Giving Thanks

We are currently anchored in South Basin at Key Biscayne.  It is a wonderful place to be!  This location can best be described as the ‘three Ms’…mangroves, manatees, and multi-million dollar mansions (or 5 Ms).  This is a very well protected cove, which has a shoreline of 1/3 mangroves and 2/3 mansions….and manatees everywhere in between.

This was our view during dinner, one night last week.  How could I not be thankful?

Our trip to this location has been great, with only a few ‘bumps’ along the way.

The first bump/thump happened a few days out of Fernandina Beach.  Keith was at the helm when we both heard and felt a thump.  My first thought was that we touch the bottom, but a quick glance at the depth finder showed us in 12 feet of water.  I went up to the bridge to check with Keith, but he didn’t know what the sound was either.  He thought (or was hoping) I had dropped something or slammed a door.  He put the boat in neutral while we conducted a visual inspection, but we couldn’t see anything in the water.  As soon as we were back in gear he could feel a vibration. Oh no…something must be wrapped around a prop.  Keith put both engines in reverse, which could unwrap a line from the shaft and prop.  However, when he did that hundreds of leaves came out from under the boat.  Yikes…I thought we must be dragging a tree, or at least a branch. Time to find a place to anchor!

It is really nice to have a personal diver onboard (have I mentioned that previously😉).  It turned out to be a large sheet of black plastic wrapped around the prop, shaft, and strut.  It was thicker than normal trash bag material, but at some point it must have been filled with leaves.  Luckily, a razor knife made quick work of it, and within a few minutes we were underway again.

We were treated to an elaborate air show as we passed Stuart, FL

We met up with our good friends Eddie and Gail in Peck Lake.  We are planning to travel together for the next few months, with Turks & Caicos being our winter destination.  It is very excited to have such a wonderful couple to buddy boat with, through the Bahamas…and beyond!  We braved the dreaded bridge gauntlet together, and after both boats lowered masts and light posts we were able to slip under a few of the bridges.

We are happy to report that the cruise industry does test the lifeboats.  This ship was lowering each lifeboat into the water.

The dolphin activity during this leg of the journey has been phenomenal, and I’m certain they are looking right at me!

Clearly this dolphin is intrigued.  I’m not sure what they are looking at, but at that moment my heart is convinced that we are connecting on a soulful level. He/she is probably just trying to figure out what all this crap is hanging from the side of our boat. Hey, don’t judge!

Christmas decorating is well underway in Miami.

The evening sky and cloud formations have been incredible.

Key Biscayne has an amazing park with walking trails, beaches, a lighthouse, protected harbor, and dock.  Eddie and Gail picked us up in there dinghy, and the four of us enjoyed a nice long walk and a 109 step climb to the top of the lighthouse.

The weather has been beautiful, and the lighthouse provided spectacular views!

Not to worry…you too could enjoy this amazing location, even if you don’t have a boat…

We are currently anchored at the red dot, but you could buy or rent this beautiful home on the point.  At $120,000 per month, we have already enjoyed $30,000 worth of location without spending a dime.

This manatee was our Thanksgiving day ‘float’.  He/she provided us with a great parade!

Enjoying a spectacular Thanksgiving dinner aboard Seaquel…a beautiful setting with great food and wonderful people.

Sometimes the easterly view during sunset is more spectacular than the actually sunset in the western sky. I’ll bet the view was really amazing from the plane.  Do you see it toward the left of the picture, in front of the cloud?

We have been anchored in this amazing location for one week, waiting for a weather window to cross to the Bahamas.  Finally, our waiting is over!  We plan to leave Biscayne Bay at 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning and travel 17 hours straight through to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands.  

In order to enter the Bahamas we must have a negative Covid test within 5 days of arrival.  We were able to find a traveling testing company that sets up a tent at a park on Key Biscayne.  Wow…that was easy!

We are LOVING our bikes! All four of us have the same bike (we copied off them😁).  They enable us to cover so much more ground, and to carry so much more food and supplies than we could previously backpack. We spent our last day completing last minute errands like prescription and package pick up, as well as, hardware store and grocery final items.  Tomorrow we plan to rest, stow, and make final preparations for our crossing.  The next blog post will be coming to you from the Bahamas!

We are very thankful for our healthy and happy family, and for this amazing life we are living…with a new adventure beginning tomorrow! We sincerely hope each of you enjoyed the holiday, and have an abundance of things to be thankful for, as well!

The Longest Beating…

After having a fabulous time with our granddaughters in Charleston we headed to Fernandina Beach to spend some quality time with our youngest granddaughter, Anna.  Our plan was to take Anna for a wonderful boat weekend to Cumberland Island. We would have lunch with the wild horses, hike the island, and spend a day at the beach.  We also planned to squeeze in time for kayaking, and possibly tubing. 

The night before our arrival at Fernandina Beach we were treated to the most spectacular sunset we have ever seen. It was the kind of sunset that just kept getting better. My first glance out the window caused me to drop dinner prep, grab the camera, and go outside…30 seconds later I realized wow it’s even better, 30 seconds later wow… by the end I had taken 27 pictures of this one sunset.

Little did we know that within a few days we would be in for a serious butt whipping!

Best laid plans…an enormous weather system forecasted to bring strong winds and heavy rain for 48+ hours, upended all plans.  We were faced with the critical decision of how to handle this weather event.  Any other time, we would simply move to the best protected anchorage we could find, and hunker down. However, we were scheduled to keep Anna for the weekend, as her parents were traveling out of town, and I wasn’t sure she could handle the conditions on the boat.  Our choices:

1) anchor the boat in the marsh and split up for the weekend, with Keith staying on the boat, and me watching Anna at her house.

2) take Anna into the marsh with us, and everyone stay on the boat (once there we would have to ride it out as conditions would be too dangerous to transport by Whaler).

3) get a spot at the marina so we could bring Anna to the boat, but leave easily if she was scared or seasick.

After discovering that Anna was adamant that she was staying on the boat we scratched #1, and felt that #2 could scar her for life if she got stuck on the boat and was miserable.  A call to the marina confirmed availability, so we went with choice #3.

In these circumstances I’m not sure there was a ‘right’ choice, but I will tell you that #3 ended up being a BAD choice.  Due to high demand at the marina we ended up on the outside of the main dock, with NO protection.

For 48 hours this was the view off the port (left) side of the boat.  Rough is an understatement.  Do you see that wave getting ready to break a few feet out?  When those types of waves broke directly against the hull it sounded like we hit a Jersey wall on the highway, and the appropriate shudder accompanied the noise.  By early evening I was certain we would be dealing with a terrified 5 year old in the middle of the night, but Anna held fast that she was sleeping on the boat.

This is the starboard side of our boat, where the only thing holding off serious damage are the 8 lines keeping us in place, and the 5 fenders holding our boat off the dock.  At this point it was impossible for us to safely leave the dock, so we were forced to play this hand for a VERY long time.  Overnight conditions were horrendous!  Keith stayed up all night to monitor our situation.  At 3:30, I got up to assist him on deck (and on the dock) checking lines for chafing and adjusting fenders. At that time the wind was blowing over 30 mph and there was a steady driving rain.  Our boat came through this event unscathed, however, not all boats on this dock were that lucky (as in, having people to battle Mother Nature to protect them).

And through it all, Anna slept soundly through the night…unbelievable!

The two boats tied behind us both suffered damage from the boat slamming directly into the dock when the fenders popped out.  The boat directly behind us was a 30 ft. Mainship. We noticed their fenders out, during our 3:30 line check.  After ensuring our lines and fenders were holding, Keith went to the two boats behind us to try to get their fenders back into position.  He was able to correct the situation for the boat behind us, but the second boat back (the Grand Banks pictured here) was just too heavy to push off the dock.  

I tried again at 6:00 a.m. but still couldn’t budge the boat.  The wind and waves were so strong the boat was securely pinned to the dock.  This boat repeatedly slammed into the dock for at least 6 hours, before enough people were available to push her off.  By the time help arrived the dock was covered with fiberglass and paint chips.  The owners of both boats decided to get hotel rooms across the street from the marina, because conditions onboard were too rough.  Due to the fact that both boats were docked with their stern to the wind and waves, and the boats were considerably lighter than Right Hand, the motion caused by the waves was much more violent than on our boat.

Not all anchored boats fared well either.  Later Friday afternoon (only 8 hours into this storm event) I noticed this boat moving through the anchorage at an odd angle to the wind.  Within minutes it was grounded.  Over the next 40 hours the super high tides (one was so high it floated the sailboat shown above), along with the unrelenting wind would drive this boat much farther south and much farther into the marsh.

Here was her final resting place.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Anna was a trooper!  She didn’t mind the constant motion, or even the slams and shudders.  She suffered no ill effects to her stomach or appetite, and she refused to leave the boat for the promise of a calmer day and night in her own bed.  So, instead of all of those wonderful activities we had planned, we colored, made a fort, and built lego houses for all of the toy animals.  

We had the opportunity to examine all of the items in our shell collection bowl.

She even found great entertainment in watching the happenings inside the bread machine…all of that mixing, kneading, rising, and baking…intriguing!

We did take a short walk through town each day, where unfortunately she was kidnapped by this pirate.  She is quite the actress.

On a brighter note, during the week when conditions were calmer, and Anna was in school, we were able to accomplish some serious provisioning.  Being at the dock, and having access to a car, made it possible for us to complete most of our provisioning for our upcoming trip to Turks & Caicos!!  We probably took onboard about $1,500 worth of food this week.

Planning, prep, and finding a place to stow all of these supplies were time consuming and exhausting tasks, but now that it is done we are ready to reap the benefits.

I spent two whole days cooking and vacuum sealing meats.  It is impractical to put a four pound pork shoulder in the freezer, but making pulled pork in my instant pot and vacuum sealing 7 packs uses freezer space very efficiently.  The same is true for ground meats.  I partially cook, then vacuum seal various portion sizes to allow for flexibility in cooking.  I was able to stuff the freezers (a total of 6.5 cubic feet of space) with 160 meals worth of meat, in addition to some frozen fruits and veggies.  

We will make one last provisioning stop before leaving the country (in about a week) to top up fresh fruits and veggies.  Otherwise, we have enough food onboard now to easily live for 6 months.

The storm has passed, we said goodbye to our family in Florida, and we are once again heading south.  The super high tides have receded and now the water seems a little low.  I don’t think this crabber intended for their crabs to be exposed during low tide, but look at the beauties in that pot!

These pelicans are happy the storm has passed.

Screams

We have covered more than 500 miles since my last post, but the past 10 days have been spent anchored near two of our grandchildren outside of Charleston, SC. Our time with them has been so exciting and adventurous that numerous screams have been produced…and they were not the screams of Halloween.

The leg of the journey from Chesapeake City, VA to Charleston, SC was fantastic!

I love the stretch of ICW just south of Myrtle Beach!  It is an area that showcases the most extravagant osprey nest construction I’ve ever seen.

If I should return as an osprey, I would like to attend nest building school along this stretch on the ICW, but I don’t think I would like eating my dinner from this brown water every day.

We were lucky to be anchored in Wrightsville Beach during the full moon.  Love the zoom lens on our new camera.

However, it was still amazing with the naked eye.

And as soon as our girls stepped onto the boat…into the water they jumped!

There is a very strong tidal current at our anchoring location.  Notice the orange line (that floats) and the life ring floating way behind the boat.  The girls were taught (and practiced) that should the current push them beyond the paddle board and/or kayak they should not attempt to swim directly into the current to get back.  Instead they should swim perpendicular to the current toward the orange line, and use that line to pull themselves back to the boat.  I did keep the key in the Whaler…just in case, but they are both strong little swimmers so outside help was never needed.

When the tide is low, a sandbar is exposed in the river.  It is a great place to explore, and thanks to the numerous rivulets cutting across the sandbar it is an awesome place to hold shell ‘boat’ races.

One afternoon, when the current was almost slack, we decided to paddle our kayaks over to the edge of the grass.  Maggie was sitting in front of me in one kayak, and Lucy was in the other kayak on her own.  As we approached the grass we startled a school of shrimp, and 50+ shrimp jumped out of the water.  One happened to land in my kayak, on Maggie’s leg….the scream took me by surprise, and the flailing that ensued almost flipped us out of the kayak.  I tried to pin Maggie down while reaching in front of her in an attempt to return our little friend to the water, before we were swimming.  However, every time I attempted to grab the shrimp it managed to bounce free and land on another part of Maggie…starting the screaming and flailing cycle anew.  Eventually, I was able to get the shrimp back into the water without further incident.

We ultimately decided to cut our kayak trip short and return to the boat to grab the cast net in an attempt to catch some of these shrimp.  I will confess that my cast net throwing skills leave a lot of room for improvement, but trying to ‘help’ a 5 y.o. and 8 y.o. throw the net into a perfect circle presented a whole new level of difficulty!  These are the steps:

1) make sure child is standing with feet apart, and is balanced

2) try to get all of the parts of the net into the tiny hand of the child

3) figure out how to take up most of the weight of the net to help the child throw

4) practicing timing is essential…ready, set, go…we both must heave the net out (and let go) at the same instant

5) DON’T let the child fall overboard! (While throwing with my right hand, I kept my left firmly clasped to her life jacket.)

6) keep Tylenol handy for the sore shoulder, which will follow this activity.

Both girls did a great job, and we actually caught a few shrimp.

We caught 23 to be exact, and as you can see most of them were pretty small.  They turned out to be the perfect size for shrimp quesadillas…yum!!

When the girls were in school, Keith and I took our new electric bikes ashore to ride around the island, and purchase ‘real’ shrimp in preparation for lunch guests the next day.  It would have been much easier to take the Whaler directly to the shrimp dock, but we needed an excuse to try out our new bikes.  The blue insulated bag in my pannier is holding 6 pounds of (LARGE) fresh shrimp.

Shrimp tacos have become one of our new traditions when visiting with Tammy and Chuck.  Congratulations to both of you on your retirements, and your move to Charleston!  We’ll see you both on our trip north in the Spring.

So happy our lunch included unusual sights on the water.🤷🏼‍♀️

As a former educator, I probably shouldn’t admit to this (or put it in writing) but we encouraged the girls to play hooky from school so we could take them tubing.  As you can see, it was a hit!  You might also be able to imagine that some screaming was involved here too.

One of the sadder parts of this lifestyle is being so far away from our grandchildren, but since they never lived in the same state anyway (and our travel was restricted by work) we might actually see them more now.  We definitely appreciate the opportunity to participate in a school activity.  On Friday, Oct. 29 their school held a ‘trunk or treat’ for all students.  Keith and I used my daughter’s car and were prepared for 150 trick or treaters…FUN!!

After the festivities we returned to the boat (with the girls) and got underway for Beaufort, SC.  I love this town!!

Hearth Pizza is amazing…

We were lucky to arrive in time to enjoy a Halloween festival…where games and face painting were free.

And Pop worked off that pizza at the fantastic playground located right along the river walk.  The next day the girls were picked up in time to make it home for tick or treating, and Keith and I returned to the boat looking forward to our recliners, books, and naps!

The most amazing event from this week was a dolphin encounter.  Unfortunately, I do not have a picture to accompany this story…if I did it would certainly be the top viral sensation in the nation.  We spent Sunday, October 24 on a secluded beach near our anchorage.  We packed a lunch and made a day of it.  This particular location has more hermit crabs than I have ever seen, and while walking the beach we were able to count over 100 hermit crabs (in unusually large shells).  We decided to turn around and head back to our chairs when we noticed two dolphin dorsal fins gliding out of the water 10-15 feet off the beach.

The girls and I stood at the water’s edge for a moment to see if they resurfaced, when suddenly a dolphin was charging right at us.  The dolphin slid up on the sand (in less than one foot of water) 5 feet away, rolled onto its side, and flicked its tail to send a wave of water directly at us.  They water actually splashed my legs, and I was reminded of the ‘splash zone’ at the aquarium.

Of course, both girls let out blood curdling screams, with Maggie running toward the tree line, and Lucy jumping behind my legs.  The dolphin wiggled back into deeper water and swam about 30 feet away from us and did the exact same thing again.  He/she was clearly chasing food (fish or shrimp) onto the shallow beach to make it easy to capture them, but from our perspective it looked like the dolphin intentionally splashed us.  I’m sure we startled the dolphin as much as she startled us!

I’ll close this post with a quote from Lucy just minutes after that encounter, “ this was the best weekend of my life!”