Looe Key

Today is Friday. For most of the day it was very hot and humid, with no breeze. Then a predicted cold front moved in, with a very heavy 30-minute downpour, followed by winds that reached up to 60 mph in less-protected areas than where we are moored. Now the temperatures have dropped about 20 degrees and we have the comforter back on the berth.

On Wednesday Lori and I took the boat out to Looe Key, a state park and protected marine area that is entirely underwater. It's located about 10 miles northeast of the bay where the KOA is located, out in the Atlantic on the edge of the reef that defines Hawk Channel, the main shipping channel along the east coast of Florida. On our way out of the bay I misread the channel markers and did not pay sufficient attention to the color of the water (it gets browner as it gets shallower) and ran aground. This time the boat was really stuck and we were not able to push it off. So we called Vessel Assist (think AAA for boats -- our membership paid for itself in full with what this one call would have cost) and within about 20 minutes a nice young fellow showed up in an open console cat with twin Suzukis -- basically the same configuration as our boat but without the pilothouse. In short order he got a line to one of our aft D rings and pulled us off the sandbar. He led us out the channel and since I turned on tracking on the chartplotter I was able to capture a record of how we got out. The more time I spend in the skinny water of Florida the more I learn, so it's been educational.

We had a tough slog out to Looe Key from the bay -- we had to run at displacement speeds and were only able to get up on plane returning to the bay. Once we got out there we had a difficult time finding  a mooring ball to tie on to that had  any kind of interesting features beneath the water. We returned somewhat disillusioned.

Earlier in the week we had met a couple working at the KOA, Bob and Barbara Tanner. They had previously owned a KOA in Jerome, ID before selling and going on the road full-time. We had invited them to go boating with us later in the week when they were not working (there are a large number of retired people who work part-time for the campground as "Work Kampers".) 

When we saw the Tanners again and told them of our disappointing trip but decided to give it a another try yesterday (Thursday). What a difference! The waves were much smaller and we were able to get up on plane leaving the bay until we got to Looe Key. Barbara and Lori snorkled while Bob and I talked and kept an eye on the girls. They reported seeing a wide variety of beautiful fish, vegetation, but not much live coral (the reef has been heavily damaged by anchors and other problems -- the state is trying to protect what is left as much as is possible.) Here is a link to a Picasa album with some photos from Looe Key:

Looe Key

After returning to the marina and cleaning up, Bob and Barbara took us to the No Name Pub, a pizza and beer joint that is, "A nice place . . . if you can find it." The walls are covered with dollar bills on which customers have written messages or drawn artwork. Very good pizza! Here's a link to the pub's website: .

We're planning to stay here through the weekend, and hopefully by Monday the worst of the cold front will have passed by and we can head north toward Ft. Lauderdale.

Kingston Earthquake

Just heard from the Brats that at 5:30 AM there was a 4.6 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter 2 miles from Kingston, WA. Most of you know that is where Bill and Judy Ford live but they are not there -- they are currently skiing in Canada. Sure hope their house and boats are OK.

Key West, FL

We spent the afternoon sightseeing in Key West. Toured the USCG Cutter Mohawk, which is under restoration after being rescued from the scrapyard in Staten Island. Here we are on the fantail of the ship:

The pelicans here roost in trees -- first time I have seen this. Here's a photo:

Fishing Derby

This morning we fished in a derby to raise money for kids with cancer. The KOA is located next to two bridges, one an old auto bridge now used for pedestrians and fishing. The derby was only from 9 to 11 AM; entry fee was $5 so as you can see it was a low-key affair. Lori caught 3 mangrove snappers on live shrimp, all about 7-8' long. The winning fish was 11". Lori is still up on the bridge fishing, so maybe she will come back with more fish.

Yesterday we drove north to check out Bahia Honda State Park (they have a marina where we will probably stop for a night or two) and the city of Marathon (not impressive from the road, may be better from the water.)

The cold front has finally departed and it is warmer -- in the 70s and climbing. But there is a steady 9-10 mph breeze.

Sugarloaf Key, FL

Well, here we are, in the fabled Florida Keys! Feels more like home right now -- temp 54, with wind chill 47! There is a cold front moving down Florida that is supposed to take the temps in Naples down to 20. It is supposed to warm up to 70 and be sunny by Friday. We arrived here on Monday and spent Tuesday watching the inauguration (yeah!) and doing laundry. 

As you know from my SPOT (googlemap) posts here, we were in a campground and marina at Everglades National Park for several days. We completed setting the boat up for launch, launched, and spent two nights in the Flamingo marina before heading out into Florida Bay.

The facilities at Flamingo are heavily hurricane-damaged. The lodge and cottages are totally uninhabitable. The marina store does not sell fuel although the tanks and pumps are all there (they are changing concessionaires.) The toilets in the campgrounds have fallen into such a state of disrepair that they really need to be seen to be believed. All in all, for what should be one of the premier national parks, the facilities at Everglades are a sad commentary on how far and how fast the National Park Service has fallen in the past eight years. We can only hope that some of the Obama public-works funds will be allocated to repairs in our national parks.

Here is a link to an album of photos from Flamingo:

Flamingo

To get to Sugarloaf Key we had to transit Florida Bay to Seven-Mile Bridge (approximately in the middle of the Keys), go under the bridge into the Atlantic Ocean and then go southwest to Sugarloaf (14 miles from Key West.) We had several adventures en route.

Boating in Florida is nothing like boating in the Pacific North West. The water is very shallow,

 and it is easy to run aground, as we found out (all the guidebooks say this is SOP, but still it is disconcerting.) The reason we ran aground had multiple causation, but in the end it was my fault. First, many of the channel markers were damaged in the hurricanes that have hit south Florida in recent years. The channel marker numbers often do not agree with what is on the charts, but I found out later that one should just trust the markers (verifying visually and with depthsounder, of course) and follow them.

Complicating the navigation are the many crab pots, which would not be so bad if they did not have long lines attaching them to their floats. In water 2.5' deep, a 10' crab pot line creates a 7.5' horizontal obstacle that needs to be avoided -- but one first has to determine which direction from the float the line is drifting. Long story short, I failed in trying to avoid one of these crab pot lines, got my prop fouled and then went aground. Lori stripped down, jumped in the water (chilly but bearable, she said) and cut the crab pot line free, then pulled the boat off the shoal. What a gal!

After our adventures on Florida Bay we thought we were home free. Nope! We encountered a little thing called the Gulf Stream and 15 knot winds as we slogged our way against both from

 Seven Mile Bridge to Sugarloaf Key. Because of the wind, we could not get up on plane without getting badly beaten up so were limited to a very fuel-inefficient 10 knot speed. And because we were bucking the 8-knot Gulf Stream, we effectively only made about two knots over the ground.

As a result it took us all afternoon to get from the bridge to the channel leading back to the KOA where we are staying. Here, as elsewhere, the channel markers were out of sequence and did not agree with the charts, but we made it to the bridge where we had been told the KOA was on the other side. Only one problem: the bridge has only about 6' clearance. Fortunately, however, our information was incorrect and the KOA marina was located on our side of the bridge.

The people here are incredibly nice, the facilities are wonderful and aside from the distinctly un-Floridan weather, we are very happy to be here. We plan to use this as a base for at least the next week. We are renting a car and will use it to explore Key West and check out where we might stay or anchor on our way back. We have not yet decided whether we will go north along the east coast of Florida past Ft. Lauderdale and Miami to Stuart, and from there transit through the Okeechobee to the Ft.. Myers area on the west side of the state.

OK ESN:0-7399410

Warren & Lori are here:
ESN:0-7399410
Latitude:24.6606
Longitude:-81.5185
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:01/20/2009 00:13:13 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=24.6606,-81.5185&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

OK ESN:0-7399410

Warren & Lori are here:
ESN:0-7399410
Latitude:24.6338
Longitude:-81.3119
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:01/19/2009 20:37:58 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=24.6338,-81.3119&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1