Report From Onboard Jenny
KI6...@winlink.org
====================================================Wednesday, October 20, 2010 7:18:33 PM
Location: Gulf of Mexico
Latitude is 25 degrees 50.271 minutes north.
Longitude is 82 degrees 17.101 minutes west.
Current passage average speed = 5.84, distance = 138.37, duration = 0.00 days 23.00 hours 40.00 minutes.
This weather observation was taken on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 1:13:21 PM local time.
Observation location: Gulf of Mexico.
Latitude is 26 degrees 22.92 minutes north.
Longitude is 81 degrees 59.091 minutes west.
The air temperature is 79, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit.
The forecast is Light showers, no wind or waves.
The current weather is dry.
The sky is overcast (more than 90% clouds).
The wind is 5 knots from the northwest.
The visibility is 10 nautical miles.
The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells.
The barometer is 1015 millibars and falling.
We are both wooses. We are in two foot following waves and both of us got queasy. I've been too long in a slip, and this is Melinda's first trip off shore We had some light rain in the afternoon, but it cleared and it is lovely out as the sun sets. The sky is clear, the moon is nearly full, and it is 77 out. What could be better.
Some dolphins came to play on Jenny's bow and Melinda was excited to see them. Then we threw the meat hook over and caught two small Albacore tuna. Yummy. I decided to cut the second (bigger) one into steaks and that is a much better way to cut them up. The freezer was already packed with frozen fish and shrimp from Walmart, and now we have about 8 dinners worth of nice tuna.
Melinda is resting / sleeping, recovering from her sea sickness. Now that the boat is nice and steady, she should be good. It takes a while to get used to the motion. She shows no sign of fear or unease with being beyond the sight of land.
We should be entering the channel into Ft. Jefferson around 08:00 tomorrow. The birds slowed us a little.
David
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KI6...@winlink.org
Location: Ft. Jefferson, Dry Tortugas
Latitude is 24 degrees 37.498 minutes north.
Longitude is 82 degrees 52.241 minutes west.
Current passage average speed = 5.84, distance = 138.37, duration = 0.00 days 23.00 hours 40.00 minutes.
This weather observation was taken on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 1:13:21 PM local time.
Observation location: Gulf of Mexico.
Latitude is 26 degrees 22.92 minutes north.
Longitude is 81 degrees 59.091 minutes west.
The air temperature is 79, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit.
The forecast is Light showers, no wind or waves.
The current weather is dry.
The sky is overcast (more than 90% clouds).
The wind is 5 knots from the northwest.
The visibility is 10 nautical miles.
The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells.
The barometer is 1015 millibars and falling.
We made it. It was a good thing we put the birds in the water before sunset. The wind picked up to 15 knots during the night and it created a four foot chop. Both the wind and the waves pushed us along, against the prevailing current. We had nice moonlight all night and it was beautiful out.
Melinda slept most of the night and is still feeling crummy. We are heading down to sleep now.
Yes we are monitoring the storm to be named Richard. Right now the best estimates are that it may hit Florida between Tampa and Talahassee. So, we should be very safe here.
KI6...@winlink.org
Location: Gulf of Mexico
Latitude is 26 degrees 24.122 minutes north.
Longitude is 81 degrees 58.423 minutes west.
Current passage average speed = 5.84, distance = 138.37, duration = 0.00 days 23.00 hours 40.00 minutes.
This weather observation was taken on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 1:13:21 PM local time.
Observation location: Gulf of Mexico.
Latitude is 26 degrees 22.92 minutes north.
Longitude is 81 degrees 59.091 minutes west.
The air temperature is 79, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit.
The forecast is Light showers, no wind or waves.
The current weather is dry.
The sky is overcast (more than 90% clouds).
The wind is 5 knots from the northwest.
The visibility is 10 nautical miles.
The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells.
The barometer is 1015 millibars and falling.
Neither of us slept well last night. For me it was all the stuff that I needed to do in the morning coupled with leaving the slip and tying up to the fuel dock. I really don't like close quarters maneuvering. I think Melinda was just keyed up about going.
The fuel transfer was finally done at 03:00. It took about 12 hours because I was driving all the fuel through the primary filter. Jenny looked like a sailboat on her side. As usual, one of the marina folks came by in the morning to see if we were sinking. We were up at 06:45 and took our last showers at the dock, then loaded our final water. At 07:30 I fired up Jenny's motor (JD) and unplugged us from shore power. At 07:40 I called Greg to see if he was going to be here at 08:00 as promised and woke him up. So, Melinda and I untied Jenny from the slip and we eased out of the marina. She was leaning like a drunken sailor.
We tied up to the fuel dock with no problem and loaded 407 gallons in about two hours. They gave us the Boat US discount so the fuel only cost $2.68 a gallon. Nice. We now have 700 gallons onboard. So, over the last year Jenny consumed a total of 600 gallons. Not bad.
Ge cast off around 10:00 and wound our way down the channel to the Gulf. That was tedious. But, now we are on our 114 NM leg to Ft. Jefferson with JD beating along at 1400 RPM. We are only making about 6.2 knots rather than our usual 6.7 at this RPM. It maybe a dirty bottom, or currents. In anycase we arn't in any hurry. We will hit the channel at Ft. Jefferson at 07:30 tomorrow and that is just fine. We certainly don't want to get there before sunrise.
The water as smooth and Melinda is naping on the pilot house berth. Life is good.
KI6...@winlink.org
Location: Ft. Jefferson, Dry Tortugas
No recent weather observation is available.
We are still here at the fort. Melinda has been learning to snorkel in the calm water on the west side, where the water is calm. She mastered the mask and snorkel, and is now working on using her fins. I have no doubt that she will after how she attacked learning to skate, and went from being unable to stand up, to skating in two days. Perhaps tomorrow we will take the dinghy over to Loggerhead Key where there is supposed to be a nice coral reef.
We've had nice clear sunny days, but with winds in the 15 to 20 knot range causing the anchorage to be rolly and the passage to Key West rough. I put one of the flopper stoppers down yesterday and used an anchor bridal to quiet Jenny down. Still, there is some motion and Melinda has not been comfortable onboard yet. She prefers to be on the beach. I am hoping that Boot Key Harbor is quiet.
I dove on Jenny's bottom yesterday and cleaned some barnacles off her prop, and a 1/8 inch layer of fresh water vegetation off her hull. Her coolers were clean. I am sure we lost about 1 knot coming down here because of it. But, considering that she did not have any cleaning since July, her bottom was nicely clean. Ft. Myers is a nice place for long term dockage since it is fresh water and there really is no marine growth.
Today I will dive again and scrub the bottom clean of the remaining crud. We will probably go back to the fort and practice snorkeling again. The water on the northwest side close to the fort is clear because the wind is coming from the southeast and there are some reef fish there.
KI6...@winlink.org
Location: Ft. Jefferson
The boat position was not recorded.
No recent weather observation is available.
Last night it really blew out of the SE and the anchorage really rocked. This anchorage is open to the south. But, this morning dawned nice and calm. So, we decided to take the dinghy over to Longboat Key, six miles west of here. It has a lighthouse and some old light keeper buildings, and a pristine reef on the far side. The ride was fast and ok on the way over, down wind and waves. It was fun to explore the island and then do some shallow reef diving. Melinda is getting the hang of it and liked seeing the fishes. She's still a little afraid of being over her head. The ride back was rough, but she liked the excitement. This dinghy is wonderful. It handled the rough water really well and even kept us dry. I wish I had it on the trip down the west coast.
The weather looks good for the trip into Key West tomorrow. There are three possible routes. One goes north of the Marquases, the other goes just south of them, but inside a line of reefs, and the third goes outside in the Gulf Stream. The north route takes you into Key West through the North Channel. The other two come in through the southern channel. I'm planning to go on the middle route, hoping to catch some of the Gulf Stream current, but with less exposure to wind and waves.
We won't really stop in Key West and visit, just grab a night's sleep before continuing on to Boot Key Harbor. We might even stop in the lee of Boca Grande island, on the west end of the Marqueses. I hope the water is calm in Boot Key Harbor since Melinda has still not gotten used to Jenny moving all the time while at anchor. We plan to
KI6...@winlink.org
Location: Boca Grande Island
Latitude is 24 degrees 31.889 minutes north.
Longitude is 82 degrees 0.757 minutes west.
This weather observation was taken on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 6:38:04 PM local time.
Observation location: Boca Grande Island.
Latitude is 24 degrees 31.888 minutes north.
Longitude is 82 degrees 0.756 minutes west.
The air temperature is 80, and water temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
The forecast is Sunny, trade winds.
The current weather is dry.
The sky is scattered clouds (10 - 50% clouds).
The wind is 10 knots from the southeast.
The visibility is 10 nautical miles.
The wave height is 1 feet with 0 foot swells.
The barometer is 1013 millibars and falling.
Wow, that was a difficult trip. As we left the Ft. Jefferson and rounded the north side into Rebecca Shoal Channel, we ran into typical Caribbean four foot chop and a nasty current that dropped us down to 5.7 knots for the next 21 miles. UGH. Melinda was not happy. UGH. Then as soon as we Halfmoon Shoal, we ran into the minefield of lobster pots. Thousands of them scattered all over the channel, inside the outer reef. We snagged two. The first one fought like hell to keep a grip on Jenny's stabilizer, but eventually was hanging only by the Styrofoam floats. Suddenly, they exploded one by one and the pot dropped into the abyss. The second decided to go more serenely and lived for another snag.
The waves and current gradually improved as we approached the Marquesas Keys. We made them about 14:00, but at our reduced speed would not make Key West before dark. So we decided to anchor at Boca Grande. There are no marked channels into the island, and the water is murky so we grouped our way along, slowly, again avoiding the lobster pots. We managed to snag two at once though and that convinced me to bring the birds in.
There is no marked anchorage here and no cruising boats were here. But there is a small split between the islands and a 20 foot channel that runs through. We inched along into the channel, only to find a nice three or four know current flowing through, and one small fishing boat anchored. So, we decided to give it a try. Down went the anchor, only to find the current had scoured the bottom clean of sand and only hard pan coral rock remained. Up came the anchor.
Then we went back out to the mouth of the cut and tried anchoring a little south of the current. We found good sand, but it was too shallow and rolly. UGH. Then I thought I found the secret of this place. We pulled the hook and went downstream of the cut, guessing it would be deeper and eventually there would be sand. YES! Down went the hook for the third time. Jenny got a good grip on the floor and we were floating in the rapids. Nice.
After dinner the current slowed and we started to roll a bit. So, I put out one of our flopper stoppers. Maybe the current is tidal? We'll see. Jenny still has about eight feet of water under her and while we are not in any current, I think I will be up a few times tonight checking things out. No reverse current appeared, so we hung loose.
We are only about thirteen miles from Key West now and plan to head there tomorrow for another overnight. Then, on to Boot Key and Marathon.
KI6...@winlink.org
Location: Key West at anchor
Latitude is 24 degrees 34.892 minutes north.
Longitude is 81 degrees 48.265 minutes west.
No recent weather observation is available.
We got a good night's sleep at Boca Grande, with a few checks topside as the current changed. It was nice quiet water though, and felt good after bashing our way in. Jenny released her grip on Boca Grande around 08:00 and we headed into Key West. It was only about twelve miles, and the water was fairly shallow, so we kept her birds up to avoid snagging any more lobster posts. We had about a two foot chop, but no problems dealing with it.
There were two small Carnival boats at the dock as we came in the channel and were followed by a big 65 foot lake houseboat. I'm not sure just how it got out here, but it did! We looked at various places to anchor and decided to park Jenny next to Grey Goose, a Nordhavn 50. It is a bit far from the town, but initially we were not planning to go in. However, the couple on Blue Max, a GB style trawler stopped by and convinced us to stay for the Carnival on Saturday. So, this morning we dropped Jenny's dinghy and went into the Key West Bight Marina's dinghy dock. The fee was $6.00 per day, $30 per week, or $80 per month for use of the dock. It did not include access to their laundry, just the dock, trash and water. But it was ok.
We spent the day touring Key West. Melinda is in shock. There were several people getting ready for Saturday's festivities. For example, a guy wearing only a Santa Clause jock strap. Another woman getting her naked upper body painted for all to see. Several women wearing just large mesh dresses, hiding nothing. We had a good laugh. I knew she would love Key West. We'll go back in tonight.
On the way back to Jenny, we stopped by Grey Goose and got a tour. Melinda likes expensive boats for sure. The anchorage here is very calm and she is having a good time. I don't think she likes wilderness cruising. But this she loves.
Life is good!