Dispatch from Leilani - Mexico to Guatamala

Bud is content at the helm on the passage south along the Yucatan coast.

We apologize for our delayed posting. Now that we have internet again here at the dock, at least some days better than others, we intend to post more frequently. We really have a lot to share with you.

Travel time

Travel alters time, or at least our perception of it. We have experienced our altered relationship with  time repeatedly on our journey, and it continues to shock or amuse us. In our altered state we find we no longer have an accurate measure of time’s passage. We used to have routine that structured each day and assisted us in the measure of the passing of an hour, a day or a week.  We do frequently ask “What day is this?” although it is not as important now.      

I was asked by the marina manager as we tried to note the date on our dock payment receipt, “When did you arrive?” (actually he said, “?Quando llegaste a la marina?”). We had very little urgency in checking in when we arrived, and besides that, we needed to translate the rental contract to English so we could understand how to fill in the blanks on the form. We had not done that yet. I told the manager I would have to go back to the boat to look at our log for the date. We keep track of such things in a book. So, the book told us that we actually had been here in Rio Dulce/Frontera for over two weeks.

Here we tell you about our arrival in Guatemala- Our destination on this voyage. 

Moving down the Maya Riviera Coast and Belize

After leaving Isla Mujeres, we spent the first night on a mooring ball in Puerto Moreles, and the next couple days anchored off of Cozumel adjacent to the ferry and cruise ship docks.  It was not the best anchorage with the continual wakes from non-stop passenger ferries dropping off the masses of tourists in the heart of the central plaza.  And despite what the guidebooks say, we were not allowed to land our dinghy anywhere near the ferry docks.  Getting ashore was difficult.  Diving to check the anchor was probably the best part of our stay. The water visibility was incredible, even in ten feet of water adjacent to downtown.  

Our mission in Cozumel was to get some dive gear repaired.  After checking out our gear in Isla Mujeres, we needed to repair a leaky regulator and BCD.  We found a dive shop in Cozumel via the internet with excellent ratings- Cozumel Scuba Repair.  The only way we could get ashore was to take the dinghy near the beach and drop one of us off on the shore. We would communicate using the hand-held radio and the VHF on the boat.  Bud was much more adept in bringing the dinghy into a rocky shore, so  Tracy had to navigate the two and a half miles to the dive shop and back, equipped with her few phrases of Spanish. Recall that English is Tracy’s second language, and she doesn’t have a first.

An hour later, Tracy was back at the shore hailing Bud on the handy radio for a ride. But she did not have the dive gear. We had hoped the repair would be quick and we could be on our way. It was going to take some time to repair, and with the weekend approaching, it was  going to be several days.  It also meant we would need to go ashore again. 

We really we needed to find an alternative to wading ashore. The dive shop suggested to try the marina about a mile north from our anchorage.  We took the dinghy to the marina, but there were no places to tie up. We asked a guy if there were slips available, but he told us the the marina was full- it is always full. Understanding our situation, Steve from Grand Cozumel, offered to let us tie our dinghy to his catamaran when we needed to go into town.  We thanked him for his generosity.

The weather was predicted to change for the worse in the next couple days, and we did not want to sit out the weather in the anchorage.  We decided to take Steve up on his offer, and we went into town together to see if the dive shop could speed up the repair. Expressing our concern to the owner of the shop, our dive gear would be repaired by 4:30 pm that afternoon. 

  

While waiting at the dive shop, we had a ‘flash from the past’.  A man walked in with a shirt from Caribbean Divers.  We both thought we recognized him and the name of the dive charter operation.  Sure enough, he was the owner of the dive charter we used in Cozumel over twenty five years ago!    

We spent most of the afternoon getting to know the owner, Larry Cleghorn.  Larry has been in the dive industry his entire life, and told story after story about some of the more famous folks in the industry.  Larry is now making his own brand of regulators and BCD’s at a fraction of the cost of the major scuba companies.  If you want a great price on dive gear, go to Cozumel and find Larry.  After going above and beyond on repairing our dive gear and at a reasonable price, Larry offered to take us back to the marina.  Again, the folks in Cozumel proved to be incredibly generous.

Larry of Cozumel Scuba Repair. 
One of the most knowlegable and generous dive guys you will meet.

With the weather looking to deteriorate, we decided to head to the mainland to a resort called Puerta Aventuras with nice protected dockage (and inexpensive at $20/night).  We spent the next week waiting for a weather window to head south, exploring the resort and the town, and provisioning.  Just a short walk from the resort was a taqueria with excellent reviews called El Arbolito.  Behind a counter were twenty to thirty pottery bowls filled with various saucy fillings, from chicken, beef, and pork, to chiles, hard boiled eggs, and chile rellenos.  To the side of the counter, there was a woman making fresh corn tortillas.  We first went to pay for the number of tacos we wanted, and then we moved along the counter and pointed to the fillings. We topped the tacos with radish, cucumber, cabbage, various salsas, onion, and lime.  The tacos were so good that we went back a second time. We could both eat for less than $6! 

This is not Leilani, and these are not our guests.  In Mexico, booze cruises are the norm. 
Screaming happy people at the Puerto Aventuras Resort.

Surf was up at the mouth of the protected harbor. 
Several days before, we had to surf in on Leilani (on a much smaller wave, thank goodness!)

A family exploring the tide pools at Puerto Aventuras. 
In Mexico, the public has access to all beaches.  This beach was adjacent to the Omni Resort.

Casual dining at El Arbolito. 
The guys at the counter are selecting their saucy taco fillings.

Beautiful, yummy tacos from El Arbolita.

Our friend Armando, one of the security guards at Puerto Aventuras. 
Always smiling and always helpful.

One final provisioning run to Chedraui. 
Bud is stocking up on 2 pounds of one of the many moles.

We departed Puerta Aventuras, Mexico after finally receiving our exit papers. We had planned to make a couple of hops with day sailing along the coast. The weather was good but likely to change soon, we decided enroute to change our plans and just kept going without further stops in Mexico. We sailed continuously for about 48 hours until we arrived in Belize. We were quite pleased with our feat. We did not want to clear in because it was going to be expensive ($300-$400) and, because we really wanted to come back when we had more time after hurricane season to explore the reefs. We sailed on with two short hops and anchorages in gorgeous and secluded lagoons in Belize.

The immigration officials on Leilani at Puerto Aventuras. 
They are smiling because they just took $280 from us to leave the country.

The first of two mahi mahi to hook our lines almost simultaneously - successfully landed.

Fisherman Bud pulling in the second mahi mahi after the reel broke. 
If you zoom in on the splash, you can see the feint yellow of the dorado. 
This one was much bigger than the first, and managed to get free just as we brought it up to the boat.

Sunrise at New Haven Bight in Belize.

We have arrived in Guatemala

We had studied the pilot and guide books, but there was nothing that could prepare us for our arrival in Livingston, the frontier town at the mouth of the Rio Dulce and the port we needed to clear into Guatemala. We made about a 4 hour passage from the last beautiful anchorage in Belize to arrive in Livingston at about mid-day.  

We had read about crossing “the bar”, the notorious shoal that impedes entry to Livingston. The bar must be crossed with care, especially if a boat has more than 5 ½ foot draft. While Leilani has a 4 ½ foot draft and we probably would be OK, it still meant that we would have less than a foot of water under our keel as we crossed. That always makes us nervous.

Consider this- any boat, such as Layla, our previous boat, with a 6 ½ foot draft would have to be escorted across the bar. “Escorted”, is not really sufficiently descriptive. An escort boat comes out from the port, negotiates with the vessels captain relative to his need for their services, and they then secure a line to the mast of the sailboat. The escort boat then takes a heading at an angle to pull the mast over to about a 45 degree angle! That is right, the other boat pulls the sailboat over by the mast to swing the keel up which then allows the deep draft boat to inch across the shoals without going aground. The sailboat must also have the engine engaged to maintain forward motion while being pulled by the escort boat. We were quite thrilled that we did not have to have an escort. However, we did see 5.2 feet under the boat as we crossed the bar, so we did “bounce” at least once.     

Livingston – Riding out a squall, clearing in and tour of town

We had little time to breathe a sigh of relief after crossing the bar as we came immediately into the chaos of the port of Livingston. We needed to anchor to prepare for official clearance into Guatemala. Boats of all kinds were coming and going from multiple directions. Pongas, certainly one of the most numerous of boats in Latin America, sped in at near full-speed to the public dock. We had learned previously there is no such thing as a “no wake zone” anywhere in Mexico and Belize. We quickly learned that leaving a big wake is not considered discourteous in Guatemala.

Lanchas or pangas zooming in and out of Livingston harbor.

We quickly chose a spot to anchor and Tracy began to let out the anchor as we attempted to maneuver among the other boats. As we had approached the port moments before we noted a power boat, a cabin cruiser, with passengers that appeared to be port officials on the stern. Bud watched as the official passengers climbed out of the cabin cruiser and transferred to a panga bouncing in the wakes. The wind had picked up dramatically and a dark menacing squall was approaching. It was going to be on us in a couple of minutes. Somehow that menace of the squall did not deter the officials. The panga bounded over to the stern of Leilani. Bud yelled to Tracy, who was still on the bow completing the anchoring, “Come on back to the stern. We are being boarded. These guys are the port authorities”. There were six people in the panga, two crew who stayed with the bouncing boat while trying in vain to keep it from banging our hull, and the four officials, who clumsily climbed aboard. We had not completed anchoring but somehow that was not an issue for our new guests aboard.  

One official, the individual who would serve as our agent, introduced himself in English, and then introduced the others. There was no time for much discussion as Bud urged them to go inside the cabin. The squall was now upon us. Bud stayed at the helm with both engines running and engaged at half throttle in an attempt to keep the boat in position into the wind. The wind speed gauge showed gusts to 35 knots and steady at 25 knots!

Tracy led the group inside where they continued with the mostly one-way conversation about clearing in. Bud could not see the bow of the boat with the intensity of the wind and stinging rain. Despite Bud’s continual urging to do otherwise, the panga had now moved to Leilani’s port stern, getting the greatest impact of the wind. The panga continued to bash against the hull. (The green paint scraped on the hull from the panga has been mostly cleaned off now.)

Meanwhile in the salon, a couple of the officials sat down on the settee and began to look at their phones. The Port Captain, dressed in the official military-like green uniform, stood by watching and occasionally nodding and smiling. Finally, the “agent” clarified that there were two ways in which we could complete the clearing in process. One way was to obtain an agent, which he quickly added, “I am an agent”, to do the paperwork. The second approach was to go to each of the separate offices in town to get the proper stamps and authorizations yourself. Recall there is still a nasty squall pounding Leilani which we had no idea when it might end. Tracy peaked her head out of the salon to give a report of the activities and the options for the next phase. As the boat continued to rock and the wind and rain continued to pelt us, we quickly agreed there was little choice, “We should just do the agent”. It would add about $30 to the about $180 fee- An inconsequential amount we calculated.

The winds and the rain had begun to diminish as the “gang” moved outside to begin departing Leilani. The squall had churned up some sizable waves in the harbor and the ponga remained a bouncing target. All but the last of the gang boarded the panga without mishap. Our agent and new friend lost his footing and fell on his back and into their panga, amid the laughing of his partners and the gasps from us. No harm done. Whew!

The port captain and Raul in Livingston harbor aboard Leilani during the squall.

Two other officials that boarded Leilani in Livingston harbor. 
We have no clue what these two officials were there for!

The calm is deceptive in this picture as the officials left after the squall. 
We were too busy during the squall to take pictures.

Once the panga departed, we finally took a sigh of relief. What the hell was that!? We laughed and remembered we had to finish securing the boat at anchor. Bud removed his yellow rain slicker as the sun was now peaking through the clouds. Pangas were once again coming from all directions. Welcome to Livingston.

Tracy reviewed the details from the meeting in the salon. We were directed to meet Raul, our agent, in his office in about two hours. Until then we could simply eat something and hang out. We laughed again as we realized all this happened and it was only 12:00!

Cute little birds drying their feathers on Leilani's bow after the squall. 
Anyone know what kind of bird these are?

We spent most of the two hours checking out the town of Livingston.  As we walked up the main road, we dodged motorcycles and tuc-tucs (three-wheeled “taxi” carts) and walked along shops selling baked goods, fresh tortillas, and souvenir trinkets of all sorts.  

At the end of the road, a local Garifuna passed us and then stopped to talk to us.  We were just entering the Garifuna neighborhood, and asked if we would like a tour.  We followed a winding dirt path up and down the coastline past block homes and learning about the Garifuna culture from Polo Martines.  The Garifuna are of mixed ancestry, primarily with West and Central African, Island Carib, and European descent, tracing their roots to Saint Vincent.  When the British took over Saint Vincent, they exiled the Garifuna to Roatan, Honduras.  Because there was not enough resources to support their population, the Garifuna petitioned the Spanish authorities to settle on the mainland of the Spanish colonies.  Today, the vast majority of the Garifuna in Guatemala live in Livingston.

Tuc-tucs, scooters and dogs on the main street in Livingston.

Overlooking part of the Garifuna neighborhood. 
They are still recovering from the latest hurricane.

Our guide through the Garifuna neighborhood, Polo, and Bud in front of
two typical houses  - block walls with wooden shutters and tin roof. 
Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead provided funding for some of the housing in the neighborhood. 

After an hour, we were back on the main road.  We picked up our passports and documents at the agents office, and headed down to the dinghy dock where we picked up a Guatemalan courtesy flag, paid the boy watching over our dinghy about $10 quetzales (about $1.50 US), and headed back to Leilani.  It was official.  We cleared into Guatemala!   

Stay tuned: Next time when we swim under geothermal waterfalls, cruise down the Rio for more fun, meet the locals, and explore Guatemala.  

 

**We are watching the news of Hurricane Florence growing in intensity and looking like it is going to be a catastrophic storm. It is menacing Layla in Beaufort, who will be all alone in the boat yard as everyone is evacuating. While we know we made the right decision to bring Leilani here to Guatemala, our hearts are aching now for Layla and all of our friends in the southeast US.

Dispatch from Ride the Blue Sea – El Milagro and the Marx Brothers

The Miracle Marina, our home for two weeks

What is a ‘typical’ day?

There are no typical days.  That has always been a goal, and it has been easy to achieve.  There is so much we want to share with you beyond just an accounting of where we were and where we are. The following is a tidbit of our exploration that may illustrate what we mean, and why it has been something we sought – to have a day that is not typical or routine.

This heron does not have a room, but hangs out here every day.

It is 4:00 pm and we are sitting in the cockpit of Leilani in our slip at El Milagro Marina on Isla Mujeres.  Three of the crew have come to the end of the dock. They brought several ropes, an ice chest on wheels, and a set of minimal scuba gear. By minimal we mean just the basics -a very small air cylinder, probably 200 psi compared to a standard tank of 3000 psi.  There was no BCD (buoyancy compensator), no dive computer, no snorkel, no wet suit, no weight belt - just gear for one guy. 

It was apparent who was going to dive, as a comedic badgering and harassing was directed at one solemn guy.  He didn’t seem to speak much, but if he did, we did not hear as it was lost in the punctuated shouts and orders given by the other two “Marx Brothers”. 

It soon became clear what they were going to do.  Over a half dozen cylinders and collars of concrete, similar to Roman columns with a base, had been stacked on the dock. The “brothers” were going to construct a reef under the dock!  

Reef building materials before their careful placement under the dock

Location of the new artificial reef under the dock

More shouting ensued as the silent diver made his way to the ladder and into the water.  It was very apparent the “plan” was being executed on-the-fly.  The plan may have been discussed something like this, “OK, let’s tie the concrete with this rope, and then drop it in”.

They lowered the first couple of pieces with some effort as the heavy concrete fell and ran the rope through the hands of the only guy lowering.  Concerned, Bud grabbed a pair of work gloves and jumped on the dock to hand them to the startled but appreciative rope handler.  They guy in the water handed the rope back through the space between the boards on the dock.  The rope handler lifted to assist the diver with what was apparently the very careful placement of the reef building materials. 

After several more rounds of reef building, the diver returned to the ladder and struggled up and onto the dock.  His tank had slid through the backpack and was dangling by the regulator hose. He was also out of air. More harassment ensued as well as laughing as each grabbed a beer from the ice chest and a new tank was strapped on the backpack. Little time was wasted to drink more than a swig by the diver, before he returned down the ladder and into the water. 

An additional crew member appeared on the dock and the previous plan was about to change.  Now, the three on the dock would maneuver the reef building materials carefully while, presumably, the diver dodged the falling concrete.  They soon abandoned the rope procedure entirely and just dropped the concrete into the water with huge splashes. 

And then, it was all over.  Job done. The ice chest, the dive gear, and the ropes were quickly gathered and all transported off the dock as if nothing happened.  My gloves were returned rinsed clean with a “Gracias”.   

What is your “typical” day?

Our view from Leilani’s cockpit of the anchorage in Isla Mujeres

Heading South and West

Glassy, clear waters and blue skies in the Dry Tortugas.
Where does the sky begin and the sea end?

It is probably obvious to you by now that we are challenged by being able to post regularly.  Again, we find another month has slipped by since our last posting.  There are a number of challenges to be sure – not the least of which is the lack of high speed internet while we are at anchor.  On a mooring ball at a marina, a long wet dinghy ride to access internet on shore can be enough to call off the expedition.  Even in a slip in a marina with high speed internet does not guarantee connectivity.  Last night while attempting to post this blog, the electricity to the whole island went out.  No electricity to the marina router means no internet.  One thing you may consider- let us know when you have read a posting – you can simply say “hi”. Knowing someone is out there and reads these posts gives us motivation to keep writing.  

We are now tied up in a slip at El Milagro Marina, Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico.  It is a great place to be for now – good internet, good neighbors, good places to explore.  More to tell on that in the next posting.  

For now let’s go back to fill you in where we left off previously in Fort Lauderdale. From there we take the next leg of our journey to Miami, Marathon, Key West, Marquesas Cays, and to the Dry Tortugas.

Fort Lauderdale

We spent more time in Fort Lauderdale than we intended - 10 days. We stayed on a mooring ball at the Las Olas City Marina, extending our stay every 3 days - just because we could.  While we were waiting for parts, we were fortunate to have one of our old cruising buddies, Terry, an Australian we met in Beaufort several years ago, just a short dinghy ride away.  His wife, Coral, was also in town for the first couple days, which meant they would show us how to party with drinks, dinners, and dancing along the waterfront. 

Tracy and Terry coming back from the grocery store with provisions in Fort Lauderdale. 
The dinghy ride to Terry’s boat was a lovely ride through the canals.  

As it goes with a boat, there were a few projects we had to tackle before we headed south.  On the trip down, we noticed water accumulating in the engine bilge. We suspected that the dripless shaft seals were dripping. We attempted to clean them, but the problem persisted.  With guidance from searching the internet, we decided to adjust the seals about a quarter inch.  As cruisers always do, Terry offered to help, which required both Bud and Terry to access a shaft collar on the engine shaft at the same time.  It looked like the boys were playing a game of Twister in the engine compartment! 

We reciprocated the favor by helping Terry re-sew his bimini.  We dug out the Sailrite sewing machine, and after two days, the bimini was prepared to withstand another hurricane.  

Bud and Terry look like they are playing a game of "Twister". They are really trying to work together to
adjust the collar on the dripless shaft seal in the engine compartment under our bed.

Terry showed he is a quick study as Tracy supervised his re-stitching of his canvas bimini 

using our Sailrite sewing machine in our cockpit.

Finally, after quick “until we see you again” farewells, we left Ft. Lauderdale for a short jump (about 25 nautical miles, nm) to Miami.

Miami

Although nearly all of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) can accommodate sailboats with masts up to 64’ – 65’, the section from Fort Lauderdale to Miami has a 56’ fixed bridge , which forced us to go on the “outside”, along the coast.  We quickly found the crystal clear, cobalt blue waters of the Gulf Stream – the first appearance on this trip south.  The weather was wonderful, with bright sun, calm seas and little wind. We motored against the current at 3.5 knots heading due south.  We tried going closer to shore to find a counter current to the Gulf Stream, but only gained about a knot in speed.  Despite the slow pace, with this short jump, we were anchored in No Name Harbor, a well sheltered anchorage, by 4 pm. We shared a small pitcher of Sangria at the restaurant in the park and went to bed early.

Marathon

We sailed south and west to Marathon, anchoring overnight about midway in Rodrigues Key.  We took advantage of the inviting clear, warm water to begin cleaning the hull. About a half hour after getting back on the boat, we watched a squall come through with >40 knots of wind for about an hour and a half with white-out conditions.  We watched four sailboats scramble into the anchorage to drop anchor just as the squall approached.  It was scary to wonder if the other boats would hold.  The next day we again motored the last 40 nm to Marathon and picked up a mooring ball at the Marathon City Marina in Boot Key Harbor.

We saw the remnants of Hurricane Irma and the slow recovery, now many months later.  We heard stories told by the marina staff about the conditions in the mooring field during the hurricane. Before the storm there were about 220 boats in the harbor.  After the storm there were about 56 remaining.  Apparently it was only one boat in the east end of the harbor that came loose from its mooring ball, and then pulled another boat off its ball, and so on, and so on.  Many cruisers lost everything.

We stayed a few days in Marathon provisioning and preparing for the next leg, including doing our first load of laundry in our washing machine. We had pondered this for some time and knew that this would be the last opportunity to order an Engel refrigerator.  We had realized our refrigerator space was quite limiting and this refrigerator/freezer could fit under the cockpit table where we had installed a 12 volt outlet. 

Looks like those bad neighbors just moved in. We dry the first loads of laundry using our washing machine
while moored in Boot Key Harbor. We thought the sun shade did a good job of hiding this from view.

Our visit to Marathon could not be complete without breakfast at the Stuffed Pig, across the highway from the marina.  They serve a killer Bloody Mary with bacon (of course at the Stuffed Pig) for breakfast.  We considered indulging ourselves, but chose to save the money for other adventures.

Key West

It was another short sail down to Key West, about 40 nm.  About an hour before entering the inlet, we heard a weather alert on the VHF.  Within 15 minutes the wind picked up from 10 knots to 20-25 knots.  We still had our jib up.  As we were trying to round into the wind, the port sheet came loose and wrapped into a big knot around the starboard sheet.  We were able to furl the jib, but not without Bud getting a nasty burn from one of the sheets.  We nursed that burn for several days and it has healed nicely.  From listening to the VHF, we were lucky.  Several sailboat charters got caught with their sails up, and had to limp back to shore with damaged sails.

We picked up a mooring ball at the Key West City Marina for a couple days.  The dinghy ride to the dinghy dock was about a 20 minute trip.  With the winds up from the south east at 15 knots, it was a long, wet dinghy ride.  We played the tourist while in Key West, finding an excellent funky little breakfast stand, the Cuban Coffee Queen.  We sat on a little bench in the shade eating Cuban breakfast sandwiches and drinking café con leche while listening to the roosters crowing in the neighborhood.  We met up for dinner at the Thai Island Restaurant with a long-time friend, Ron Walter, and his son Shawn, who own property on Sugarloaf Key. Although Ron’s house weathered the storm fairly well, just needing a new roof and paint, many of his neighbors did not. The sad stories continued. By the way, the thai food was excellent.

The bread man delivering bread to the Cuban Coffee Queen in Key West.  

This was a wonderful find - fantastic breakfast sandwiches and café con leche.

Dry Tortugas

The Dry Tortugas are about 60 nm due west from Key West.  About 20 nm from Key West on the way to the Dry Tortugas are the Marquesas Keys, and from talking to other cruisers, should not be missed.  So we split the trip in two, and anchored at the Marquesas Keys overnight.  The wind was up and the anchorage was a bit choppy which dissuaded us from exploring far in the dinghy. One other task we completed was to finally put the speed transducer back in the thru-hull to allow us to assess the current impacting our boat speed by comparing it with the speed over ground given by the GPS.  The sunset and the night sky made the stop definitely worthwhile.

We watched the sun melting into the horizon at Marquesas Keys at the end of the day.

The next day we made the final 40 nm to the Dry Tortugas, anchoring off of Fort Jefferson.  Bush Key is a bird sanctuary for the noddy and least terns, and we were visited regularly by the noddy terns.  We left the boat for a tour of the fort for a couple hours to come back to Leilani covered with easily 100 noddy terns and their poop!  One of the other boats in the anchorage hung red lines in their rigging which seemed to keep the birds off their boat.  This trick didn’t seem to help on our boat!

A view from the top of Fort Jefferson looking west. The fort was built to protect commercial ships heading
to the Mississippi River, but was never completed and never fired a cannon.

Our view at anchor at the Dry Tortugas - the lighthouse on Loggerhead Key at sunset.  

The original lighthouse was built next to the fort on Garden Key, but the light was not tall enough or bright enough to prevent shipwrecks.  Once the Fresnel lens was developed, a taller, brighter lighthouse was built on Loggerhead Key.

We were immersed in nature and we loved it.  We finally felt like all the work and travel had been in preparation for this. Each morning the noddy terns would arrive on our boat and hang out on any horizontal surface they could find.  Sometimes all the good spots were taken, and we watched as noddy terns attempted to land on sloping rigging, only to find it sliding down the rigging until it gave up and flew away. Noddy terns have webbed feet which are not well-suited to perching. But, the birds ignored our attempts to explain the biology.

Noddy terns lined up for the day on Leilani.

A noddy tern objecting to the interloper.

Two of the many noddy terns that visited our boat daily.

A noddy tern managing a tricky maneuver to wrap his webbed feet around 

a life line and do a balancing act to stay put.

We watched frigate birds soar through the anchorage, attempting to steal fish from a terns’ fresh catch.  There was a feeding frenzy every afternoon with birds from above and fish predators from below going into huge bait fish boils. Nurse sharks and barracuda came in later. 

Looking down at baitfish from the bow of Leilani at anchor in the Dry Tortugas. 

This barracuda showed lurking interest in Tracy as she cleaned the hull. 

He spent most of the day under our boat.

The water was crystal clear and when we got hot, we would go for a swim under the boat.  We were relaxed, and we had found solitude.

A different kind of cruiser who found adventure and solitude in the Dry Tortugas with his sailing/peddling kayak. 
He paddled or sailed over 200 miles. He had enough provisions and water to last about three weeks.

 Researchers from Florida International University studying the seagrass beds in the Dry Tortugas anchorage.

Added to the entertainment was learning the routine of the passenger ferries and floatplanes – arrivals and departures.  Three or four floatplanes would arrive each day, drop off passengers for a couple hours, and fly the hour flight back to Key West.  The challenge for them was they were required to land and take off within 1 mile of the fort.  With tight quarters and adverse winds, one afternoon one floatplane pilot we assumed was new to this landing, gave us some tense minutes as we watched several aborted attempts to take off.  The wind had shifted which forced the pilot to attempt to take off in the middle of the anchorage, dodging us and the other boats in the attempt. We all cheered after the he made a successful take off on the fourth attempt.  

Two floatplanes waiting on their passengers along Bush Key in the Dry Tortugas.

For most of our stay at the Dry Tortugas, the wind was out of the south east, making landing and taking off fairly straightforward.  In taking off, the floatplanes had to turn into the wind to gain enough lift to fly.

This floatplane made this fourth attempt to take off into northwest winds. 

He had to fly through our anchorage. We were only a couple hundered feet away

   

As all good things must come to an end, we started planning for our next passage to Isla Mujeres – nonstop, about 292 nm.  We projected it would take us 3 nights – about 60 hours or more with the route taking us across the Gulf Stream north of Cuba, but not in Cuban waters, and across the Yucatan Strait.  Tracy cleaned most of the hull with a resting barracuda hanging out under the boat.  Four days after arriving in the Dry Tortugas, we headed south west, at a heading of about 226^o. 

Tracy cleaning the hull before heading to Isla Mujeres from the Dry Tortugas. 

She knew there was a barracuda lying motionless between the hulls as he watched her work. 

Come back for more of the story of Leilani, Bud and Tracy as they make their leap from the USA across the Yucatan Channel on their longest continuous passage yet. 

Leaving Land Life

We sold the house and have the check.

Previously we shared some of our efforts related to clearing out the attic and having a yard/moving/estate sale. Here we continue with some more of the adventures.

60 Pounds of Kitty Litter

We found a lot of surprises in the attic. Most of it was not suitable for the yard sale and needed to be thrown out. (Yeah, so why did we not do this before? We asked ourselves that same question.) We counted 25 cans of paint that had accumulated over the 25 years of home improvement projects.  Most of the cans had labels, but quite a few did not. Many were nearly empty and were latex paints. (Again you ask, why did you not throw them away?). A few cans were more than half full of oil based paints, which posed an added challenge for disposal because the cans cannot contain paint that is still liquid. We read that we could mix the paint with kitty litter! It took 60 pounds of kitty litter but by the end of the day we had solidified all the paint for proper disposal.

Just pour in the kitty litter and stir!

Fossils in the Attic

Hidden in one corner of the attic we re-discovered Tracy’s “rocks”.  After 25 years of avid collecting, Tracy had accumulated about 25 file sized boxes filled with fossils, shells, and bones. Most of these treasures had been collected from sites and beaches in North Carolina, with a few shells from the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii, as well as some fossils collected from Ohio and Illinois. Tracy took four days to carefully sort through each box, and each box within a box, to decide which fossils and shells she would keep, and which she would give away. You might wonder how difficult it was to get rid of something that was so highly prized for many years.  The truth of it all was that it was completely refreshing to only keep those that were truly special.  Tracy didn’t get rid of all of her collection, but brought it down to a manageable 6 boxes. 

Half the effort in getting rid of stuff is finding a new home. The bones went to a good friend, Gail Cannon, who is also an avid collector of fossils, shells, and bones.  A neighbor suggested that Tracy should donate some of her shells to a charter boat in Beaufort that takes visitors to the barrier islands. They hand out shells to the kids that come back from the beach empty-handed.  Rather than donate some fossils to the Aurora Fossil Museum, which would involve a day trip to Aurora, she donated them to the Duke Marine Lab.  The marine mammal fossils went to a couple of researchers studying dolphins, and the invertebrate fossils went to an invertebrate researcher who runs an outreach program.  

524 Books

As scientists and avid readers, we have been collectors of books.  Combined in the attic, two bookcases, and the bedroom closet, we still had hundreds of books despite previous purging efforts.  Tracy had donated two truck loads of textbooks, technical, and leisure books to the Duke Marine Lab.  Some of Bud’s technical books and textbooks went also to the Duke Marine Lab.  His large collection of fiction and nonfiction books were donated to the Webb Library a few blocks from our house. We had regularly visited this library over the years and were well-known to the staff. We hoped they would want some of this collection. Asked by the staff how many books we had we said we really hadn’t counted – maybe about 10 boxes or so.  When we arrived back an hour later and opened the bed of the truck, the librarian was a bit shocked.  We probably had twice that amount of books, 524 to be exact!  The library was pleased and assured us they would find some new homes for the books.

A subset of all the boxes of books.  Liquor boxes work the best! 
No, they were not from our consumption!

You Have Been Summoned

Neither of us had served on jury duty in all of the years we had lived in North Carolina. Of course it would be most inconvenient now just before closing on the sale of the house to get a summons. Bud was summoned to appear before Superior Criminal Court in Beaufort on 14 May! Recall we were supposed to close on the house on 7 May and that we expected to be aboard Leilani by then. We read in the summons that Bud could be excused from jury duty IF he could show proof of a new residence, such as a piece of mail with our new address. The problem of course was that we hadn’t moved yet, and we had no mail.  Fortunately we had address through a mail forwarding service in Green Cove Springs, FL. We figured we could send a letter to ourselves as evidence of our new address. Coincidently, and even better than our letter, we also received a letter from an internet provider welcoming us to our new address.  We requested the mail forwarding service to scan the contents and send us a pdf, which we could then send on to the courthouse. We had only a few days before closing on the house and we needed to find out if Bud had been excused. We received notice of mail from the Superior Court in our mailbox. The St. Brenden’s Isle Mail Forwarding service has proven to be incredible. We asked if they could open the letter and then read it to Bud over the phone! He was excused from jury duty. We had not anticipated how valuable this mail forwarding service would be in allowing us to view our mail and decide whether to shred it or forward it.  They will even deposit checks for you at the bank!        

The Last Load of Laundry

The last couple days before closing on the house were a bit of a blur.  There was so much to do. We rented a storage unit for the few pieces of furniture and other keep sakes. All of our remaining belongings were now going be held in a 10’ by 7.5’ unit (75 square feet) or on the boat. As we quickly realized our truck would not be big enough for all that we needed to transport to Leilani, we rented a 5’ by 8’ U-Haul trailer to take stuff to the storage unit and then on to Leilani.  Between packing up clothes and the kitchen, shuttling stuff to the storage unit, taking donations to the local thrift store, securing Layla, and packing up the trailer, we were exhausted. When we finally arrived at Leilani in Brunswick, GA, we took two naps a day just to recover!  A few miles down the road on the trip to Georgia we remembered we left the last load of laundry in the dryer! That was going to be a surprise for the new owners- a load of underwear and socks.  We laughed and wondered how long it would be before they discovered the “unmentionables” in the dryer. It took only a couple of days to hear from them.

Our shuttling trailer

Our storage unit still has room for more stuff!

The attic did get emptied!

A last look through the house before leaving.

All that was left were the few items that the new owners wanted.

Nothing left in the bedrooms but the beds.

One last look at the house before heading to Brunswick.

UPDATE

We are finally living on Leilani full time. As we are no longer burdened by having to maintain a 160 year old house AND a boat, we feel liberated!

We spent a month in Brunswick, Georgia unpacking, purging, and finding a place for all of our stuff aboard Leilani. One month to the day after arriving in Brunswick, we were on the water and headed south.   

We had lots of stuff to sort through before we could head south.

A manatee greeted us on our dock before we left.

Leilani heading out from Brunswick Landing Marina.

We are now in Fort Lauderdale, provisioning and waiting on several packages before we head down to Key West.  Stay tuned for our next post where we will reveal more about where we are going next. 

You can see where we are, often in real time when we are underway, by clicking on the link on the map above on the left side of our blog.  If you are viewing the blog on a mobile device, you will need to scroll down to the bottom and click on “view the web version” to see the map and related panels.  

Anchored at Cumberland Island the first night.

Sunrise on our overnight passage from St. Augustine to Vero Beach.

The seas were very calm and the winds very light for most of our trip down to Fort Lauderdale.