Finally to Tavernier

The last time we were in Tavernier and Key Largo we did some shopping at a marine supply store that was going out of business...to see if we could find some deals. We did! BUT, the biggest deal of all was seeing a business card thumb tacked to a cork board that trumpeted "Drama Free Deliveries". Lara and I nearly knocked each other down trying to get that card off the board and into our pockets. After we returned to Albuquerque, we called the number on the card and met an incredible young man who is likely to remain a friend for a very long time. His name is Curt Johnson, who lives near the Channel Five bridge in the Keys, south of Tavernier, and whose principal business is rigging and tuning sailboats. He also delivers sailboats for their owners, including several trans-Atlantic deliveries, many throughout the Caribbean and up and down the east coast of the US. His main avocation seems to be racing all kinds of sailboats and he finished a 500 mile catamaran race up the east coast of Florida to South Carolina a week before we were to head to Florida again to try to get Eye Quit from Marco Island to Tavernier. Fortunately for us, he had some spare time and agreed to help us sail our tiny yacht on the final leg of her journey to her eventual home. Unfortunately, Bradley could not be with us on this leg of our journey. He had things to attend to in Terre Haute, IN and some needed car repairs were not going to get done in time for him to join us.

Lara asked me to tell her what I knew about Curt and I told her that all I knew was that he was incredibly thorough in questioning me about our boat, her condition, the safety and navigation equipment aboard and all manner of other things. He met us at the Miami airport at the Hertz counter on the afternoon of May 27, 2009 and we grabbed our rental car and headed for Marco Island. We drove through an incredible thunderstorm as we crossed Alligator Alley and that should have tipped us off to what we were to face on our short 120 mile journey to Tavernier. After arriving in Marco Island and chowing down on some incredible raw oysters at our favorite sports bar a couple of blocks from the Marina, we got down to business and Curt checked everything, including the oil and the sails. The repair folks at the Marco River Marina had done a terrific job repairing the forward end of the main boom and we hoisted the sails to check them out and then got them lashed down and ready for the next day's departure for the Keys. I think that Curt was a little concerned with the condition of some of the 32 year old equipment on the boat, but safety was his and our main concern.

The following morning we took care of last minute items on the boat, did some grocery shopping, turned in the rental car and readied the boat for departure. We had stashed a bottle of champagne aboard with which to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary the following day. Returning to the marina, we topped off fuel, including the extra five gallon container that Bradley had strongly urged us to buy on our last trip to Florida, and headed out of the channel under power into the Gulf at about 11:00AM under sunny, partly cloudy skies. As it turned out, the engine was not switched off till we arrived at the dock at Curt's house in Islamorada. Time was an issue for all of us and the wind was in our face for the entire journey. We motorsailed with the mainsail up and the engine chugging along, the Yanmar diesel burning about 3/4 of a gallon of fuel per hour. Near sundown Curt suggested that we pour the five gallon container into the boat's fuel tank and get ready for the night.

Curt was to be the first to get some sleep and he went down below and fell into a deep sleep, rocked by the boat's easy motion. We had Curt's GPS aboard and our small Garmin GPS as well, and they seemed to agree on nearly every detail, giving us much peace of mind. As we motored along, Lara and I watched the thunderstorms building to our southwest and heading in our direction. As the wind picked up, the seas did also and the boat started to pound, soaking us in the cockpit and a bit down below through a couple of poorly fitting opening side ports (another thing to repair/replace). The first few of the thunderstorms missed us astern, but we saw one that we were not likely to be able to avoid. Waiting as long as we could to wake Curt, we could finally wait no longer and summoned him on deck for help. We got things squared away and prepared for the night. Just before I went below to sleep, we decided to lower the mainsail, but TOO LATE. As the sail was coming down in the dark, Lara spotted a large rip straight across the sail, right at the reef points. I'm guessing that the mainsail was the sail that came with the boat when she was delivered in 1977. OLD! The wind had picked up significantly and as the storm swept over us the pounding into larger waves continued to soak those in the cockpit.

I laid down in the starboard bunk and held on until I finally got to sleep. Waking about 1:ooAM, we had finally turned the corner from a southeast heading to an easterly heading across Florida Bay. By now the wind and storms had subsided a lot and Lara headed down below to get some sleep. Curt and I kept close eyes on both GPS monitors to miss the many lighted and unlighted obstacles headed to Islamorada. The Bay is very shallow, and as our boat draws 4'2", we needed to be cautious about where we went. One of the things that gave great peace of mind to Lara and me was that Curt has been across this route many times. I would not have liked to do it alone the first time at night. As we motored across Florida Bay, we were headed for the Yacht Channel markers, which we passed just before the sky turned light in the east. Lara came into the cockpit as we motored toward the canal where Curt lives and we kissed a happy anniversary, happy not to have tried to drink the champagne during the night.

The cabin was a bit of a mess from the pounding and wet from the leaking side ports and Lara and I wondered if buying this boat was a good idea or not. We motored to the dock at Curt's house and grabbed a couple of hours sleep, grumbling about the wetness down below. Curt came out of the house to wake us up and invite us in for showers and some breakfast that his wife had graciously cooked up before she had to head to work. To show you how serious Curt and his wife are about their love of sailboats, their two year old daughter is named Sailor. Lara and I were incredibly grateful for their hospitality. They were so nice to us and we hope to see them again when we get to Tavernier on a more regular basis. We were still about 20 miles south of our destination of Tavernier and knew that we still had 3 or more hours of motoring up the ICW on the west side of the Keys before we were done. The weather looked none too good, but Curt and I checked as many weather forcasts as we could on the internet and the prognosis was for scattered thunderstorms for the next few days, so we decided to get going and get it over with. As it turned out, the sun came out and the remainder of the trip was graced with bright blue skies and light winds. The marina where we tried to take on fuel was out of diesel and Curt's wife saved the day by coming over in her car to drive us to a gas station where I could fill our five gallon container. Once we were out of Curt's canal and into the ICW, Lara steered the boat the rest of the way to Tavernier. That woman can DRIVE a boat!!! She is going to be an incredible sailor!

We motored into the Community Harbor in Tavernier about 3:00 that afternoon and Bradley greeted us from his boat, just off our port side. We anchored about 50 yards west of him and set our anchor on a long rode. Bradley rowed over in his boat with an extra anchor and we set that as well. Those long rodes were to cause us some anxious moments a couple of nights later, when the wind shifted to northerly, moving us into some serious shallows were we went aground. The harbor is pretty shallow as it is, but on the south side of the harbor, near the mangroves, gets even shallower and when we were out for dinner on Sunday night, the wind switched, driving us hard aground and leaving us to wonder if we were going to have to get towed out into deeper water. After worrying about it all night (the wind shifted back southerly by about 11pm) with our tail into the wind, we awoke at about 7am to find that the boat had found her way back into deeper water and Eye Quit was riding quietly at anchor facing that southerly breeze. As we were to find later in the day, the Community Harbor (home of the Mangrove Marina) has virtually no tide to speak of. The rise and fall of the water in the harbor is determined almost exclusively by the wind. The folks who have their boats at the docks at the marina are eternally grateful for that fact.

We said goodbye to Curt, but knew that we were going to see him the following day as he had a job demonstrating sailboats in the harbor for a dealer nearby. We did see him and he gave Lara a nearly one hour sailing lesson in a 14' Catalina and she came back ALL enthused about sailing. I was concerned that she was going to want to buy the boat. She really wants a sailing dinghy and my guess is that we'll get one sometime soon.

We spent part of Sunday at West Marine in Key Largo getting heavier anchors and contemplating where and how to anchor in that harbor. Our plan was to get them set on Monday, but the problems with the anchors and depth of the water at the south side of the harbor that night caused us to be very unsure of what we were going to do that day. The deadline for us was that our flight back to Albuquerque was at 8:00AM on Tuesday morning and things were in a rush all day Monday, with our plans changing as the clock wound down. The idea that hurricane season was upon us and the fact that we didn't know how soon we would return had us very concerned. To make a long story short, I talked to Todd at the Mangrove Marina office and arranged for us to have a slip at the dock for the hurricane season. Todd is a very helpful fellow (another of the nice people we have met at marinas on our journey) and we breathed a sigh of relief as we motored over to the dock and tied up. Bradley's help with that part of the operation was invaluable.

We broke out new dock lines and doubled all lines and spring lines and as the sun went down Lara stowed things down below for heavy weather and I worked on deck to reduce windage and make sure that nothing would thrash about in heavy winds. Having done what we could to prepare for hurricane season, we left only a couple of minor things to do. Steve, the fellow who was across the dock from us on his Morgan 41 had many helpful suggestions and we are grateful for his advice. I am either going to have to return to Tavernier for a couple of days to finish up the minor preparations or con Bradley into doing them for us. Hopefully, he isn't reading this yet. Bradley drove us to the Miami airport Tuesday morning and we returned to Albuquerque to take care of our clients and business. Needless to say, as I sit here at the computer, I am checking the National Hurricane Center and NOAA websites on a daily basis. The Community Harbor is a delightfully protected hurricane hole, but nothing is going to survive a direct hit.

A thirty year old boat....is bound to have its problems

This post has been a long time in the making. I'll start by saying that a few days before leaving Albuquerque on March 12 for our trip to Florida and the moving of the boat to Tavernier, I called the marina and asked the manager if the boat was back in the water yet. The answer was yes and that she "took on a little water" when she was put back in the water with new bottom paint and a new thru-hull fitting.

I got hold of the mechanic (Mike) who has been doing a great job for us and he explained that the marina put the boat back in the water after he had left for the day and that no one had gone below to check to see if the boat was taking on water. When he got to the marina the next morning he found 3 1/2 feet of water inside the boat and the boat headed to the bottom...right there at the dock. Mike got a bilge pump running (God knows why ours wasn't working) and pumped out the inside and ran to a store to get a dehumidifier to dry out the inside. By the time we got to Florida the boat was pretty dry inside, but it took a new starter and alternator to get the engine started. Lara was pissed about the condition of the teak and holly cabin sole and expressed her displeasure to all who would listen and the response was to put someone from the marina to work oiling the sole to make it look better. No doubt it is going to take some sanding and some new varnish to make it look like it did before the near catastrophe.

It took some wrangling with the marina to square things financially, but we finally got that done and we prepared, with our friend Brad, to get the boat out of Tampa Bay and on our way south. The day of our journey south got off to a rocky start. We motored out of the marina and the narrow channel that leads to Tampa Bay and before we got to open water, the fog moved in and we headed back to the dock at the marina to wait out the sunshine. After our wait, we headed out again and when we were about 3/4 of the way to open water, I managed to put us aground in a shallow area and despite the help of a good Samaritan we ended up having to hail Mike to help move us off the sand bar and send us on our way. We fueled up and headed into Tampa Bay, under motor, not sail. The wind was blowing from the exact direction we wished to head, so we motored for several hours, passing under the Sunshine Skyway bridge and around the bend at Anna Maria Island. It was already so late in the day that we decided to enter the ICW and motor to the Bradenton Beach Marina for the night.

We chatted with marina staff via cellphone before our arrival and they told us where to park the boat for the night (as they were leaving for the day). As we pulled the boat into the slip, the transmission cable snapped and we slid into the berth. What next??? We knew that both the throttle cable and the transmission cable were stiff from age, but believed that if we were careful we could get to the Keys before getting them fixed. What a mistake! We pulled into the marina on Monday evening and didn't leave until all was fixed...on Friday morning. We were fast running out of time, as we had a flight to take back to Albuquerque and our friend Brad was running out of his time off from his job.

New cables were ordered on Tuesday and delivered early on Wednesday morning, following a full day of work by our friendly, Jerry Garcia look-alike mechanic from the marina disassembling the pedestal steering and cable mechanisms. Somewhere between the marina shop and the boat, one of the cables disappeared, along with an essential part (which was not available from the local nautical supply house). Sooo, another cable was ordered, along with the part, which had to be shipped overnight from Edson, the steering manufacturer. Both arrived Thursday morning and were installed, but not in time for us to head back out into the Gulf for our journey south. Bradenton Beach was a lovely place to spend a few days and the marina staff was as kind and generous as could be, but we were running out of time. Dinners at the restaurants along Bradenton's beautiful beach were special, as was all of the time we were getting to spend with Brad. We passed St. Patrick's day cooking corned beef and cabbage aboard the boat and sharing it with our mechanic, who went way above and beyond the call of duty in his assistance.

Friday morning we motored out of the ICW and under a raised bridge into the Gulf and headed south in a rather light breeze. We had a brief discussion about whether we should sail through the night and decided that if we were to get to Tavernier in time we needed to do that. We didn't make very good time, spending most of the delightfully sunny, warm day doing 2 - 3 knots. Brad was going to get some sleep first and he went below at about 5pm and Lara and I sailed along south, accompanied by dolphins for part of our journey. Lara and I had been taking Dramamine and Brad had decided not to. We didn't see Brad on deck again till the next morning and then not because he wanted to. The sail through the night was a first for both Lara and me, but our gps and the dolphins kept us headed in the right direction, about 10 miles off shore. The following morning, just as the sun rose, we were at a sort of point of no return, about 10-15 miles southwest of Marco Island.

I decided that without Brad feeling well, we were not going to be able to progress any further. Both Lara and I were falling asleep and it was time to get the sails down and head back toward Marco. The sail south during the night had been at good speeds and despite a couple of accidental jibes, things seemed to have held together pretty well. It was while taking down the sails to head into Marco Island, that the bolt that held the forward end of the main boom to the gooseneck had let go and we weren't going to be able to go any further without getting it fixed. Not sure where to find a marina to get some work done, I called Tow Boat US and related our problems and they promptly motored out, hooked us up and towed us to the Marco River Marina.

We have had remarkable good fortune with the marina employees we have come into contact with. The folks at the Marco River Marina were no exception. They could not have been more gracious. We spent a couple of days getting the boat ship shape and making arrangements to have the service staff at the marina assess what needed to be done to the boom before we left to rent a car and get Brad back to Tavernier. A night spent at a delightful inn in Key Largo was followed by a drive to Ft. Lauderdale to visit our friends Kathleen and Kris, who had made their annual trip to the Cardinals' spring training site from their home in St. Louis. We had a great time with them and drove them to the airport the next morning for their return to STL and we headed back to Marco Island to spend the night on the boat. A night there was followed by our drive back to Tampa airport and our return to Albuquerque. God, when would we see our boat again.

About 10 days after our return to New Mexico, we talked to the marina's service staff, who informed us that the fix to the boom was relatively simple, cost us far less than we expected, and that it was all back together again. We will return to Marco Island at the end of May to resume our trip to Tavernier. You know what they say about sailboats....they are merely holes in the water, surrounded by wood/fiberglass, into which you pour money. Damn!

There are lots of things that have been learned about the boat and ourselves on this journey, but the most satisfying is that Lara is an incredible trouper and is going to be a hell of a sailor. She is a delight to be around every minute aboard the boat. She says that she talks to the boat and gets good vibes from those conversations. I believe her!

Another step closer

The boat may be back in the water today. I talked to Mike at QMS and he has replaced the prop shaft, prop, and cutless bearing and balanced the engine. Hopefully, today he is replacing the exhaust riser, which fell apart in his hands as he was checking it for structural integrity. Tim called yesterday from the marina and wondered what color to paint the bottom. It was red before, so I told him to make it red again.

If the paint gets on there today and Mike has replaced the one thru-hull fitting that he says needs replacing, the boat might be back in the water by sunset today...or maybe not. In any case, it will be in the water and ready to sail by the time we get back to FL on 3/12. Bradley is going to get a ride to the marina from the Keys on 3/16 and if all is ready, we may be ready to sail away for Tavernier on 3/17, celebrating St. Patrick's Day in the Intracoastal Waterway somewhere.

We are anxious for this journey to be over.

One Step Closer

Well, the boat has been hauled out of the water and the bottom pressure washed and is sitting on a stand in the marina yard. She now has a new prop, prop shaft, cutless bearing and is one step closer to being back in the water.

The boat had set in the water for so long that one blade of the old three-blade prop had fallen off thanks to electrolysis and electrolysis had destroyed the cutless bearing and the prop shaft was useless. Mike from QMS Marine in Tampa used 9 sawzall blades to cut off the old stainless steel prop shaft and had a new one milled and got everything put back together again. He still has a couple of thru hull fittings to work on and then, when we get back down to Florida in March, the boat goes back in the water and we see if everything works. I have great faith in them!

Hopefully, in March, Eye Quit will carry us to her new home in the Community Harbor in Tavernier.

Hmmm

Talked yesterday with both the marina manager and the guy who is doing the work on the prop and prop shaft, as well as the thru hull fittings. The boat came out of the water on Friday. It turns out that the bottom of the boat is suffering from more neglect than we anticipated. Will find out tomorrow whether or not they can get the work done on the boat by the time we expected to be in FL and whether the problems with the bottom of the boat are going to drive the expense beyond our immediate means. Will know more tomorrow when I talk with them again to get their best estimates (which I hope that they are working on this weekend).

Needless to say we are disappointed that we might not be down there by the end of next week and that we might have to put the trip off for a while. Lara has moved heaven and earth in her practice to accomodate this schedule, which included shoving two big juvenile trials into the middle of February -- in back to back weeks. :(

Anticipation!!!

Talked with the manager of the marina yesterday to confirm that they are going to haul the boat out of the water next Tuesday, January 13 and pressure wash the bottom, followed by two coats of anti-fouling paint. The fellow who towed the boat from Apollo Beach to Shell Point Marina is going to remove the old, broken prop and replace it with a new one, replace the cutless bearing and go through the thru-hull fittings to make sure they are all in proper working order.

Lara had a day off from court yesterday, so she spent the day getting clothes washed and packed for next week's trip to FL and gathering up the miscellaneous crap we have to take down there with us. She is the world's best at this, since she refuses to allow the boat to be overgrown with unneeded clothes and other "stuff".

We leave here on Thursday for the drive to Tampa Bay and the final push to get the boat to Tavernier. Yeaaaaaa!