#40 Cruising the Keys

Butch: Wow. I keep thinking that I’ll run out of things to talk about here, but the opposite keeps happening: Too much going on to even remotely keep up! We are in Ft Lauderdale as I write, after a trip up the Keys from Key West, and man, I am blown away by the differences, the crazy stuff that goes on, the things to see, the people we meet, it’s like a high-speed smorgasbord of new impressions. I’m excited and exhausted at the same time. Once in a while we talk about that other world, the one we left for this one, and it’s a little hard to remember. This lifestyle has you living in the moment, all the time. It’s great, and I can see why people give up the conveniences of land life to do this. It is, as I have said before, like living on another planet. Planet water. It’s hard too, I’m working harder than I expected, with route planning, boat repairs, weather watching, and all the other things that go with living on a boat. But man, I would not give this up, not yet at least. It will be cool to go back to the real world, sure, but meantime, we are living a bit like Zen Buddhas, purely in the moment.

I want to apologize a bit, when I started this I had great intentions to write about the history of the places we visited, about the interesting things we learned, and do that in some depth. Yeah right. Like there’s time for that! It’s all we can do to organize our thoughts and these photos now and then. Like today. I’m trying to get this post out while I wait for a diver to come cut the ropes off our port prop shaft, Cheryl is walking to the Post Office to drop off some mail, then we want to go meet some fellow Loopers down the dock and we have a whole new area to explore, we are right on the Ft Lauderdale boardwalk and there is as much to see here as there is in Key West. So, as much as I love doing it, researching local history and writing it up just gets moved lower and lower on the list. So for now, more photos below and some comments from Cheryl.

Cheryl: “Oh, the People You’ll Meet!”

We’ve been on this journey a little over three months. How time flies. As soon as we leave one remarkable landscape and head to the next, we have difficulty remembering the lifestyle we just left. I try to soak in as much as I can and hope I don’t forget the incredible scenery and experiences I’ve had along the way.

I’m starting to seriously miss family and friends and wish with all my heart that you could be right next to me through these moments that define our days. Tomorrow, Butch’s brother and sister-in-law (Bill and Mary Ann) are coming down to the boat. We are so excited to see family! We owe Bill a great deal of gratitude as he is the one hosting this webpage. Thanks, Bill, dinner is on us! This coming week, we will be heading to a family wedding and will really appreciate seeing everyone there. Will miss you Katie!

Everyone who has done the Loop that I’ve talked to has said- it is all about the people you meet along the way. And that certainly has been true for Butch and me. So many “strangers” have offered us guidance, advice, assistance, support, companionship and giggles that it truly reinforces my belief in the goodness of mankind.

In Bahia Honda, we met an absolutely delightful couple, Thomas & Safonya. They were visiting the area from New Jersey. He used to assemble Bayliners like ours. We invited them aboard and he was pleasantly surprised to see how well his handiwork has held up over the years. Hopefully we can again meet up with them further north on our Loop. We also met a German couple, Rica and Julian, who are currently touring the US and Canada in an RV. They were very interested in the concept of Looping. Would not be surprised if someday soon they trade in their RV for a boat. Which brought up the idea of us doing the Loop in an RV after we’re done boating it. Its only fair! Isla B was also in Bahia Honda. I told Butch that boat sounded familiar to me but I could not place it. We soon found out that Cliff and Connie had been to our house for the Knoxpaloosa we’d hosted before we left! Awesome seeing them again. They were hanging out with Riversong who we met as well.

In Marathon, we met Gianna and Island Rhythm. Gianna was getting ready to cross to the Bahamas. They seemed uber prepared. We’re still uncommitted about tripping over to the Bahamas. Island Rhythm was getting ready to go up the Gulf Coast of Florida and cross over to Carrabelle where they will cross their wake. They’ve actually been Looping backward!!! They are crazy brave to have taken on Michigan and the NE in September, October, and November. They told some awesome stories about hooking up at marinas that had already been closed for the season and trying to outrun the approaching winter weather! They’ve not ruled out turning around in Carrabelle and doing the Loop the “normal” way and taking more time.

I’m currently making marina reservations for this summer in Michigan. I hope my Michigan friends come out to see us! It just won’t be the same without you. Will certainly share our “plans” as we get closer but if there’s one thing I’ve learned about boating is that things change in a snap. I’m sure our Tennessee friends will come find us along the river system if not sooner (please!).

Love to you all! Cheryl

Butch again: And now, some photos for you:

It’s interesting (maybe strange) what I find exciting. Here I am, on a one-year boating trip where every day is an adventure, the scenery is beautiful, and the fun just continues. And yet these bathhouses at Burdines Marina/Restaurant had me excited. I couldn’t wait to show them to Cheryl. They are outdoor tiki huts, open at the roof line which lets a breeze in, and I think just cool as heck. When you are showering you can feel the breeze and it feels great, warm water and a cool breeze. Very tropical. I kind of wish we’d booked a longer stay here just so I could use them a few days longer. (I told Cheryl that now I want to build one in the back yard.)

We met a couple on a mini Bayliner at Bahia Honda. Looks just like ours, but one size smaller!

They have funny looking chickens down here.

As well as odd looking sailboats. Looks like it was crossed with a spaceship.

Seven Mile Bridge. That is an original Flagler railroad rail they’ve used for a guard rail, now over 100 years old:

https://www.floridastateparks.org/learn/flagler-railroad

At Bahia Honda there was a nightly star party, which was fascinating. An astronomer had a 35 inch reflector, about eight feet long, on a tracking platform so that we could take turns looking at celestial phenomena as he told us about whatever we were looking at. The guy, Jim Pickering, was great, extremely knowledgeable and excited to be sharing it, and funny. We looked at Saturn’s rings and moons, Jupiter’s cloud bands and storms, the Andromeda Galaxy, a global cluster, and a transit of Jupiter by one of the moons, Jim thought it was Io. You could see the shadow of the moon moving across the face of Jupiter. Jim pointed out that is something that very few people have seen. For most of human history, there were no telescopes so no one saw it, and even now, only a few people have seen it live through a telescope. The viewing was good, it was very dark, no cities nearby, and just a few clouds. Great program, although the no-see-ums got Cheryl pretty bad. The astronomer, Jim, is not always there at Bahia Honda, turns out there is a hugely popular star party coming up on a nearby island and he was there for that.

Bahia Honda is gorgeous, and we met John and Donna who live on their boat and work at the park there a few months of the year, they had a lot of good advice and tips for us. We anchored out the first night there and got to watch a shrimp boat at work.

When we got up the morning after anchoring out, the port engine wouldn’t start. Much troubleshooting later and we discovered the fuel solenoid had failed. (Fell apart in two pieces when we removed it.) I can’t get to it, so we had to hire a mechanic out of Key West to swap the starboard one for the port one, so that when I found a new one I could install it on the starboard engine, which I could get to. (It was fun getting into our slip with only one engine!) I put the word out on the Looper forum for a mechanic and a parts source and got a lot of ideas and help; that is one outstanding group. Meanwhile we had to move north as our slip reservations were running out, so I used a zip tie to hold the fuel shut off arm in the on position so we could run the engine. Reminded me of fixing farm equipment in Kansas with baling wire. Finally I had to overnight, from California, a new part, which amazed me is even possible. All is good now, both engines are back online properly, although the cost of the part and the mechanic would take your breath away. Then the battery charger blew up, but that’s another story.

But it’s a good story, so I have to tell it. The battery charger, which keeps the house bank up, which keeps the refrigerator running, made a pop and spit out a cloud of black smoke. Oops. We were two nights out from a dock with a power supply; fortunately the solar panels I installed kept the batteries full so we were fine. A couple of phone calls and I found a replacement nearby at a West Marine. We come in to Cooley’s here and two guys catch our dock lines. I ask them if one of them has a car and could run me to West for the charger. Sure enough, the guy living on the boat next to me was willing. Turns out he’s a pro boat mechanic with a business here, and he used his West Marine Pro discount when I bought the charger, which lowered the cost from $780 to $580. And he wouldn’t even take any gas money. So tonight we’re buying him and his wife pizza from their favorite place. So like I said earlier, this whole experience keeps you purely in the moment. Most of the time you can’t plan more than five minutes ahead and yet, like this, it works out every damn time. Amazing. I had the new one installed in 45 minutes.

Just some sunsets:

I know we have traffic in Knoxville, this is the traffic we had yesterday:

Coming into Miami:

Oh yeah. We were boarded by the Coast Guard. Safety Check. Fortunately we had a CG safety inspection before we left Knoxville to make sure we had everything up to date. We passed with flying colors. The young guys who boarded us were polite, but had never heard of the Great Loop and didn’t know you could get to Florida from Knoxville by boat.

I can’t even begin to describe the homes and yachts, so here’s a few pictures. Coming up the New River in Ft Lauderdale is an experience! You wind through narrow channels, with mega yachts, tour boats, fishing boats, and everything else along side. You’re trying to look at the traffic, the homes, the boats and the skyscrapers at the same time. It’s wild, and not to be missed if you come through Lauderdale by boat. (Cooley’s Landing is probably the only affordable marina in the area.) One thing that stands out is the dramatic difference a few days can make. We were anchored out in the Keys in splendid, beautiful, quiet and isolated sun-drenched anchorages just a few days ago, today we are right in the middle of one of the most densely populated cities in the country. Wowzer.

And of course, we picked up another rope around a prop shaft. A diver came this morning and cleaned us up, then inspected the props and the bottom, all good now.

And now for some video:

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” I. Asimov