Cape Sable 2

So we left the Keys and sailed to mainland Florida - Cape Sable, just on the edge of the Everglades.  Here's how Kendra described it:

"Cape Sable was a nice quiet anchorage, just a short dinghy ride away from the beach and an abundance of vegetation.  We arrived just before sunset, long enough to drop a few hooks in the water, (two anchors and one fishing line!)"

We arrived in the evening, having made the passage from the Keys in one long day.  Exhausted, we secured the boat, made dinner, and watched a movie before both of us fell asleep reading.  We do that alot - we are zipping through books at a mad rate!

The next morning we decided to take a ride in the dinghy up into the creeks and tidal channels that supply the Everglades. Wow!  It's another world in there... all birds and trees and water and tidal mud flats.  We were in a main channel and decided to get a little closer to the wildlife and so took a small side channel - a tidal creek- about 15 feet wide with overhanging trees with big roots that make up the banks.  Fish were jumping, but not biting on anything that I threw out there.  About five minutes in, we see movement on one of the banks up ahead about 30 feet as a very large saltwater crocodile slithered down into the water with a splash and disappeared.  Ooooh...  we both froze and then looked at each other trying to gauge each other's level of alarm.  Uh... yeah it was creepy.  I think I said "holy [bleep], that was [bleep bleep] crocodile!  And we are in this little 8' rubber dinghy that sits about 8" off of the water.  We know that crocs rarely attack humans -especially in a boat, but, well... there's pretty much no one around if something went wrong.  But, as it quiets down our adventurous nature asserts itself and, bolstering up our courage, we decide to continue on -very slowly and very carefully.  About 10 seconds later, another very large croc jumps off of the bank just in front of us -about 10 feet away!  Holy [bleep!]  It made a huge splash!  And anybody that says that humans have evolved past their baser instincts has never encountered a wild crocodile in the everglades, because as that croc hit the water, my heart started pounding all bravado or thoughts about more exploring went overboard.  I fired up that outboard (one crank - come on!  Start!  Two cranks -yeah!) and we tore out of there like... well... like we were being chased by giant saltwater crocodiles.  Instinct.

We spent the next couple of hours collecting shells and exploring the beach out by the boat.  Much safer.  I even found a large conch with my feet as I was wading in the water.  It was still alive.  We keep talking about how neat it would be if we could supplement our diet with seafood that we catch, so we decided to take it back to the boat and cook it and eat it.  Yes... eat it.  We have since discussed various methods of accomplishing this  -cooking and eating a big snail... but we have yet to find the courage to do more than put it in a bucket of seawater and watch it move around.

In the interest of making our way up the West coast of Florida, we decided to use the last few hours of daylight to make some headway.  About an hour into it, a storm starts creeping up behind us and the wind starts kicking up a fury.  At our last stop, the weather was so calm that we just anchored off the beach and were just fine.  But the seas were getting very rough and would make for a miserable night of pitching and rolling and getting up to check the anchors.  Been there - not fun.  So we looked at the chart and saw that there is an inlet called Shark River just to the north of us.  It's almost dark, but we decide to make for the safety of Shark River.  As we near the mouth of the river and drop the sails to motor in, its full-on dark and the temperature has dropped and it started raining.  Kendra is up on the bow fiddling with the anchors and spotlighting channel markers and I'm trying to read my chart to squeeze us in without running aground and to top it off, a 50 mph wind gust comes blasting across the boat tipping us sideways.  And then... serenity.  Shark river is a perfect anchorage...  as we made our way in, the waters calmed the wind and rain was dampened by high banks and dense trees. Voila!   We dropped anchors there in a bend in the river and finished off our long day with dinner and a movie and much needed rest.

Shark River radar image from our anchorage:

2011 Thus Far

[Kendra]

Leaving the Florida Keys today. Sad. ..So sad. Good news is that I have a job waiting for me in Naples which is located on the west coast of southern Florida. Not the ideal spot we were looking for, but the opportunity to refill the "island fund" is a bit overwhelming. We are anxious to do some more work on the boat to get her ready. And, of course, there is no upgrade or repair done to a boat that doesn't cost $$$$. So today we are leaving Matacumbe Bight anchoring and sailing west!

Just to catch everyone up on the new year thus far:

Matt and I sailed all day December 31. We Left our nice quiet anchorage in between Big Crawl and Little Crawl Keys at about 1000. We got out of the VERY shallow and winding channel at about 1430. Needless to say, but I will anyway, we were not happy campers. And our plans for spending the night in Islamorada pretty much went out the window. The next best anchorage we knew of was Long Key, so that's where we went. Unfortunately, there is not a lot that goes on in the little town of Layton, even on New Years Eve. After such a rough sailing day, with 20-25 knot winds and 4-5 foot swells, we were too pooped to party anyway. Just glad I had a bottle of champagne on board for the toast at midnight!

The next day was beautiful and "smooth sailing". Long Key to Lower Matacumbe on the Hawk Channel side only took a few hours. The anchorage we read about in Whale Harbor wasn't what we thought and had a wicked current. So we put out two anchors and went into town for a little night life. I guess everyone was hungover from NYE, because it was literally a "little" night life. The next day we relocated, had a peaceful night, and woke up on the sand. With a tide differential of 2 feet, it happens a lot around here! We resupplied at Whale Harbor Marina, where the fit was tight but the attendant was super friendly. Then off to Alligator Reef!

Approaching Alligator Reef at night is a little daunting. The light tower is something to behold, whether by the light of day or by the light of your trusty flashlight. Fact: Mooring balls are not easy to find in the dark. We ended up on the one closest to the lighthouse, which made for a fabulous view in the morning. The night, however, left something to be desired. The boat rocked and rolled all night! I never did find a comfy spot to sleep. As expected, the morning was scenic and the day sail was fair.

This brings us to yesterday. With the hopes of landing a temporary travel assignment, and realizing it would probably be on the west coast of Florida, we headed back the way we came toward Long Key and Channel Five. After crossing to the bay side we anchored in Lower Matacumbe Bight just outside of a private channel that cuts through two mangrove islands. We took the channel to the other side looking for a pizza place that was no longer there, but what we found was better. The Hungry Tarpon Restaurant and Bar had a place for our dinghy, cold beer, great food and shops. The best part was feeding the fish, (or pelican if he got to you first!) For $2 you get a bucket of small fish to hand feed to HUGE tarpon that have been coming to this same spot since 1976. If you go, take my advice: guard your beer and your bucket, and it's a good idea to have at least one person with a paddle in hand to chase the sneaky pelicans away.

For those who follow:

Though I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, I am resolved to keep a better handle on this blog. Now and then I will take us back in time for a story that needs to be told. I hope you all keep up with us as we move on to a new chapter - Naples!

Status Update - Early December 2010

[Matt] So we have some catching up to do on our blogging, but I wanted to give an update on where we are and what we are doing. We rolled in to the Keys a little less than 2 weeks ago. My brother George had flown in to Tampa and made the 2 1/2 day offshore passage with us down to Key West where we proceeded to do it up in true Key West style. I'll talk about our exploits with "Jorje" in a separate post. In short, we explored the many bars in Key West on Duvall St. (over 300 bars on a 2 mile by 4 mile island) Then we sailed to Boca Grande Key, and to the Marquesas Keys, and then to Sand Key (where we did some amazing snorkeling among the reefs), and then to Stock Island (where we tore it up at the Frogfish Bar) and then back to Key west for a last night of fun. It was an awesome 10 days with my brother aboard.

George left yesterday -amongst grumblings about having to adjust back to society- and we are proceeding to sail to Key Largo to get a better feel for what the rest of the Keys have to offer. But before we leave, we are searching Key West for a rat trap because we picked up a stow-away when we docked at Stock Island. He is big, but he hides. He got in to the Pop Tarts and also ate part of a banana. I grazed him with my pellet pistol when he peeked out last night, but he's is still poking around, probably with a big streak down his forehead where I shot him. I'll get him. By trap or pistol, he is a goner.

Tampa Bay and Madeira Beach

[MATT] So we limped in to this little boat yard called Snug Harbor Inn... just a few hundred yards from beautiful Madeira Beach west of Tampa Bay, Florida. 'Limped' because we had a broken propeller strut - that's the thing that holds the propeller shaft straight. It had been broken, in fact, since Louisiana. But there are few places indeed that can lift a 5 ton boat clear out of the water. So we could not use our "iron sail", as they say. We did it the old fashioned way - sail power only. Sail power all the way from Houma, Louisiana, five days across the gulf to Port St. Joe, Florida, and then on down, under sail power- 3 days, to Snug Harbor in Madeira Beach, Florida.

We got a little room at this B&B right next to the boat yard - the proprietors were retired actors and decorated all their rooms each after a play that they had been in. Our room was "The Princess and the Pea" Needless to say, our bed was exceptionally high. I looked, expecting to find a pea, but to no avail. Pic is the back deck of the inn... replete with hungry egret awaiting her morning snack. The inn owner had several very large wild ocean birds that were her "pets."

When the boat finally came out of the water, come to find that the propeller was broken as well. Without going in to too much detail, we got it all fixed and even made a bunch of new friends at Snug Harbor. Those boys sure know how to toss em back.

Madeira beach is absolutely beautiful... just like you expect Florida beaches to look with white sand and blue water and oiled up beach bodies catching rays of bright sunshine... yes- even in November it is warm there. And right before we left, a Manatee, also known as "Sea Cows," lumbered up right next to our boat slip to drink some fresh water that was leaking from the hose that I was using to wash to boat. He just rolled over and drank for about 20 minutes. According to the Florida authorities on endangered species, there are less than 4,000 Manatees left in Florida.

Galley Duty

[Kendra]
Guess some of you are wondering how and what we eat on Helm's Deep, especially when we are under way. Well...
Galley Duty does usually fall to me even though Matt is the better cook. Which is why I am answering food and foodstuffs inquiries.
To begin, we have a lot more to consider than we did when we had a conventional kitchen. Are we moving? If so, how far are we heeled over to either side? And which side, because on OUR boat one side IS easier than the other - boiling water on the feet told me so. Is fresh meat available? What in our ice box, (literally), needs to "go" first?
If at dock or anchored or otherwise NOT moving, our options are a-plenty. The only thing we really cannot do is bake. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that the oven and stovetop that came with the boat is out of commission until we find a compressed natural gas dealer. We use a Coleman dual fuel camping stove to cook. That's two burners. And yet another consideration. What can be combined into one dish? Even better, what can I cook that will combine meat, starch, and veggie? Also, will it be easy to keep and then reheat in one skillet? Seriously, sudoku has nothing on this puzzle!
Breakfast is a toss up. If we have eggs we try to use them up right away. We keep bagels and cheese handy. Oatmeal and Cream-Of-Wheat is easy enough using the hot water left over from making coffee. Lunch is almost always sandwiches. We keep some fruit on hand for snacks, along with some sort of crackers, nuts, or cereal bars. Dinner all depends on conditions. We have a grill that is easy to use when not moving, but if we are underway we'll have pasta and sauce or maybe something with a canned meat. Canned chicken is my friend.
Some of you might be wondering how we can use the stove at all while the boat is tossing around at sea. The camping stove is mounted on the gimbal stove that is boat original. A gimbal stove is easy to understand in theory, but it is still a trip to watch at work. It swings with the movement of the boat and when not hindered, provides a stable cooking surface. Of course, there was that one time...
Back to the ice box. At some point we, (Matt), will convert the super-insulated cooler into an electric refrigeration system. Until then, we rely on bags of ice, or if we're lucky blocks of ice. This last run we were able to find dry ice. So far, dry ice + block ice = cold food for several days. :)
Anyway, hope this answers some of your questions.

Leaving Port. St. Joe

Sailed 5 days to Port St. Joe Florida... was very nice. Clear blue waters and white beaches, good food and friendly folks. Wish we could stay for a while, but have decided to set sail for Tampa Bay - one step closer to the Keys! Should be about three days on the water, but winds are light and are supposed to shift in an unfavorable direction - so could take longer. We are all stocked up with food, gas, water, beer and wine and so looking forward nice offshore run. See ya in Tampa!

Offat's Bayou to Houma

Hanging out in Offat's Bayou was just about what we expected - peaceful. Anchored out in front of Moody Gardens close to the Colonel (a big paddle boat). Saw one more sailboat anchored out in the general area. That was it. The three of us. Like I said, peaceful. The following morning we decided to take our new dinghy out to explore a little. We set out to find the supposed fuel stop and restaurant at the south end of the bayou and maybe do some fishing. It was a nice sunny day with some pretty good wind. We were so excited about taking the tender out that we didn't think to grab some lifejackets. Bad move. Good news is no one fell out. Bad news is we got a ticket. On the up side, the game warden was cool and he told us about all the good fishing holes.
We ended up changing locations to the south end of the bayou. Never found the fuel stop but we did find Boudreaux's Restaurant. It was easy and convenient to take the dinghy to the dock and dine, which we did on two occasions. One evening our friends Neil and Carolina came to visit. Matt picked them both up at Boudreaux's and brought them to Helm's Deep for beers and such, then we went back to the restaurant for dinner an some Saturday night entertainment. Sunday my parents came for a visit. They were kind enough to run us on a couple of errands before we went back to the boat. Spent the day visiting and sailing, then put some steaks on the grill. Great visit with the folks AND we got an early Christmas present! And now we know that, yes, you CAN play wii on a boat!!
Now the decision to either wait for a weather window to head out into the Gulf and toward Florida or to take the ICW on up to New Orleans. Either way we needed to restock and fill up with water. We had been all over the bayou at this point and the only place we thought might have water turned out to be a private residence. Thankfully Dick and his wife were extra kind and allowed us to pull the boat over to one of their several slips and fill up with water. Left the boat there while we rode our bikes to the Wally-world and bought enough to feed us for weeks. The backpacks were pushed to capacity on that trip!
The next day the decision had been made to continue up the ICW due to weather conditions in the Gulf. Impatient were we… And now we know better. The goal was to try to make it to New Orleans by Halloween. After a couple of days and nights plowing up the ICW with not much wind the goal changed to getting to NO by the Sunday night football game. We stayed one night in Intracoastal City at a recommended dockage. Strange accents but nice people.
We made it as far as Houma. And here we are now waiting patiently for our weather window to get OUT of the Intracoastal and into the Gulf.