Bahamas Bound

2006 - 2007

Another Adventure has taken up residence in Boot Key, Marathon FL. It's a great area for fishing and has a strong community of cruising sailors. The facilities and location of stores makes it very easy to provision and do maintenance. I'm spending most of my time getting boat projects done.

We plan to post and update at least weekly. We move the older portions of the log to secondary pages accessible at the bottom of the page. Join our voyage!

Updated on 01/15/2007

12/29/06 - Damn, another beautiful day in Florida - a few clouds, 10-12 knot wind, chance of showers later and low 80's. Buddy was well cared for during my absence but seems very content to be back on "his" boat. (It's all about Buddy.) I'm anxious to hear what he's learned while I was gone. He's called for Ruth a few times - probably expects that she should be here too. For the next couple of weeks it's just me. I worked on the circuitry for the dinghy hoist - trying to isolate the lifting problem. The wind prevented my soldering the connections at the hoist switch. I'm trying to isolate the power loss issues before I send the winch to their service center. The crew of Sampatecho came by and we went to Porky's for a burger and to hear Rocket Man. "It's not 40 below, I'm not shoveling snow, and I like it!" It was a fun night. 12/30/06 - Up early to prep the boat for an 8am anchor's up for Key West. The winds were 18-25 knots from the NE making Hawk Channel rough, 2-4' seas. One dinghy lift strap broke, but an anti-sway line kept the boat from dropping too far. I uses the deck winch and a couple of lines to secure the dinghy. The following seas on the aft quarter gave the boats a rolling pitch as they sailed at 7-8 knots causing some discomfort among Sampatecho's guests. That, along with unexplained water in their bilge, made Bahia Honda State Park an attractive alternate so we dropped our anchors there, made our repairs, swam and read. The dinghy problem was a fatigued fitting in the original  harness - easily replaced. Sampatecho's bilge water turned out to be the result of overfilling a water tank. 12/31/06 - Dawn revealed towering clouds driven by 20 knot winds. The Sampatecho crew phoned to ask if I wanted to take a bus to Key West for the day and evening. I declined noting that I'd watch their boat for them. As for an afternoon in Key West, been there, done that, got the tee shirt. When I go to Key West it will be so I can spend a couple of nights listening to Papa Matt do his Blues gigs. I spent the day on boat projects, preparing a set of hand rails for a dodger mount. Got to the point where I now have a list of fasteners needed to finish the job. This little addition will make deck work in rough seas safer - another place to grab on to. At dusk I settle in with a good detective novel. I was surprised to hear noisemakers on a school boat anchored nearby. A glance at the clock showed it was midnight. I grabbed my conch and climbed to the cockpit while blowing a long haunting call. The harbor echoed with returns as other skippers welcomed the new year in ancient fashion. One New Year's wish - Ruth, here. 1/1/07 - Happy New Year!! Wow, a brand new year! Sunny, 80's and 10-15 knot SE winds. About 11:30 we hoisted anchor and sailed out into the gulf stream, headed east to Marathon. What a fantastic sail! The seas were running 4-6', long swells that I could surf down going to weather! About as much fun as one could legally have on a sailboat! The wind was 10-12 knots all afternoon, delivering us to Marathon about 3:15pm. I set a pair of anchors in the clay bottom of Boot Key harbor for extra security in the crowded anchorage. 1/2/07 - A hot sunny morning. Time to run errands - West Marine, ATM, Groceries,  bike shop and Radio Shack. Way beyond the on thing accomplished per day. Got it all done but for the ATM - the two I tried were broken. Got supplies for some additional wiring and the dodger hand rails... oh, and food (a good thing). Sure love the folding bike for transportation ashore. It make distances a lot shorter. At Marathon that's important as "down town" is a block wide and several miles long. I "over-shopped", resulting in a backpack that was too heavy to wear. I had to hang it on the bike and walk it back to the marina. What the hey, it's a learning process... next time I'll take Ruth's bike with the rack and saddle baskets. Now it's almost conch time, sundown, then off to Sampatecho for a spaghetti dinner. 1/3/07 - Yet another sunny day with 5-10 knot winds and scattered clouds - seeds for the towering cumulous that will likely build latter in the day. Today is a project day. I've lots of little ones to complete getting the boat ready for entertaining guests in the Bahamas. It's easier to do these tasks in the USA where parts are more readily found. I mounted the dodger handrails making deck work safer and installed a new latch for the swim ladder so it was safe to grab when boarding the boat at the stern. I spent time designing safety latches for the dinghy hoist though I'm still not convinced I have the simplest design I can come up with. Buddy spent the afternoon in the cockpit - he's in heaven as the breeze ruffles his feathers and he watches people passing in their dinghies. What a ham! 1/4/07 - Sounding like a broken record... winds from the NE at 12-15 knots, high 70's and sunny - it's almost a nice as Wisconsin. The forecast for the week is the same. Ran errands with Bradd this morning - getting small parts to finish a few more boat projects. Still working on getting more amps to the dinghy hoist rather than sending it back for inspection. I saw my first manatee of the season while enroute to West Marine. How the ancient mariners thought they were beautiful mermaids is beyond me. Buddy and I entertained Sampatecho's crew tonight. Bradd, Maeve, Yasmine and Crawford came to AA for dinner just after the conch tribute to sundown. The meal of beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, green beans and a tossed salad was a success - no one got sick or died... yet. Actually it was fun to reciprocate for all the times they have invited me over. I've got to do this more often. 1/5/07 - Today is son Kyle's 30th birthday. One of those big "0" events. Another sunny warm day in Boot Key. I finished the additional hoist wiring and all now works well. It's funny how the small task of running two 35' wires from the power panel through a breaker and junction box can take most of a couple of days. A big part of that time is removing bulkheads, berths and gear so you can get at the wire path. Buddy spent most of the day in the cockpit talking and whistling his heart out. We had a light sprinkle about noon. Just enough to wet the windows, not enough to wash off the salt. Salt gets on everything - then it holds moisture. The end result is that most things feel damp all the time and beads of water form on the windows, deck and stainless steel. A nice rain cleans that all up. 1/6/07 - The trade winds continue to sweep beautiful weather across the keys. I grabbed a bus for the flea market in Pine Key this morning, picking up a couple of stainless fittings for the dinghy hoist. Bradd, Maeve, Crawford, Yasmine and I were joined by Jack and Sue from Passage. On our return the Sampatecho crew went out to the reef to snorkel and I took our dinghy over to Passage, armed with my bolt cutter, to help Jack get a rusted lock off his outboard. It took a second to cut the lock off. So much for security. After a couple of hour visit I returned to AA and installed the parts I'd bought.  Jack and Sue are committed sailors with their Gemini 105 in the Keys and a Hunter 37.5 on Lake Erie. It was an enjoyable afternoon. Ruth called from Pewaukee and let me talk to Bobby while she baby-sat him. Busy phone day with Bill and Butch calling to confirm the dates they'd be joining us in the Bahamas. Right now Bill, Jill and Patty have the first full week of March reserved. Butch will likely be aboard before or after that. 1/7/07 - Up to a beautiful dawn. Light sprinkles during the night - again not enough to wash away the salt. After breakfast I listened to the Marathon harbor cruiser's net - a daily controlled net that provides weather, welcomes newbies to the harbor, provides info, and a buy/sell forum. It's a great source of local and cruising information. I had a quiet day - no projects and a lot of reading. Joined the crew on Sampatecho for Yasmine's 22nd birthday. 1/8/07 - Great morning though there is quite a dark bank of clouds to the south. They quickly cleared, heralding another warm (80's) sunny day. I finished a couple of small projects in the morning and worked on same consulting and writing in the afternoon. Bradd is bringing a new fixture for the main head... then I have to switch out the old one. Not a favorite task! The website has been up and down the past few days - either server upgrades or problems, don't know which. Be patient and persistent. Speaking of patience, the harbor now has about 250 boats in it. Many are waiting for a weather window so they can jump the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. The winds need to be from the South and under 15 knots for about a day to make the crossing without getting beat up. It's amazing how fast a N or NE wind pushes the wave into the double digits... not a nice thing. A trimaran came in last night dismasted by the rough seas. 1/9/07 - A cold front moved in overnight. Cold is relative, mid-60's rising to low 70's during the day accompanied by 14-18 knot winds. I spent the entire day rebuilding the main head (toilet) and rerouting the plumbing so I could install a macerating pump for offshore discharge while still retaining a locking valve for pump-outs (shore-side vacuum pumping of the holding tank to municipal sewage systems). The job would have taken 3 hours but a seized fitting defied all attempts to remove it. I finally had to design an different connection. A couple of electrical connections, a pump mounting base and that job will be finished. Sampatecho starts their Cuban voyage tomorrow. I may run as far as Key West with them and spend a couple of days looking up Papa Matt before beating back to Miami to pick up Ruth next Tuesday. Wind and weather will be the determining factors. 1/10/07 - Twenty to twenty five knot north winds continue to push 60's temperatures into the Keys. It's a jacket day today! The winds have Sampatecho harbor bound due to 8' seas on the Gulf Stream (8' seas mean you will see 16' occasionally). They also have me thinking that I'll wait until they settle down and then head north to pick up Ruth Tuesday in Miami -Hurrah! I've taken on another project, installing a satellite e-mail and weather reporting system on the boat (I'm a masochist). I joined the Sampatecho crew for a chili supper on Jack and Sue's catamaran, Passage, before heading to Dockside to hear Rocket Man. 1/11/07 - It's been a month since I checked into Marathon. While I like the place it's definitely time to move out. We are in the process of getting the paperwork filed for Buddy's visit to the Bahamas waters. I wish the US had pet passports like Canada as it makes the process easier and more reliable. Maybe Buddy should apply in Canada. He sez "Eh!" already... we could teach him God save the Queen. Bradd spent the afternoon helping me run the antenna cable and temporarily wiring the SkyMate® system. I'll finish laying the cables and making permanent connections tomorrow. 1/12/07 - I headed over to Sampatecho about 7:30am to wish them well. They were readying for departure to Cuba, heading west pass Key West then cutting south as soon as they had a 12 hour weather window. It doesn't look good on the gulf stream for the next couple of days but at least they will be at a good jump off spot. It's sunny but the winds are N-NE at 15-20, higher offshore. I spent most of the morning finalizing the power connections and re-arranging the panel for the SkyMate®. Only delay now is a replacement PC cable (Buddy pruned the original one). Radio Shack has their phone off the hook so I can't find out if they have what I need. I spent the afternoon looking for 3 items: 5/8" cobalt drill bit, male serial port plug, and a printer cartridge. I got the last item and groceries. Beat the one thing a day rule by getting groceries. Back at the boat I spliced the serial cable Buddy bit off. 1/13/07 - I've been anchored next to a young German couple, Hans and Inge of the catamaran Wanderlust for the past week. They bought their boat in Jacksonville and plan to sail Cuba, the Caribbean and eventually back to Germany. Right now they are working hard to get the glitches out of the boat so they can trust it. I joined Hans and Inge aboard Wanderlust for dinner. We ended up talking until midnight... very enjoyable couple.

Old Hwy A1A Bahia Honda bridge Sampatecho in Hawk Channel, eastbound New hand bars on the dodger Crawford & Yasmine after dinner on AA Maeve & Bradd relaxing aboard AA Hoses and fitting litter the head (bathroom) floor Winds and Waves report Here is a sample of the wind and waves report for our location for the next 24 hours. This report is one of many weather reports available to us via SkyMate®. We can request the report for up to 7 days for virtually any point on the globe. Wave heights are the average from base of trough to crest for the tallest 50% of the waves. You can expect to regularly see waves twice this high.   Weather Service: Point Forecast Location: 24.698,-81.084 Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 12:59:06 GMT+00:00 Model: Western North Atlantic Date Hour  Wind Speed (kts)  Wind Dir  Wave Height (ft)  Wave Dir  Wave Period (sec) 1/12 18 15-20 72 4.2 97 6 1/13 00 18-24 74 3.8 95 6 1/13 06 18-25 85 4.5 96 5 1/13 12 18-24 75 4.6 95 6 1/13 18 17-23 87 4.4 97 6 1/14 00 16-22 77 3.9 100 6 1/14 06 16-22 90 4.1 102 6 1/14 12 17-23 94 4.3 102 6 Sampatecho departs for "the big island to the south" Just fishin'

Visit earlier portions of the Bahamas Bound trip log...