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
Mac-Venture Links
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
Mac-Venture Links
