Jupiter to Patrick Air Force Base

Friday, March 16

We had a very pretty run today. We are out of the congestion and there aren't as many "slow" zones.

Jupiter Inlet Light:

A pretty stretch of the ICW:

Patrick Air Force Base is close to Cape Canaveral and part of its mission is to support NASA.  John says it's a pretty base and the commissary and exchange are close to the marina.  Mary will check it out when we return from Michigan, as she twisted her ankle when she slipped off the step getting on the boat when we first arrived and spent the first afternoon with her foot elevated and ice on her ankle.

Mary Frances settled in for a long stay:

Saturday, March 17

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Gloria is decked out for the occasion:

John went for a bike ride while Mary rested her ankle then we had a corned beef dinner at the little marina bar.  The meal cost $3.00.  We paid $2.75 per foot for dockage at Jupiter, $2.50 in Marathon (each night), and $2.00 in Miami.  The cost here is 95 cents a foot per day.

Sunday we both read and discussed that we should finish our taxes and pack up the things we're taking home (like Christmas decorations) but got no further than talking about it.  John rode his bike to the beach.  We'll get a rental car tomorrow and start home.

Miami to Jupiter

Thursday, March 15

If a rainbow yesterday morning was a good omen, what about 3 rainbows this morning?

Look closely at the second picture-it's a double!  Of course, those clouds in the first picture reflect the 2 hours of rain we traveled in.  It rained hard.  We've never been on the water in so much rain for so long, but the skies cleared and the afternoon was pleasant.  We called the marina at Patrick Air Force Base, near Cape Canaveral, to see if they have room for us to leave the boat when we go home next week.  The harbormaster said he would check and call us back.  He called back and said if our boat is not too tall we can have a covered slip as one of the seasonals is away for a month.  We think we can make do!

Traveling the waterways in our vast and varied country is much like driving the highways-surprises and amazements.  Doesn't this fisherman look as though he could be in a quiet cove on any river?

Here is that same boat in the foreground:

Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse:

Many different styles and sizes of boats belong to the family of "loopers".  Regularly, someone new to the America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association asks on the forum about the "best boat for the loop".  A  few members always respond and the newbie is also advised to check the archives.  The truth is, no one else can answer something so personal.  You must choose the best boat for you.  We love our boat.  The elegant, yet cushy and cozy cabin fits us well and has room for company.  We like the canvas top rather than a hard top so we can take it down on sunny days.  We like the speed because when your home waters are the great lakes, it's often a long way from point to point and the speed allows us to reach our destination before weather conditions change and gives us a chance to outrun unexpected bad weather.  Our shallow draft (the amount of water needed under the hull) allows us access to areas some others cannot access.  We were reminded emphatically of another favorite feature on today's trip-we ran under 34 bridges and only had to wait for 3 to open.  Mary did stand on the side and "eyeball" to make sure we'd fit under one of them (fines are charged if you request an opening when you could fit under) and we probably looked as if we squeaked through as closely as this one:

There are many large buildings, homes and boats

as well as commercial shipping.

This is the former Coast Guard Station and JFK bomb shelter on Peanut Island, a park and environmental restoration area in Lake Worth.



Hey, Christine, here's a boating version of "Rainbow Row"!

Tucked in for the night in Jupiter:

Paul, you are not allowed to comment on the stains until you've had your boat in salt water for 5 months.

Goodbye, Keys; Hello, Miami!

Who would have thought that a light to moderate chop is much worse than moderate chop to choppy?!  We made contingency plans for a slip at a marina on the other side of Marathon (we were on the ocean side and wanted to move to the intracoastal waterway) in case the 10 miles under the 7 mile bridge to the other side in moderate to choppy proved to be more than we wanted to deal with, after getting beat up on the light to moderate chop we had traveled in Saturday to Marathon.  We had our best saltwater cruising ever and are in Miami, 120 miles traveled on Wednesday March 14.  Marine forecasts are no more reliable than those on land (but we're still glad to have the guidelines).

A good omen for the day, but notice all the crab and lobster pot floats.

St. Christopher was with us today, Linda and Ken-Mary spotted a float while the boat was on plane.  She called out to John and assumed crash position (the same position Jeffy chose when he realized the goose was going to hit the car).  The float appeared behind the boat.  Double whew!

The intracoastal in the keys is varied and beautiful, but tends to be shallow, much of it is only 5 feet deep.  The greatest depth was 20 feet.

You want to be sure to stay in the channel!

Just like driving on the highway, there are many competent boat captains and some who make you wonder.... The sailboat on the left in the picture chose to overtake the smaller sailboat in a narrow channel while we were approaching.  Yup, we had to pass between them.

Later, as we were approaching the fuel dock by the bridge at Jewfish Creek, we had to reverse as a catamaran crossed immediately in front of us where there wasn't room.  We moved on to the fuel dock, the catamaran approached an anchorage and ran broadside into an anchored sailboat.  He then moved across the river and anchored to wait for Florida DNR law enforcement officers.  The dock attendant told us the boat was anchored within the boundaries of Everglades National Park-no anchoring allowed.  It would have been interesting to stay to for the end, but we had miles to go...........

Approaching Miami:

The docks belong to the condos on either side.

It was a VERY long day and we were tired when we docked.  John washed the salt off the boat and we ate and went to bed, but Mary watched an episode of Criminal Minds-the first we've had tv in 3 months!

Goodbye, Boca Chica

We left early Saturday as planned and made it all the way to.............are you ready?.............Marathon!

It took us about 3 hours to travel about 40 miles-our normal cruising speed is 25 miles an hour-and we were happy to find an open slip at Burnside Marina so we could wash the salt off the boat, inside and out.  Conditions were not as predicted (what else is new) and in our home waters the spray would have been rinsing our beautiful hull, but here was spraying corrosive salt over everything, including the dash, as we needed the windshield vent open for ventilation.  There seem to be fewer floats marking crab pots and lobster traps or maybe it's that we've decided to just look ahead, where we might actually run over them.  We did have one close call (that we know of).  We both saw a float at about the same time, too late to go around it, so John quickly shifted the engines into neutral and we drifted until we could see it behind us-whew!

One of our neighbors here at Burnside:

Mary noticed a few sprinkles of salt on one of the cabinets in the cabin and discovered that one of the portholes (windows) in the salon (living room) had leaked a little.  Maybe she hadn't quite latched it all the way when she cleaned glass and mirrors last week.  The stunt kite, which lays in the sill, and the end of the curtain were a little wet, so we cleaned and dried them.  Sunday Mary noticed that her new lighthouse book, bought at the Key West lighthouse, looked wrinkled, so she pulled it out of its spot and it was soaked.  Guess more water came in through the porthole than we realized!  We are glad-yes GLAD-the paperback Guide to Existing Lighthouses in the US is soaked as it saved, for the most part, the boating log we've kept for the 8 years we've owned this boat (wrinkled outside corners only), the log for our previous 3 boats (a few wrinkled page bottoms), and the books we've made (using Shutterfly) for each month of this adventure (thanks for the idea, Sally and Greg).  Mary cleaned the seals for the portholes and John rubbed on a silicone lubricant, which will hopefully solve the problem.  Having a boat is a lot like owning a house-there's always something else that needs to be repaired, replaced, cleaned, etc.

We know it's springtime in Michigan and hope to see a few crocus peeking through when we go home soon for doctor and dentist appointments, but we've certainly enjoyed the endless summer this year:

There is a Mainship 35 Trawler 3 slips down from us.  Even though we know the other Mary and John are in the Bahamas, we each did a double-take when we noticed it.  An employee here at the marina told us there really are less floats, as crab and lobster seasons are coming to an end so some traps are being pulled.  We saw a boat that had so many traps aboard that it looked as though the crew was hanging on the outside-the only place there was room for them.  These traps are on land, but there are stacks as big or bigger than this all throughout the keys.

Sunday we rode our bikes to Pigeon Key and actually took the tour this time. We saw 3 rays on the way:

There are interesting pictures in the museum from the time the key was a work base for the Oversea Railroad and when it became a base for the engineers and other supervisory personnel.  Eventually it housed bridge maintenance workers and bridgetenders to open the bridge for boat traffic. Now it is an historic and education site.  This was the assistant bridge tender's house.  This palm tree reminded John of the climbing tree in the yard when he was a child:

We rode only  8.3 miles, but deserve extra credit for the 2nd half of the ride into the brisk winds that are keeping us here.

Monday John cleaned deck carpet and Mary continued "spring cleaning" in the cabin.  We just checked the marine forecast, which had indicated that Wednesday would be a good water travel day, and it has changed.  We made just-in-case April doctor and dentist appointments (we want to leave the boat further north when we next go home) and will call local marinas tomorrow to find a place to stay until the traveling is good again-maybe sometime next week?

Still at Boca Chica

We've taken the dinghy out a couple of times and rented kayaks.  NOAA is predicting one good boating day tomorrow, so we plan to get out of here early and travel as far as we can.  Mary Frances IV can handle waves but, as stated earlier, the floats for crap pots and lobster traps are hard to see in even a little chop and we sure don't want any lines wrapping around the props.

 

We've enjoyed our time here and look forward to returning next year BY CAR.  The couple on the boat 2 behind us came here for 4 days 4 years ago and their boat is still here.

Just another day in Paradise

The marine forecast gave us 1/2 day of good travel weather Wednesday, so we could either move to Marathon and pay $2.50 per foot per night plus electricity until the marine forecast improves in about a week or stay here in Paradise and pay .85 per foot.  Hmmmmmm.....tough decision, eh?

While Jo was visiting, John drove to Key Largo, the nearest SeaRay dealer, to buy a new lockset for the bathroom door.  The latch had stopped working and we had grown tired of folding 3 layers of John's bath towel into it to make it stay closed.  Neither marine supply store or the Ace Hardware in Key West had what we needed, so we had to suck it up and pay the $300.00 SeaRay charged.  Oh, well.

Several Canadian units have been here at Boca Chica for training.  One of their C-130's had a hydraulic  fire shortly after takeoff.  It was set up as an aerial tanker so had an additional 3,000 gallons of fuel aboard.  The crew landed it safely and the fire chief told John they were about 100 yards from the plane and running like crazy when the firefighters arrived.  The fire-fighting team did their job and the damaged plane still sits here as a Canadian team investigates.

Today marine forecasts call for very rough seas and winds to 35 knots with gusts up to 45.  Small craft advisories have been issued and no improvement is called for through Thursday, so it looks like another FEW days in paradise........ Uh oh. John just called.  He rode his bike to the nearest gas station to get a Sunday paper and now he's hiding from the rain under the overpass at the entrance to base.  The VERY black, scary skies have moved on, but it's pouring now.  At least the salt is getting washed off everything.