More Pictures from as far South as we can go on land

We are still in Key West with Kris and Colleen, our kids from Fort Collins, Colorado. We dinghy in to the dock everyday and see the town. The first day we rented a golf cart again to tour the town and go get groceries.

Yes those are dollars attached to the tree at Willie T's

 Next stop is Marathon up NE close to the
7 mile bridge.
We will anchor here for a couple of days and
go to the Looper get together at the Yacht Club
on Sunday.  The kids will take the bus back to Key West on Monday to catch their flight back to the frozen north.  We will stay another day here at anchor and head up the east coast to Ft. Lauderdale.

Another Day in Paradise

Key West is a fun place to be.  We generally dinghy in for lunch and to walk around.  We tried riding the bus but I would rather walk because the entire island is only 4 miles long!  We rented a golf/electric car one afternoon and went to the grocery store.  The $100 was pretty high for a brief excursion around town but we got the lay of the land.

Maggi Montana enjoys her dinghy rides

One Valentine's Day we had a great breakfast at Harpoon Harry's and enjoyed our walk to the Mel Fisher jewelry collection from the recovery of the Spanish Galleon, the Nuestra Senora de Atocha which sunk in 1622 and salvaged by Fisher off the Keys in 1985. 

This is a friendship bracelet to show hands together.  Given by her love for Valentines Day to signify that together or apart the hands fit together.  Made from some of the silver recovered and a replica of the gold bracelet found in the wreckage.

We had a couple of bouncy days out in the moorings  but generally it is peaceful and away from other people as we are tied to a mooring ball.

 Lunch at Harpoon Harry's is always good and we can sit outside with the Maggi.

Office of Pan American World Airways where they made their first international flight from Key West to Cuba.  Now just a cafe on the corner and Pan Am is just history.
Our son Kris and daughter in law Colleen, are due to arrive Monday for a 7 day adventure with us on the boat.

Key West - As far South as we Can Go

After a nice week in Ft. Myers, the Orinoco headed south in the Gulf toward Key West.  On the way, we anchored in the waters of Everglades National Park home to 18 foot Pythons and huge alligators, deer, and millions of birds.
I insisted on closing the transom door to keep the snakes out at night although we did not actually see any, the thought of the crushing squeeze was enough to keep me awake at night.  The 180 degree swing of the boat at anchor did not cause sleep to occur either.  The tide came in and went out and with it the 48 foot boat swung on the anchor with a change of scenery out our windows.
We took Maggi and the dinghy into the town to check out the food and walk Maggi.  It was so shallow that a big boat would have to go on the full rise of the tide.

Everglade City  Nice houses and not many places to tie a dinghy except here at a rickety old dock with outdoor cafe.  Maggi gets to go to the outdoor ones.

Lots of water fowl.  These white pelicans were almost extinct at one time and here they are in the Everglades.  They like to fly in large groups and can eye their fish prey from 50 feet high.  The brown pelicans are more common and fly individually low in ground effect searching for fish.

Two nights at anchor in the Everglades was peaceful and enjoyable but the snake worry and anchor that was not set entirely secure was enough so off we go in dead calm waters toward Key West.

We arrived at Key West and gladly took a mooring ball for $18.08/day provided by the City of Key West with free pump outs (poop removal) and a dinghy dock a short ride away.  At least we are firmly attached to the ball on a rope and the ball is attached to the bottom of the sea.

 US Army Special Forces train here in Key West.  They have a big facility with hangar off of the mooring field  Yea for the Army

 These houses are floating and thus are called boats here.  Many were nice but some were semi sinking

 Dinghy dock at the main part of town is $80/month but is so very crowded that you have to push other dinghies out of the way.

One down and 5 to go then a free t shirt.  They are all about rum here in the south the Conch Republic.

Leaving Fort Myers toward the Keys

This morning the birds were walking and the pea soup fog was so thick, you could have it for breakfast.
We are waiting for it to lift to head out to the Gulf and down the coast toward the Keys.  I thought we could just file IFR and climb out but alas, we have no wings.

Ft. Myers, Florida

The good ship Orinoco and crew of three is on a mooring ball near a bridge awaiting good weather in the Gulf of Mexico to continue on south to Key West.
Key West is warm and so is the water temperature at 72 degrees.  Here in Fort Myers it is sunny some days and warming to 70 degrees but today Jan. 29, finds the boat rocking to the stiff wind of 15-25 and cloudy skies. 
Coming down south from Tarpon Springs where the props were wrecked on rocks we found very skinny waters with less than a foot under us in some places on the Intracoastal Waterway.  We lowered the two antennas so we could get down to 20 feet air draft and get under most bridges without having to wait for them to stop traffic and lift the bridge.  We did encounter some swing bridges that swing from the center piviot point to allow boats to pass.
Fort Myers City Yacht Basin welcomed us with our forwarded mail and prescriptions from Express Scripts.
 We stayed in the marina for a day and had time to see our good friends from the Alton Marina, Gayle and Royce, Dixie and Fred.  We all had a good time over lunch outside a cute cafe in the sunlight.

                                              Nice  water as we leave Tarpon Springs

                                               We all love to play and bark at the dolphins.
                                               Maggi barks, Patty pounds on the side of the
                                               boat and Robert runs the boat. They respond by
                                               turning sideways and looking at us.  Were they
                                               smiling?  I think....

New Year in Florida

Orinoco traveled from St. Louis to Columbus, Mississippi for Thanksgiving.  Our friends from the Alton Marina were so great to bring our truck to us there and share in our Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the rest of a true Thanksgiving meal.

After Thanksgiving, we traveled to Dog River for Christmas with just us and the happy dog, Maggi.  Leaving the windy bay just after Christmas, we set course East across the panhandle of Florida, anchoring along the way.  Just to make sure we were on course, dolphins swam along beside us guiding our way.

We finally made it to Apalachicola Florida and across to Dog Island to anchor awaiting crossing the big Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs.  Seems like there are a lot of dog places in our lives.  Dog River, Dog Island. 

We had  a very small window of opportunity to cross the dark waters on a moonless night on December 30 so we set course of 138 degrees for 160 miles.  The first of these miles was very pleasant and comfortable with us sharing the steering duties in four hour shifts.  My shirt which started at 11PM was fun playing Barefoot Man songs and dancing about on the flybridge.  However, when Robert took command and I went below to sleep with Maggi, she snuggled up to keep on the bed as the ship rolled and rocked in a most annoying manner.  Sleep...forget it.

The night crossing can be as beautiful as anything in this world.  It can also be something to endure. On this night as I took the first watch, the sea and sky was as black as a bowl of chocolate putting as the bow sliced through the darkness illuminated by the running lights of red on the left and green on the right and a position light on the stern.  Just as in aviation.

As I played by island music and stared at the radar and GPS, a silver dolphin caught my attention as he darted from right to left under the boat, his spray caught the light for an instant and then he was gone.  I could hear the distinctive splash by other dolphins but did not see them in the darkness.

By 3AM the seas became rough and the boat rolled in the inky darkness far offshore guided by GPS, compass heading, and watching radar for other boats.  No boats were seen until later that morning when an array of bright lights and a big radar return caught my eye.  It was a drilling rig but was hard to see if it was moving or not.  My shift was over and Captain Robert took command.


Dawn broke on the last day of 2013 and the weary mariners and dog were happy to see a little of the sun peek through the clouds and the Tarpon Springs destination filled our windscreen.

We stayed a week at Turtle Cove Marina and waited on mail and Amazon packages.  This was a very upscale marina with pool and hot tub and a bar.  Unfortunately, the hot tub was only used one day as you had to turn on the heat and wait for warming.  The heat was turned on one night but after that it was always off when I went back.  The bar was only open on weekends and opened at 4, closed at 6.

I think they are not ready for winter boaters.  Construction of the high rise boat stacks continued at our dock and was noisy.  The good thing was that it was close to the action of downtown, Greek restaurants, stores and ice cream!

The worst problem with this marina is the very shallow channel.  We left on Tuesday January 7 at a medium tide and hit something on both sides and damaged our props.  As we continued out to the Gulf, we felt vibration and turned around and had the boat pulled.  Both props were badly damaged and now we are on the hard waiting for the prop shop to bring them back tomorrow.

 My last lock through on the Tenn-Tom Waterway before we arrive in Mobile, AL

 A look at the in water entertainment that we see along the side of our boat.  These amazing Bottle Nose Dolphins can swim in excess of 10 MPH.  Maggi and Patty were so excited when we heard the splash signal of them.

This is indeed an ancient mariner!  He is working at the boat yard and has been a shrimp boat hand.

ORINOCO moves south to warmer weather

The good ship Orinoco with its crew of three including Robert, Captain, Patty 1st Mate,Maggi Therapy Dog and guardian of the boat, are now in Alabama where the temperature is 60+ degrees.
We had the boat pulled out in Demopolis ,Alabama and the bottom cleaned and zincs changed.  We had a ding on one prop and Robert filed it smooth again.

The weather was very windy and we had white caps on the river as the water rippled from the south.  After 73 miles, we stopped at Bobby's Fish Camp on the Tombigbee River and ate a huge fresh catfish dinner.
It looks like we are planning Mobile for Christmas!  Do hope Santa has us on his radar.