Indian Key & Everglades City

Once again ,  an even better sail!!!!!!  Grey Hound coursed willingly with a 42  nm sail up the coast in a little more than 4 hours!......that includes weighing anchor and wind shifts with a top speed of 16.3 knts... 

We're in the land of tides now............check out before and after!

Sunset & Moonset at High tide

Middle Cape Sable

Middle Cape Sable

If we were smart we would have been thinking of the full moon and the strong northerly winds we've been experiencing..........but that's when you  "Thank the gods" for a shallow draft boat and a Spade anchor!  Here's a look at high tide and low tide!

Tired of Cold Fronts!!!!!

Say What!?!?

After waiting for a window to go south.......we started thinking....Heck, don't fight it ,  so we left Boot Key and started north and west across Florida Bay and NW of Flamingo.  Grey Hound gave us a beautiful sail (it was more upwind then we thought it would be) but she tracked between 6.5  and 8 knts.  We went under the 7 Mile Bridge and headed north

Boats in the harbor

Here is Trikaya and.........check out the home ports of the other boats!!!!!!!

CNY is in the House!!!!!!!!

OK!! Here we go !!

We had a great time in Boot Key but it was time to get "out of Dodge".  We said "So-Long" to Trikaya, Comocean, and Conch Clipper.........it's great to have new friends!!!!   We had a really nice Saturday night having dinner with Chris U ( Three Cheers!) and then went over to Blue Angel (Jim & Sharon) and toasted the next leg of our voyage!! ............. We think that maybe Blue Angel might even cruise our neck of the woods sometime soon!  Jim & Sharon are a wealth of knowledge and with any luck we'll connect down the road!

But in the meantime,  this is what a cold sky looks like in Marathon!

We're out of Marathon but......

The signal here isn't great.  In the last few days we've been without cell or Internet coverage so we'll get updated soon!  Since Marathon we've covered about 95 nm and stopped in Middle Cape Sable, Indian Key (Everglade City) and we're now in Panther Key just south of Marco Island.

We've had some great sails and  and seen some really interesting tide changes .(+5 feet).......there are tides in Florida!  ;-)   We've also have some good shots of the high/low tides and sunsets, moon rises and moon sets..........

Keep your fingers crossed with any luck we'll be able to post a couple of pictures

We're still here in Marathon!!

OK.....enough is enough!!

This morning I think we set a new record for a low today, 48 degrees and it's still blowing from the NE at around 20 kts!  Yesterday and actually all week (since our 50kt storm on Monday) it has been pretty much the same.  Nobody is moving and there are a lot of boats in here looking for a slot to bust out to all sorts of destinations.  Two nights ago while having dinner on Kismet we saw the Harbormaster kick two boats out of the navigation channel right at sunset.  One found a little spot behind Kismet but the other one wandered around for 15 or so minutes and ended up snagging another, already anchored boat and sadly the two boats had a kissing contest, in 20+ knots of wind, in 50 degree temperature and of course in the dark with many other boats very close.  We all felt bad for them and were glad we were 50 yards away from the turmoil.

Chris U. came on board for dinner last night and of course resupplied us with our warm weather cocktail, "Blue"!  He still hasn't launched Three Cheers because of the high winds and cold temperatures.....maybe tomorrow.

To our little Teagan..........butterflies don't fly in cold, windy weather.....please send us warm weather wishes!!!!!

Now, we're off..........

Teagan wants to find more butterflies!!   Wish us luck!!

More pirates!!!!!!

Last night we had a great time with Flip & Kendall (F-31 Trichaya) and Jim & Laurie (Kismet).  Flip & Kendall  just arrived here from the Baja (nothing like over land at 65!) and are Bahama bound when a window opens up...........with any luck we'll be seeing these guys again! 

RRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

Three Cheers!!

Yesterday we were walking to the laundramat and look who we saw!!!   Chris Ufton and his F-27! He'll be launching today and is on the waiting list for a mooring ball. 

Oh yeah ,  we think he has a stash of good Canadian LaBatt's  on board,   soooo.............  :-)

Another front!

Well, we had another front come through the other night!  We've been staying here in Marathon because the fronts have been just one on top of another.  Monday night we had quite a light show which was followed by high sustained winds (>30) with one gust that was something else!!    Vaca Key reported wind speed at 49.9 knots!  Everyone in the mooring field was fine but some of the boats on the hook had some excellent adventures.  We keep hoping for even just a little window so we can get Grey Hound moving again!

Getting around.........

 Thought you might interested in seeing some of the land side of things here.  In order to get groceries, laundry and other shopping done we've been walking!  So we have logged plenty of miles up and down the Overseas Highway........."Come on Feets' Don't Fail Me, Now!"

Turtle Hospital patients

Field Trip-Marathon

We went for a tour of the Sea Turtle Hospital.  Right now they have 38 sea turtles that are currently being treated to be released back to the wild and some that will remain permanent residents due to injuries.  It's quite a set up they have complete with operating room and specialized veterinary care.