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| Beautiful sunset at anchor in Tarpon Basin |
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| Nightfall at anchor |
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| Wish every travel day could be like this! |
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| Good shot of NautiNell on the hook |
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| Jeremiah and Second Noelle spending the night at Shell Key |
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| Cool statue in the canals near Key Largo |
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| Checking out the canals by dinghy |
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| This thing was so cool! Glass bottom - hovercraft! |
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| Let's just land here for lunch! |
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| Flew right over us! Very cool! |
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| Another beautiful evening on the hook |
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| Sunset in Tarpon Basin |
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| NautiNell headed out for a new adventure Leaving Boot Key Harbor |
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| Jeremiah right behind us! Thanks Candy for the pictures! |
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| Here we go! |
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| This was taken at Karen's earlier but I thought it was a great pic. I think Ray took it. |
After several last last last parties at the Dock we finally
were able to leave along with Jeremiah.
We’re heading north to Biscayne Bay (just south of Miami) where we’ll
stage for our crossing to the Bahamas.
“Stage” seems to be just another word for “waiting for a weather window
– and being ready to go when it opens”. Here’s what happened so far…
Thursday (April 17) -
We left the dock about 9:00 a.m.
Tough saying goodbye to the ones still there – although the crowd has
diminished immensely! It was pretty
windy but it was on our nose so it wasn’t too bad. We had 40 miles to go to make it to Shell Key
where we planned to either grab one of the four mooring balls there or just
drop a hook. When we finally made it Ray
and Linda (Second Noelle) were there on a ball.
There was only one ball left and it was so far out from shore we decided
to bump up a little closer to shore and drop a hook to get out of the
wind. Jeremiah did the same.
First sign of trouble was that we had discovered our VHF on
the bridge was not working. After some
troubleshooting Mike decided that the old thing had had enough. Mike took the dinghy to shore to get a new
one. Luckily there was a West Marine
close by. They seem to be strategically
placed along the way just so they can be of service to us cruisers and are
always happy to take our money. Anyway
that was a pretty quick fix actually and we spent the evening on Jeremiah
toasting our big day. However, it was a
pretty early evening. Another big day
was ahead of us. We had to travel about
eighteen more miles to our next stop!
Friday (April 18)
Good Friday - It was a very nice
morning on the hook. Nice and
peaceful. Again about 9:00 a.m. all
three boats headed to Sunset Cove. Like
I said earlier – it was only 18 miles.
We easily made it and dropped a hook about noon. We had lunch and then went dinkin’ down and
around some very cool canals. There were
some really nice secluded homes. You
wouldn’t know they were there if you didn’t explore in the dinghy. We hung out on the sundeck the rest of the
evening.
Saturday (April 19)
Again about 9:00ish we headed to our next stop. We passed through Tarpon Basin and decided to
go on to Blackwater Sound just out from the main part of the town of Key Largo
– just out from the Marriott Hotel. There are a lot of bars, restaurants and hotel
beaches on shore. It was pretty windy and lots of boat
traffic. That’s what we get for
traveling on a holiday weekend. We
decided that we’d stop here for a while and play then if it got too much we
could head back to Tarpon Basin which seemed really well protected. We saw at two different times – helicopters
fly in and land at the Hilton. Not even
on a true heliport! Our best guess was
that “someone” jet-setted it over to have some lunch. What a life that must be! Anyway we had our own fun….! It had been 2
days and 2 nights since we had left Marathon and we were still listening to the
same radio station! Guess we hadn’t traveled
very far, huh. J
Again we had lunch and then went dinkin’. This time we rode through the cut that takes
you to the Atlantic side and to John Pennecamp State Park. The cut was extremely rough – a very strong
current due to the tide coming in and the great amount of traffic. Like I said before – Easter Weekend = lots of
traffic! We made it with no
problem. It was just a small adventure!
The water was nice once we got through the canal. We grabbed a mooring ball and just hung out
there for a while.
When we got back to the boats the wind had really picked
up. We decided to move back to Tarpon
Basin to spend the night for better protection.
Off we went like a herd of turtles…..
J
Now that is where the real trouble began…
The following is definitely from the “IT COULD HAVE BEEN
WORSE” Department.
From the beginning for some reason we kept having trouble
holding. Second Noelle had slipped a
little but finally held. After several
attempts we moved to the other side of the basin. This entire basin has a lot of grass and that
makes it hard sometimes to get a good hold.
We left the other two boats and moved to the north side. The wind had seemed to clock around some and
the protection wasn’t as good as we all had anticipated. Again we had trouble holding. It was after sunset when we slipped for the
second time so it was starting to get dark. Mike decided to put out more
chain. As he was doing so in the wind
and dark – SNAP! Our chain broke in his
hand! There went the chain and the
anchor all overboard and completely loose from NautiNell. We were drifting quickly because of the wind. I marked the spot the best I could on the GPS
but I’m still not sure how accurate that was since we moved so fast. Here it is night – extremely windy- and we
have no anchor to keep us from moving.
Mike was concerned about the anchor and did the best he could to get
back to the MOB mark where I dropped a float to mark it in the water. This is very scary guys. We weren’t sure what to do next. We are so thankful that we weren’t alone that
night. Mike called Jeff and Ray. They brought over Jeff’s spare anchor and
line – mind you – in the rough water and at night here they come with a spare
anchor…. Our saviors! Now for the life of me – I don’t know why
that anchor stuck so well but we didn’t move the entire rest of the night! We had two different anchor alarms on but you
can believe neither one of us slept much.
Sunday (April 20)
Easter Sunday – We spent Easter Sunday having an Easter Anchor
Hunt! All of us were out in the dinghies
searching the area. The water is very
clear and not really deep so it was fairly easy to see the bottom. Now how would you expect an anchor along with
at least 80 feet of chain that would have been laid out in a straight line from
tension hide?? Well after searching all
day – the only thing we had was a sunburn. We really appreciate all the help
from our buddies but sometimes it just isn’t meant to be.
We spent another
night here in Tarpon Basin on Jeff’s extra anchor. Now would you explain why this anchor is
still holding us so well and ours wouldn’t?
The wind is still blowing but we’ve been stuck for two nights now! Anchor alarms on and a much better sleep last
night. At least I did. For those of you that know Captain Mike - you know that he’s not ready to throw in
the towel just yet. At this writing – he
and Jeff have headed to shore in the Whaler with their bicycles to see what
they can find in the “used anchor” department.
We had found a good Marine Consignment Shop online that has told him
that they have lots of anchors and chain.
They aren’t open today but the owner is going to meet them there
anyway. I think the plan is to see what
they have and possibly purchase an anchor with chain then come back to
NautiNell and do some more snorkeling.
After all, the anchor that escaped is a stainless one – and you know
that Mike is not going to replace it with another one like that! He’ll find a bargain for sure.
The reason I say
that this could have been so much worse is that if we had been alone – we would
have had to start moving the boat somewhere in the dark. We would have had no idea since we’re not
familiar with the area. I supposed we
would have called Boat US because it would have been an emergency. They would have probably came to our
aid. Not sure at this point. It could
have happened also in a very remote area instead of just out from Key Largo
shoreline. We should be able to find
another anchor rather easily. If it had
happened later out in the Bahamas – well I’d rather not think about that. One thing though the anchor would have cost
us way more over there to replace if we’d even had that chance.
Stay tuned – I’ll let you know what happens when they
return……………………
Okay – I’m back and here’s how it went down in Captain
Chappy’s words:
Jeff and I went to marine consignment store “Mother Ocean”
and traded my “inadequate” backup anchor for a larger model and a grapple hook. We came back and put in the GPS latitude and
longitude of the anchor adventure. With those points marked with floating
markers we began "fishing" with our hook. After 3 long hours with no bites we decided
to call it a day. Just one more pass and
then back to the boat for dinner. Then
voila’! A HIT! And it’s a whopper! I can say it’s my biggest catch ever - a 45lb “stainless
shiner” with an 80 foot tail! I thought
I’d never get it into the boat! Must
have fought that monster for 45 minutes or more. I am so proud of the catch
that I mounted it on my bow pulpit for all to see and admire. Now beat that! (by Captain Chappy)
So now you know that we got our anchor back! What a day!
Party on NautiNell!
After all that excitement, we still need to buy new
chain. And in the meantime Jeff’s motor
on his dinghy decided to quit working.
So today (Tuesday, April 22) we’re off to Dinner Key (Coconut Grove –
Miami). There we’ll pick up a mooring
ball. It’s a big marina and there are
several amenities along with access to several places where we can get what all
we need.
We’ll see what happens next!
We made it to Dinner Key about 5:00 and Second Noelle was
already there (They had left Monday). We
grabbed a mooring ball and after a short rest all of us headed over to the
dinghy dock where we could walk to a restaurant and perhaps have a cocktail or two.
There is a lot within walking distance in this area. The area is called “Coconut Grove”. We hadn’t been here before so we wanted to
check it out. We found a place called
the Sandbar. Had some dinner and drinks
and a lot of laughs.
Ray and Linda are headed over to Hollywood Municipal Marina
on Friday. They are planning to possibly
make their way to the Chesapeake. Mike
and I are seriously thinking about giving up on our trip to the Islands this
year. So much is happening ( our so called - misadventures) and the
weather windows aren’t cooperating.
Also, there are some time restraints for Jeremiah. We’ve already spent a month trying to get
going! There’s no sense in going over
there for just a few weeks. We’ll see
what happens. I’m sure if we don’t go in
that direction we’ll go north up the east coast and find a great place to hang
for a while.
Who knows tomorrow is another day and we may decide to get
the heck out of here and cross to Bimini.
I’ll keep you posted…..
Until next time!
Admiral “C”
