INNTW adventures

Stats for Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Origin: Bahia Honda Anchorage

Destination: Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, FL

Distance: 12.6 miles

Speed: 7.6 mph

Time on the Move: 1 hour and 39 minutes

We left Bahia Honda with a mix of clouds and sun and the skies quickly turned more dark and squally. It didn’t look like a very nice day and the waves were a bit more than I thought we were in for, but they weren’t too bad. For some reason, staying on the Gulf side seemed safer since we weren’t in the OCEAN, but actually, the waves and wind were coming from the northwest, so we might have been better off on the other side of the bridge. Who knows?

The Boot Key Harbor Mooring Field is quite an operation!! There were no mooring balls available (out of over 200!), so we found a place to anchor inside the harbor until a ball became available. That is much easier said than done because we had no depth information on this area, but there were plenty of boats anchored (and some half sunk) in one part of the harbor, so we could only guess that there was enough depth for us to head in, too. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but we found a place where there was enough room for us to swing around our anchor in the wind.

Part of the interesting thing about anchoring here is that most of the boats are sailboats and they tend to swing differently than our power boat with our enclosed flybridge catching so much wind, so we have to pay attention to how our boat is reacting to the wind and make sure it is a safe distance from the other boats anchored nearby. If we see an area with several power boats, we will try to anchor near them rather than mix in with the sailboats in a tight anchorage. In this case, we were about 100 feet from the sailboats around us.

After watching our boat swing for a while and making sure that the anchor was holding, we left Mike’s phone on the boat with the anchor alarm set and dinghied in to the harbor office to get on the waiting list for a mooring ball. We were amazed at the common area with several large tables for people to set up computers, etc to access wifi, 2 semi-private television areas (where we watched about 3 hours of kid tv one day!!), long banquet tables covered with packages people have sent to the harbor, a shop to work on boat projects, laundry, showers, bikes to borrow, and on and on. It is set up perfectly for cruisers and it was amazing to feel the sense of community here.

The lady who checked us in had great news for us–a mooring ball had opened up and we could move onto it anytime. We were glad to move to a mooring ball because they are a bit more secure than just anchoring and it was going to cost us the same amount to either tie our dinghy up at the dinghy dock and stay at anchor OR hook a mooring ball and still utilize the dinghy dock. No brainer.

We decided to move to the mooring ball a little later, and we ended up calling for a taxi to take us to the grocery store since we were already on land. A taxi ride to anywhere on the island is pretty much $6 so that was a great deal for us! As we walked into the grocery store, I was instantly overwhelmed at the amount of people in the store. It was extremely busy! Mike and I were each pushing a cart because we were hoping to do our last big stock up before leaving for the Bahamas. It was madness trying to push the carts, manage the children (ie: stop poking her, don’t stop in front of me, etc), and focus on what we actually needed from the store.

I use an app on my phone to track our grocery list and you wouldn’t believe what alert popped up right there in the middle of the produce section–Mike’s phone’s anchor alarm texted mine and said that we were DRAGGING ANCHOR!! Dragging anchor inside that extremely busy and full mooring field. OMG I about cried. I instantly imagined our boat blowing away in the wind, hitting boats everywhere, blowing into the bridge, and being a huge nuisance to everyone around us. We high-tailed it to the checkout with just the fresh food while I called the taxi to come back. It was going to be a 30 minute wait for the taxi, so I explained our issue and asked if she could hurry, I would appreciate it. After 40 minutes waiting for the taxi, agonizing over the dragging anchor and resulting issues, the taxi finally showed up to take us back to the dinghy. Then we had about a 10 minute dinghy ride (at no-wake speed of course) through the mooring field to where we were anchored. As we neared, I couldn’t see our boat, and I was sure it had blown away and we had a major issue on our hands. However, as we got closer, INNTW was actually right there where she was supposed to be. It didn’t look like it had moved an inch despite steady winds blowing all afternoon. Mike had a hunch that he had set the radius for our boat to swing around the anchor a little tight and maybe the GPS accuracy had changed to trigger a false reading on the anchor alarm. All that worrying and hurrying and it was a FALSE ALARM. Honestly, I didn’t even care because I was just so thankful that we didn’t move. WE DIDN’T MOVE!! WOO HOO!! We immediately had a “we didn’t move” beer and fired up the engines to move to our mooring ball.

We have NEVER hooked a mooring ball before. I’m not 100% sure how to do it, what I’m “hooking,” or what I hook it to, though I have read several blogs that make it sound like a bit of a dicey operation. I watched a few YouTube videos and then brought Hayley out onto the bow to help be my assistant. I readied the lines and the boat hook and am proud to report that we hooked that mooring ball on our first try! Like professionals!! (I think it helps that Mike is an excellent driver and also that our mooring ball was right next to the channel, so we didn’t have to navigate through many boats to get to it.)

Here is a little insight into boat life. Tobin is usually the first one awake in the morning. At “home” I used to let him watch tv while I dozed off for a while longer on the couch. It was a great, quiet way to wake up for both of us and we didn’t bother anyone else who was still sleeping. On the boat, when Tobin wakes up, it is very hard to not wake everyone up. The tv is right next to Colin’s bed, which is in the middle of the kitchen, so that really isn’t an option. Sometimes he crawls in my bed and we snuggle a bit longer. Sometimes we snuggle on the couch or play quiet games (yeah right). If there is nice weather, we go to the sundeck and play quietly up there until other people start waking up. On this particular morning, Tobin and I were playing on the sundeck when he wrote MOM for the first time ever. Awesome!

Marathon has a Cruisers’ Net that broadcasts on the VHF every morning. It is the first Net we have come across since up in Canada last summer. The boaters welcome new boats to the Harbor, give a brief weather overview, advertise certain happenings or restaurants in town, then people call in with questions, freebies, or items for sale, and it ends with people calling in with trivia questions. Mike called in and explained our power issue and asked if anyone could help/advise with our situation. He was offered a few ideas and someone offered to help him look the inverters over in the shop near the common area. This meant he had to pull out the installed inverter, load that one and the old inverter both into the dinghy (each weighing 75 pounds), unhook and take in a battery or two along with power cords, tools, oh and HIS WHOLE FAMILY all in the dinghy at once. Whew, boating is a lot of work!! But aren’t boaters amazing?? The fact that people are so willing to give up their own time to help us out is amazing to me.

One of the hurdles to projects like this is the question of what in the world do the rest of us do while the boat is disconnected from power and torn apart with an open floor? So, I took the kids to the playground for a bit where they met a new friend and played. Then we spent some time in one of the tv rooms in the common area watching a movie. It turned out to be a fun and then relaxing day for the kids and I. Mike found that the inverter worked just fine on the bench in the shop. It was very perplexing to him that it worked as expected and we HOPED that maybe it was a fluke and it would work just fine when he replaced it in the boat. Of course, that didn’t happen, but at least we tested it and we have a bit more information than we had previously (do we? I’m not sure).

The next day we headed to Sombrero Beach to meet up with some kid boats moored in the harbor. It was great to meet the crew of Sailing Soluna and have a chance to vent/brainstorm/share the ups and the downs of cruising with kids with other people who share our same lifestyle. The kids love meeting other boat kids and make friends easily, though I will attest that it is just as important for Mike and I to connect with cruising parents as it is for the kids to make new friends. We had so many things in common, it was great to chat with them, and we hope to meet up again in the Bahamas!!

After playing at the beach for a few hours, we packed up and got ready to head back to the boat when we recognized some familiar faces. Some loopers that we met several times along the way in Florida were hanging out by their dinghies on the beach. Then I recognized Mike and Jonell Murphree, former loopers and bloggers from Metro Detroit, as well. I read their Gettin Looped blog in real time as they were looping last year, and I felt like I was meeting celebrities right there on the beach. It is crazy how much I felt like I got to “know” them through reading about their adventures while dreaming of our own loop. It was great to meet in real life!! Of course, we stayed at the beach another hour or two catching up with them before heading back to the boat. The looper community is so supportive and friendly, it really says something when you run across familiar faces from weeks ago and feel like you’ve reunited with long lost friends. At this particular meeting, all 4 boats were from the St Clair Shores area of Michigan. Awesome showing of Michigan loopers.

Leaving the beach, we had SO MUCH we wanted to do before we left Marathon the next day, I felt overwhelmed, but it all worked out. I ended up ordering groceries through instacart to be delivered to the harbor the next day instead of braving another trip to the store. That was more expensive, for sure, but much, much more convenient.

The kids took showers while I did a couple of loads of laundry. At $6 per load, I wasn’t too excited to do anything more than was necessary.

Mike took a taxi to the UPS Store to drop off the old inverter and then headed to Home Depot and West Marine. Thank goodness these stores are all fairly close together. Life without a car is not always easy.

Then, the next morning the kids and I walked to the library to play and check out their book sale while we waited for our grocery delivery. I also wanted to make a few copies of our new passports and our boat registrations and insurance documents in preparation for the Bahamas.

Mike headed BACK to Home Depot for some last minute things needed to finish our solar install once we receive our package and then he wanted to go to the auto parts store. (I don’t think I mentioned that Mike decided to buy a DIY solar kit LAST MINUTE while we were in Marathon with scheduled delivery 2 days later in Key Largo, just a day before we hoped to cross to the Bahamas!! Nothing like last minute!!)

As I was waiting for the groceries to be delivered (like literally standing in the harbor parking lot), I got a text from Mike that he was stopped by the police and he’d be delayed a bit. It turns out that there was a theft the day before at Home Depot of over $500 worth of goods. The guy lead police on quite a chase around town, apparently, and was still on the loose. I’m not sure if it was partly because Mike had been to Home Depot the day before and again today or not, but Mike said he was riding his bike towards the auto part store when a police car started following him down the road. Eventually Mike was stopped on his bike and 3 other police cars arrived on the scene. The officers were very friendly and showed Mike surveillance pictures of the suspect after they realized Mike wasn’t the guy. Mike actually had receipts for his purchases at Home Depot both days that he showed the officers. He says he understands why they stopped him because he really does look similar to the thief. Just another crazy day!!

Eventually we were all together at the dinghy docks, with 2 overflowing dock carts of groceries to load into the dinghy and Marathon’s Most Wanted ready to drive us back to the boat. Sometimes I am amazed by our adventures–you just can’t make this stuff up.

We needed to unload this dinghy and get a move on to get to our next anchorage before dark. Marathon was a great stop for us. We were amazed by the cruising community in Boot Key Harbor and the number of cruisers staging to head all around the world from there. What a unique place! Thanks for reading and following along on our adventures!!

Stats for Sunday, December 30, 2018

Origin: Jewfish Basin Anchorage

Destination: Bahia Honda State Park Anchorage

Distance: 41.6 miles

Speed: 8.2 mph

Time on the Move: 5 hours and 3 minutes

After a long day of dodging crab pots (do you see all those crab pots?! Thank goodness there are no crab pots in the Great Lakes!!) we arrived at our Bahia Honda anchorage.

As soon as we dropped anchor (and set anchor alarms!) the kids were in the water playing. Even Colin decided to get in since he could hide from sharks on the Lilly Pad.

We tried out our new water maker that uses reverse osmosis (what?!) to make fresh water from salty sea water. Bahamas here we come!! This portable case will sit on our bow (because it is convenient and close to our water tank) and make all our fresh water by running a few hours, a few days a week. Amazing!! The owner of the company was great to work with and creates these kits on his own–let us know if you’d like details!!

Heading into the Bahia Honda Marina we had our first iguana sighting. Very exciting for this crew, and we had to circle around for a few minutes so everyone could get a good look and we could document the moment in pictures. We hear they are all over in several places, but this guy being #1 was pretty exciting!

Bahia Honda State Park pretty much covers this whole key with beach access to both the gulf side and ocean side, along with a nature center, old bridge remains, and heavily traveled RV park. My grandparents had a house down here until I was 7, so I have some fleeting memories and lots of family stories that center around this area of the Keys. It was magical to be so close–I could just picture my grandpa out in his boat years ago, zipping around the flats.

Tobin loved swimming around the roped off area and practiced with his snorkel and fins for a while. Colin dug holes in the sand because Colin LOVES digging holes and making dams–he could engineer sand for hours. Hayley mostly wanted to go on walks and lay on a towel. It’s like 7 is the new 17?! Mike and I enjoyed a bit of all of it.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset glow for New Year’s Eve.

Bring on 2019!!

When we were ready to go off adventuring the next day, we noticed several boats anchored at a sand bar along the edge of our anchorage. We decided to head over and check it out. Of course one of my first questions was “are there sharks here or anything scary?” I was open about the fact that I was new to salt water and was just trying to learn what could be out there so I can make smart decisions for the kids. Right away we met up with a sweet, adventurous 5 year old little girl who showed our kids jelly fish and hermit crabs she had collected in a little “hotel.” Her family was very nice and said that yes, there could be sharks around, so just don’t go back towards the mangroves too far. They also admitted that they were still learning what could be in the water, as well.

After playing for a while, the kids started adventuring a little more and they ended up finding some “sink sand” where Tobin got completely stuck. He ended up losing a croc (shoe) deep in the mud and needed me to come rescue him. Then I got stuck and needed my new friend, Shelly, to come rescue me. As Tobin was getting unstuck, he started yelling about being very ITCHY and it became pretty clear that he must have gotten bit/stung/attacked/mauled by some creature on his thigh because there was some red raised lines on his leg. He would not stop crying about it, so we rushed back to the boat after quickly deciding to abandon the croc and leave it as an appetizer for the sharks or maybe a new hotel for the hermit crabs.

After a dose of Benedryl and a new, dry swim suit, Tobin settled down right away. I had hoped to walk along the old bridge while we were at the beach the day before, but no one else really wanted to leave their activities on the beach to make the effort. I think it’s interesting that the original highway was damaged by a hurricane, so a new one was built, yet most of the original span still runs right next to the new one. Someone did think to cut a few sections out to allow tall boats to anchor in front of the beach, but the end off Bahia Honda is still sturdy enough to allow visitors to walk out on. Since Tobin was feeling better, everyone agreed we should walk out onto the bridge and I’m so glad we did!

We loved this anchorage and park!! Thanks for following along on our adventures!!

Stats for December 29, 2018

Origin: Key West @ Conch Harbor Marina

Destination: Jewfish Basin

Distance: 23 miles

Speed: 8.9 mph

Time on the Move: 2 hours and 28 minutes

We left Key West mid-day to head for a nearby anchorage called Jewfish Basin. The afternoon was beautiful and the water was calm which was amazing. The kids and I went out to the bow so we could enjoy all the tour boats, parasailers, and cruise ships as we headed out of town. Then we turned north and later east to head towards our anchorage. The Gulf side of the sourthern Keys is very shallow, so we had to go pretty wide away from “land” to ensure we were in deep enough water. It was a beautiful trip.

We dodged quite a few crab pots heading into our anchorage, and also some long-snaking, shallow areas. We carefully consulted the charts to ensure we were in deep enough waters, once cruising right by a dozen boats that were anchored on a sandbar with people and dogs in just inches of water. Thank goodness for technology!!

We found a great spot to anchor around 2:30 and enjoyed the water. Mike convinced Hayley and Tobin to jump in for a quick swim with him, but Colin and I weren’t quite sure we wanted to swim with sharks yet, so we decided to play cards. (Not that there for sure WERE sharks, we just weren’t quite sure that there WEREN’T sharks…)

Colin created a new card game that he calls “Old.” It is a fun, quick game, and will definitely be played in my classroom when I get back to the real world. It’s perfect for Kindergartners-3rd graders (and moms, obviously!).

The rest of the night wasn’t supposed to be eventful. Dinner, part of a movie before kids went to bed, I fell asleep on the couch immediately after the kids did, and then woke up an hour later to Mike yelling that we had dragged anchor and were almost washed up onto shoals a mile from where we anchored. It was a stroke of luck that Mike glanced at the chartplotter when he went up to the flybridge to turn off the radio before bed. At that time he noticed we were not shown to be anchored where we were before and he started to panic. It was about an hour of extreme panic and teamwork for both of us before we got the boat back to where we were “supposed” to be. (Throw in an accidental pocket dial to your family while you’re screaming and yelling about where you are and where you’re supposed to be at 10:00 at night and you’ve got a recipe for disaster!!) We were probably 200 feet or so from being pushed up onto some very shallow areas (after dragging 4000+ feet) which would have been very stressful, very expensive, and potentially very damaging for the boat. It was not our finest night at anchor, but we caught it in time and now we set an anchor alarm EVERY SINGLE TIME we drop the anchor. Sometimes it takes a bad experience to learn your lesson, right?!

Here is the more detailed description I posted on our FB page INNTWadventures. I’m trying to forget the details of the whole situation and just remember the main idea, that you should always set an anchor alarm!! (By the way, if you don’t follow us on FB, make sure you look us up!! We post several times a day and you can read about where we ACTUALLY are right now, lol!!)

Last night we experienced one of the issues every boater dreads, but we are OKAY!! We dropped anchor at about 2:30pm in a little tucked in bay in the Keys (meaning we weaved our way thru some shallows to a nice protected spot about 7 feet deep). Our anchor held fine all afternoon while we snorkeled, played games, and ate dinner. Then, apparently, around 7:50 our anchor started dragging (and fast!!) while we were watching part of a movie and putting the kids to bed. We didn’t notice a thing until Mike happened to come up to the flybridge to turn off the radio and zip the windows shut for the night around 9:30. He glanced at the chart plotter to check the trail of where we were swinging around the anchor only to see that there was no swinging, just a long trail of where we’d dragged. We moved about 4500 feet in just over an hour. We were just 200 feet away from grounding according to the charts, but it was so pitch black out there we couldn’t see a thing. After some quick panicking, some talking it thru, and some classic teamwork, we had a plan. We pulled up the anchor and relied on the charts and radar to get away from the shallows as quickly as possible. I used the spotlight to look for crab pots (and actually saw hundreds of jumping fish all around us). We made it back to our original spot (silly or smart?) and dropped the anchor again. We watched the charts for a few hours before trusting that the anchor was set. We both set anchor alarms on our phones, and I woke up about every hour to check that we weren’t moving again. The crazy thing is that we actually stopped dragging for about an hour before we even realized we’d moved at all. If we would have kept dragging at the previous pace for that hour, we would have run aground and had a whole new set of issues to deal with today. We don’t really know why we dragged at all, but we aren’t used to anchoring on the hard bottom that surrounds most of the Keys, so that could have something to do with it, along with a 15knot wind and a rising tide. We’ve never dragged before, so it is a mystery to us, but we have learned to set that anchor alarm on the phone immediately, every time, even if we don’t expect a problem holding. It was super scary for us, but the kids slept thru it all, and we didn’t have any damage or issues, so we will count it as a big learning experience!!

This is the zoomed-out view of our path from our chart plotter. The solid line was the safest “deep water” line Garmin suggested we follow. The dotted line on the left is the line we went IN TO the anchorage on. The big dotted loop in the middle is wavy on the left because we dragged there over the course of 2 hours and solid on the right side because we drove in a straight line right back to our same anchorage (not sure if the same anchoring spot was smart or dumb, but it worked out). You can see how close our dotted line was to the darker blue areas (shallow!!) and green spots (land!!). YIKES!!

We hightailed it out of there the next morning and weren’t sad to see it go. You can see a crab pot here on our way out of the anchorage, and those light areas off in the distance were so shallow that they were actually islands at low tide. Thank goodness we didn’t end up washed up on them!!

Thanks for reading and following along on our adventures. Good and bad, every day is an adventure!!

Stats for December 23, 2018

Origin: Everglades Isle

Destination: Key West Anchorage/Conch Harbor Marina

Distance: 102 miles

Speed: 8.8 mph

Time on the Move: 11 hours and 31 minutes

We left Everglades Isle just before first light because we had a long way to go AND we were trying to time the tides so we had enough water to get all the way out of the channel. We were rewarded with beautiful views of pastel colors in the sky along with a full moon. Gorgeous. It was almost enough to distract us from the fact we were moving through very shallow water in the dark, using a spotlight to find crab pots and channel markers. Kind of nerve wracking!!

At about this point the shallow water alarm started screaming at us and for the first time EVER we crossed our fingers as we chug-chug-chugged through some mud, willing our way forward and out to deeper water. After about a minute of holding our breath, we were in the clear. WHEW!! Would have been a long 12 hours sitting there on the bottom in creature-central just waiting for the water to come back!! The interesting thing is that the tides were just starting to fall in Everglades City, but out here, 6 miles down the channel, we were at ROCK BOTTOM LOW tide. And of course we didn’t check the tides out here, we only checked them where we were. Seems like they would be on a similar schedule since they are in a similar location, but it was a full moon, and I understand weird things happen with tides around full moons. Have I mentioned how this Great Lakes girl doesn’t really like tides??

After we made it out of the channel and into the deeper water, we were greeted with the cloudiest green water. It was interesting to see, and our best conclusion is that the wind and waves stirred up the sandy bottom and it had yet to settle. Whatever the cause, it was kind of strange, but then we’ve learned that not much will actually be as we expect it to be on this trip.

As we got out further into the water, the water got a little bouncier. By about 8:30 I already had the Dramamine and sea bands out in full force. The waves were coming from behind us and just seemed to push us along in a swirly way that was very uncomfortable. Later in the day we had some swells coming from behind us and some coming from the side, so there was a slight washing machine effect. Despite the fact the waves weren’t BIG, they were very uncomfortable for everyone except the captain. Might actually be something to the idea that staring at the horizon helps you avoid seasickness (or maybe I should say dodging massive amounts of crab pots ALL DAY helps you avoid seasickness).

We were SO EXCITED to finally see Key West off in the distance!! We were not as excited to turn and take the swells on the beam to go down the channel to get there, but it worked out and then we finally had some protection from the rocking. Plus, all of the chatter on the radio was a good distraction for the last few miles. Key West is a busy busy place to listen to the VHF radio!!

I was so happy to be there that I let the kids eat dinner in my bed while they finished a movie. Mike and I ate ramen noodles and leftovers in peace. It was a long day, but finally we were in Key West!!

The next morning we woke up and took care of some boat chores before heading into Conch Harbor Marina, about a mile away or so. It was Christmas Eve and we were excited to check out the pool and the town, but we didn’t get past the pool. Rough life!!

Mike and I went out for an evening walk after Grandma and the kiddies had sugarplums dancing in their heads. So many amazing Christmas lights on boats and throughout Key West!!

We didn’t want to stay up too late in case Santa was trying to stop by. The kids left cookies, milk, and carrots out, just like at home.

Christmas morning went pretty much just like it does at home. Colin was the first one awake, but Tobin was the first one out of bed around 6:00. The kids knew they had to wait for adults to get coffee in hand and turn on Christmas music before they could start opening presents. Luckily, the kids were thrilled to see that Santa “wrapped”each of their present bundles in one of their favorite blankets from home and they didn’t seem to notice that their piles were significantly smaller than in the past.

Tobin’s favorite present was a Nerf gun, Hayley’s favorite was Baby Alive, and Colin’s favorite was Battle Bots or some crazy fighting robots. After everyone played with their toys for a while, Mike made us a delicious breakfast. We were ready to get off the boat and burn off some of that Christmas excitement. We weren’t exactly sure where we were going, but we definitely stayed out longer than we anticipated!! Who needs a fancy Christmas dinner?! We ate pizza out!!

We were pretty close to Mallory Square, so we decided to stay for the sunset ceremony, where so many performers come to entertain the masses while the sun sets into the ocean. It was cool to see the street performers ride unicycles, do flips, juggle fire, and all kinds of other interesting things.

The next day we enjoyed time at the pool and did some more exploring. I have a MILLION pictures because there was just so much to see!! What a place!!

The kids were excited to go walking in the dark to see the Christmas lights and to wear their glow in the dark Christmas masks they got from Grandma.

The next day we sent Grandma on her way back to Sarasota, but we only had to say goodbye for 3 weeks or so until she joins us in the Bahamas. We enjoyed 1 last day in Key West exploring and taking care of some chores.

We decided to head to the sunset ceremony one last time. INNTW!!

We made it back to Turtle Kraals just in time for the turtle races, which Colin has been begging to see. It was a very festive event, and surprisingly, over quite quickly. We headed back to the boat for a frozen pizza dinner afterwards, which was perfect after a long day exploring.

One other activity in Key West that I have not yet mentioned in the blog is the amount of time that Mike spent in the engine room, on the phone, and consulting others trying to get our power issue fixed. Our inverter company was nice enough to mail us a new (to us) inverter in Key West to attempt to fix the “batteries won’t charge with the generator” problem. Mike is getting to be a pro at taking out and replacing the inverter, so as soon as it arrived, he sweated it out in the engine room for an hour or so to get the new one installed. Unfortunately our problem instantly turned into a “batteries won’t charge with shore power” problem, which is so ironic because it is just the opposite of our previous problem and so frustrating because it is just another inconvenient issue. Since then, Mike has spent countless hours further troubleshooting and consulting others to try to fix the issue with no luck. Regardless, kudos to Mike for putting hours into the project. Also, hats off to the dock neighbors, electricians, technicians, and friends for offering all kinds of ideas and suggestions and sweating it out in the engine room right along with Mike. Boaters truly are one of a kind!

The next morning, we tied up loose ends and finished a few boat chores before we headed out of Key West. We made a last minute run for souvenirs which included necklaces for the boys, a bracelet for Hay, and a shirt for Kelly (BOAT BUM). It’s funny that we walked all around this town for the last few days and yet we waited until the final hour to buy anything, but souvenirs are not usually top on our list. We value experiences over things, but Key West seemed like a place you need a memento from.

Thanks for reading about all of our adventures in Key West!! We had an amazing time and are so thankful we chose to bring INNTW all the way down to the end of the keys. Stay tuned for more adventures!!

Stats for December 19, 2018

Origin: Fort Myers Beach

Destination: Russell Bay Anchorage

Distance: 68.5 miles

Speed: 7.8 mph

Time on the Move: 8 hours and 47 minutes

While we loved Fort Myers Beach, we knew we needed to keep moving because there was some nasty weather predicted later in the week and we were trying to stay on a schedule to get to Key West by Christmas without missing too much other good stuff along the way.

That meant that we were up and out of Pink Shell at first light to start on a long day heading for Everglades City.

As you can see, watching weather is a big deal for us, especially when we have passages to make through big, open water. The boating community talks a lot about weather, so everyone gives their opinion on what will really happen and we all check the latest forecasts every half hour or so when something exciting is developing. We want plenty of time to make a plan and get tucked in!!

And look at the beautiful sunrise we got to see as we ducked out of Fort Myers super early to cover some miles.

There were several other boats heading towards the Keys on this morning, but not too many. We passed by this fishing boat, out nice and early.

There seemed to be 3 separate parts of our trip to Everglades City. First, we had a quiet morning, calm until Naples or so. Then, between Naples and Marco Island, the seas grew and clouds covered the sky. It didn’t look like such a good day to make the long trek at this point. However, once we passed Marco, the skies cleared and the water was a beautiful shade of green. It was like a whole new day.

Since it was such a beautiful afternoon, we decided to anchor in a little bay outside of the entrance to Everglades City and enjoy the weather before the wind and waves began the following afternoon. It was a peaceful spot, surrounded by mangrove trees. At least it was until we were attacked by 034583702 noseeums that came, blood hungry, right through the screens that were open. We literally went screaming downstairs, closed every window that was open, and didn’t come up again until well after dark. Those suckers are brutal.

The next morning the winds were already picking up. We knew it was just going to get windier throughout the day and the waves would really kick up the day after that. We put the dinghy up and headed in to the marina at Everglades City as soon as we could to avoid driving and docking in higher winds and at lower tide.

Stats for December 20, 2018

Origin: Russell Bay Anchorage

Destination: Everglades Isle Marina

Distance: 6.4 miles

Speed: 6.6 mph

Time on the Move: 57 minutes

The tide was heading out as we were heading in to the marina, and we passed thru some very shallow water and some very narrow areas. It was unnerving to travel through such skinny water with the wind gusts we were up against.

After checking in, we immediately headed to the beautiful pool. We were amazed by the beauty of the facilities. Everglades Isle is an RV resort first and foremost, but the developer added many strong floating docks along the channel, and he certainly spared no expense with the common areas. I instantly rated it as tied for the nicest marina I have come across on our trip (Killarney Mountain Lodge would be the other #1). This was a PERFECT place to wait out a blow!!

We worked on our laundry for FREE and swam most of the afternoon away. Mike spent most of the time working on our ongoing inverter issue. We made it back to the boat just in time for the front to move through and dump some major rain and wind in the area. The kids watched Harry Potter while I watched the rain pour down, folding laundry. We enjoyed a lazy rest of the night.

The Everglades are known as the stone crab capital of the world and we were docked in a working harbor with lots of fishing boats and lots of airboats that give tours. There was plenty of entertainment on the water around us with all that going on.

The next day was windy and uncomfortable. We were thankful the boat was tied up in a protected harbor but still put about 10 lines on it to hold it in place. We found all kinds of things to keep us busy on this blustery day. We played Clue in the clubhouse, and I took lots of pictures so I could show off the beauty of this place.

Later in the day we went for a walk around town. It was trickier than it sounds because the winds had blown water over some of the roads, so we had to take a few detours to keep our feet dry. We finally made our way to a stone crab lunch. Look at all those colorful crab pots decorating the outside of the restaurant!!

When we got back from the restaurant we had all kinds of recovered goodies. Coconuts for everyone and even a crab pot float that had blown away. Mike thought it looked like a great souvenir!!

The only bad thing about staying in this spot was the constant drone of airboats. I’m not even sure it was really BAD–just something to get used to. The major tourist attractions here are the airboat tours of the Everglades and the fresh seafood. We hadn’t seen a gator since we were in the panhandle, and even then, I don’t think the kids actually saw them. We decided INNTW and went on an airboat ride. It was awesome!!

We loved our Everglades Isle stop and recommend it to all Loopers. The history of the area is so interesting to me and there is so much natural beauty. It was a great spot to wait out some weather, but now that the wind and waves are past, it is time for us to keep on moving!

Thanks for reading and following along on our adventure!!

Stats for Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Origin: Cayo Costa State Park

Destination: Fort Myers Free Dock and also Pink Shell Marina

Distance: 29.7 miles

Speed: 7.9 mph

Time on the Move: 3 hours and 44 minutes

We were up and at em early Tuesday morning to head to Fort Myers Beach to visit with Mike’s parents, Larry and Cheryl, for the day. They are in Florida spending a week at their time share, and we were so excited that they were driving over for a visit!!

The trip to Fort Myers Beach was fairly uneventful except for watching a sailboat ground himself right outside of Cabbage Key, where we had lunch the day before, and Mike suddenly realizing he was surrounded by crab pots as we neared San Carlos Bay. For the crab pot invasion, I was down in the galley when all of the sudden we stopped and Mike started hollering. Turns out he ran over a crab pot and then realized he was surrounded by them, but hadn’t realized it because he was driving right into the bright sparkles of sunlight shining on the water. I stood watch for the next 20 minutes or so until we changed direction and he could see the crab pots more easily. Never a dull moment!!

While underway, Mike attempted to pay for our water maker through PayPal only to accidentally send the large sum of money to the wrong email address by one letter. Ooops!! He was on the phone for quite some time after that trying to get a hold of PayPal and get the situation straightened out. It took a few phone calls and internet searches, but eventually it was all set. In the meantime, he was stressing about making the payment so that the water maker would be able to get shipped with enough time to make it to Grandma’s house before she left to meet us in Key West. This whole “not having an address” thing is complicated!!

After we tied up at the free dock in Fort Myers Beach (YES!! They have a free dock, but it is supposedly only a day dock… Take notes, future loopers!) Grandma and Grandpa Herbon showed up with Christmas presents, hugs, and a flurry of excitement!! Meanwhile Mike was still trying to settle the PayPal issue and started noticing a power issue on our boat. It seems that the battery chargers weren’t charging properly through the inverter when the generator was on. That basically meant that our battery power was extremely low and not charging at all. Of course, all Mike wanted to do was hang out with his parents and explore the area, but unfortunately, he had all these other things on his mind.

After about 2 hours of troubleshooting and trying everything he could think of, he finally took a break for lunch. The rest of us were so glad because we were getting HANGRY. Okay, well, at least I was. We walked down to the Pink Shell Marina and Resort which was AMAZING!! The pool was huge and winding with a big waterfall in the middle of it. The restaurant tables were scattered around the pool and mixed in with the chairs of guests sunning themselves. It had a true resort feeling and we were loving it!!

**Side Note: We thought about staying in this marina, but stopped ourselves when we found out the rate was 3.33/foot per night. That would equal about $150 a night for us, which is waaaayyy more than we wanted to spend. So instead, we found the great FREE day dock and planned to just move across the channel and drop the anchor over night. Again–totally FREE! But I will admit, I had some marina regret when I finally set eyes on the place!

The restaurant gave the kids view finders to see their menu options–so fun for them!! They also had Etch-A-Sketches to play with while they waited for their food. What a great idea!! And who knew that Colin is apparently an Etch-A-Sketch pro?! He was like Buddy the Elf, whipping up all these fancy pictures with very little thought or effort!! Amazing!!

Before Larry and Cheryl left, they gave the kids Christmas presents, which was a highlight for the kids. New boogie boards, all Harry Potter DVDs, dinosaur fingerlings, and cards and goodies from home. We had such a great visit (and not just because of the presents!!).

After Larry and Cheryl left, we were back to square one with the power issue. The batteries weren’t charging and were almost dead by this point. Mike called Pink Shell (that amazing marina/resort from earlier in the day) and explained our power situation. The dockmaster offered up their dock for us to plug in our power cords and see if we could get the batteries charging. He was leaving for the day, though, and wouldn’t be back until the morning. So, we took that as a sign that we should stay at Pink Shell for the night and charge up those batteries. Sure enough, they charged great on shore power. Sometimes the stars just align.

We loved our whirlwind day in Fort Myers Beach and talked about staying longer, but there was some nasty weather coming soon, so we needed to keep moving south in order to make it to the Keys by Christmas. Hopefully we’ll come back here one day and spend more time in the area.

Thanks for reading and following along on our adventures!!

Stats for December 15, 2018 (I must have been off on my last post…??)

Origin: Aqua Palm Harbor Marina

Destination: Cayo Costa State Park

Distance: 14.7 miles

Speed: 7.4 mph

Time on the Move: 1 hour and 59 minutes

We heard a lot about the amazing Cayo Costa park from other loopers along the way, so we were excited to check it out. The anchorage was very protected and had lots of room for boats. Right away we were anxious to check out the beach, so we dinghied over to check it out, but we quickly realized it was “mosquito time” and we literally ran back to the dinghy. We decided to try again the next day and were more prepared this time with bug spray.

Turns out it is a mile walk to the beach, so we waited for a little tram to drive us across. I like being on my own schedule, so waiting for the tram or walking a mile through mosquitoes and noseeums wasn’t my favorite, but I was excited to check out the beach.

It was definitely a natural setting with pounding waves and surf. We ditched our stuff and started off on a beach walk right away. The kids found all kinds of goodies along the beach.

We enjoyed our time on the beach, but it wasn’t quite as great as Don Pedro or Shell Island. Actually, it was kind of disappointing after being to some of those places. It was still a great day and a great anchorage, but it just wasn’t quite as accessible as some of the other locations.

We heard about another mangrove channel that lead to a basin that was labeled as a “manatee playground” on Navionics (navigation software that I live by). We were hoping to go see some manatees up close.

Instead we found an alligator. An alligator that left his comfy little spot on a log to swim over toward us. It was not quite my favorite moment. I started to wonder if alligators could bite through an inflatable dinghy. Mike and the boys loved it. Hayley was terrified. Mike insisted that we explore the basin a bit more to see if there were actually manatees.

There were no manatees, just this hungry/curious alligator that seemed to be following us everywhere we went. Finally, I picked up on Hayley’s panic when Mike wanted to go a bit closer for “one more look.”

I insisted that Mike take Hayley and I back to the boat and he could take the boys out again if they wanted to check out the alligator some more. No use scarring Hayley forever or having ALL of us get eaten by the alligator. So he took us back to the boat to start dinner, while all the boys went back in search of the gator.

The next morning, Tobin was thrilled to find our elf, Lucy, cuddled up with all the favorite stuffed animals reading Christmas books.

Our morning started off slow with lots of planning. Mike called several marinas in the Keys checking availability and pricing. We firmed up plans to meet Mike’s parents the next day in Fort Myers Beach. We started to look at the calendar and think about where we could meet Kelly’s mom for Christmas. We also made several calls regarding boat troubleshooting, bills, and business back home. Always something to do!!

Our adventure for the day was to dinghy to Cabbage Key and have lunch there. This place is supposedly the inspiration for Jimmy Buffet’s “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and is widely known as a funky beach bar on a private island that you just “have to go to once.” So, off we went.

After lunch we went for a hike on the nature trail that surrounds the private resort. There is even a water tower you can climb.

When we got back to the anchorage, we were excited to see that our kid boat friends, Livin the Dream, had arrived. We dinghied over to a much closer beach and enjoyed some kid play time and adult catching up time. Thank goodness for kid boats!!

Thanks so much for following along on our adventures!! Every day is filled with something new and we love it!!

Stats for December 13, 2018

Origin: Venice Free Dock

Destination: Don Pedro State Park

Distance: 21.5 miles

Speed: 7.6 mph

Time on the Move: 2 hours and 50 minutes

We heard about a great little spot through the Looper grapevine and it ended up to be one of our favorite spots yet! Don Pedro State Park was located right off the ICW, and nothing about the “anchorage” looked all that great–you couldn’t see the beach and the actual anchorage wasn’t very protected from the ICW.

However, with some great directions by those who came before us, we had a great spot. We had to dinghy in to the actual park through a LONG narrow channel through the mangroves. We could see to the bottom and enjoyed watching starfish pass by underneath us. Once we got to the park, there was a dinghy dock where we tied up and a short walk to the actual beach. There were even bathrooms and a pavilion in case rain came on unexpectedly.

The kids found TONS of shark teeth here and even some sand dollars. Again, this stretch of beach was mostly deserted, but there were a few beach combers on our second day there. There were so many shark teeth and sand dollars it was hard to stop looking for them because they were everywhere! We probably found 100 sand dollars and a couple hundred sharks teeth.

Both Mike and I enjoyed jogging on the beach while Tobin and Hayley searched for shells. I did plenty of daydreaming about the houses at the end of the state park that overlooked this beautiful stretch of sand with very few neighbors. Zillow searches were done and dreams about the future continued to grow.

We loved this great stop and I highly recommend it to others passing through the area! One of our top Florida stops so far, for sure!

Stats for December 15, 2018

Origin: Don Pedro State Park

Destination: Aqua Palm Harbor

Distance: 1.7 miles

Speed: 6 mph

Time on the Move: 18 whole minutes!!

We started to realize that our access to a car to provision for the Bahamas would be ending soon because we were moving further and further away from my mom’s location in Sarasota. She was coming back to us to bring Colin back to the boat after taking him for his turn to spend time at her house. It was also supposed to be a very windy day, and we weren’t sure the protection from the wind would be that good in this area, paired with possible rain storms. It didn’t seem like the best day to retrieve someone from shore by dinghy, really. We decided to move basically across the channel to Aqua Palm Harbor Marina so we could take advantage of Grandma’s car and child watching services one last time before heading further south. Of course Grandma was on a schedule, so this would have to be a quick trip.

We headed for Dollar Tree first and stocked up on all kinds of shelf stable milk, food products, pizza crusts, and various cleaning supplies. I never knew I could spend over $100 at the dollar store!!

Then we headed to Walmart Liquor store for beer, wine, and some booze. Apparently beer runs close to $50 a case in the Bahamas, so we wanted to be sure to stock up. 3 months is a long time in paradise!!

Last we went to Walmart to stock up on paper products, meat, and snack foods, mostly. It seems chicken, fish, bread, and dairy is more readily available in the Bahamas, so we focused on the stuff that we are super picky about, or the items we know are very marked up. It was quite a trip!! Thank goodness we didn’t bring an extra kid along with us, because no one/nothing else would have fit in the car!!

After all the unloading, thanking grandma, and sending her on her way, we took a provisioning break to go to the pool. Aqua Palm has a great pavilion area right next to their pool and hot tub. It was a fun place to play and burn off some energy!!

That night we continued our game of food tetris. Where does one fit $700 worth of alcohol and $1000 worth of food on an already packed boat?! We started trying to figure that out and we were surprised at how many little cubbies and hiding places we could find. Perhaps the bigger trick will be the ability to find what we need when we need it down the road.

Thanks for reading and following along on our adventures!!

Stats for December 12, 2018

Origin: Otter Key Anchorage

Destination: Venice Free Dock

Distance:

Speed:

Time on the Move:

We headed south towards Venice and we were planning on anchoring, but another Loop boat we met at the Otter Key Anchorage, Heartbeat, reminded us that there is a courtesy dock in Venice. It is supposed to be for day use only, but we figured we’d attempt to stay overnight and see if anyone asked us to the leave the dock.

When we were all tied up on the dock, we headed right for the beach. The surf was up and there were lots of surfers enjoying the waves. I was glad that our trip on the ICW was smooth and calm after seeing the waves in the Gulf. We walked towards a restaurant on the water for dinner and then settled in for the night.

The next morning, Mike took the big kids to explore a deserted island we discovered last year when we rented a boat in the area and I went for a jog. Later, Grandma Hays brought Tobin back to the boat after having him at her house for a few nights. Once we were all together again, it was time for us to move on, but we were kind of sad about leaving Venice so soon. It seemed like such a fun area with lots to explore. I have a feeling we will be back someday!!

Thanks for reading and following along!!

Stats for December 7, 2018

Origin: Gulfport Anchorage

Destination: Marina Jacks Anchorage

Distance: 36 miles

Speed: 8.2 mph

Time on the Move: 4 hours and 23 minutes

We left Gulfport to head towards Sarasota. This was a big day because we would have to do through Tampa Bay and pass by the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. I have driven over the bridge many, many times in my life, so going past it on our own boat felt amazing.

Heading towards Sarasota, it felt like EVERYONE was going that way!! There were quite a few boats all headed the same direction. Along the way we passed by The Bridgetender Bar and Restaurant on Anna Maria Island. We really thought about stopping in for an overnight anchorage, but it was packed. Instead of stopping there, we took pics and remembered all the special family times we had there.

Pulling in to Sarasota felt like a huge milestone for me. The skyline of Chicago is more impressive, but Sarasota is much more meaningful. I’ve been coming to the Sarasota area annually since I was 7, so watching those familiar buildings grow closer and closer was awesome!

We anchored right by Marina Jacks mooring area and explored a playground right next to the anchorage.

After we tired of that playground we dinghied over to the tikki bar by Marina Jacks and had a beer with our toes in the sand. We remembered our kids playing there when they were very little and other dinner cruises we came to the harbor for in the past. So many great memories here!! Plus, the kids played at another playground that we could see from our picnic table THE WHOLE TIME, so that was like 30 minutes of uninterrupted adult time!! Amazing!!

Stats for December 8, 2018

Origin: Marina Jacks Anchorage

Destination: Hyatt Regency Docks

Distance: 6.7 miles

Speed: 5.3 mph

Time on the Move: 1 hour and 10 minutes

The Zeeffs were staying right around the corner from our anchorage at the Hyatt Regency, so we headed their way the next day to check out their AWESOME pool!! It was a super fun day for kids and adults, the kind that slips away before you realize it.

It didn’t take much convincing for Mike to head back to the boat and bring it over to the dock so we could stay another day enjoying the pool and company.

The next day was not near as nice–it was chilly, rainy, and blustery, so we took the opportunity to decorate the boat for Christmas. It was a fun way to spend the day, and with Mike watching football on TV in the background, it felt like we were back in our house–almost.

We took advantage of an after dinner swim in the amazing pool and were thankful we stayed at this awesome spot!!

Stats for December 10, 2018

Origin: Hyatt Regency Docks

Destination: Otter Key Anchorage

Distance: 18.2 miles

Speed: 7.5 mph

Time on the Move: 2 hours and 40 minutes

We wanted to move to an anchorage close by that we’d heard about from other loopers. It was in a great protected spot and close by the Mote Marine Aquarium that we wanted to get to while we were in town.

Grandma came to pick us up at St. Armand’s Circle to head to the aquarium while Mike borrowed her car to start provisioning for the Bahamas. We figure we will need to stock up quite a bit, so we wanted to start while we had easy access to a car.

The next day we dinghied over to the beach to do some exploring. We found all kinds of jellyfish and even a blue crab. The kids loved that they could wander on a path just on the other side of some brush so they couldn’t see us. We didn’t mind the break, either!

Once the tide was up, we were headed out to our next destination, so we headed back to the boat to get moving, but we had such a fun morning exploring. If only every day could start with some beach exploration!!

Thanks for reading and following along!!