Sailing, takes me away...

I managed to take a mere 146 pics on our little 'sailing vacation' with Matt and Karie to Islamorada, about 30 nm E/NE from Banana Bay.  It was a shakedown cruise for us...to figure out all the things that need Mr. FixIt's attention before we set sail for the Bahamas.  It also was an oppotunity to see how our two boats perform together as buddy boats.  AIS and cast off time was 10:00am Friday morning!

The view as we left Banana Bay; which was our view most of the day-
Matt had the chartplotter, lol!

Cap'n was VERY happy to be off the dock!

Willis, not so much...he assumed his usual travelling position.

First Mate took over the helm, so Cap'n could have a
turn in the catbird seat- the bow pulpit :)

Look who came for a visit- dolphins!

We followed the ICW north- back to watching 'road signs!'
Look how flat calm the water was- Bessie kept us moving
at 5 knots, running about 2200 rpm's.

We passed the Channel Five Bridge on our starboard side.  This bridge,
and the Seven Mile Bridge, are the only two places sailboats can cross
from the Gulf to the Atlantic with 65' of clearance.  The last time we
passed under this bridge was January 31, 2011. We broke a fan belt
just after passing under, and I continued to sail wing on wing while
Cap'n made a repair while we were underway.  Good memories :)

We motor sailed the whole way up, as the winds were light and variable.
Here's a good look at Plan C, Matt & Karie's 34' Endeavorcat.
Can you see Karie up near the bow?

My turn in the cat bird seat!

Karie actually has SEATS in her cat bird seat. Jealous.

Beautiful views, and gorgeous water, as we sailed by many keys.

Past placards with comorants just hanging out.

For a time, Plan C got to look at Marquesa's stern :)

Willis was feeling sickly, so he came topsides for some fresh air.
Thankfully, he didn't get seasick this trip, going or coming.

Willis came on deck to supervise while Cap'n set the anchor.

Donnie snorkeled out to check the anchor line, and made a repair
in the water, changing out the zinc.  I then sent him on an errand-
to swim the teriaki marinade over to Karie for the chicken, lol.

Willis made a lousy guard cat...we quickly acquired two friends on our spreaders.

He was sleeping off his queasy stomach down below.

The 'friends' were looking for new territory to crap on- we had a
derelict bird s**t boat off our port side- YUCK!
Thank God the wind didn't clock around in our sleep-
the stench from over there would wake the dead.

The view of Marquesa at anchor. I think she's pretty.

We watched a gorgeous sunset from Matt & Karie's cockpit.

We had teriaki chicken, fresh pineapple on the grill, wild rice and
fresh steamed broccoli- delicious :)  Afterwards, Matt zipped open his
bimini, and we watched the beautiful night sky.  As we were pointing
out various constellations, a single dolphin rounded the boat.
You could hear him break the surface and blow out his blowhole.
In the moon's rays, we could follow him along the surface. Very cool.
Karie treated us with fresh baked brownies and icecream for dessert- yum.

The next morning, I went out into the cockpit to brush my hair,
and I just happened to see this sea plane take off in front of us :)

Willis spent the night topsides, climbing all over the boat, and
checking out the salty smells.  By the time I got out of bed, he
took over my spot in the Vberth.  He was a tired puss.

And when Dad got out of bed, Willis took over his spot. He was so
very, very tired.  We had Matt & Karie over for Cuban French toast,
(made with Cuban bread :) then they took us on their dink to go
play on a sand bar. It was about 5 miles away on the Atlantic side.

Here's my honey giving his best Peyton Manning imitation
in his Colts swimming trunks. Looking good, Cap'n!

What a cute couple :)

Gator, this dog from a neighboring boat, horned his way in to our
game of football toss...

INTERCEPTION!!!  Look who's smiling now :)

Gator was a prolific paddleball thief, too.

This is the sand bar, pretty cool, huh?!  One big party in the Atlantic :)

What a fun afternoon :)

After our fill of sunshine, Matt dinked over to the Holiday Isle Tiki Bar...

'World Famous' for their Rum Runner drinks.

I had the sweet tea!

On our way back to the boat, we took a shortcut
through the mangroves.  One of my favorite things
to do- go exploring!

We found these two roses along the way. This reminded
me of how we put roses in the water when we spread
my dad's ashes in the river, nearly 30 years ago.

   

The red and yellow rose reminded me of Grandpa's funeral, too.  We
spread the Yellow Rose of Texas, and Grandma layed red roses,
into the Rio Grande River after his funeral.

This turned out to be serendipitous...when Karie got
back to their boat, she had a phone call saying that
 a good friend of hers had died of cancer two days ago.
I felt badly for her.

We pulled into Lorelei's to have a look at their dinner menu.

See the crazy looking pirate ship behind us?!

Next to it, was a pink Cadillac- you can have your choice for a sunset cruise!

We got ready for dinner, and watched the sunset before meeting up

with Matt and Karie for dinner.

It was looking to be a green flash kind of night...but, no :(

We dinked over to the Islamorada Fish Company, behind the World Wide

Sportsman, the saltwater version of Bass Pro Shops.

Inside the store is Pilar, the sister ship to Hemingway's boat.  In the

foreground is the largest Atlantic blue marlin ever caught- 1076 lbs.

Cap'n is on the hunt for a great white shark!

I'm in the fishing chair, hoping to reel one in ;)

The Florida Keys are all about all things Ernest Hemingway.

We watched a flame dancer while we waited for our table.

And we watched the tarpon swim by, too, with their

creepy orange eyes at night.  Most of these were

about three to five feet long.  They can get HUGE.

My coconut shrimp dinner was delicious.  Afterwards, we hopped back in the dinghy, and followed

the music to Lorelei's. The band, Mr. Nice Guy, was stinking amazing.  It was like being at a rock

concert; the musicians were THAT good.  We danced our sandals off.  Sadly, they played just one more set after we arrived.  You should look these guys up- they're all from the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. It was just as well anyhow, as we planned for an early departure at 8am.  It looked like the wind had clocked around to the west (just the direction we needed to sail, of course), and it was expected to build all afternoon... 20-25 knots by later in the day.

We motor-sailed until after 11:30am, and we were finally on a tack

where the wind wasn't on the nose.  We sailed home the rest of the way,

in the peace and quiet with just the wind in our ears.  This lobster

fisherman was working his pots on a Sunday morning- you can see one

getting lifted aboard the stern automatically.  It was pretty neat to watch.

Under sail, we were pretty evenly matched with Plan C.  However, we could

point higher, and could eventually pick up more speed.  We hit 7.4 knots, but

the wind continued to build as predicted.  We eased off on the mainsail, to

dump some wind, and not strain the rigging.  It was a little more comfortable.

Eventually we rolled in part of the jib, too.  It was a fun ride! The best news

of all- no howling Willis (which immediately precedes him throwing up).

After we got back, we washed down the boat, reconnected shore power, cable, and such, we joined the family, Kenny, Fran & Ron up at the pool.  We played a round of Five Crowns and enjoyed catching up with each other.  We ordered pizzas to be delivered poolside for dinner.  After hot showers, sorting through the mail, and visiting with Matt & Karie, we decided to call it a night. 

G'nite y'all!