Mooring Ball B-12 - Boot Key Harbor

Today we pulled both anchors from the bottom of the west end anchorage, and motored down to B-12 mooring ball.  This will be our home for the next month, sort of....     
From the mooring ball we can leave anytime, for scuba diving the reefs at Sombrero,  or trips down to Key West, and be assured that we'll have a place to return to... (aka mooring B-12).    Pulling the anchors in the west end... and leaving... not knowing if there'd be room when we got back... just didn't seem like a good thing to do...  So we waited for the Mooring Ball.  

Anyway here's some pictures of Boot Key Harbor.... Sunsets, moonrises, parties, etc.   

Party on the Aft Deck with the Perkin's from the S/V Troubadour.

Moonrise over the anchorage.  Full and yellow.

Anchored in Boot Key Harbor (Marathon Key, FL)

We're anchored out in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon Key Florida  (Feb 27 into March 2010). 
We've purchaced a new laptop (by necessity)... so as soon as we figure out how to transfer some of the pictures (of late) to this HP laptop.... we'll post some... 
Until then this sunset picture, while moored at Dinner Key (Miami) will have to do....

Kelvin Jones was just here for two days...  visiting, and assisting us in our quest to purchase this replacement laptop...
I hope we didn't bore him to death...   He got a few tours of the harbor here, because it's about a mile or so dinghy ride to the City Marina office, and dinghy dock....  

Wind is still blowing about 12 to 18 knots.... but it's sunny, and nice outside...  the storm that as expected yesterday PM, while Kel was here, split as it came over Key West, and part went north, and part went south... and we ended up spending the day under mostly sunny skies...  COOL !!

Southbound - presently in Miami Beach- FEB-2010

We sailed (really motor/sailed) down from Fort Lauderdale on Sunday.  We're now anchored on the south side of the Venetian Causeway near Miami Beach.  We'll stay here for a while...

We've been traveling on and off with the two sailing vessels shown here (S/V catamaran Double Exposure; and during the last few weeks the S/V Bewitched) 
Photo taken in Peck Lake (near Hobe Sound) on the way south.  

The next photo is of the crews of these vessels; (Rick, Sue, Mike, Vickie, Susan, Dean) 

When we arrived in Miami, and entered through the Dodge Cut we saw the container ship "Intrepid" from Panama... with the Containers ajar.  It began to list near Key West, and 30 containers broke loose and fell into the Gulf Stream.  Most sank. The USCG is tracking (sort of) those that continue to move north in the Gulf Stream.

These containers are very dangerous for boaters, as they float nearly submerged (with tops barely awash)  ---  very hard to see....

Christmas in Arkansas - Stay in Titusville FL

We spent Christmas this year (2009) at the home of Lori, and Joe Roberston.  Ruth, and James met us there for a wonderful, and white Christmas.  It was 60F in Bentonville AR,  the week leading up to Christmas, then SNOW....   COOL!!!      

We toured the Sam Walton Museum in Downtown Bentonville (picture), and recieved a personal tour of WalMarts computer center (Joe), and Crisis/ Event Center).  

Returning to Florida Susan and I took a detour through Seneca SC to see Nick and Lynn Geiben. 

We got lost a few times, but always seemed to recover well...   (There's really no easy way to get from NW Arkansas to Seneca SC, and then to FL until you get to I-95).  

When we returned to Florida the jet stream moved south and brought the longest cold snap to FL on record. Wow,  was it COLD....   Fortunately we were at a dock, and could plug into Shore Power for a little heat.

Mornings it was as low as 37F in the main Salon of AB.  BRRRR.... 

We'd move the little heater to whereever we were in the boat... but it was still very Chilly!!!!

(the Butter got very hard ..... so now we're seeking that point where it will MELT again!)

We stayed in Titusville over a month... from before Christmas, to mid-January...  It's time now to move South to Vero Beach, Miami, and the KEYS.

While we've been here in Titusville, Brian and Sheila Strutt have been gratious hosts, trucking us here and there... whenever....   WE drove up to Datona at one point and purchased a helm seat (picture below)....

Actually there's been quite a few boat improvement projects accomplished while we've been here...  That's the one advantage to sitting still for a while....   :)

Thanksgiving at St. Mary's GA and outside to St. Augustine FL

We can't believe that November's over. Wow.  We sailed from Charleston, SC outside, to the St. Mary's  Inlet, thus skipping most of the SC, and all of the GA ICW.   That got us to St. Mary's GA on Friday, before Thanksgiving.   We spent a week anchored in the St. Mary's River (30 feet deep, and a 3 to 4 knot tidal current).  During that week the cruisers started arriving...mostly from the north.... and mostly coming down the ICW.  Thanksgiving was great.  90 Cruising boats were represented, and filled in the supplementary dinner dishes (the Town's people cook, and bring the Turkey's and hams).  YUMMM

The picture at the left shows just a little of the St. Mary's river anchorage.  (A lot of the cruisers had left when this photo was taken.  It was crowded on TG. 

The triple masted schooner in the center is the S/V Steel Away belonging to Anne and John Fazzio.
Great people, who, I guess now, could be classed as "locals" (at least for a while).   They were a great help to all the cruisers.   

Anne and John are pictured below.

 After Thanksgiving we stayed a day or two to relax after all the parties, and festivities.   Parties like happy hours, and "pain-killer"parties are "Work"....  :)

Anyway... then Susan and I set sail, and went outside and sailed down to St. Augustine FL, (about 65 nm including the 5 nm it takes to get out of the St. Mary's River).  
We made good time, but still just made St. Augustine before dark.
The trawler shown here passed us on the way into the St. Augustine Inlet.   The following birds were phenomenal.    Presently (DEC 2nd, and 3d) we're anchored north of the Bridge of Lions (still under renovating contruction).

We took a nice walk in St. Augustine today, before the storm hit...  Sydney even got ashore at the end of the day. 

The panorama below, taken from the Spanish Fort, shows the AB anchored out in the Harbor.   The St. Augustine Inlet is just to our stern (leading out to the Atlantic).

Love the gated yards, and architecture of the South.

St. George's street ALLEY (nearly empty)

Nor'Easter storm - North Carolina- Waiting for Weather

The remnants of hurricane Ida, wouldn't have been bad, but when they joined forces with a low pressure trough off the coast here, a wild nor'easter storm formed.  Many of the cruising boats took cover at marinas. Many found secure anchorages like the one we're in at Mile Hammoch Bay (Camp LeJune) NC.
We're anchored here with an average of about 11 other boats.  Plenty of swing room, and seems like good 'holding' for the anchor. 

The TV last night gave the rainfall totals for Onslow County of 9.26 inches, and then it rained again last night.
Wow.    We knew we got "pasted" with rain. The dinghy, which is floating at our stern, was filled with water, right to the top of the stern plate (and that's about 10 or 12 inches tall. 
( I bailed it out on Thursday, during a brief respite in the storm; changed the filter and water separator, and started the outboard (first pull -- Yeah!).
There was just enough play in the gas tank hold down straps to allow the tank to float a little and saved us from getting water in the fuel tank.   Second Yeah !!

The wind is really howling now.... but most of the rain has gone....   Very cloudy, and not inviting to move at all.     So...  second cup of coffee, projects, and reading day.    Move south on Saturday, weather willing.

Visit to "LIittle Washington", NC

It's October and we're secured along the docks of the Pamlico Plantation (Broad Creek off the Pamlico River) for about 6 days.  Morris and Elizabeth Thorpe are our hosts here at the Plantation.  It was great to see them, and an excellent time to complete the refrigeration work, and some electrical work (Generator Grounding System).

This weekend we'll shove off here, and make our way back down the Pamlico to meet the S/V Myosotis. 
The goal is to be down at St. Mary's GA for Thanksgiving.  That should be doable without major effort. 
Weather permitting we'd like to go offshore more than the ICW, but we'll see.

While at the dock here we replaced the Lube OIL heat exchanger that cools the lubrication oil for the main engine (Perkins),and the transmission (BorgWarner C-71).  Either something inside  the oil cooler (like a tube brazing joint) came adrift, or it just corroded a pinhole in the tubes, but we started to literally "pump" our engine lube oil over board through the engine exhaust.  Not Good!.  Three years ago, Susan and I replaced the transmission on the AB, while at a dock in Dinner Key, FL.   Not a fun job.  We seriously want to take care of this transmission, and, of course, the Perkins.

Another new addition (actually a relacement)  was a Toaster Oven.  The controls on the old oven bit the dust, and this one will take a full 12" frozen pizza...  yeah !!!    Plus it has a convection oven feature too.