Mermaid Sighting

After our adventures in Dry Tortugas National Park, we returned to Key West for more than a week. Key West offered a good base for us to make some preparations needed before heading to the Bahamas.  We visited Home Depot, KMart, and Marshall’s to purchase a few items, and had some things shipped to the UPS Store and the US Post Office for ‘general pickup’.  As always, we completed a few boat projects, but we also had plenty of time for fun!  Luckily, we were able to spend a wonderful afternoon, exploring the streets of Key West, with our friends Ken and Barbara on ‘Northwind’.  This is the fourth time we have crossed paths with them, since leaving Annapolis in July, and it is always nice to share ideas, interests, and  cruising stories with such wonderful (and like minded) people!

Being anchored off the Navy base provides interesting and unusual sites.  One evening we witnessed many parachutes descending from the sky.

The next morning they were at it again, but this time they were using the high altitude parachutes.

Check out this amazing Banyan tree.  I believe this is the first one I have ever seen, and as it turns out it is a pretty popular one.  If you google ‘Banyan tree Florida’ you will see many pictures of this exact tree (that was a huge surprise to me).  The first Banyan tree in Florida was planted in1925, in Ft. Myers, by Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone.  The tree was 4 feet high and brought from India in a butter container.  They thought the tree might one day produce rubber for tires...it didn’t, but today that tree is the largest Banyan in the U.S. encompassing about an acre of land.

Banyan trees are also known as strangler figs.  They grow when a seed germinates in a crevice of another tree.  The roots they send down smother the host tree, and grow into stout - branch supporting structures that resemble trunks.

Finally the wind calmed down enough for us to leave Key West.  There appeared to be a two day weather window that still had fairly strong wind out of the south with 3-5 ft waves in the ocean.  That sounded like a hard 50 mile trip to Marathon until we decided to take the route on the north side of the islands.  It added 10 miles to our trip, but it was well worth it!  We had a beautiful cruise to Marathon.

We decided to go into Marathon to top off our fuel tanks.  Once we passes under the Seven Mile Bridge, we got a taste of the rough conditions on the Atlantic side of the islands.  After refueling, we quickly returned to the north east side of Marathon to anchor for the night, and continued to Key Largo the following day.  We are once again anchored in Tarpon Basin - home of the Upside-down Jellyfish.  We plan to spend 1-2 weeks in Key Largo provisioning for our Bahamas trip, and waiting for a weather window.

One of the challenges I have been planning for is how to expand our access to vegetables.  I have been experimenting with sprouts, and so far we are very impressed!  I think sprouts get a bad rap because they are easily contaminated from mishandling, but following basic sanitary practices when germinating sprouts ensures safe and delicious veggie in 5 days.  I can’t believe 2 tablespoons of seeds turned into this!  This will be our ‘go to’ veggie for sandwiches and tacos.

Many people have requested more information about some of the boat projects we complete while at anchor.  As I have previously explained, Keith works on major structural projects while I complete ‘cosmetic’ types of projects.  I recently replaced the bathroom sink, refinished the counter, and painted the cabinet interior.

It looks so much better!

I am also on a mission to rehab all of the hanging lockers (closets) down below.  There are a total of five lockers, and three of the five needed major work.  This picture was taken of locker #4, which only required a good cleaning and new paint.

Adding shelving helps tremendously in my grand organization plan.

There is still room to hang our foul weather gear.  I am currently working on the fifth locker that needed to be gutted due to moisture penetration behind the wall.  The entire back right half of the locker had serious rot issues.  I’ll share pictures of that project in my next post (when it is finished).  While I’m working on beautification and organization projects, Keith spends countless hours in the engine room working on engine maintenance, systems engineering (water maker system, solar system...etc) and structural rebuilds where rot has compromised bulkhead areas.  I will also include pictures of some of his projects in future posts.

Of course life on the boat is not all work.  We find plenty of time to explore. This boat clearly belongs to the mangroves now.

This is the smallest starfish I have ever seen...measuring only 1.5 inches across.

Sponges grow on mangrove roots. This sponge was about a foot across.  The sponge gets carbon from the mangrove root and the mangrove get nitrogen from the sponge.  Both organisms grow faster when they grow together.

The tentacles of this anemone were approximately 4 inches long.

WE FINALLY SAW A MANATEE!!  We have been exploring the basin all week in search of a Manatee.  We have seen numerous skates, a small shark, and a wide variety of other organisms, but the manatee was illusive.  Today was our lucky day!

Love this picture!  She’s heading right for the boat.  She was about 8 feet long, but looks bigger from this angle.

Life is great...we are soooo lucky!