Newfound Harbor Channel to Boot Key Harbor

Day 21:  March 20, 2013

This turned out to be a great anchorage.  No waves no wind and not many other boats to cause a disturbance.  People on boats anchoring out are most always quiet and respectful.

Mariners Astrolabe found on sunken ship

We had a change in our morning menu.  We had chipped beef and gravy on toast – ole fashion SOS.  It was a great change.  We may just do it again tomorrow.

During the night, I awoke remembering that when I installed the diaphragm bilge pump, I put in an in line filter to collect debris passing into the pump.  To get to it, I had to completely unpack the port cockpit locker, crawl into the locker, remove the filter which was completely packed with stuff that had been picked up from the bilge and have Janine clean it.  That all sounds fairly easy but it must be noted that the thickness of my chest/belly is about 2 inches greater than the opening and the hole which all of this stuff is located is basically smaller than a individual of my age and stature is supposed to be able to fit.  However, I did fit after shaving a bit of hide from my back and I did get back out, which is the biggest challenge, and the pump now works.  The diaphragm has a small leak and spews water as it pumps but it moves water from the bilge automatically so that concern is alleviated.

Dividers

Compasses

Last night, I took a star sighting with my sextant and using a computer program to help with the calculations, I spotted our location to within about 3.8 miles of our actual position.  That is not as close as I would like, however, if one were in the open ocean and searching for an island, that would be within the visible range and you would be able to see it.  I am getting better at this.  With a functioning GPS, the use of celestial navigation is a dying art.  In the museum that we visited, there were a number of the antique navigation instruments that had been found including an astrolabe, dividers, depth sounding weights, and compasses.

There was no wind all day, well not until we tried to catch the mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor but I raised the sails at the beginning of the trip only to take them back down about 15 minutes later. 

Back in the winter when I was planning this voyage, I made note on the GPS map that there was an outstanding SCUBA/snorkel site 3 miles out from the entrance to the channel where we had spent the night.  The water was absolutely glassy smooth so we decided to head out there and do some snorkeling.  This particular reef, Looe Key, is a designated sanctuary preservation area in which the authorities have set a number of mooring buoys to which divers are to tie when in the area.  Anchor and anchorage equipment that comes in contact coral may cause a heavy fine.  This is a popular site on which there were probably 15 commercial dive boats moored.  We caught a ball and donned our gear and dropped over the side to view a truly beautify underwater panorama.  We were in about 12 feet of water but this water is fresh bathwater clear so we were able to see many varieties of beautifully colored fish. One group of beautifully appointed little black and yellow striped schooling fish was absolutely unafraid of us and would swim to within inches of our faces.  The water was cold as soon as you entered but the beauty of it all immediately overshadowed the chilling sensation.

Social gathering at Boot Key Harbor City Marina

Getting back in the boat was a bit of a hassle for us old folks but with the help of the new swim ladder that I installed last year, we were able to accomplish it.  The water was still glassy calm so we broke loose from the mooring ball, skirted around the dive area, set a waypoint on Boot Key Harbor and motored for 21 miles in a straight 68 degree line.   We arrived at the Harbor at about 3:30 and attempted to get a mooring assignment, however, our fancy radio decided not to turn on.  We looked up their phone number and called them.  After a bit of hunting, we finally found our assigned ball and with Janine skillfully maneuvering the boat, we caught it on the first pass.  Later, we watched a large catamaran make 3 passes before they finally made the snag. 

We crawled in the Dink and headed for the dock.  I noticed that the electric trolling motor seemed to be struggling but we made it in due time.  While approaching the dinghy dock, we were passed by about a 45 foot sail boat.  We had seen them earlier in the channel coming into Boot Key Harbor and I made note that it was a really pretty new looking boat. After we secured the Dink to the dock we headed for the office.  On the way we had to pass a group of about 5 people trying to secure that beautiful sailboat to the seawall.  It seems that the guy pulled the boat in at 90 degrees to the dock, threw the bow line to the harbor master and waited while the group on shore tried to swing him around and secure him.  It appeared, from all of his actions, that he had very little or no experience handling a boat.  That was not the first time that we have seen that.  Folks have the money to buy a big boat but don’t do what is required to learn to handle it.

After checking in, we crawled back in Dink to find that the battery was too dead to push us back upwind to Panache so I broke out the oars and rowed back.  I believe I will be looking for a 2 hp Honda outboard to be used on our next trip. 

We steamed our last two bratwursts in beer for our evening meal.  We had cooked a blob carrot cake last night but forgot to get it out for this meal.  It will be good tomorrow.  We watched a sort of goofy movie on our computer and went to bed at around 10:00.