Lignumvitae Key to Plantation Key

Day 37: Tuesday, March 29, 2016

This will be a short set of notes.  We left Lignumvitae Key at around 9:00 and motored for Plantation Key.  Our goal for the day is to get in the area around Plantation Yacht Basin where we will pull the boat out of the water.  I planned to anchor in the area not far from the marina so that I could get in there early on Wednesday morning.  We will then get the boat ready to be jerked out of the water before renting a car at the end of the day.

We then would drive back to Marco Island, pick up our truck and trailer and then head back to Plantation. 

We arrived in what is known as the Cow Pen which is a large bay near Islamorada.  It was at one time used to pen up captured manatees which were then slaughtered for food.  Of course those, days were before anyone ever heard of endangered species.  It is a lovely place to anchor.  The shore is lined with fancy homes and we found a great place in about 5 feet of water.  We dropped the anchor and got what we felt was a good bite. The Cow Pen is well protected from winds from the south and east but quite exposed to winds from the northeast and north. 

Since it was noon time, we prepared our lunch, my last packet of Spam.  I checked the weather and found that they were forecasting strong winds of up to 20 knots from the north along with thunderstorms for the overnight.  Not a good forecast for where we were anchored. So, I called the marina which was about ½ mile from where we had anchored, and inquired about the availability of a slip a day early and they were able to accommodate us.  

We pulled the anchor and headed for the Plantation Yacht Harbor and slip T75.  We pulled in and tied up and felt relieved.  After checking in, we immediately began the chores required to pull the boat out of the water.  We removed the sails, secured all sorts of lines and equipment and Janine did a large batch of laundry.  It was hot and humid.  By the time I was to go after the car that we had reserved, I was absolutely soaked with perspiration.

 

I caught a ride in “Mom’s Cab.”  The car checkout was quick and efficient and by 4:15 I returned to the marina with a VW Passat. I offered Janine the opportunity to go for a swim in their gorgeous pool but she declined.  I couldn’t resist so I spent a good 45 minutes enjoying the cool refreshing fresh water.

Since we now had a car, we left the marina for the Islamorada Fish Market where I had a wonderful Snapper Française and Janine a grilled grouper sandwich.  What a wonderful meal.

After dinner, we returned to the boat where we deflated Damn Dink Too, packaged her up and got ready for the night.  AND then the wind started to blow.  I heard folks on the dock that it was blowing over 20 knots.  Whew!  We really made the right decision on that one.  Even as I type these notes, the boat is bouncing around at the dock.  It would have been a realllllly long night had we stayed anchored.  We dodged a bullet!

Ours goal is to hit the road tomorrow morning at around 6:00 in order to miss the Miami rush hour traffic.  We shall see.  I probably will not have a blog tomorrow.

A Day at Lignumvitae Key

Day 36: Monday, March 28, 2016

Lignumvitae Key anchorage is a nice place to spend a couple of days.  The winds were blowing lightly from the south east and our location in the north side of the island protected us from the wind and waves.

Sunrise over Lignumvitae Key

We started our day a bit later this morning.  We again had cheesy scrambled eggs and bacon, using our last eggs.  Bringing eggs on trips like these is a bit of a challenge.  We had read that if you get fresh eggs that have never been cooled, you can keep them for a long period of time without them spoiling.  We also heard that if you dunk eggs in boiling water for 2 seconds, they will also keep.  We did both.  We got two dozen fresh uncooled eggs from our friends, Gary and Kathy and did the dunk in boiling water process.  About a week into the trip, we noticed that some eggs were covered with a fine film of mold.  We had put them in their cartons wet and then sealed them in a tight plastic box surrounded in bubble wrap.  We washed the eggs off and dried them before putting them back into their cartons.  We ate them as fried eggs and were sure that they tasted as one would expect a fresh egg to taste. We

Lone sailor on a homemade trimaran 

enjoyed the last one five weeks after we left Ohio. 

Before breakfast, I tried again to get a star sighting but again, the sky was covered with clouds. However, at 9:00, I realized that the moon was still up and the sun was rising, so I took sightings on the two of them and got a successful sight reduction.  I located our position to be about 1.7 nautical miles from where GPS said that we were actually located.  I felt good about that. I also did a noon sighting to determine our latitude and hit it to within 5.6 miles.  Not as good but acceptable.

1919 Matheson House on Lignumvitae Key

Janine and I hopped into the Dink and headed for the Botanical Park entrance.  Along the way, we passed a guy who was paddle sailing a small trimaran. We had noticed him sailing around our area last evening and realized that he had spent the night on this tiny craft just down the shore from us.  We pulled up alongside and he told us that he had made it by cutting a wind surfer board in half and using them as outriggers on his 17 foot canoe.  He put a mast on it and got a sail from a storage facility sale.  He said that he has sailed the full length of the keys in this little craft and was on his second trip. We spent a bit of time talking with him before we headed for the

Home with huge cistern 

island dock.

The Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park is a truly interesting place.  It consists of this beautiful island on which is located an old house with well-manicured grounds.  Upon arrival, we put our $2.50 per person entry fee into a metal box and started wandering around the grounds.  There were a number of trails that struck out through the vegetation but each one had a chain across warning of serious consequences if one were to

Hurricane shelter built by one of the overseers after a storm in the 1930

trespass onto them.  We ran across a ranger who was cleaning the restrooms and he said that the only time you could go onto the trails was on a guided tour with a park ranger and those times were twice daily on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  They are highly protective of the areas around the park because it is virgin tropical forest and except for the old homestead built in 1919, is untouched by modern man.  The ranger did offer to

open the house and spent probably an hour talking about the island, the inhabitants who were caretakers for the wealthy landowner who had built the home but never slept on it.  It was a fascinating visit.  We were disappointed that we were unable to venture out into the dense vegetation and its characteristic “hammock” structure.  The dense over-story allows very little light to penetrate onto the forest floor therefore

preventing the growth of plants in the understory.

Back in the Dink, we motored back to Second Wind where I again enjoyed a Spam sandwich sloshed in salsa.  This is a new twist in my luncheon delight that I highly recommend.

It was back to reading and a brief swim during which I encountered another group of Boy Scouts.  It turns out that there is a large gathering of about 600 of them on Islamorada.  The members on this skin diving outing were planning on capturing some lobsters.  I asked where they were to be found and they said that the jagged ledge at the edge of the island was supposed to have easy pickings.  I swam over to that area and was surprised to find more coral like structures and life than where I had been swimming.  It was really quite shallow and I swam there concerned that I might drag on the bottom.

Gumbo-limbo tree

Back at the boat, we prepared a hamburger, cheese, macaroni dinner.  Our appetizer consisted of the last of the summer sausage provided by our friends from the boat, Bumbye.  After dinner we read for a bit and finished the evening out with another game of dominoes.  And yes, bed time was 9:00.

Long Key Bight to Lignumvitae Key

Day 35: Sunday, March 27, 2016

The wind blew probably 10 to 15 knots all night causing the boat to dance around a bit, but we are used to the movement and slept well.  The most important thing that allowed for the good rest was that the anchors held.  We had cheesy scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast,

We were in no hurry to get underway this morning since our destination was not

Sailing with main and jib heading for Bowlegys Cut

that far away.  I raised the sails at around 9:00 and we sailed away from the anchor.  With both the main and jib flying we were making about 6 knots on a beat.  My goal was to sail over to and through the Channel 5 Channel bridge opening.  The wind was strong and our side drift was such that I couldn’t quite sail up to the opening, so we started the motor and pinched upwind to a point where we could fall off and make the pass.  All went well as we were screaming into the opening when a puff hit us and the boat skewed hard to wind.  I was pulling hard on the tiller trying to overcome the lift as we headed for the wooden bunkers that line the passage.  I yelled to Janine to let the main go which she did with haste.  The boat settled back down and we rode gently through the passage.

On the Florida Bay side of the bridge, away from the waves on the Atlantic side, we

Cormorants on sticks just outside of Bowlegys Cut

had a thrilling 3 to 4 mile ride, making about 5 to 6 knots the whole way.  Our course took us through a narrow 100 yard wide passage known as Bowlegys Cut that was through a field of 1 foot waters.  There was some boat traffic in the area which were all heading for that passage so we dropped our sails and motored through. 

From that cut, we swung south heading for the primitive island called Lignumvitae.   We dropped anchor on the north side in the beautiful blue waters.  

I finally ran out of my special soft taco mix that I have been enjoying for this trip so I had to break out my hidden stash of SPAM so that I can nourish my body comfortably for the remainder of the trip.  Since I ran out of the other food, I am only in a little bit of trouble having snuck it aboard.

 

 After lunch, I went swimming and realized that the

Calm anchorage on the north side of Lignumvitae Key

water was actually not very clear and I could only see about 3 feet in front of me.  This is quite different from all of the other places in which I have been swimming.  I assumed that it must be an interesting place to skin dive because, while we were there, we saw no less than 4 dive boats pull in and send forth their swimmers.  We talked to the leader of a group of Boy Scouts from Nevada and ask what they were seeing and he said that saw a crab and some sponges.  Really, this area was more devoid of life than the other anchorages.

Our reason for coming to Lignumvitae is to visit the state’s botanical park.  This uninhabited island has been kept pristine and the state has set up a visitors

A lonesome Second Wind anchored at Lignumvitae Key

center where they conduct programs explain the history and development of the key as an example of what it was like before man’s invasion.  We will travel to the center dock by Dink tomorrow.

We got some more reading time in before dinner of fettuccini with chicken in cheese sauce and peas (and unlike my childhood, I did eat all of my peas).

After dinner, we took the Dink for a cruise along the shore of the island looking for a place to get off and walk but the shoreline was very course coral and quite impassable.  Later, I got out my sextant and tried to take some star sightings, but the sky was covered with a

Sunset looking west from Lignumvitae Key

thin veil of clouds and the water was hazy. By the time I could finally find the stars, I could not see the horizon.  I tried to take some shots, but when I did the calculations, I found that I was hopelessly lost.  Thank you GPS!

We finished out the day engrossed in a couple of good books.