Leaving our newly beloved Dry Tortugas for the west coast meant our first overnight run aboard Chickadee. We had light but steady winds to sail by day, and calm seas by sunset that had us firing up the engine for the night.
Friendship bracelet in the making.
The girls were happy to be experiencing their first truly offshore night, and despite the frustrating pot-dodging maneuvers that Andy dealt with in his pre-dawn watch (Susan=zzzzz after her pre-pre-dawn stint), it was a great trip.
Just before dinner in the cockpit at sunset we were awarded front row seats at an incredible dolphin performance, complete with bow wake-riding, tail slaps and full aerial flips, which went on for 20 minutes. It was a treat, as if ordered especially for our entertainment. During the night watch I loved hearing the random “phhh” of breath breaking the surface, and a blip of a cresting dolphin every now and then. While I find complete comfort in the vastness of the endless sea offshore, especially at night, it’s nice to have company every once in a while.
Front row seat.
Another fun show was a fighter jet fly-by, seemingly out of nowhere and boom, upon us in a flash. We all happened to be in the cockpit, and as Andy and I grinned and waved like idiots and Lily cleverly covered her ears to shield them from the insane accompanying noise (and out of fear, more likely), we saw the two pilots clearly as they swooped down toward us (heart: stopped), tipped onto their side for a show, and zoomed off into the ether. It was so, SO crazy. And amazing. And I want it to happen every time I sail. (Minus the noise, which was deafening. Lily’s the smart one in the family.)
We arrived on Marco Island in the early morning, and treated ourselves with a marina chosen for its pool. De-salt the boat, re-chlorinate the bodies. Probably makes sense in some universe?
Violet is barely breathing because she’s laughing so hard at the hilarity of Owl’s new hat. She cracks herself (and the rest of us!) right up.It IS a good hat.
A full day of swimming later, and we’ve since moved up the coast to Naples, where we sit, waiting out a frontal system before creeping northward still. I’m in denial that our time is wrapping up; I think they’ll have to take me kicking and screaming. However, we’re enjoying our days right to the end; today was a day at the Naples Zoo, and it was a keeper. THIS happened:
Also tigers fighting, black bear feeding, lemurs (Lily’s favorite, thanks to Borat),
King Julian. Clearly.
and Violet’s cherished cheetahs.
The precursor to the real deal made her this happy.
We’ve visited family, family friends, yarn crafted ourselves to death, walked in town and West Marine-d ourselves up.
After a beachy morning, we’ll hope the wind shifts by afternoon and make our way to Fort Myers Beach.
Are you like me in that you’ve seen Dead Calm one too many times, and you therefore think that any boat-based disturbance is probably just the work of Billy Zane and his crazy eyes and incredibly white teeth? I figured as much. On that note, I want to tell you all about Rocky.
Billy Zane. Yikes.
Joking really, the only thing Rocky has in common with Billy Zane is that he showed up on a boat unannounced. See? Here he is:
Rocky, checking out our shell collection.
So, on a pleasant 40nm sailing day from Marquesa to Garden Key, our home-to-be in the Dry Tortugas, a -bleeping- pigeon lands on board. After an hour or so of having trouble getting out of the breeze on deck (der…), it decided to get comfy on the settee. A rock pigeon, hopelessly lost with no land in sight, and bing bang boom we had ourselves a new roomie with a name. Andy and I have had plenty of little songbirds alight on boats during offshore passages, but they always met their ends shortly afterward due to the stress of their travels. (I still think of Larry (Bird) pitching forward on his little beak into the ramekin of water we set out for him, sniff.) Rocky was bound to live on.
Rocky agrees: the shells and art are great, but the upholstery has GOT to go.
Our arrival in the picturesque anchorage meant the usual tasks of arrival clean up and set up of various activities, and yet even the noisy bustling and carrying on wasn’t cause to scare him off, nor was the lure of land in sight any match for the attachment of Rocky to Chickadee.
Not skittish whatsoever, we were able to read the markings on his leg bands, and learned that he is a Cubano! Estaba muy bueno para practicando mi espanol. Either way, he didn’t say much.
We left him on the galley counter, where I had fed him a bowl of water (he practically flew into my hand when he saw me pull the bottle from the fridge), and went ashore.
The island is incredible in that 95% of its landmass is taken up by the fascinating if historically useless Fort Jefferson. Thankfully for our crew, the other 5% is a variety of beautiful beaches. And two other pigeons, with similar bands on their legs. (We’ve since been told that they are Cuban racing pigeons, trained to fly up to 90miles, for whatever reason one trains a pigeon to do that.)
We swam and lounged, before the kids kayaked and swam some more from the boats.
A finned, life jacketed mermaid washed up on Garden Key.
The resident Goliath groupers (also called a Jewfish, if I’m correct that it’s the same thing) were mistaken for nurse sharks by adults looking down on kids in kayaks, which was moderately freaky, but all in all the kids had their usual crazy time playing.
Roughly 5′ long, which is long enough when you’re looking at one lurking under your kid on a kayak.
Cocktail hour, and guess who was still here? This guy:
End of day gathering, complete with Rocky.
Still on board, Andy finally picked Rocky up, threw him toward the island, and we cheered as he swooped away… and then back to the bow of our boat. Later in the evening we tried again, only to have him land on our neighbor’s boat. The 8 of us watched in hopeful anticipation and absolute hysterics until the neighbor came up on deck with a dishrag and shooed him off, at which point he came back to.. Chickadee. Finally, when the Ruach II crew left our boat, we handed them dingbat Rocky and they hand delivered him to shore to meet his two new best friends. It stuck! He stayed.
The next morning we went ashore for fort exploration and snorkeling, and who greets us? You guessed it. It was the first time I actually checked my bags for a stowaway at the end of the day.
Well, whaddya know?
We toured the fort, snorkeled and made a different beach our home for the day.
Andy and company on the fort!
V impressed us with her endurance for snorkeling. While she still hasn’t gotten the hang of the snorkel itself, she was perfectly happy with a mask and fins, taking breaks on our horizontal backs when she needed a rest, while still keeping her face in the water.
We saw sting rays, barracuda, beautiful coral and too many colorful reef fish to name. Shortly after, the kids made a coral garden from washed up coral. As the days went on and they added to it, it became quite the display.
During construction of the Grand Coral Garden. Days later the girls were still tweaking it, and ‘watering’ their plants.
Day Three in the Dry Tortugas was a sad one for all of us, as we parted ways with our friends aboard Ruach II. They are heading back to the boatyard via the east coast, while we want to explore the west. They left in the morning, and we stayed on another day and night.
That morning we motored over to explore Loggerhead Key 3nm away, another part of the National Park (along with Garden Key and Fort Jefferson).
Our newest Flipper captain.
Upon dinghying ashore and finding the path through the center of the island, I swear I’m not kidding when I say that Rocky was sitting on the edge of it, staring at us like he was waiting to see us. (His band number confirmed our assumption based on his markings..) The volunteer that lives on the island said he landed there a day ago. Holy smokes, maybe it IS Billy Zane.
Loggerhead is beautiful, crazy pigeon and all.
Loggerhead beach walk.
Back ‘home’ to Garden Key for more fort exploration, a walk around the moat, and more snorkeling. Our days there were repetitive but in the most wonderfully laid back way; it was hard to leave. But then, there’s that ‘Dry’ problem…
On top of the fort.Looking out onto Bush Key, a nesting site for the sooty tern and the frigatebird. Evenings were loud with the racket of swarming birds, and yet incredible to witness.Andy and V, checking out a Cuban refugee boat that came ashore on Garden Key. ‘Dry’ feet! Others are less lucky.
We sailed back into cell range in the early hours of the morning, and we’re all longing for the quiet perfection of the Dry Tortugas already. What a wonderful week it’s been. As we have plenty of photos, many stories, and only a few brain cells left to rattle around in my head this late in the day, I’ll start with our adventures getting TO the Dry Tortugas.
Admiral Lily, helping us sound our way out of a shallow anchorage.
Leaving the winds of Key West behind on one of the days of the week that ends in a cocktail (I’m too lazy and comfy in the cockpit right now to check the calendar), we headed out into 3-5′ seas on the port quarter and the wind still kicked up enough to make it an interesting departure. We knew that the weather was on the road to settling, but it was bumpy nonetheless, and we shortened our day’s plan to a easier sail to Boca Grande Key, a deserted isle that is part of the National Wildlife Refuge and only 15nm from our anchorage in Key West. Both girls got sick for the first time thanks to their dogged determination to play down below whenever we’re underway. Blessedly (says the cleaner-upper) only once, and then they proceeded to have miraculously quick turnarounds and started requesting snacks and entertainment at their usual pace, despite no change in sea conditions. It just goes to show that if you reaally want to play on your Kindle while curled up in a bouncy v-berth, you don’t need to let anything stop you. (We’ve since had similarly lurching rides and haven’t heard a peep, so we’re keeping the idea of sea sickness as a floating concept for them on the burner FARthest back.)
Boca Grande was a most pleasant surprise: after anchoring in a channel with a 2+ knot current (as recommended), we spent the afternoon ashore as spring breakers came in droves in large speedboats that they banked on the deep drop off of a beach.
The double plunge off the sandy drop, just inches from shore. Endless fun until you factor in the shark family living in the channel as mentioned by the cruising guide. We Allens are apparently risk takers. (Ahem, minus moi, who had dry feet. It should also be mentioned that earlier in the trip we noticed Lily urging Violet to jump in first, which she is always happy to do. Her not-so-surreptitious plan landed V with the nickname “Shark bait”. Now they’re BOTH shark bait! (Great parenting here, right?))Sponge ‘salad bowl’, soon to be filled with other ‘delicious’ sponge salad fixings. ‘Yum.’Violet and her pelican. She was gesturing to us in hysterical motions, trying wordlessly to say “Can you SEE how close I am?!” (Mom’s afterthought: are pelicans ever aggressive?! Thankfully this one wasn’t!)
Good people watching (again), a fun beach for playing, reading and kadima, and we were also tipped off about a great swing over the water in a mangrove; by 4pm the day trippers were all heading back to Key West and we had the place to ourselves.
Waiting for the green flash at Boca Grande Key. (Curmudgeon Mom says that since it’s not a real thing, it’ll be a long wait.)
The next morning we planned to meet our companion boat at Marquesa Key, which was a short and easy trip for us after a leisurely morning on board. Another gorgeous spot to anchor, this time with flat calm seas and water clear enough to see the lobsters poking out from their coral heads just under the swim platform (between snorkel-happy kids and a glass-bottomed bucket, we’re up on our daily ‘underneaths’) and another great beach.
“Geez Andy, why can’t you just reLAX already?!”
Before playing between boats on kayaks and boogie boards the kids made a ‘crab sanctuary’ on the beach, where they gathered spider and hermit crabs, and tried to talk them into living in the sponge homes (with a washed up milk jug ‘annex’) they created for them, instead of the sweet crab freedom they were so accustomed to. Needless to say, the authorities from the Department of Moms and Dads boarded up those sponges and freed all of the ‘residents’.
Water aerobics at Marquesa Key.
Day three on our journey to the Dry Tortugas is the day we met… Rocky. More about him tomorrow, since, wow, what a cliffhanger, right?!
With plans to head out at 0700 tomorrow morning (apparently watching Navy Seals run exercises from helicopters not far off of our stern this morning got me in the ‘military way’), I’m happy to say we’re ready for the next journey boat-wise, and fully sated Key West sightseeing-wise.
“Street feet”
Today’s town adventure included the usual soaking dinghy ride (are you tired of reading about it?! we’re sure tired of living it!), the now-organized steps that must follow in order to enter the walking tourist world desalinated, a great lunch, some shopping, an aquarium visit, meeting up with our friends, and subsequent happy hour at ‘our’ ‘Bond’ bar before returning home.
To expand upon the highlights, let me just say this:
Pepe’s is a great patio on which to dine on fresh oysters and cocktails made with freshly squeezed anything.
We met Judy Blume in her bookshop while looking for R-T, Margaret and the Rats of Nimh.
Nurse sharks are adorable but we’re in family agreement that a baby alligator would be fun to have as an alternative.
It was nice to find a place to stick our toes in beachy waters on our route to and from town. (Wish we’d figured it out days ago!)
Thai Island’s happy hour is as great as its claim to fame- it was a filming locale for License to Kill.
Did I mention meeting Judy Blume?!?!
Violet communicates with the python while her parents pray to avoid experiencing a Harry Potter moment.
It was just a day of surprises, big and small, lovely and more lovely. The bookshop on our ‘To Do’ list was a treat, but even more so was the realization that the woman lovingly helping the girls to find a suitable choice was none other than the writer who kick-started my own insatiable reading appetite so many years ago. Tears came quickly when she so sweetly said “Yes!” to my gasping “Are YOU Judy Blume?”, and then I must admit I blubbered a bit and had to step back to take it all in. I’ll forever kick myself for not thanking her more profusely when I had the direct chance, but geez, I was stunned! (It’s somewhat disheartening to learn that I don’t gush completely appropriate and earnest praise under the veils of shock and awe, I must admit. I only hope the girls are around to carry on conversation for me if and when I bump into anyone else I hold in such high esteem.)
Daddy gets tired and needs a lift.
Walking off THAT high, we poked around downtown a bit more, had fun at the aquarium, and cooled our feet and watched boat traffic at the wee Simonton Beach before heading back to the barn.
My favorite tank at the aquarium: arms of the south Florida coast.Kind of a crude shot, surely, but wouldn’t that make a pretty coin purse?
A communication note: our time in the Dry Tortugas will be dry of more than just fresh water; we’ll be out of service, and therefore, updates.
We’ll let you know when we resurface!
This lizard’s last few moments with this particular tail. (Apparently he stuck the landing, but his tail never made it off the runway, so to speak. Blech.)
Winds below 20kts! A joyous sight for a potentially dry dinghy ride today! It’s become amazing to see what the trek in and out means for our planning and overall attitude. Key West is amazing, but is a right pain in the butt to access if you’re a boater and it’s blowing over 5 kts.
Windy anchorage.
Our crafting day for the kids on board quickly morphed into crafting/drawing/fishing/movie watching day, which was a welcomed respite from the go go go days we’ve had exploring onshore.
Craft bomb.Lily’s first catch!
While the littles occupied themselves, I had a patient teacher who taught me to crochet, and pun fully intended, I am hooked (I hear, and appreciate your groan).
Granny, I made your squares!
Andy is not sharing my enthusiasm for crocheting a sleeve to cover the mast (in need of a paint job) down below with crocheted gobs of ‘beauty’, but I’ll lure him into sense with an anchor or some other jaunty nautical image, I’m sure. Big crafting plans in the works, either way.
We’ve laundered, provisioned and filled tanks in preparation for heading west again tomorrow, so today we’ll have a last looksie at town.
More full days of exploring Key West, and we’re slowly honing our process for battling the wind and waves on the dinghy ride in, which is the only inhibiting force for our options. Dry bags, rain coats, trash bags and changes of clothing all apply; yesterday we really smartened up and wore our bathing suits in.
Gearing up for the wet dinghy ride. They look excited, don’t they?
Today is laundry day, and tomorrow we’ll provision, so those should be interesting runs as well- cheers to eating salty food in salt-encrusted clothing!
On Monday we went to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservancy, which was a big hit. Lots of butterflies and birds flying about, some even stopping on a finger or two to rest.
Take off!“Rhett” the flamingo came to get a closer look at Violet.V exclaimed “That butterfly knows how to read!”.Snacking.
The museum was in the ‘Southernmost’ district- we went to the southernmost point in the continental United States, and passed on a photo thanks to the line winding around the block- we got these fine folks in our shot, instead!
Southernmost strangers.
We walked by the southernmost house, the southernmost beach bar, the southernmost hotel and the southernmost guest house, all the while cracking ourselves up at the possibility of Minnesota’s (?) northernmost hub. Northernmost seasonal effective disorder, northernmost frostbite, etc.
Southernmost goofball.
Yesterday we went to the beach, and the kids were gleefully pounded into the sand again and again by the big rollers coming in.
Hours later, fully tossed, we cleaned them up and went to explore Fort Taylor, an important defense site for both the Civil and Spanish-American Wars. Once completely surrounded by water, it is now fully embedded into the coastline and made for a good afternoon stroll.
Southernmost clowns at Fort Taylor.
Today we will finish schoolwork and join forces with our neighbors for crafting clothes and accessories for stuffed animals. Remarkably, with all of the other activities afforded, it is this particular option that the kids have been counting down to do for days. Results to follow.
We’re slowly waking with aching legs and feet after our day of adventure yesterday; Mondays really DO have an air of ‘blerg’, don’t they?!
With northerlies gusting to the 20s yesterday, the anchorage was messy, so we stayed close (Lily went on a mini deserted island exploration with friends in the morning while we lounged) before spending the rest of the day ‘on the town’.
Step one is our dinghy ride, which is a fifteen minute affair on a calm day- add wind, and the ride gets good, but your things get wet. At least for the trip in we were running down wind.. Our trek from the dinghy dock is about a mile, but feels a bit longer when you have the two 8 year olds gathering trash along the way like it’s their only true purpose in life. Sweet, but slow, good Samaritans.
Roasting V’s sweet air conditioned respite at West Marine.
We wove our way into town on the docks, goggling at giant tarpon feeding, every kind of boat tour imaginable, and loads of spring breakers, starting early to make THEIR Mondays feel ‘amazing’.
With the only true goal to see Mallory Square at sunset, we passed the time by walking, people watching (which, in Key West also includes parrot, monkey, chicken, and dogs-in-sunglasses watching), eating, and drinking.
Farewells to the departing cruise ship.
Sunset was all that that we were expecting, and then some. Fire eaters, knife jugglers, magicians, acrobats, and the inexplicable performance of a crazy Frenchman and his beleaguered coterie of cats. The cats themselves were definitely secondary to his bizarre ramblings and exclamations in vibrato.
Mallory Square at sunset, through the filter of a truly bizarre cat show.Andy, once again chosen for street show assistance. He’s helping the loony octogenarian onto the rope to juggle knives from above. Greeat plan.
We slooowly made our way back to the dinghy dock, where we covered ourselves in garbage bags (the Squatleys live on!) to stay dry for the long, spray-filled dinghy trek home. At 9:45pm. Wowza, tired family. So now, this Monday?! It’s a slow start.
After a wonderful beach day on beautiful Bahia Honda Key on Friday (I’m proud to say that I had to look at the calendar to figure out what day of the week we’re working with (va-caaa-toon!!)), we spent yesterday sailing, and arrived in Key West in the early afternoon.
Though we haven’t seen much of it yet, the glimpse we’ve had (cars! fast food! shiny things!) is a jarring contrast to Bahia Honda’s serene stillness. (Lily’s latest writing piece is about why its Sandspur Beach is the best so far- shallows forever made it seem like a giant bathtub, perfect for kadima, tooling around on the boogie boards, and apparently, potion-making (?!).)
The sail was easy and uneventful, and our cohorts even got a shot of us underway! (Mind the laundry- we’re multi-taskers at our best.)
We did some schoolwork, but mainly just clowned around to pass the time.
Now we sit, in 20kts of northerly breeze, bopping around on the mooring and planning our attack on Key West. A brief entry yesterday introduced us to the laundry facilities and a nearby happy hour (the best way to do laundry!), but today we’ll take on Mallory Square, Duval Street and possibly the Botanical Gardens. Until next time!
Upon the very close inspection that this fearless pelican allowed, I have solidified my feelings on what strange dinosaurs these are. The goofy factor is HIGH.
Since Elliot we’ve had two full days of motoring, leaving early enough each morning to get us into port with time to play. Stop one was Rodriguez Key, where we anchored our dinghies in the shallows and sat lazily while the kids played. It felt like a Corona commercial, minus actual beer (bummer).
Day Two of motoring brought us to Boot Key Harbor (Marathon), with lots of gaming on the way.
Cockpit Train showdown.
And, um, a little bit of this:
Sometimes things are just too much.
Marathon was for provisioning, stretching our legs, and a fun meal out.
Skipper Lil’ on the good ship Flipper.
After a shorter trip this morning we’ve just dropped the anchor at Bahia Honda Key, which looks more than promising for a beach picnic and play.
Breakfast ‘aht’.Bibs for all! (A lot of droolers on board.)
We’re steaming down the eastern side of Key Largo today, with 12 feet of clear water under us, sunny skies, no wind to speak of, and a complete catalog of Christmas humming going on onboard, for no identifiable reason. Uncle/brother James would be proud.
Chickadee’s home on Boca Chita.
After a dreamy day and night on Boca Chita Key, where we toured the lighthouse, collected shells, played kadima until our feet were sore, and snorkeled for our first time on this trip, we shoved off yesterday to meet our MDI friends and their boat off of Elliot Key.
The harbor, Chickadee and keys beyond from the lighthouse.We loved that our chart plotter had us moored on land so much, it was picture worthy.
‘Clay’ found near the mangroves made for monster-creation.(..and jokes played on Daddy. Nice ‘stache.)Lily’s first time aloft, and undoubtedly not her last.
We anchored off of Elliot with a ‘comfortable’ 6″ under our keel at low tide. After kayaking and swimming back and forth between boats, we went ashore and found a trail with thousands of blood-thirsty mosquitoes that led us to a tiny beach on the eastern shore. The beach itself was nothing to speak of, but the remnants of four Cuban refugee boats were powerful.
The kids found gear and supplies in and around them, and it certainly opened up an interesting after-dinner discussion with the girls, most simply summed up by risks people take to escape impossible situations, and how lucky we are to not be able to identify with the feeling. While it made an impression on Lily, it was probably equally weighted by the impression that the can of cocktail weenies that they found and opened (still ‘good’!) did, if I’m being honest.
Before getting into the dinghy, I started to heave our tote bag in only to pull back when I saw the raccoon in the bottom of it, feasting on our trash. Fun afternoon of pests, flying and otherwise. (We didn’t keep the raccoon, if you’re wondering- our pet-cravings haven’t gotten that far yet.)
More swimming/kayaking for the kids, cocktails in the cockpit for the adults, and crash for all.
Today we’re headed to Rodriguez Key, motoring on the ocean side for a swifter trip south.
Hours later, fully tossed, we cleaned them up and went to explore Fort Taylor, an important defense site for both the Civil and Spanish-American Wars. Once completely surrounded by water, it is now fully embedded into the coastline and made for a good afternoon stroll.
