Two Days in Plantation Yacht Harbor Marina

Day 26:  March 25, 2013

We had a pleasant night’s sleep and awoke fairly early.  I worked on my blog and then fixed pancakes.  We had one egg left so it went into the mix.  We did our tidy up thing and settled down to read. 

It turned out to be a reading day until just after noon when another sailboat, a Sea Coast 26 pulled in alongside.  The crew, Brett and Susan, were pleasant folks and after assisting them in mooring, we struck up a conversation that lasted off and on until dark.  Their boat is a fairly new boat with a lot of nice features.  They are from a little area in Cos Cob, CT, not far from where my cousin, Bill Brookes, lives.  Brett and his sons all went to the same high school in Westport where Bill taught for many years.

Panache and Dink in a storm bumpy harbor

It was another warm day so we decided to go for a swim. Our conversation did not stop just because we were submerged in the pool. 

The weather  wasn’t too bad, however, the night’s forecast looked ominous.  The wind had been blowing from the south.  Toward evening it swung around to the west and began to build.  By bed time, it progressed on around to the north and, as it turned out, the only breakwater between us and the main coast of Florida was the huge cruiser behind us.  I checked our mooring lines at around 9:00 and crawled into bed.

Day 27:  March 26, 2013

At around 11:00 PM, the boat was jerking around quite a bit as the wind howled through the rigging so I got up and went out to again check on things.  I decided to add a line (called a spring line) that ran from the middle of the boat to a cleat on shore near the stern.  This would hold the boat from moving forward and reduced the stress on the line on the stern.  Back in bed, the boat jerked hard and sleeping was not easy.  In the middle of the night, I checked the mooring lines again and was comfortable with the arrangement. 

At 5:00AM, we were both awakened by a violent jerk of the boat and a strange sound that the boat was making.  I jumped, well crawled, out of bed and looked out the window to find that the boat was riding at a 45 degree angle from the dock.  The bow was banging the side of the dock and the stern line that I had checked twice had abraded in two.  I had wrapped it around a concrete pillar to help hold the boat back against the wind and the movement of the boat up and down sawed the rope in two.  I grabbed another dock line that I had attached to the other side of the boat, and pulled the boat back in line.  The wind was really blowing and the waves were really banging us.  Needless to say, sleep would not return for either of us.  It was a long two hours before day light.  Bad situations seem to be not so traumatic when you can see everything.

We made chipped beef gravy on toast for breakfast and sat down to read. After a while, I went to the shower house for to shave and was impressed by how nice the facilities are at this marina.  I went to their reading library and picked out a couple of more mysteries to entertain ourselves for the next several days.  The future doesn’t look particularly good weather wise.

Islamorada Fish Company Restuarant

At around noon, the boater next to us, Bret, offered that we go into town and get

World Wide Sportsman with the Zane Grey Pub 

some supplies and have an early afternoon lunch.  We had heard that the cabs were very expensive and were told that it could be a better deal to rent a car for a day rather than pay two cab fees.  I called the rental place and was quoted $68.00 per day.  We decided to take a chance on the cab and it turned out that a ride to Islamorada cost $20.00.  We felt it was a fair fee. 

We returned to the Islamorada Fish Company for lunch.  I had a dolphin Reuben  sandwich with potato salad.  Janine had fried oysters.  We were both pleased with our meals.  From there, we walked to a little carryout and bought eggs and V-8 juice. 

1970 Willy Rodgers Backcountry Skiff

An interesting thing occurred at the Fish Company.  Under the awning of their actual fish market, they had located a beautifully restored wooden 1970 Willy Rodgers Backcountry Skiff.  The most interesting thing for us was that the boat was donated to the local historical society by Gilbert Reese.  Now, we can’t be absolutely sure but Newark Ohio is home to a very generous entrepreneur and philanthropist, Gilbert "Gib" Reese.  I know he has an interest in boating because I borrowed a nifty “Windmill” sailboat from him for a demonstration when I was a young teacher at Newark High School.  Also, you may recall that this is the area that Zane Grey of Zanesville was quite active.  A small world!  

We had to wait a long time for the taxi to return so we got back to the marina at

What can I say?

about 5:00.  We decided that we would move the boat to the boat to a more protected area at the very end of the wharf.  I put the trolling motor in the Dink and moved her around first.  I was concerned about the wind but she handled it as though it was her mission.  We then contacted the marina help for assistance in moving the boat.  It was still quite windy and I was concerned that I would not be able to keep the boat going in the direction I wanted without moving quite fast.  During a docking situation, the one thing you don’t want is speed.  So, I backed the boat out of our slip and backed it all the way to the new location.  The boat follows the motor better than traveling forward so we could travel considerably slower in reverse.  At the slip, I had to turn the boat sideways to the wind to get in.  I was able to get the stern to the dock where the dock hand and Bret caught my line and pulled us in.  They were not able to keep the bow from swinging around but the slip was narrow and the front end ran into the mangrove barrier on the other side.  I jumped out of the boat and two of us were able to pull the boat into line with the dock.  A fairly stressful situation completed with no damages.

We invited Bret and his wife, Susan, to join us after dinner for the making and consumption of a blob carrot cake.  The cake turned out well and we spent the evening in interesting conversation.  Bret is a knowledgeable sailor who has built a couple of boats and Susan is a retired English Teacher.  I won’t hold that against her.  She is a great person and we had an enjoyable evening. 

The wind was building again and the forecast called for temps down in the 40’s so we put on our Fishe Skins and crawled into bed for what was sure to be a much more peaceful night.