Leaving Dry Tortugas today sad but happy to be headed north again and toward home. Left at 10 AM and arrived in Ft Myers April 28 2022 at around 8:30 AM grabbed a mooring ball and settled in. On the way to Ft Myers we had a great sail and a lot of motoring but we are good with that too. The seas were calm and we were sailing a close hauled / pinched course. It was a calm beautiful sunset no issue sail and it was beautiful that night. On my watch i saw the gorgeous bioluminescence glowing blue and spreading out with each wave off the hull like the stuff that flies off the tall grass when run through a field. Stars so bright and clear you can almost touch them. Moon smiling at us from the starry skies, can you tell i was loving it! hahaha

Captains Log: calm seas with light north winds.

We were going to the WINDJAMMER WRECK today but the wind picked up making it impossible to get to it. So we took the day to get prepared for our 21 hour crossing to Ft Myers from the Dry Tortugas. Cleaned the boat thoroughly reorganized for rough seas, just in case! Took one more tour of the fort and surrounding areas, climbed to the top for one last panoramic view of the ocean surrounding us, checked the weather forecast, did a remake of an old photo from 2012 on the chain bench, and took a couple of cannon pics. I will miss this place it is so peaceful in the evening when all the tourists have gone. Well i am ready to head North so lets get some rest and get ready to sail!

Up early to go snorkeling at Little Africa again because there was so much to see there and we didnt get to all of it. So as usual it was like riding a rollercoaster to the coral reefs yahoo!! We found the spot to anchor and Steve had to get out to set the anchor correctly so we would not drift. He was about 30 yards from me and i looked behind me and saw a large shark with a wide head but no nurse shark tail. I thought surely that is not a bull shark?! But i yelled out shark to Barry Andrea and Steve. It was about 7-8 ft i thought because it reached from coral reef to the next coral reef. Steve almost swallowed his snorkel when he came up and heard shark. Jaws disappeared into the coral reefs and we did not see it in the coral reefs as we snorkeled. Large schools of barracuda, a cool hogfish was in the coral,and as we swam along we saw so many pretty blue tangs and blue chromis,these fish are so blue they shine neon blue underwater. I am going to post a picture of the fish we saw while in the reefs. At times you would have to suck it in to prevent touching the coral with my fins. There was so much brain coral growing everywhere and it looked like huge round brains sitting on the ocean floor and little round brains all over old metal pieces in the ocean growing on coral reefs rocks etc. WE chased fish and videoed so many fish, it was just like being in an aquarium. We made it back to the beach where we had left our chairs and lunch and sat and enjoyed a great lunch with Barry and Andrea and once again we snorkeled the little troughs and ledges in front of the beach. We had been in the water for about an hour or so and i was about 15 ft behind Steve when i heard it yelling from under the water i poked my head up and saw him moving backward toward the beach at a high rate of speed yelling shark shark! I put my head back in and didnt see anything but i got out of the water. Steve showed me a video of a bullshark not 3-5 feet from him, It was following him through the water.

Captains log: When it gets quiet underwater and all the fish disappear look behind you!

Allright today we are headed to the Bird Key Wreck to see what we can see. Winds are still a little high and getting anchored is a chore, i go up 10 ft the wind pushes me back 15 lol. Finally got a decent hold for the dinghy and got on our gear to snorkel this wreck. Going under the surface i noticed a big blob like a coral head but Steve pointed and said it was the propeller ( in sign language for snorkelers haha), overgrown with all kinds of sea plants, barnacles and overrun with fish it was so cool to see that huge prop. The wreck had been presumably carrying bricks for Fort Jefferson ran into rough weather and wrecked on the shoal or reef in that area in the late 1800s. We could see the bow and the 6 ft tall propeller , the engine and all other parts were covered in coral almost to the point you could not tell what they were. There were 3 big grouper running in and out of the wreckage, black grouper and a smaller goliath grouper(smaller than100 pounds i mean). What a great day for checking out a wreck and enjoying the great company of Barry and Andrea. We took a bumpy ride back to the boat after our crazy adventure at bird key wreck. The other sailboaters and boaters look at us like “what?” they went out in that?”. Yep that would be us…..

The winds are up but we are headed to the Fort anyway. I got some gorgeous pictures from the top of the Fort and met a real bad mamajama veteran game warden taking the flag down for the evening. I think she would be a good fit for MMA wrestling! Especially with the four paw prints on her thigh depicting the dog she brought back from Afghanistan that had later on crossed the rainbow bridge. She said, “she was the best dog ever”. Steve and I searched the fort for the oldest dated bricks and saw so many cool little idiosyncrasies in the building of the fort and the cracks from it settling . We checked out the beautiful views and loved the cool breezes blowing over the walls of the fort kicking up the oceans beautiful teal waters. I reminisced about the times i ran the top of this fort 2-3 times a day back in 2012. I can feel the sand under my shoes and every little crack and craig in that top wall. Boy do i miss that.

The airplane taxis slowed a little today due to the winds blowing hard, they changed their trajectory crossing right over us. That was a cool because you could feel the vibrations of the plane engines and see the bottom of the sea floats right at your head!! Awesome!

Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned peoples!

Captains log: high winds dinghy ride soaked sailors drying inside!

We took this day with high winds to hang out on boat and watch movies my wonderful sister had downloaded onto a hardrive for us! Thank You Michelle! Of course i did not watch John Wick because they killed a baby beagle in it.

The wind died down enough for us to get to the beach and check out the fort area again. Checked out some more of the blue willow plate pieces in the mini museum took some pictures of the Fort Entrance and hung out by the taxi docks enjoying the cool breeze and people watching. Checked the weather reports posted at the dock in the little document room they have there, and met two sailors anchored out named Jeff and Sue on S/V DAYDREAM. They hung out with us and ate some Jimmy Johns subs off of the taxi boat. They let us come and eat after their paying passengers get their lunch first. Pretty cool guys on that taxi!

Today and the 20th we stayed on boat due to rough weather. Stay tuned!

Winds picked up today and it looks like we will be staying on the boat for a few days, but that is ok we dont mind. We can get some good lazy rest in preparation for going back out snorkeling or diving. It is a wonderful place to watch the sunrises and sunsets and get some internet business, sewing, or reading done. AHHH working in paradise couldn’t ask for more!

I went on land with Andrea and Barry by being pulled on my little see through window pull float. We walked over to the beach and hung out for a while checking out the old sea glass and the tile and porcelain washing up on the beach from the ship wrecks that surround the island. Although there was a lot of glass from recently broken bottles washing up also. So sad people just throw their crap in the oceans. The big water taxi from Key West brings people in and off the island. Some stay and camp out (primitive camping),, they have to bring their own water food and shelter. Outhouse toilets and NO running water on this island. The taxi stays booked two months in advance, brings a lot of people to the island to snorkel, swim,and explore the fort. There is a small gift shop inside that has several books, t shirts, hats, wet/dry shirts, toys and an explorer program for the kids to explore fort find historical info take a test and become a jr ranger. It has a little museum with some ship wreck artifacts and animal posters with info also. A neat place to check out! I loved the old bricks with maker names and dates, the Dr Mudd cell again. He was moved from the bottom hole to upstairs cell, the fort was used to hold civil war criminals. Dr Mudd fixed the leg of John Wilkes Boothe who shot Abraham Lincoln(he didnt know he had shot the president)but they gave him life in Fort Jefferson anyway. He was let out after 4 years because he saved prisoners from yellow fever. Great history read up on it. The views from this fort are phenomenal and i cant get enough of the beauty of the ocean here. After our excursion we headed back to the boat with people on the taxi probably wondering why an old chick is riding a float to her boat pulled by a dinghy! After i made i back to boat i discovered my dry back didnt work and had to throw my phone in a bag of rice to suck up the moisture from it. Phone had no adverse effects after the miracle rice bag fix. Decided to just chill and watch the beautiful sunset and moonrise from our Big Moose together.

Winds moderate/light offshore wave height unknown

Captains Log: Boat rest is the best!

Admirals Log: When you seal a dry bag use all your glue, ALL the glue to seal with.