BACK IN THE U.S.A.

When I posted the last blog on March 28th, being stuck in Isla Mujeres wasn't too bad. The beaches were open and cruisers could come on shore when they wanted, walk around, snorkel, paddle board, kayak, sail, anchor out, etc.

However, about a week later, we were anchored by Playa Norte and enjoying a nearly deserted beach, when the Mexican coast guard came by and made everyone leave.

That was followed by the beaches being closed, no water sports being allowed and cruisers not being able to go ashore without permission from the Port Captain, not at all on Saturdays or Sundays, and then only having an hour and a half to go directly to and from a pharmacy, bank and/or grocery store. Plus, road blocks were set up to limit who was driving where and with how many passengers.

Here are a few of our last snorkeling photos, which were taken right before the ban. Compared to the Bay Islands of Honduras, the water isn't as clear and there isn't nearly as much coral or sea life but it's always fun and interesting. 

Even though the sale of alcohol was prohibited we did find our ways. One was buying a box of "crabs" from one of the guys at the marina.

Another was having pizza delivered. Although the pizza place couldn't sell wine, their delivery drivers became quite entrepreneurial.

Delana also befriended a restaurant, that not only allowed us to have up to six people dine in, providing we used the back door and kept the lights down, but they also sold us wine and rum under the counter. As you can see they cleverly disguised the bottles.

And this nice bottle of dark sipping rum was given to Delana after she cut the owner of the Hotel/Marina's hair, as well as his Mom's caregiver's. My haircuts are free, but that doesn't take much time these days.

 

It seems like where ever there is consistently more than 20 boats in an anchorage, cruisers organize a cruisers net on the VHF radio. It provides an organized opportunity to ask for help, report the weather, meet each other, share knowledge, talk about local events/services, buy/sell/trade, etc. It's a real community building thing. When we first arrived in Isla Mujeres there were only a dozen or so anchored boats and no cruisers net. However, before long there were 40 plus boats and a cruisers net was organized. Several cruisers take turns hosting it. Delana had Tuesdays.

It wasn't long before masks were required when going on-shore. And seeing how there was a shortage, Delana and several others on the dock started making them. The Hotel/Marina donated sheets for the fabric.

The first ones were sold to the cruisers with 100% of the proceeds, which totaled over 5,000 pesos ($250 US), going to the local food bank. This is a French boat.

The rest of the masks went to the Hotel/Marina staff, the local Red Cross which distributed them, and the fishermen next door who were supposed to pay us in fish. That never happened. In all, over 165 masks were made.

Mexico is still a Catholic country, so Easter Week (Semana Santa) is really a big deal. However, this billboard is telling everyone to "Stay At Home" and "Don't Go Out Unless It's Necessary".

So with all the new restrictions along with the possibility that Mexico, like Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, might not allow boats to leave or the US might quarantine arriving boats, we decided to head to Florida. But first we filled the diesel jugs that we keep on deck, made enough water to fill our tanks plus the extra jugs, and made sure the engines, generator and everything else was ready to go. Including the jugs, we began with 155 gallons of diesel, which would have been enough for us to motor all the way to Florida and back. We also had 180 gallons of water on-board plus the ability to make more.

The next step was going to the Port Captain to get our zarpe/exit papers, the bank to pay the exit fees, the immigration office to get our passports stamped and the grocery store for some last minute provisioning.

It was sad to see the streets absolutely empty, even though some vendors were still trying.

We arrived in Isla Mujeres on February 10th and departed April 21st. Of that time we spent the first and last weeks at anchor while the time in between at the marina. Additional visitors, the trip to Cuba, as well as exploring the Yucatan, were all cancelled. However, it was still a good time, we had some great visitors, got to know some wonderful people and completed some boat projects. Also, being on Isla was much easier than being in Central America in terms of day to day life (i.e., communication, transportation, provisioning, temperature/humidity and security), but at the same time, not as interesting/exciting.

 

As we left the harbor we went by this boat that had it's head sail shredded during its passage. It turned out to be an omen of things to come.

We were in shipping lanes almost all the way from Isla Mujeres to the Dry Tortugas, which keeps your attention.

I couldn't resist. Note the book's title.

The first half day out was pretty boring, just the way I like it. Then within about 45 minutes we were visited by dolphins, lost two fish along with two lures and ripped the screecher sail.

The next day we landed our first fish. We've eaten barracuda before, but threw this one back.

 

Then Delana caught this nice, and delicious, mahi mahi.

As far as fishing goes we generally don't have very good luck, but at the same time we don't fish near shore either. I figure those areas are over fished anyway and should be left for the local fishermen. Plus, those fisherman sell their catch at a very good price. Actually considering the lures and lines that I've lost, I would be much better off  always buying fish.

 

We had two nice sunrises between Isla Mujeres and the Dry Tortugas.

This is a night view of the instruments at the helm. They provide time, depth, wind direction, wind speed (true and apparent), boat speed (GPS and through the water), heading, latitude/longitude, auto pilot setting, track setting (distance to destination, time of arrival, off course left/right/feet and bearing), wind angle, wind VMG (I don't know what that is either), radar, sonar, Automatic Identification System, various alarms and other stuff I either don't know how to use or elect not to.

Besides our chart plotter we also have the Navionics app on our phones and tablets. Navionics really has more accurate charts than the chart plotter.

 If we had the south winds we started with the entire time, we would have been able to go in a direct line at six knots from Isla to the Dry Tortugas in about 48 hours. However, we knew easterly winds were coming so our plan was to sail east as far as possible, so that when the east wind came we could just turn left and go directly to the Dry Tortugas. However, the east wind came before we were far enough east, I got tired of motoring into it and tried sailing northwest, but we just weren't far enough east yet, so we sailed back, motored some more and then sailed to the Dry Tortugas once we were farther east.  

We arrived at the Dry Tortugas/Ft Jefferson early Thursday morning April 24th. It's a very cool place and because of its remoteness I believe it's the least visited National Park in the country. The Fort is the largest brick and mortar building in the Americas, as well as the third largest fort in the country. We anchored between where the two boats are on the right side of this National Park photo.

Google for more photos and information regarding the Dry Tortugas/Ft Jefferson.

Our view from the anchorage.

The Park was closed and we were not allowed to go on land, but we could snorkel and walk the shore as long as our feet stayed in the water. Note the yellow quarantine flag flying over the Fort.

Several of the islands are bird sanctuaries.

That's Loggerhead Key in the distance.

We snorkeled the west side of the fort.

Visibility wasn't very good, but we did see some huge Rainbow Parrot fish.

It was cool to see coral and other stuff growing on the Fort walls.

These guys were a perfect example of why "yachties" have such a bad name. They anchored almost on top of us, had colored strobe lights and lied to us.

With little warning, this storm came from the west. Some boats recorded over 60 kt winds. Eight of the ten boats in the anchorage had their anchors drag. One dragged over half a mile with both his engines trying to help.

This boat dragged until it went aground.

It took a half dozen dinghies with two of them pulling the masts over so the keel would tilt enough to get off the bottom. Then the rest of the dinghies, as well as the boat, used their engines to get into deeper water. 

Success. 

We initially helped with our dinghy but had engine problems and barely made it back to the boat. It turns out that when refilling the dinghy's tank that morning I had used diesel fuel. Then to make matters worse, I thought I had used gas that hadn't had two cycle oil added to it yet, so I added oil to the diesel/gasoline/oil mixture. Anyway, once I realized all that, I replaced the spark plugs, fuel filter and fuel. That did it and it's working fine.

The scary thing is, that the reason I filled the tank that morning was so we could dinghy over to Loggerhead Key to snorkel. If the engine would have died on the way there or back, I don't know where we would have ended up.

The Park Rangers had to get a full report regarding the boat that dragged, as well as see if any coral was damaged.

The squiggly yellow line shows that our anchor dragged and then re-set itself. After the initial blow, I had both engines running and in gear to reduce pressure on the anchor.

Once a week a supply boat with provisions and replacement personnel comes to the Fort.

One day a helicopter landed and took off.

Before leaving on Wednesday April 29th we sailed over to Loggerhead Key for a quick snorkel. This is a National Park photo.

Once we finished snorkeling we set sail for Naples. 

The next morning we were eight miles from the Naples entrance when we saw what looked like a pretty significant storm coming. So with the storm at Ft. Jefferson fresh on our minds and knowing that the Naples entrance isn't very wide, we diverted to Marco Island. We anchored there, waited out the storm, which turned out not to be much, and then went on to Naples.

Other than having to avoid the occasional shrimp boat a,long with the deter to Marco Island, Loggerhead Key to Naples was really a nice sail. 

This is the canal our dock for the next week was located. Starship II stayed here in 2017 also. We really appreciate Wendie and Jerry letting us keep the boat at their beautiful new home. And of course, we appreciate Chip and Vicki, for being Wendie and Jerry's friends.

Chip, of Chip and Vicki, was kind enough to host us at their place in Naples which was only 10 minutes from the boat. That night was the first night in five months that we slept anywhere other than our cabin. 

The next day Delana, with a little help from me, worked on fixing 25 feet of tear in the our sail. That happened the first day out of Isla Mujeres while hoisting it. Long story short, it was my fault.

As you can see, it takes a lot of space to sew a sail.

It was repaired with rip-stop tape and by zig-zag sewing the perimeter.

The next day we went shopping, which included stocking up our liquor supply so that the fear of running out, NEVER happens again. We also went to Costco, Lowes, Home Depot, Publix, Super Target, Super Walmart and West Marine. Though shopping isn't my thing, after five months in Central America and Mexico, it was was great. 

I believe it was that night that the beaches opened up. There weren't a lot of people then but within a couple days there were tons. 

On that Sunday Denny and Sue had us over to their place in Bonita Springs. We had a great time. It was really good to see them. They were both very helpful before I left for Mexico on Christmas Day 2017.

And the next day, Lane and Shannon had us up to their place in Ft Myers Beach. We went for a nice boat ride and then in celebration of the restaurants starting to open up, we went to one.

The next two days we largely spent getting all we had bought onto the boat, organizing and then on Wednesday, just hours before we were leaving and with less than a day's notice, a secret crew member flew in. The name is being withheld to avoid any potential "travel shaming".

We really had a good time in Naples. Chip and Vicki, thank you so much for being such great hosts. It was a lot of fun. And Wendie and Jerry thank you for putting up with Starship II in your back yard, as well as our running back and fourth through your property. 

Our plan was to leave the dock and head to Key West on Wednesday May 6th at 6:00 in the evening . However, with the most recent Super Moon the tide was so low that the boat was on the bottom and unable to go anywhere. By 8:30 the tide had risen enough for us to get out of the canal.

Then we had a great Super Moon lit sail with following winds and seas the entire way. We arrived in Key West around noon the next day. 

The anchorage here is kind of strange. There are probably 150 boats in various stages of repair, spread out over a very large area, and no one seems to monitor any VHF channel. 

I think this is my sixth time in Key west. I obviously have never seen the streets like this. There are no tourists. I think we've run across only six open restaurants/bars, about the same number of t-shirt/souvenir shops. Plus, hardware stores, West Marine, Grocery Stores, gas stations, etc. are also open. And this past Monday, Fort Zachary Taylor State Park opened. We also heard that Highway 1 has opened. 

The Keys were shut down for visitors early on and residents had to prove they were residents to get past the road blocks. Despite our best efforts to fit in, a couple locals did peg us non-residents. They wanted to know how we got here, and were genuinely disgusted to hear that we were allowed to come by boat. More of our time in Key West later.

This was taken in Key West a couple nights ago. It's windy and rainy now but hopefully by Saturday it will be good enough to head to Marathon. From there we'll work our way up the southeast coast and into Chesapeake Bay. Goose, Paula, Kirby, Jules, Fletch, Gary and Beth, you've been warned.