Sandy Key to Long Key

Day 11: March 10, 2013

I awoke around 6:00 this morning to a daylight savings world and was thrilled to have finally had a great night’s sleep.  Hiding behind Sandy Key had provided us with an anchorage with minimal wave action even though the wind howled all night long.

Goodbye Sandy Key

Since we were out of ice, we didn’t open the coolers and dined on packaged oatmeal made with water.  I had checked the distances between where we were and Flamingo and Long Key to the south and found that Flamingo was 12 miles north and Long Key was 22 miles south.  If we went to Flamingo, the total trip to Long Key would turn out to be 46 miles so we opted to head south. 

Again, since we were very much out in the open, we raised the sails, pulled the anchor and immediately got stuck.  It was low tide and we had drifted back into a shallow spot.  We had been carrying our centerboard low and were able to raise it and use the motor to back into deeper waters.  It was a brief delay. 

The wind was from the southeast so we sailed close hauled for the next 18 miles.  It was a pleasant sail with no problems.  At one point my hat blew off into the water and we got to practice a “man overboard drill.”  It was a bit sloppy but I got my salty soggy hat back.  It took three passes.  I’m going to have to sharpen my skills.

Sea Bird Marina

The marina to which we were heading had not been awarded the highest ratings, however, it was the closest and we needed ice so when we were about 2 miles out, I called them on the radio.  The lady who received the call told me to call her back when I was close and she would direct me into my slip.  They have two entrances to their dockage areas and the one where the fuel is located is quite shallow and inaccessible to a sailboat. 

Panache bedded in Sea Grass

When we got close I called and she came out to stand on the shore and motioned me to come right to the shore and parallel it into the opening.  We had plenty of water there, however 15 feet to our port side it was very shallow.  The slip that I was assigned was filled with sea grass which appeared to be no problem.  At the slip another lady told me to back in, a feat that was complicated by the fact that Damn Dink was tagging along behind on a tether.  I put the boat in reverse and Dink dutifully eased around the side of the boat as we began backing in.  At the very mouth of the slip we ground to a halt.  I exclaimed that I had run aground but the older lady on the slip wall insisted that it was the sea grass that was holding me up.  We tossed her a rope and she and some young boys, who had gathered, tried to pull us in but to no avail.  The two women got two long PVC pipes and began pushing the heavy matted mess into the next slip.  That process ultimately created a channel into which we could pull the boat.  It took a team of 4 workers and one supervisor, Debbie from the boat next door, (originally from Youngstown, OH), to get us secured.  It seems that when the wind blows from the north, the sea grass packs in and somewhat paralyzes the place.

The marina appears to be old and has not undergone any renovations other than those required to keep it open.  The ships store is all but devoid of anything for sale other than a few fishing supplies.  We paid our dock fee and bought a bag of block ice.  It turns out that the ice comes in 25 pound blocks and it appeared to us that we could not handle that much.  We broke the block in half and left one in their freezer.  The other block we broke into smaller chunks and were able to get it in with plenty of room to spare so we went back and got the other half and fitted it in as well.



Janine prepares another culinary delight

The lady of the boat next to ours offered that we could use her car to go to dinner.  They are live-aboarders and have two cars.  Her husband, Butch, works 2 days a week in another marina.  Debbie is a hair dresser who does her services privately in folks’ homes for a fairly handsome sum.  We spent quite a bit of time talking with them later in the evening.  They offered that we join them in their nightly walk to the end of the pier to observe the beautiful Keys sunset.  I had left my memory card for the camera in the boat so no picture this time. It was stunning, though. 

For lunch, the Spam was in the coolers so I had to forego my usual lunch and eat Chex-mix, dried peaches and cookies.  It was a great meal that turned out to be a super substitute.  Janine had a PBJ as usual.  For supper, we grilled some bratwursts and had garlic mashed potatoes with a glass of fine red wine.  We dined on the deck in what we assumed is a more typical south Florida evening.  Bed came easily at 9:00.