Ernie's Website and Blog
Friday, December 27 2024
Friday found us at Mary’s gym, a fun workout arranged by Maggie and Christine. It was fun that is until the next day when the soreness set in. ha ha. The gym was closed for the holidays I guess???
After they gym workout we um err… a little help please? My memory is consistently inconsistent!
Thursday, December 26 2024
April and I left Fort Lauderdale and flew out at 10am or so. We picked up rental SUV at the Cincinnati airport and Brother Dave landed an hour later. This gave us time to figure out the liftgate on the stupid Kia Sorrento. The manual specifically stated that the power liftgate button was on the dashboard, complete with diagram. No button. No button on the remote. No button in the typical places on the liftgate near the tag. No button under the bottom lip of the liftgate itself?
We had time before David landed, so off to the nearest Kia dealer it was, on the other side of the airport. They had run into that situation in the past. A bit embarrassing, the dumb thing it was sort of integral to the underside lip of the liftgate. No mention of any such button in the Kia manual. grrrr
On to Cincy and got settled in at Mary and Mark’s upstairs. Then we went to the Mad Tree Brewery for a nice gathering arranged by Mark. We saw Denny, Diane, Molly, Mark’s brothers Tim, Steve and sisters Debbie and Pam?? Help me out in the comments please! Maggie and John’s kids had a blast running around with Charlie.
Later, I picked up Cuz Joyce at CVG, whose flight got in about 9pm.
Interesting heat map of boat anchored with 2 anchors. The boat settles in to the same spot with each tidal change – the wind was consistent from the east.
I use Anchor Pro
on my Android
.
.
Having sailed to Key West, the boat is at anchor. Today, I took the dinghy in to the city dock. To tie up at the dinghy dock, it costs $8 per day, weekly and monthly rates are available as well. It sure is a LOT cheaper than parking a car in Old Town Key West for the day!
I guess it’s a leap of faith to leave the boat anchored in the harbor, but it is pretty laid back and I really didn’t worry about anybody boarding the boat while I was in town.
It’s fun to think about the history of that harbor and to think I’m anchored in the same spot as vessels from another era. I had my trusty folding bicycle to ride around Key West. It’s all that is needed in Key West, it’s a pretty small area. The whole island is about 1×4 miles, and Old Town is maybe 1 mile square. Easy on a bike!
Today I was bumming around Key West and stopped to listen to Rick playing at Two Friends Patio Restaurant, but his set was over. He mentioned that he was playing later that evening at another place across town, Ram’s Head. I caught him there and had a great time!
After hearing a bit of Rick Fusco’s music at Two Friends on Front Street, I caught him later at Ram’s Head – he plays original music and good covers. It was nice to chat with the locals… good vibes!
After finding my way back to the boat (while a bit drunk) in Man of War Harbor in Key West, I took this picture from the cabin. Being socked in by weather in Key West isn’t so bad.
Well, I missed the sunset last night, but I did get a picture of the sunrise today.
I did get some pictures of people taking pictures of the sunset today at Mallory Square
Dinghy Dock at Key West Bight Marina aka Freedom
Not free, worth every penny in the heart of Key West.
Saturday, November 11 was another bumming around Key West day, riding around on my folding bicycle – worth it’s weight in gold! The Cruising the pit area of the Key West Offshore World Championship races, I was taken aback by the astounding paint job on 211. More images are available at via Google Photos
Key West on Friday, November 10 after an successful attempt to sail upwind toward Marathon. Heading east with the wind on my nose, it took a half day to go 5 miles. Marathon is 50 miles. When the arrival calculations are in days instead of hours, I prefer to wait for the right winds. Here’s a link to some pictures of the race.
On November 5 we sailed from the apartment in Islamorada to Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. We got a mooring ball there for the night. Here’s a link to the full size pix at Google Photos
Day 5 of my Keys adventure was a long day on Friday. What started out as a leisurely sail from Key Largo to Key Biscayne ended up as a race to get home. I was planning to spend the night at Key Biscayne and then have an easy downhill half day run to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. Halfway to Key Biscayne, a possibility of a gig on Saturday morning and money compelled me to make for home. This would involve sailing solo at night, something I wouldn’t do anywhere else but a Miami to Fort Lauderdale run at this point. I am new at sailing. I have made this run lots of times in power boats both day and night and a few times sailing in the daytime. So the decision was made to head for home. When in the ocean I like to let folks know of my progress for safety. Updates on the hour typically via text.
Sending updates to my guardian angels, wife April and brother Dave, I made my way from the relative safety of Biscayne Bay through Stiltsville to the Atlantic. With the sun setting over Miami in the ocean, the wind was wonky, nearly directly behind me so it was slow going (it’s difficult to sail directly with the wind), about 3 knots. It was already about 6pm and Fort Lauderdale isn’t that far – 20 something miles plus making my way home to the dock at 3 knots would have put me in my slip about 3am with a possible 10am charter. I don’t like to run the engine if I don’t have to but I did motor-sail and make about 5-6 knots and made it to Port Everglades about 10:30pm. Part of my progression can be seen in a series of screenshots at Google Photos. I spent the night anchored in Fort Lauderdale a mile from my slip and tied up Saturday about 9am.
BTW the charter never did happen! LOL oh well getting homesick I wanted to get home anyway.
Day 4 of my Florida Keys sailing trip was at TRIP. Time to head home – the wind forecast was east to southeast. Hoping for an early switch to SE wind, I left the Scouts Sea Base and went through Channel 5, between Lower Matacumbe and Long Keys. The bridge is 65′ high, easy access to the Atlantic Ocean and Hawk Channel which is somewhat protected. It’s inside the Florida Reef and the reef breaks up the ocean swells. It was calm at first, because it’s shallow but farther out from land it gets choppy. No big deal – kinda. The wind was 15+ from the east and guess what direction was needed… yup, east. 15+ on the nose is tough going, the sails are useless at that point. My little inboard diesel is 14 horsepower pushing a 6 ton boat, it was working hard to make 3 knots. With no wind and waves, the engine can push the boat at hull speed, about 6 knots but not headed into the wind and waves. Boo Hoo
The wind was to clock around to the southeast, but that didn’t happen yet. And as one follows Hawk Channel, it curves around and eventually turns north. With that in mind, I slogged on. After over an hour in the slop, I gave up and turned around headed back to Channel 5 and the comfort of Florida Bay. Going with the wind and chop, it took me about 20 minutes to cover the same ground into the chop in well over an hour! Florida Bay is on the lee side of the keys so it was a lot less choppy. The engine didn’t have to work as hard, and the sails helped as I zig-zagged through the bay and channels.
I did take some videos as well as pix, they can be seen at Google Photos
As I wandered about the keys the weather was sooo nice, and I had nothing on my calendar so it was off to Islamorada Wednesday. I was running low on food, and I hadn’t had a shower since I left Fort Lauderdale on Monday, adding sunscreen day after day. It was nice that the gang at Boy Scout Sea Base found a slip for me to stay for the night. I was able to stock up a bit and ahhhh – a hot shower, and in the morning hot coffee and stuff.
By the way, the pix above are links to the original images at Google Photos, which have comments for each picture.
