One Day Out

The good news is that crossing the dreaded Gulf Stream was a non event. We crossed it between 0300 and 0600 this morning. Thanks to light winds, there were no big waves. We noticed only that we had to fight a 2 knot current against us.

The bad news is that the winds were so light that progress was slower than expected. We only did 110 miles the first 24 hours. Worse, we got a new weather forecast last night and it's going to turn against us. Starting tonight and continuing Thursday and Friday we'll have 20-30 knots head winds and 7-11 foot seas. In the Yucatan Channel with a two knot current against us too, our progress would be almost zero and sailing would be very uncomfortable.

Therefore, we decided to make a stop and wait for the bad weather to go by. We're heading for Isla Mujeres in Mexico. It looks like a nice harbor to anchor and wait out bad weather. We can also play tourist while we're there.

This morning I saw a plastic bag floating. It was clear and blown up with air like a balloon. Hmmm, I thought, the first trash I've seen out here. A few minutes later I saw an identical bag. That was strange. The third time, I got close enough to see properly. It's wasn't a bag it was a creature of some sort. Nature is very inventive.

We haven't seen any other vessels out here since dawn. We have the whole place to ourselves.

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Click here for a birds eye view of Isla Mujeres.

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in The Gulf

At Sea, N 24 07 W 83 32

What a splendid day. We arose to a nice little breeze and a beautiful day. We got underway at 0700 Libby and I have trouble getting ourselves out of bed for earlier departures. By 0800 we were clear of the Dry Tortugas and heading for sea.

Only 15 miles south of Dry Tortugas we crosses a shipping lane. There were so many ships it looked like a Conga line. We navigated to stay as far away them as possible.

The winds have been moderate. We're sailing a broad reach and averaging 4.7 knots. At this speed it will take us 62 hours to reach the Mexican coast and 110 hours to reach Belize. However the forecast is for more wind than this so we'll improve on those numbers.

Our course points at the northeast corner of Yucatan and takes us within 50 miles of Cuba. I hope that's a safe margin.

No worry about running aground out here. We have a kilometer of water under the keel. The depth sounder gave up at 400 feet so I turned it off.

We tried to check in with the Cruisehimer Net on the SSB radio this morning. I tuned the frequency and I could hear them but I couldn't transmit. I could tell because the DC ammeter did not move when I called. Odd. It transmits when using email. I had to re-read the owner's manual. When one selects a frequency with the keypad, the default is receive only. To transmit on the same frequency one has to select that frequency also with the keypad. By the time I figured all that out it was too late. I'll try again tomorrow.

There are flying fish out here. Not like the Pacific ones I read about in Kon Tiki but little guys about 8 cm long who fly about 1 meter out of the water. There are lots of birds out here too.

We still haven't come to the Gulf Stream itself although we have a 1.1 knot current pushing eastward. I guess we'll enter it after sunset. You'll have to wait for tomorrow's blog to find out how it was.

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Tortugas Day

Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas

What a nice day in paradise. The winds were light or totally absent, the sun was bright, but it wasn't too hot. We don't have a thermometer onboard so I can't give the precise temperature.

First job this morning was to find the fuel leak. I saw drips coming from the starboard fuel tank sight glass so I took it apart. I shut off the isolation valves on both sides of the glass and removed it. Sure enough, it had a broken end. That explains the on again off again symptoms. It only leaked when the tank was full enough to produce a few feet of head.

Now I have to find a replacement glass. Meanwhile, we'll have to do without. I can estimate fuel remaining from the engine log. I know engine hours and consumption approximately 0.5 gallons per hour average, 0.4 when idling and 0.6 when flat out.

Next job was to dive down and clean the speedometer impeller. The knotmeter was not knotting when we came down here. More marine critters fouling it no doubt. I put on my snorkel fins and mask and prepared to dive under the boat when I noticed a huge black body under the rudder. I looked on the other side and there were two more down there. I surmised that they must be nurse sharks. Not dangerous. Anyhow, I asked Libby for the underwater camera I bought in Marathon last week and slipped quietly into the water with the creatures.

Surprise! They weren't sharks they were groupers who were escaping the sun and relaxing in the shadow of the boat. One of them must have been 6 feet long, and the other two about 4 feet long. They weren't afraid of me. I took pictures with the underwater camera.

Darn. When I came back to the surface, the underwater camera was full of salt water. It was defective. I can't return it for a refund, so we're stuck.

Anyhow, I soon cleaned the speedometer impeller and Libby and I rowed into shore to go to the beach and snorkel. That was lots of fun. Along the foundations of the fort there was lots of live coral and fish. It wasn't quite as nice as the BVIs in the 1970s but it was the first live coral we've seen since. The water was warm enough to say in for an hour, and so clean that we could easily see 50 feet or so. Libby enjoyed it too which is saying a lot. It's very hard to get her to go into the water these days.

After some tanning back on the beach I tried to ignore the tourist's bikinis and we went into the fort in search of some shade. I'm chicken about the sun. I got burned bad once in the Virgin Islands and ever since I'm very cautious about tropical sunshine.

There is another small island 500 meters away called Bush Key. There are 100,000 sooty terns (birds) circling the island and making lots of noise. I could see the flock of birds from four miles out and I can hear their noise for half a mile. They are all mating, and based on the amount of noise they must be enjoying it thoroughly. Look up the Sooty Terns of Bush Key on the Internet.

Tomorrow, we should have 10 knots of wind, increasing to 15 by afternoon and 20 overnight. Waves will be "4-6 feet, higher in the Gulf Stream." It sounds like a good time to try to cross the Gulf Stream. If the wind is too light, we'll drift backwards in the current. If the wind is too strong and in a direction against the stream, the waves will be uncomfortable, or even dangerous. I'll ask Libby to take seasick pills before leaving.

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Click here for a birds eye view of the Dry Tortugas.


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The Dry Tortugas

Well, it took us about 24 hours to get the 101 miles from Marathon to The Dry Tortugas. The going was slow most of the way because of light winds. Nevertheless, 100 miles per day in light wind isn't bad.

The trip was pleasant and without perils until the last minute. This morning at dawn I spotted a pod of four dolphins escorting us up by the bow. As I looked down on them I realized that the sea here is a deep shade of blue that we haven't seen before. The color matches the canvas on our bimini. In here by the island, the sand is white and the water is light green, just like in the BVIs.

As we approached the Garden Key Channel I misread the markers. We wound up in very shallow water, 6.1 feet deep, but fortunately we were able to do an about face and get out of there without grounding.

The anchorage here is very small and tricky. A nice lady on a powerboat advised us where it is shallow and where the strong currents are and she directed us to a good spot. There are about 8 other boats here.

After a nap to catch up on lost sleep we went ashore and toured Fort Jefferson and the island. It's very nice and very interesting. Look it up yourself on the Internet. There were quite a few people around from two tour boats that come here from Key West. There is a beach and nice snorkeling and a tent campground. That appears to be a bigger attraction than the fort. There is no place on the mainland or in the keys as nice as this. This may be the nearest, least expensive, tropical paradise island to get to .

Tomorrow the forecast is for light and variable winds. We need to cross the Gulf Stream and that's not practical in such light winds, so we'll have to stay here Monday also. I don't think we'll suffer. In fact I think we'll go snorkeling from the beach tomorrow.

The darn fuel/oil leak in the engine started again yesterday. I'll have another go at trying to locate it tomorrow. Boy that's persistent.

Sorry I can't post our pictures over the SSB radio. Eventually we'll get to a place where I can send them, but for a while it's text only.

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Let's Rock

Marathon Harbor

We looked at the weather report this morning and decided that tomorrow, Saturday, is the right day to go. We’ll encounter a weak front on Saturday but there’s another front coming next Tuesday and we want to get out of the Gulf Stream before it catches us.

Our plan is first a 24 hour sail to the Dry Tortugas. We’ll spend a day there, and then shoot straight for Belize City. It should take 3 to 4 days.

Now the excitement builds, as we hustle to do the last minute chores before departure. Libby is out washing and waxing the hull. She had it on her list for a month, but the motivation wasn’t strong enough until today. I know the feeling. In the harbor here the days and weeks just seem to slip by without noticing.

I checked, and our cell phone will work in Central America but it will cost as much as $3 per minute to use it there. So please, don’t call and don’t leave voice mails unless it’s important. Jenny will check our email at dmills@acmenet.net and forward anything she thinks we need to see.