2020: Pumpkin Key Anchorage to Pompano Beach Florida

2 May 2020

Depart: Card Sound, Pumpkin Key Anchorage 9:00

Arrive: Pompano Beach Private Dock 4:55

Distance: 63 nm

Traveling along this morning, I found nothing but “water, water everywhere”, i.e. no interesting views. I decided to go below and do a blog update to pass the time. After lunch I made my way back up to the upper helm to check out the sights as we passed through Miami.

One of the first things Clark pointed out to me were the “Snow-capped mountains” in the distance.

Sand-capped hills outside Miami, FL

 Soon thereafter, the skyscrapers of Miami came into view.  Clark decided we needed a “Hello Miami” – “Goodbye Miami” set of photos.

“Hello Miami”

 Clark was impressed by a wind surfer he saw speeding along.

Wind surfer

We saw 3 cruise ships docked in Miami. Two of them just looked like tall buildings to me until Clark pointed them out.

Cruise Ships at dock

Oceania Marina Cruise Ship at dock

Miami

 Next we saw ...

Container ships docked in Miami

 One of them hales from New Jersey!

A container ship coming into Miami –
“Babun Express”

being directed by a clearly-marked Pilot boat

After our oh-so-brief visit, it was time for the “Goodbye Miami” photo

Leaving Miami

Then, we passed through Government Cut into the Atlantic Ocean to start our way north towards home! As we moved along, we could see some ships anchored out in the ocean. One of the things floating out there looked like a Japanese pagoda.

Floating Pagoda??

Upon a closer look, we saw the word “Virgin” in large letters across the structure.  As we neared, the identifier “Virgin Voyages” became visible. Eventually, the vessel’s name, Scarlet Lady, was revealed. Given the shape and height as well as the atrocious colors of this ship, I decided to do a bit of research.

Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady

Note the size difference to the other cruise ship

 Compared to the other cruise ships anchored nearby, the Scarlet Lady appeared huge and top heavy.

Virgin’s vessel compared to Oceania’s

Company	Name	LoA	Beam	Draft	# of Decks
Virgin Voyages	Scarlet Lady	909 feet	125 feet	26 feet	17
Oceania	MS Riviera	785'	105'	25'	15
Oceania	MS Sirena	594'	98'	20'	11

The Scarlet Lady’s story is a somewhat sad one given the poor timing of this vessel. According to the internet, Wikipedia, the Scarlet Lady is the first of three ships commissioned by Virgin for their brand new cruise line. Construction completed, she was delivered to Miami on the 14^th of February 2020 with her christening scheduled for 19^th March. The christening has been postponed until some yet-to-be-determined date. Her first ever cruise is scheduled for 7^th August 2020. Talk about bad timing! Meanwhile two more vessels are part of the contract with the boat-building company overseas!

We saw some activity around the ship. Clark noticed one of the lifeboat pods being lowered into the water. We then noticed that another one was already down.

Lifeboat in the water

Lifeboats out and about

 Later, near Fort Lauderdale waters, we saw not cruise ships but freighters anchored near the Port Everglades inlet. 

 Ships off Port Everglades Inlet

 After passing by the ships, we heard a boater on the VHF radio haling one of two freighter ships. Earlier we heard the same boater calling for Sea Tow saying he had lost both engines as he exited the inlet. He haled Europa first and explained that he was drifting without engines in water too deep for him to anchor towards Europa. The radio operator on Europa said he would throw out a fender.

The owner of the powerless boat then haled the vessel Caribe and told them he expected not to hit them but wanted them to know he was there. He did not expect Sea Tow to arrive before he drifted into trouble.  I had to wonder how much anchor line this 45-foot “luxury yacht” (as he described himself) carried that he could not drop an anchor in 50 feet of water and expect to at least slow his drifting.

Big ships were not the only vessels on the water today. Being a beautiful weather day on a Saturday, lots of little boats were out enjoying the relatively calm ocean waters as well.  We saw lots of boats that had “feelers” out and looked like bugs approaching.

bugs on the water

with long feelers!

We saw lots of dive flags on boats and on floats warning of divers down.

Diver down marker

We got quite a scare at one point. I was piloting (that’s scary enough right there), and Clark was reading next to me. I heard a couple of kids on a small boat yelling, so I looked over and waved hello. As we motored by, Clark saw a dark shape in the water to our port side – someone snorkeling in a wet suit. On closer inspection, we could see no less than 4 adults, all in black, swimming / snorkeling in the water. No dive flag!! A few feet different and the results would not have been a pretty sight. By the time Clark saw even the first person, we were already passed them!

Besides big ships, little ships, and scary swimmers, we saw several sea turtles happily swimming along. They were smart enough to dive when they saw us coming, so capturing evidence on camera pretty much did not happen.

After more than 60 nautical miles of travel, we arrived at the Hillsboro Inlet where we planned to stop for the night.

Hillsboro Inlet and Lighthouse

Hillsboro Inlet Bridge

Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse

We called ahead and got the thumbs up from our friend Steve that we could tie up at his dock for the night. Steve was not home when we arrived. However, since we stayed here in November, we knew how to position ourselves and tie up next to his boat / dock without his assistance.

Later, we got together on his patio overlooking the waterway (socially distant of course) to chat. I had brought the plane picture with me as a gift since the plane I painted belongs to Steve.

Around 8:30, we said our good nights as Clark and I had yet to eat our dinner.

2020: Marathon to Miami FL

1 May 2020

Depart: Faro Blanco Resort and Yacht Club, Marathon, FL 9:20 a.m.

Arrive: Card Sound, Pumpkin Key Anchorage, 5:30 p.m.

Distance: 64 nm

Hurray hurray! We are underway!!

We woke to gusty north winds and 71 degrees Fahrenheit that felt much chillier!  Clark and I had on shorts and t-shirts, but folks on the neighboring boats had on long sleeves! After those hot, humid near 90-degree days, 70 with the north wind did indeed feel cold.

We planned to depart at 9:00, but we had two complications that slowed us down. First, when Clark went up to use the marina head, he found the stall had no toilet paper. He checked again a bit later and still no luck. After he told me the issue, I suggested he take paper with him. He only agreed once I told him that the toilet paper I offered was not marine grade and could not be used on the boat anyway. Problem one solved – he went to the head armed with his own roll! The second delay was related to equipment as one of the navigation software packages decided it was time for an update, and Clark had to wait until it completed to begin our travels. Typical boating ... hurry up and wait!

As mentioned in my last Blog post, folks are leaving the marina here daily. Yesterday, Sand Dollar left. I heard from Ann that they got caught near Marco Island by the heavy storm that passed through in the afternoon. I gather that the inside of their boat got pretty trashed from being tossed around. We have certainly experienced that on our prior boat, Sea Moss.

At least one boat that planned to leave today canceled their plans. Before we left today, I took a look to see if Slow Lane had departed as planned, and sure enough their boat was gone from the docks. Clearly, we are not the only ones willing to leave the dock in 20-knot winds.

Ann came over to say goodbye at 9:00 since that was our planned departure time. After we talked for a couple of minutes, she decided to go get warm and come back later. I suggested 20 minutes which turned out to be about right. When we did leave, Bill and Sandy L’Attitude Adjustment helped us with our lines, and Ann took phone videos of our departure while standing by our slip. Folks on Zoey’s Adventure, Fins,  and Nauti Girl took photos of us leaving from near their boats. Yasmine walked over to the Lighthouse to capture close-up pictures of us leaving the marina. Still other folks waved as we sailed away giving us a fine farewell from all!

Goodbye Pigeons - not sorry to leave you here

Goodbye Faro Blanco Marina

The trip along the ICW towards Miami is not terribly interesting. I contacted my friend, Janet, in New Jersey, and we spend almost two hours on the phone catching up. I even managed to make Clark lunch while we talked. Eventually, though, Janet and I had to eat as well, so I finally dropped the call for some sustenance.

As we neared Key Largo, the channel passed through a section of mangroves. At one point where we needed to turn right to make our way, it looked like it would come to a dead end.

Channel through the mangroves

From the height of our upper helm, I could see over the channel edge to get a good view of the surrounding area.

Peeking over the mangroves along the channel

To pass time and keep us awake, Clark turned on the radio for some music. As we sat there listening to oldies, all of a sudden, we heard a sound we hoped not to hear again for a vey long time … a pigeon cooing. What the heck!? Did we bring one along with us from Faro Blanco?

We both heard it. Neither of us could believe that the song on the radio had a pigeon cooing. Clark stepped up on the seatback to get a view of the hard top and could not find any hitchhikers up there. We only heard it that once and hope not to hear it again. Odd!

As we motored along, Clark kept talking about a bridge coming up, and I wondered the significance. It turned out just to be a milestone for him to judge our progress.

Bridge near Key Largo

 As we passed near the Anchorage Resort & Yacht Club, we could see that all the places that were hopping with boats and people last November were now devoid of both.

Where are the boats at the Key Largo Resorts ...?

Key Largo Resort missing people and boats

Oh, here's one!

Although Clark had estimated an arrival time of around 6:30 at our anchorage of choice, we got there a faster than anticipated – a good thing. I had planned to heat up our dinner before we dropped anchor to use the engine power for electric. However, given that we had a somewhat late lunch, and it was just going on 5:00, I decided to hold off on dinner. I figured I could always warm it up via the propane stove instead of microwave, so no big deal.

Since we dropped anchor at 5:30 and I had told Clark I wanted to wait on putting dinner on the table, he decided to give our anchor line a much-needed “hair cut”. The "fuzzies" were getting caught in the windlass mechanism when we lowered the anchor. We attached a heat gun of sorts to an extension cord so he could reach the anchor pulpit. I gave him some old cardboard to catch hot hairs from the line, and he went to work.

Anchor Line getting a “hair cut”

Anchor Line getting a “hair cut”

Some of the fuzzies
that got trimmed away

After he tidied up the anchor line, I started to reheat dinner. As that was happening, we noticed Slow Lane coming into the anchorage to drop their hook behind us. It’s always nice to have friends for company! We heard them on the radio with another vessel earlier as we approached the anchorage area, so we knew they were in the vicinity.

About 2 miles out from the anchorage, having heard Eric on the radio earlier calling Bob423, Clark called Eric to check on their progress. Where we traveled on the inside route, Slow Lane navigated the outside / ocean path. When we called, they were about 1.5 miles from the anchorage.  They are slower than us and took a while longer to arrive.

Slow Lane getting ready to drop anchor

After they got settled, Clark and Eric chatted via text messages for a while.  As I cooked and Clark texted, we noticed a boat pass between Eric’s boat and ours and thought nothing of it. Then, we saw it make a complete circle around us yet again. Huh?? As they went by, I could see the woman on board was acting like paparazzi and taking pictures of our boat like mad. Clark grabbed the camera, went out, and took a picture of her boat. Fair is fair after all!

Paparazzi Boat?

After the "excitement", we sat down to a beautiful sunset with our dinner that finally managed to find its way to the table.

 Sunset at Pumpkin Key near Miami, Florida

Later, Eric sent us a picture showing he had been busy at sunset fishing. He caught his first ever Spanish Mackerel, and it was a beauty! Congratulations to Eric!!

Eric’s Spanish Mackerel
caught at sunset off Pumpkin Key

2020: Preparing to leave Marathon FL

24 April 2020

Clark needed more brushes to continue the varnishing job. He was torn between calling the job done and adding another coat of varnish. I told him that if he wanted to start the sanding part of the job, I would ride my bike to Home Depot and buy more brushes. Clark thought it might be too hot for me to bike, but with a breeze, I figured it was doable.

In fact the bike ride would have been totally enjoyable had it not been for the face mask that I wore.  When I was no where near either pedestrians or other cyclists, I pulled the mask down to my chin. That made it easy to yank it up when I got near anyone. Sadly, no one I passed wore a face mask. I did my best to keep my distance.

I took 10 minutes to bike to Home Depot, 10 minutes in the store, and 10 minutes back to the boat! I was moving and not browsing in the store. Once back at the boat, I folded up my collapsible bike and pulled it into the cockpit. Not 5 minutes later, Clark and I hear a loud bang come from the cockpit. What the heck??!!  Clark said, "I bet that was one of your spokes!" Sure enough, I looked and there was a broken spoke.

On the recommendation of our friend that owns a bike shop, we bought a dozen or so replacement spokes, so luckily we had some on board. Having watched a YouTube video, he is now an expert and had my spoke replace quickly. He pointed out that while he was working on it, he noticed that the front wheel was loose and could have fallen off. He tightened it up for me.  Given the speed I was traveling on my trip to Home Depot, I could have been a pretty mess all over the sidewalk. I was lucky!

After lunch, Sandy took me out to Publix. Every time I go, I add more supplies to my stockpile of food for the trip back to New Jersey. I keep thinking I have everything I need and then remembering something I should buy.

25 April 2020

Given today was Saturday, Sandy drove the two of us to the farmer's market. Since this is the last one for me before leaving Marathon, I decided to stock up on whatever I could get. We learned last week that the drive through market did not open until 9:30. We left at 9:00 as usual with the intent of stopping at Walgreens to look for Clorox wipes. I was shocked, and we both were pleased when the cashier pulled a basket out from under the counter and offered us pocket-sized packets of wipes. He allowed us one each!

After yesterday's one-more-coat of varnish, Clark declared himself done. He peeled off the masking tape and put his varnishing tools away until next time. Sadly, next time seems to come around far too fast. Afterwards, he listened to an online lecture on electrical standards for boats. Yawn! Better him than me!

I, on the other hand, set up my acrylic paints in the salon and spent the afternoon painting. I started the painting yesterday afternoon and worked on it again today.

Subject to be painted ... "Home Too" Mainship

26 April 2020

The clouds rolled in this morning and we had a thunder and lightning storm. This was the first rain we have had in weeks, maybe even months. Unfortunately, the rain gave us no break from the heat and humidity. As soon as the storm passed, the sun came out the the humidity became magnified.

Storm rolling in over Faro Blanco

The best part of the heavy rain was the cleaning the boat got! We have never noticed a problem in the past; however, this year, pigeons have moved into the marina and taken over. We have some roosting under the dock near our boat. Since we are nearby, they use the cockpit and the hardtop as perches. They leave nasty messes behind.

Yesterday, I scheduled a video call with my Connecticut family members. For a four-year-old, Lily sure knows her video call etiquette.  For example, at one point she invited me to watch her and Jack play with her dollhouse. She made sure to set up the iPad so I had a good view and checked to be sure I could see well. The call left me with a smile that lasted into the next day.

Clark spent the majority of the day compounding / cleaning the boat. I, on the other hand, continued working on my painting.

Last Sunday, the folks at the marina set a screen and watched "Captain Ron". The plan for tonight was to set up movie night again ... this time to watch "Overboard". Things fell apart along the way. Mel planned to make ice cream, his orange sherbet favorite, but the staff never delivered the ice he needed. Then the weather decided not to cooperate.

With 20+ knot winds, the makeshift screen was in perpetual motion. They decided to cancel the event for a better day. They quick had to run tell the folks on "Colleen" not to make popcorn as they planned on filling bags of it to bring to the show. Even though they canceled around 5:30, the popping on board "Colleen" had already begun. I guess the kids on board got a yummy treat.

The other day, Clark ran out to try for a sunset picture. On the way, he misjudged his footing and tripped. He managed to scrape us his leg and knock the lens out of his sunglasses. In the process he managed to scare Stella - the dog that lives on "Morning Star II". Now, whenever she sees Clark, she barks at him like crazy!

27 April 2020

As I enjoyed my breakfast, I heard a helicopter and went to see what was going on. I found Sandy and Bill standing on the bow of their boat watching the show. They said that officials use helicopters to check the power lines. Clark could even see a person with his feet hanging out of the chopper.

Finally, once the clouds cleared in the morning, we had a day with perfect weather!  I decided to celebrate by taking a walk. I only managed to go 2 miles. Although we had a wonderful, cool breeze at the marina docks, that breeze was missing on Route 1. I walked to the marina by the Lazy Days restaurant just to have a look around and then walked back to Faro Blanco. I was definitely dragging my feet by the time I got back to the marina.

After lunch, I pulled out my acrylic paints yet again. I worked all afternoon perfecting my rendition on "Home Too".  I declared myself done!

My acrylic version of "Home Too"
(I omitted the background on purpose)

Although I thought the breeze made it a little cool for the pool, Clark decided to go for a swim. He left me to my paints and went for a quick dip.

Clark enjoying pool time

Afterwards, he took his kayak out for some additional exercise.

Clark was very busy today. He even got a sunset picture for me.

28 April 2020

Sandy offered to take me to the food store for one more "last minute" provisioning run. I come back with bags of groceries every time I go. I wonder as we travel, how it will go as far as using the items I stocked up on. I am hoping to avoid stores as much as possible along the way to New Jersey.

After I got back from the store, I focused on my acrylic painting with a new project in mind. The other day, Sandy and Bill took out "L'Attitude Adjustment" out for a day of fishing. Clark got a good picture of their boat as they left their slip.

"L'Attitude Adjustment"

I had so much fun painting "Home Too", I decided to paint "L'Attitude Adjustment" as a gift for Sandy and Bill.  I wanted to give the finished picture to Sandy before we leave on Friday. She told me they might take their boat out to anchor for a while starting on Thursday. That gave me a deadline of finishing the picture by Wednesday night. The pressure was on!

While I worked on the painting, Clark played with the attenuators he received today. This dates back to his work a few days ago when he was playing with the stereo system. He has one more item on order for that project that does not look like it will arrive before we leave here.

29 April 2020

Two boats left early this morning. "Maid of Steel" from Canada made their departure early with "Hour Plan" following close behind.

I focused on my painting anxious to complete the piece in case Sandy and Bill departed before we did. Meanwhile, Clark decided to stroll around the marina. As he passed by "The Highlander", an iguana decided to jump into a nearby boat to get out of his way.

Continuing on his stroll around the marina, he came across Jeff on "Mystic Gem" relaxing for a change. Seems like every other time we walk by he is busy fixing or sprucing up some part of the boat.

As I did my painting, I had one eye on the paints and one on the clock. Besides worrying about whether I could complete the picture today, I had another deadline. I had a scheduled video chat with my Idaho family. I knew I had to get the painting done before that call ... nothing like painting under pressure. I did declare it done in time for my call. Phew!

30 April 2020

As it turned out, Sandy and Bill did not leave. Given that, Sandy asked me if I wanted to join her for a trip to Publix. This must be my fifth final run to the grocery store, but of course, I said yes. We agreed we would go at 1:00.

I made a list yesterday of all the things I needed / wanted to do before we leave here tomorrow. Late yesterday something got added to that list when a friend asked me to make him some masks since he hasn't been able to find any in his area. I couldn't see myself pulling out my sewing machine at the end of a long boating day, so I figured it needed to be done today. My objective - get them done before going shopping with Sandy.

If I didn't need to eat, I would have make the 1:00 goal. However, I needed lunch so we went out at 1:15 instead.  At Publix I saw something I have not seen there before. The woman sanitizing the carts was shooing away a live chicken and rooster. The rooster was a real beauty.

Rooster shopping at Publix ...
better watch out he doesn't meet the butcher!

Besides sewing 4 masks this morning and a trip to Publix, I had a bunch of other items to complete today. These mostly involved prepping the boat for travel. I packed away my acrylic paints as I don't expect to be using them underway. With all the food I have been buying, I pulled everything out of my freezer and repacked it to make room for the food I bought this morning.

I ran the vacuum and found that the filter was packed full of dust. With Clark's help, I took the vacuum apart and cleaned the dirt out of the filter - no time to order a new one now. What a messy job that was. While I was doing my cleaning, I had applesauce cake in the "oven" (I use a toaster oven.) so he can have his nightly dessert while underway.

The marina staff came around with their wagon to do the holding tank pump out. Clark filled the water tank for our trip. As he had the water going, a storm came up. We heard rumblings in the distance. Then we got rain.

Clark grabbed the camera and got a picture of this guy cleaning the dock pole.

Manatee at lunch

After working non-stop all day on one chore or another, I had yet another task to take care of. I decided to color my hair to get rid of the gray. Unfortunately, that led to another job for Clark as the water refused to go down the drain in the shower nicely. He had to clean out the clog. I baled the water out of the stall and wiped it dry. We now have a nice clean shower for our trip.

My last agenda item for today was a blog update before we get underway. Because Clark took lots of pictures this week, it took a lot longer than I expected. I hope I will be awake tomorrow for our trip to Pumpkin Key.

Tonight's sunset ...