24 34.27 N 81 47.27 W
We arrived in Key West at the southern end of the Florida Keys after a wonderful 2 day sail – the conditions were perfect. We sailed in company with “Equinox” – their draft is 6ft compared to our 7ft so they went along the entrance channels in front of us and read out the depths over the VHF – it meant we could get to a mooring ball field which we would normally not have tried for. The difficulty upon arrival for us was we were required to phone a particular number which would give us a very long code which was to be used when contacting Customs and Border Patrol - we were supposed to set foot on land until having "checked into the Country". Of course we did not have a USA cell phone that worked so after much deliberation and calls on VHF we went ashore and called the authorities and were told to make our own way to the local airport to visit Customs - so much for tight security. Dick and Moira on Equinox and Don were royally received, lots of welcomes and friendly smiles - that all changed when it came to my turn. I received the normal rude cursory attitude – and was told that I had been thoroughly investigated – when I inquired why, I was told very rudely that “what can someone like you expect”. My friends were horrified – I think they thought my earlier stories about customs and border patrol were slightly exaggerated, they apologized and felt embarrassed that their country is so unwelcoming. My only crime is that I am married to a man who holds a Green card and try to spend as much time with him as the USA customs will allow. As we were departing the office the official lent over the counter and waving and pointing his finger at me he declared in a very loud voice " make sure you are gone before and not on the date your visa expires” - wow how to feel welcome, makes we want to stick my fingers up at him, tell him a few truths about his country and leave – I could feel Don giving me telepathic warnings to shut up !!!
We had a look around Key West - a beautiful town but a bit overwhelming being back in noisy bustling “civilization”. Our goal was to move up to the Chesapeake in Virginia quickly as Don was hoping there would be some work in Alaska for him and we would be out of the hurricane belt for the season.
Equinox left a day ahead of us – we waited until the waves died down after the bad weather – each captain has his own way of “reading” the weather and conditions. The depth along the channel after leaving the mooring field is very shallow so we were very careful to stay exactly on our incoming path – our motor began missing then began to die – we coaxed her off to the side of the channel and dropped the anchor – Don check everything he could think of (we are still having problems with contaminated fuel) and the motor purred away happily when started – that was until we pulled the anchor and got back into the busy channel then she died altogether. Sails went up quickly and we sailed until we reached another spot with a depth that we could navigate and dropped the anchor again -this one was amongst other anchored boats and the small fishing boat next to us became very nervous and yelled at us that we were too close – of course once we had let out 150ft of chain we were well away from him but he kept a close lookout at us. We tried to tell him we had no choice that we were without a motor but he wouldn't answer his vhf radio (Don doubts such a broken down “tub” such as his boat would have a radio).
Don eventually found the problem – the fuel lift pump has a tiny filter the size of a sewing thimble that was clogged with our normal gluggy fuel contamination stuff. We did have a spare pump but when we went to instal it we found it was a newer model and required flexible hoses not the fixed hoses we had. Fortunately for us the old pump was not sealed as the newer version is so Don pulled it apart, cleaned it and the motor has been chugging away noisily ever since. I often ponder why the engine had to stop in a very busy very shallow and narrow channel – why not when still on the mooring ball or at sea. I do not have a great faith in our motor now and become very nervous each time we navigate into channels and towns and back out to sea – in many cases the entrance channels are very long (over an hour) and rough and if the motor died we would end up on rocks within a minute or so.
The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a waterway that consists of natural lakes and rivers and man-made canals built by the US Army Corp of Engineers. The purpose is to offer a safe internal passage way from Georgia to Florida. Don had been looking forward to traveling through part of the waterway – although the waterway is dredged to a guaranteed 9ft it shallows very quickly at the sides and some areas are just too shallow for us. We have also read documentation that states due to decreased funds the waterway is not inspected as to depth and debris as often as required. We were at the limit for our depth at 7ft and our height – the fixed bridges are at a height of 65ft or greater – there are a few that are lower which would mean going out to sea and coming back into the waterway after the lower bridge. In preparation for our trip Don remeasured our mast and found it to be 67ft – he hadn't included the VHF antenna in the original estimate so that cut out a lot of the waterway for us. The waterway has marinas dotted along at towns – the marinas are extremely expensive – for us $100 plus per night to tie up to a cleat plus $10 to connect to electricity then it is charged per usage. There are very few anchorages along the waterway that are suitable for our depth. All this considered we went outside and have mainly sailed for 24-36hrs then pulled into the waterway in a remote spot, anchored and slept. I really don't like doing overnighters (or longer for that matter) and feel that we deserve “treats” to help us stay awake for unreasonable hours in length. I have found a seasickness pill that works most times so now can eat at will while sailing – yea !!! We have had so many treats and of course eat because we are bored as well - we are starting to look like tweedle dee and tweedle dum.
Our first stop in USA was the islands of Dry Tortugas (Turtles).
24 37.61 N 82 52.24 W
The entire main island is taken up with Fort Jefferson. There are two anchorages – one out to the east which was large and had 3 larger boats anchored within, the small anchorage is right in front of the Fort and that is where we went – we squeezed amongst smaller boats right on the edge of the sand bar – a bit tight but there was no wind whatsoever, extremely calm conditions and good holding –hummm –
that night a storm brewed and the calm anchorage turned into a boiling turmoil of water and foam.
Boats arrived the next day with torn sails and horror stories. One boat in our anchorage did drag out to the east anchorage then wedged itself on a coral shelf, it took many hours to get them off with no apparent damage. We met up with friends we met in Bocas del Toro (Moira and Dick on Equinox) and Providencia (Maureen and Ollie on Pandora) – the sailing community is becoming very small. We moved our boat to a larger spot and immediately a new arrival took our spot – he was larger than our boat so I wondered how he would get on if the storm blew up again – Sweet Pea left !!!
We spent a couple of days exploring the fort and left in a convoy as soon as the winds were favorable. We were a little concerned about walking on USA soil without formally checking into the country but the Park Rangers here didn't seem concerned with that aspect.
21 15.13 N 86 44.77 W
We are waiting for a weather window to sail to Florida, USA. We had the choice of sailing to Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico then down the Leeward and Windward Island to Grenada and staying in Grenada for the hurricane season (or in and around area – Trinidad, Venezula, Colombia) or sailing to Florida and up the Intracoastal Waterway, we needed to be in North Carolina or above by June ie. out of the hurricane belt for our insurance company to rest at ease. I wanted to stay in the Caribbean, Don needed to return to the USA to ensure his Greencard remains current so I am sulking and we are off to the rat race.
20 50.82 N 86 52.44 W
Puerto Morelos is a small fishing village, the anchorage was rolly due to the strong winds so we spent most days ashore.
The town was becoming independent of the city Cancun and had big celebrations with dancing, singing and many many speeches – we spent the day watching and listening, thoroughly enjoyable.
Once the winds died down we set off again for Isla Mujeres the jump off point to Cuba or Florida, USA.
20 30.56 N 86 56.97 W
We checked into Mexico in Isla Cozumel – once again an island only a few miles from the coast of Mexico. It was a very long drawn out process, first came the radio call to the Port Captain where he took down every detail imaginable, just as we were getting into the dinghy to visit the Port Captain the Navy turned up wanting to board us. They were arrogant and impatient and refused to wait while we put fenders alongside for their boat – they rammed our boat with the point of their vessel damaging a stanchion and lifelines. Without apology they once again tried to come alongside – I was mad and abusing them telling them to wait but they didn't and 3 officers made a giant leap onto out boat. They inspected the boat, Don completed their papers then we were allowed to leave for the Port Captain. When I complained about the damage I did receive an apology and was told to contact my Embassy and they can contact the Mexican Embassy to try and get a refund for the cost of repairs – yer right !!!!
The seas were lumpy making a wet dinghy trip ashore where officials were waiting for us – they wanted to be taken back to the boat to board it and perform their inspection. Humm.....after several goes at telling them our dinghy would not accommodate all 4 of them they took us to the Port Captains office. I was sent on an errand to the Bank to obtain enough $ to satisfy them and then to Immigration whilst Don went with the officials back to our boat for yet another inspection. The directions given to me were incorrect and I returned after 2 hours of non-stop walking in midday heat having completed part of my duties. Don had returned 20 minutes earlier. The Port Captain then sent us to the airport to receive yet more stamps assuring us that would complete our check in. That took us to closing time for the Port Captain and when we returned the next day a new Port Captain was on duty and thought up a new stamp that was definitely necessary to complete our check-in to his country so off we went again – this time to the local hospital where a stamp was required to say we were in good health – once we found the correct hospital and the correct person the stamp was quick and easy – he didn't even look at us !! We certainly knew the town well by this stage – yea we were finally checked in and at the same time asked to be checked out to continue our journey to the mainland.
When leaving the hospital a lady approached us asking if we were from a boat – Marcella and her husband Marion were considering purchasing a boat and sailing and did we have any time to talk to them about our experiences. We shared a lunch with these lovely people and only wished we had more time to spend with them but it was necessary for us to continue to Puerto Morelos on the Yucatan Peninsula.
18 44.93 N 87 18.77 W
Our next stop was Chinchorro Cays in Mexico. Once again a small island off the Coast. Each sail was overnight so we stopped mainly for a rest. The local Navy has a post on the island and they came over to say hello. The very young officer requested to come aboard and look around – his inspection was extremely quick and cursory – he turned a bright shade of beetroot red – embarrassed with his official requirement to board boats. No doubt he will grow into his importance and become as arrogant as others.
It was scary coming into this bay – over the years I have learned to become very concerned when the water under our keel decreases to 5 metres – now I am a seasoned sailor I panic when the water is less than 3 metres – well the Cays we have been to recently have less than 1 metre – this one was the most heart stopping – we crawled our way into the bay for almost 1 hour with less than 1.5 metres of water under us. Don up the rat lines looking for any coral heads or debris that we may hit. I became so tired of the pressure of watching the depth sounder and trying to navigate the best path – I was tempted to just push the throttle and up the speed – better to get it over with quickly. The water around these parts is so clear that we can see bottom clearly at 4 metres plus, it is very difficult to tell whether the coral head is at 1 metre or 3 metres – ie keep going and pray !!!
Leaving the Chinchorro Banks we had a very fast passage in NE'ly winds of 20 knots and a bonus 3 knot current behind us – we were making an unheard of speed of 7-8 knots so we were starting to feel the effects of the Gulf Stream already.
17 13.14 N 87 35.81 W
Our first stop along the way was at Long Cay on Lighthouse Reef, Belize. We snuck into this outer island as we did not intend checking into Belize – there are numerous rumors on the grapevine of excessive charges made by the Port Captains in Belize – lining their pockets with many 100's of dollars. Many cruisers are bypassing this tiny country because of the excessive charges – such a shame.
Whilst anchored at Long Cay we met Betty and Doug on “Eco Adventurer”. They had purchased a prime block of land on the island for $12,000 and were building a little two storey cabana. It reminded me of Swiss Family Robinson or Gilligan's Island – beautifully built and high enough to catch the breeze. As long as they avoid the crocodiles and smother themselves in mosquito repellant they will have a lovely holiday home. Actually they assure us that the crocs are shy and they have become immune to the mosquitoes. The winds were very strong and not a good direction for us so we stayed for a few nights comfortable in the knowledge that the seas were too uncomfortable for the local Coast Guard to come out to the island and catch us out.
