahamas.  We also had a sticker that we needed to get our boat back into the US from the Bahamas. We had it shipped general delivery to the post office.  After shopping, I told Scott I would go get the mail and he could go back to the boat.  I rode an addition 1.5 miles to the post office, only to find out you need picture ID which I didn’t have on me to pick it up.  It was in Scott’s name so he had to get it personally.  Well I tried.

The coolest thing happened while at the post office.  I was standing in line and had on my “Boat Hair Don’t Care” hat on and people started asking me questions.  The couple in front of me were up next.  The wife went to the counter but the gentleman stayed by me and started talking about his days sailing in the Indian Ocean.  He had obvious memory issues and told me that he wanted to tell me something quick before he forgot it.   Just then I got called to the counter and because he was there blocking the isle, I couldn’t let the person behind me go first.  Much to my surprise, when I got out to my bike, he and his wife were waiting for me.  He then told me that what he wanted to do was shake my hand (which I did).  He then went on to tell me about how he shook the hand of a man that sailed around the world and is famous. (I could kick myself for forgetting the name). He then told me that he wanted me, being a fellow sailor, to be able to shake the hand of the man who shook this famous sailor’s hand.  I almost had tears in my eyes.  It meant so much for him to be able to remember those day and to want to share a piece with me. He was so sweet and his wife so patient to wait with him to do this.

We don’t have TV and catch very little news.  I truly don’t miss it.  It is such a negative source in people’s lives. I see the good and kindness in people every day. My brain isn’t poisoned by the news that people are bad.  I encourage you to stop watching the news.  I guarantee you that you will live a happier live and see all the good in people instead of dwelling on the bad.  Don’t get me wrong, I know there are bad people out there and I am cautious and try to make safe decisions.  I am happy to meet so many wonderful people along this trip.  PEOPLE ARE GOOD!

Now for the story about the Great White Shark and the Sea Lion.  We were in a dive shop and I saw a picture of people diving with sharks.  I said “I hope I never see a shark while diving or snorkeling.”  The lady behind the counter said “We love it.”  She then proceeded to tell me she was on a dive when a large Great White Shark was swimming next to her.  She first thought it was cool, then she realized she was in an all-black wetsuit and was overweight which to a shark may very likely looked like a sea lion. She suddenly had fear.  But he just looked her in the eye several times and went about his business and didn’t bite her. It turned out to be a cool experience.

So, there you have it folks. It was story hour on this blog. No cool pictures.

We are now in Miami at anchor ready to venture across the Atlantic Ocean, through the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.  It is has taken quite a bit of homework to be comfortable to do this.  We are ready and can’t wait.  But that may put us out of the loop for a while.  We will have signal, but at a significant cost. Because of that, we will only turn on our phones periodically to check in and if I’m not too busy walking some deserted Island beach, I may even put up a blog or two.  I will catch up when I get back.

Thanks for reading,

Scott and Karen

Unique Random Photo of The Day:

 

 

We left Little  Shark River in the Everglades at sunrise. It was beautiful to watch the sun rise in all it’s majesty.

It was the perfect day to travel.  We had calm winds and fair seas.  I bet the sailboaters weren’t as thrilled as we were.

 

We dropped the fishing lines in the water to troll while we were running.  Low and behold, we finally caught something we could eat.  it is a Spanish Mackerel.  It was delicious blackened on the grill that night. Its a pretty fish too.

We pulled into Boot Key Marathon.  OMG there are literally hundreds of boats either on mooring balls or at anchor. It was crazy!

There was no room to anchor anywhere so up Sister Creek we go to try our hand at Mediterranean Mooring.  If you don’t know what that is don’t feel bad I didn’t until we had to do it.  Basically you toss out your anchor and back your boat all the way up close to the Mangroves and tie up to them.  We had never done this before and didn’t know the tricks.  We did it twice but the current kept pulling the stern (back of the boat) too close to the sailboat nextdoor.  Plan C: We got out our spare anchor. I would drop the anchor on the bow then then ran to the stern and heft the other anchor overboard to stop the swing.  It worked pretty well.  Our neighbor sailboater Steve quickly came over with his dinghy and used it to push us further over.  We now know we almost need three people to do this.  But in hindsight we probably should have had the dinghy dropped and running and had Scott remotely drop the anchor and me be the tugboat at the stern.  It actually sounds like more could go wrong doing that than dropping the anchor.   Steve gave us lots of info and we were thankful for both his help and insight.  Scott proceeded to get every line available on board to run 4 lines to the mangroves with the dinghy and battle the bushes to tie us up.  Better him than me. 😉

At sunset the noseeums were brutal.  We quickly retreated indoors only to have them fly right through the screen.  We closed everything up and it became a sweatbox in the boat.  I thought the Keys were suppose to be great.  We are a little disappointed with our first stop.  We have decided to not hang around here too long.  Everything is crowded and EXPENSIVE! Looking at plans to find deserted islands  in the Bahamas.  Stay tuned

Thanks for reading,

Scott and Karen

Unique Random Picture of the Day:

2-3 and 2-4 Everglades

We left Marco Island headed out to sea and traveled on a very calm Gulf of Mexico.  We anchored at Russell Pass which is in the waterway into Everglade City. We elected not to go up into Everglade city due to fuel use and we heard it was really noisy with all the air boats. It was 4 o’clock when arrived which didn’t leave a lot of exploring time, but that didn’t stop us.  We dropped the dinghy and off we went.  There were mangroves everywhere you looked.

We went up a passage and payed very close attention to where we were going. On the way back, we realized how easy one could get lost in the everglades.  Everything looked the same. We didn’t have much time to explore, so we didn’t bring the I-Pad to show us the way.  We were very conservative on where we went. No Gators..Darn.  We thought there would be tons of birds, but there wasn’t.  The maze of growth was very interesting.  There were arches of roots everywhere. We questioned how much land there actually was compared to the Mangroves. Scott wanted to walk on the arches of the roots and see where it went.  He wouldn’t have but he just dreamed.

The next day we got an earlier start to have more exploring time.   We anchored in Little Shark River. There were quite a few fishing boats, but for the life of us we couldn’t figure out where they were coming from.  There is nothing around. They didn’t look like “the Swamp People” We left in the dinghy about 2pm.  The Mangroves were more like trees than bushes here.

We saw quite a few dolphins and several Manatees in the river, but still no gators. We forgot to fill up with gas but had over a half of a tank. We had the I-Pad leaving a trail so we wouldn’t get lost.   As we got up river, we decided we really wanted to explore deeper and had plenty of time to back to the boat and fuel up.  The everglades are not a place to run out of fuel! When we got back to the boat there were 2 new Looper sailboats anchored by us.  We filled up the gas and took the rest in the can with us.  On our way out, we stopped to say hi to our new neighbors.  Tom on Misjudged was in the water.  We thought he was cleaning his hull.  As we approached, so did James from Living Life.  Tom looked distressed. We asked our usual , “how are you” and James said he was great but Tom had trouble. They picked up their dinghy line in their prop and it was all tangled under his boat.  Scott asked if he wanted help and he immediately said yes.  Back to the boat for tools and a swimsuite.  In fairly short order Scott unwound and cut the rope free.  Tom and Nancy were so thankful and relieved.  They didn’t know what the next step was going to be because we are in the middle of the Everglades with no phone signal and we doubted if the radio would reach sea tow.  Instead of exploring we had docktails on our boat with both of the other boats.  Tom and Nancy started the loop in a trailerable 26 foot sailboat.  They upgraded to a bigger boat in Dunedin. Living Life is a 27 foot sailboat with a family aboard. James and Nancy with their two sons Lucas and Marco. They are from Canada and took a year  off life to do the Loop.  Nancy is an educator so she is home schooling the boys on board. In Canada,  the teachers can work 4 years but take their pay spread over 5 years and be able to take a year off.  How cool is that. James is a blacksmith, but not a farrier. He does more artistic work.  We had the whole family on board with Tom and Nancy.  They were all delightful.  We love the people we meet and the stories of their lives and their journey on the loop.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott

Unique Random Photo of the day:

 

Edison Ford Estate 2-1-17

We left Kitty’s and went to an anchorage just outside of Legacy Harbor Marina.  We had dinner with friends and visited with others.  Lots of Loopers in that marina.  We anchored there to be in close proximity to our Marina at Edison Ford where we had reservations. We got up early and buzzed into our slip and headed straight to the Edison Ford Estate.  Our Marina was actually connected directly to the property. We left the dock and walked right into history.

Edison was an amazing man with 1093 patents to his credit. As few of them were, related to Phonographs and recording sound, electric light and power, telegraphy, telephony, batteries, mining and iron ore milling, cement, motion pictures, a new process in making bricks, and plate glass. The list goes on.  How does one man have so many ideas and be able to make so many of them come to fruition.

His first patents were with the telegraph.  Edison was a telegraph operator. He suffered from hearing loss. He could filter out the outside noise and was very good at his job. Fun fact:  He taught his wife morse code so they could tap messages into each other’s hands at gatherings and no one would know what they were saying.

Another development was the pneumatic stencil pen which later was developed into a tattoo machine.

Edison did not invent the light bulb, but he did perfect it so it would stay lit longer.  He experimented with all kinds of material to use for the filament, including growing bamboo for that purpose. He developed what we call the power grid.

He made the first batteries.  It was interesting to hear that he made more money from his batteries than from the light bulb.

During the war there was a shortage of rubber. Edison imported many plants so he could test them to make rubber. He needed a source that would grow in the US.  Rubber trees only grow around the equator.  He found that there was latex in the leaves of the the Golden Rod plant.  He hybrid the plant to grow bigger and with a higher percentage of late in the leaves. By the time he discovered and could put this in production, the Russians and DuPont discovered how to make rubber out of petroleum which make Edison’s invention impractical.

Ford started out as a watch repairman, and then became a machinist. He worked for Edison’s company. Edison was Ford’s hero.  Edison believed that electric automobiles would be the future, but Ford had the idea of gasoline engine automobile.  He finally met Edison at a convention where he showed Edison his idea. He told Ford he believed he had something there and encouraged him to keep at it. They became best friends. The camped together and eventually Ford built his summer home next to Edison’s in Fort Meyers. The only way to get there was by boat.  There is a road right through their property and many questioned why Edison would put a road through the middle of his estate.  Simple answer.  When he moved there there were cattle living there and they made the path that eventually became a road carved out by the cattle themselves.

The grounds had so many beautiful and unique plants on it because Edison imported many to experiment with.

Ford was worth much more money at his death than Edison.  The whole history of Ford is another long success story. His first several companies did not succeed until Cadillac and Ford Motor Company.

It was  a very interesting visit.  I hope you enjoyed what I could share.

We are on the next couple legs of the final trip into the Keys.  We may be out of phone, and internet communication for a few days. No worries though, we will get back to civilization once we get to the Keys.

Thanks for reading,

Scott and Karen

Unique Random Picture of the day: