Trip Update...4-11-11

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Sumner

.
Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
We stayed in the 10,000 Islands for some days and then wanted to go into Everglades City for some items and to see the place. Not much in the way of anchorages there, so we anchored off Indian Key Pass about a mile on the way in and wanted to then go in and tie up at the Rod and Gun Club for a day or two. This was a week ago Friday, on April 1st, but they had a yacht club taking up all of the spaces on the seawall there, so we had to wait until Sunday to go in. We got in and tied up with no problems this time.

We had bought a couple more dock lines for a total of 5 and used them all. I'd recommend anyone going to FL or any place that uses pilings to read up on how to tie up to them. We ran a bow and aft line and two spring lines and one line just to pull the boat to the wall and that all worked great.

Monday we walked a mile down the the Everglades Park Visitor Center and then ate out after that. That night I got really, really sick with food poisoning and started to see how old people can die from this and the flu. Ruth and I had eaten the same things for all of our meals except for lunch. The fish or oysters or clam must of gotten me. Tuesday after emptying everything I could out of my body the night before I just sat around trying to recover.

Wed. I felt good enough that we sailed from Indian Creek Pass all the way to New Turkey Key, about 25 miles. Finally sailing was great. After a good night there we went on to Little Shark River 27 miles further south along Florida's west coast and still in Everglades National Park. This is the jumping off point for Marathon or other locations along the Keys. This hop was all motor as the wind was right on our nose all day. Sailing would of meant tacking way off shore and the 2-3 miles we were off was enough for us.

Thursday we were up early and out at first light along with it seemed about 6-8 other sailboats that had come in the day before and anchored for the night. We were by far the smallest. A couple went north and the rest along with us went south. We started on the motor with no wind. Then the wind started to come up and was pretty much on our beam. With the geona only out we made couple miles another, so also motored. Then the main went up and with the motor just above idle we were making 6+ mph. We tried without the motor and we dropped to 4 mph. We had 50 miles to go, so we used the motor and the sails. The wind really started to pick up between 15 and 18 and we were able to drop the main and still run around 6 with the genoa and a little outboard. We stayed ahead of and then abreast of the 'big guys' for a couple hours then they finally started to pull away from us.

After about 20 miles the wind was on the nose again and it was just the motor again for a while. Then we made a slight turn at Cape Sable and the wind changed some also and the genoa went back out.

Next we stared seeing patches of I guess sea grass on the surface. Never read about that before. It wasn't long and it was everywhere. The prop would foul in it and I'd have to stop and climb out on the horizontal swim ladder that we use as a tow bar for the dinghy and clean the prop off and then take off again. Some times we would only go about 1/8th mile and I'd have to repeat this. Thank goodness I could easily climb out there and clean the prop off. Then it just got worst and worst. Oh yes did I mention the hundreds of pots and floats out there? String after string of them every couple hundred yards or so.

We finally gave up and rolled the genoa in and I put the bimini back out of the way and stood up in the cockpit where I could see ahead and started running a zig-zag course through the grass for about 8-10 miles, still having to stop and clean the prop at times. This was really tiring and we were starting to get 2 foot seas with some about 3 feet on the beam and couldn't have a sail up to help with that.

Finally about 4-5 miles before Marthon we started to run out of the grass and then ran the rest of the way into there with little trouble. 50 long miles that day. We dropped anchor just inside of Fanny Keys, 3 very small islands on the Gulf Side where we are now.

We will probably head down the Keys the day after tomorrow. We went and looked and an Endeavour 37 for sale today. It belonged to a really nice 90 year old that is selling it. We like these boats, but this one was not the floor plan we are looking for.

This is a great place and the weather has been almost perfect and we can now see the bottom. We are 293 1/2 miles into the trip and have been out 32 days, 28 nights on the hook, life is good,

Sum and Ruth

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Our MacGregor S Pages

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Dec 19, 2006
5,832
Hunter 36 Punta Gorda
Bugs

Sounds like a nice trip for you,how are the bugs & no see-ems,we are up north Caladsie but will be heading down that way the last week in April.
Nick
 

Sumner

.
Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
Get one or two of these....



http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=AEOkTY-iKenl0QHQr7GBCQ&ved=0CGQQ8wIwAw#

The only place we had bug problems was Little Shark River in the early morning before the sun came up. The day before in the afternoon we had no problems. In fact from Marco Island to there we had no problems. We were in the 10,000 Island area for about 14 days total and never had the bugs everyone talks about. Our boat is small with a pop-top cover....



http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor-canvas/canvas-2.html

...and we put the cover on and zipped it up about 1/2 hour before sundown each night and didn't have bugs in the boat. The temps were good though and not real hot and/or humid.

We, mostly Ruth, had spent a month making an...



http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor-canvas/canvas-15.html

...enclosure that covered the poptop and the cockpit thinking we would need it every night in that area since we thought we would need to sleep in the cockpit to help with the heat. The heat was never that much of a problem, so we didn't put it up yet. We do plan on using it soon in some of the more remote areas of the keys we will head to tomorrow.

The morning we left Little Shark I went outside in shorts and a tee shirt and instantly had mosquitoes on me. I went back in and put on long pants and a long sleeve shirt and the bug hat and went back out. No problems then for either of us.

Hope this helps, but I guess we are going further and further into bug season, so your results might be different,

Sum

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Our MacGregor S Pages

Mac-Venture Links
 
Dec 19, 2006
5,832
Hunter 36 Punta Gorda
Bugs Season

We are up at Caladsie state park and when there is a nice breez the bugs not too bad and yesterday we were on the beach walking and than sitting down and nice strong breez kept us cool and bug free but later when our club had happy hour we were OK until the breez stopped and they started some biting.
Nick
 

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Nov 6, 2006
10,093
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
I always keep a couple of these around .. They WORK !
http://www.mosquitorepellent.com/
Most of the big stores carry them.. shop for best price
Only non oil/cream thing I've found that will keep them at bay in the marshes around here..
 
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