Cruisin' Through

Been out of touch for a few days. Here is some catch up reading.

Tuesday 24 March 2009
We left the Everglades City area this AM for Little Shark River not because the weather predictions are any better, but rather because the arrival of a large boat club with prior reservations forced us out to Russell passage anchorage with 11 other boats. We got up early and got u/w as dawn broke. Had we known there were NO crab pots out here, we might have gone earlier. Winds are still predicted from the NNE at 20 knots, but we have noticed what seemed to be a slack period before noon. With our track to Little Snake River being only 3-5 miles offshore, we are experiencing only the annoying 1-2 foot wind waves on the beam jolting us about in the mid-morning with two hours left to go.

Everglades City was fun for a day or two as we biked about from our position alongside the Rod and Gun Club seawall.

The R&G Club itself has a long ways to go in the management of their seawall moorings. About ten cruising sized boats can fit comfortably alongside, and clubs from the Sarasota area south like to come down here during to cool no-bug months of March/ April. What with being a bit isolated, the R&G Club is a bit prone to having clubs show up on a "flexible" schedule; although the two clubs we saw showed up on time. Anyway, the staff there works three shifts and the pass-down is not very good between shifts. They do not monitor a radio, and there was nobody to assist in mooring when we showed up (that doesn't bother me because I hate dock hands pulling and pushing when I have control of my own boat). We ended up extending our stay by two nights and when the second club showed up (we were not informed of this reservation) we were asked to vacate and told to talk to the other shift about a refund for the last night. Being immediately out of reliable cell contact the moment we left town, I will now rely on the US Mail to carry my request for refund.

Before we vacated our spot, we were offered a temporary spot with no power and told we could remain there if they could not fit us into a powered spot after the boat club got settled. After getting two 42-foot boats moved to this location (it was high tide - the ONLY time to move a 4.5-foot draft boat around), I sounded around and found that we had about 6 inches under us, and there was going to be a 2-foot fall on water level as the tide fell lower in the next few hours. We had no time to dicker and promptly left for anchorage six miles away.

I am not pissed off or trying to paint a negative picture of the R$G Club (but don't eat there). We'll use them again if we ever pass this way again (you have to - they are the only mooring in town, anchorage is way off downstream), but you need to be prepared to deal with a "marina" way down the list from something like Marina Jack in Sarasota. It's part of their charm. It appears that if we had been able to predict our travels and made reservations before the boat clubs (over two months ago) we would have had prior claim to our spot, no matter how many boat clubs came in.

As for us, we are just as happy to be able to move on safely despite running through an area with small craft warnings. Our run to Little Shark River took about 5 hours, and we went about a mile and a half upstream to find a spot to drop the anchor. The tide was running in at the time but the wind was pushing us in the other direction. We put the clutches in neutral and let the two forces of nature figure out what they wanted to do with us. Then we turned the bow in the opposite direction from which we were moving and let go the anchor. We waited until the tide and wind were in the same direction to assess how well the anchor was going to hold us.

Another plus is the lack of mosquitoes and other noxious animal of the flying sort. This is a complete anomaly working in our favor, given what I have heard of the area from others.

We are miles away from ANYTHING, yet we get these small fishing boats flying by us from time to time. No roads show anywhere within miles of us on our state road maps, but here they are.

Mary is NOT happy that we have perforce landed in a place with NO connection to the outside world via cell phone. To get to “civilization,” she is willing to face the uncomfortable and possibly hazardous 20-knot winds predicted for the very open waters we must transit for 51 miles to get to the next destination (the Keys). I am not so sanguine about the prospect.

I spent about four hours in the afternoon tracking down and repairing the problem with my air horns; they had stopped working altogether after gradually getting crankier and crankier about doing their jobs. The culprit turned out to be the relay that somebody talked me into installing about twenty years ago. I took it apart and had Mary hold one end of a long thin piece of 400-grit sandpaper while I held the other. We sawed it back and forth across the contacts to shine them up. I bit of “adjustment” of the contact gap with my Leatherman and we were back in business. There was a lot of horn blowing out there in the wilderness as I ran various tests.

I finally decided to get on the radio to see if anybody else was in the area besides the two uncommunicative sailboats we had seen at the river’s mouth and was rewarded with an answer from a powered catamaran named Mega Marine, which had gone up another branch of the river just astern of us. During the ensuing conversation, he asked me if we were the ones blowing a horn at him – it had alarmed some of his crew making them think they might be standing into danger. We had not even seen them turn up that branch because we were below and busy.

Night finally descended upon us, and we were rewarded with the eerie silence of a moonless night in a narrow river. The occasional loud splash made us realize there are other animate objects out there in the dark.

Wednesday 25 March 2009
We remained at anchorage in the Little Shark River with me worried about subjecting Mary and the boat to bad weather (winds continue at 20 knots over Florida Bay) and her worried about what might be happening with her family and that they might worry over us. After my talk with the Mega Marine last night she had asked me to get them to relay a status message to Phillip on their way to Marathon. She was just getting ready to press the issue when the Mega Marine popped around the bend in the river headed downstream. They kindly took the message.

I decided to use the time sitting at anchor wisely and broke out my sander and varnish to work on some external spots in need of help. As I was finishing around noon, I noticed that after the most recent tide shift, our anchor had been deposited a good distance from where I had left it the day before. I thing the bight of chain hanging in the water between the bow roller and the ¾-inch snubber line hook had caught the anchor buoy (with heavy retrieving line) and dragged the anchor.

Since Mary wanted a change of scenery and I was considering getting underway early in the morning calm for the Keys, I decided to up anchor and head for the mouth of the river for overnight anchorage. Once there, however, I was less than impressed with the area and the threat of reversing currents to the security of the anchor. Looking out toward open water, I noticed the strong easterly wind had left a calm area o the western shores of Cape Sable and elected to snuggle up close to the coastline for the night.

As we were slowly exiting the river mouth I began to notice a repetitive squeak-like noise. It was nearly subliminal, but it was there. Had I heard it before? Was it shaft-related or engine-related? Slowing one engine and then the other revealed the noise to be from the port side. Placing the port engine in neutral and then revving it disclosed the noise was engine-related.

Close inspection of the running engine revealed the noise was in the area of the fan belt and that there was antifreeze droplets hanging off the expansion tank over the belt. I think I was hearing the belt squeaking because it was being wetted. The coolant leak was from the bass of the radiator cap neck. I added this neck (a recommended modernization of this engine) years ago as a means of enabling the addition of a coolant recovery bottle just like automobiles and truck have. The epoxy glue used in the installation was cracked and leaking. I cleaned up the area around the filler neck base and gooped on a bunch of JB Weld, a probably better type of glue. Six hours latter it should be good to go.

The final repair of the slight oil leak from that same engine’s valve cover gasket will have to wait until we arrive in Boca Chica where I will have American Diesel FEDEX a new gasket. For now a couple of rags in the drip pan soak up what little escapes.

Thursday 26 March 2009
We got up early this morning and got underway for the Keys at 0640. The wind howled a bit during the night making me think the trip was going to be ugly. So before we rounded the end of Cape Sable where the winds would have a long fetch to work up some nasty waves, we ensured we have breakfast cleared away and all windows shut.

Despite the 20-knot winds, the voyage across Florida Bay turned out to be surprosingly smooth. Mind you, it was not calm, and I am ever thankful for the RainX I applied to the forward cabin windows a couple weeks back because we got a lot of spray.

Our biggest concerns were shallow water and crab pots. The pots were hard to see looking up sun in the choppy water, and running along in water less than two feet under the keel for a few miles was indeed nerver wracking.

The port engine tested fine this morning, and the radiator cap neck reseal job appears to be a permanent fix. Turns out my ear is well tuned to the goings on below decks because if I had not heard that slight squeak and not gotten curious, the outcome would have been an overheated engine.

For now we are slipping along in the aqua-marine hued waters of the Keys intending to moor at a mooring ball in Marathon in about two hours.