Good morning its 7:30 in paradise and we are up. Cooked breakfast for Steve and i had a cereal bar. We are headed to the fort this morning for some exercise and more exploring. Steve talked weather with the Ranger while i ran the mote walls with the water splashing up over the sides and onto the top. After that i ran up the stairs and ran around the top of the fort.There are no rails so it is exciting and exhilarating! We went over to the part of the moat the saltwater crocodile lives and checked him out, he had his head sticking out of the pipe he backs up in. Yesterday we got to see him really good. He is about 8-10 foot in length. I thought he was smaller because all we saw was his nose sticking out. After we checked him out we walked the moat walls together with the wind blowing and the waves crashing against the walls behind us and in front of us as we walked sending spray as high as 4-6 foot in the air. Beautiful! 🙂 As we walked back we saw a black lab digging a hole in the sand, you could tell it was deep because all you could see was his hindquarters sticking up with a fast wagging tail. The owner said he likes to dig for crabs on the beach and his name is Baylee. He is so shiny and his owner said he used to shed until he started putting salmon oil in his dog food! We met one of the staff on the Key West Express ferry that arrives no matter what. He let us throw our garbage in his bin and we ate lunch aboard the ferry. They sold us two twelve packs of soda and believe me when you dont have access to them it was like Christmas to us. We are stuck here until weather gets better which is probably another week. We just heard a call for a sea tow near key west for the boat that left this morning. You just cant mess with the mistress sea. Back to the ferry lunch – we had a hamburger and it was delicious even though it was microwave. we hadnt had one in a while. The crew was really nice to us. We are the only sailboat left in the harbor. Everyone else left yesterday but it is still too rough for us. We have to cross and area called Rebekah shoals and all i know is that lady must have been bad news to have that area named after her!! Steve and i dinghied back to the boat with our “booty” from the ferry. Steve went to help the fisherman get to shore and get ice from the ferry. A big “ketch” pulled up next to us, that is a sailboat with 2 masts. We are going to kick back grill some chicken and maybe take another beach walk later. We have enjoyed this windy day! 🙂

WOW! What ugly weather today! The wind is kicking up at the stern and it is raining on and off (great for dock but not out here in gulf). Add rain and wind together out here and it is rough! Even in rough weather the scenery is beautiful with the sea green water white capping. The bird continuously fly over Bush Key it is their mating season so that part of the island is closed. They chirp (have a shrill cry 24-7) all day and night but you get used to it and really dont even hear it. It is just part of the charm of this place. As we looked out over the ocean we see the shrimp boats are all close in to the ke. y. which means that the ocean is too rough for them so we know we have to stay put. The seas have 7 foot waves out there today. The sailboat next to us is leaving in AM and there will still be big waves. He has a 42 foot sailboat, but he still may not have a good time out there. I learned today that the Dry Tortugas are a right of passage for sailors. If you make it there and back you did great. So we await a good weather window to head to Key West. Steve and i are staying dry for the time being and trying to rest as the boat pitches from side to side. Steve had to go out and help our neighbor with his dinghy, the motor had quit and Steve towed him to shore so he could work on it. We watched a movie afterwords took a nap and woke up cooked lobster and corn cakes. I found a great seafood seasoning called, “Chef Paul Prudhomes Magic Seasoning Blend” called “Seafood Magic”. Very good! Well we are stuffed and sleepy so good night everyone!

CAPTAINS LOG: Make sure you have a single side band radio if you are going out to far away islands.

Good morning everyone! Steve and I are hitting the shore for exercise around the fort and more exploring.Jumped into our swimsuits and shorts and into the dinghy. Winds are rough today and the waves are too. We went over to see if our TN friends are going snorkeling today. They informed us they are taking a small weather window and heading to Boca Chica, ( they are both retired military). I didnt know Boca Chica was a military base. They told us they would see us on the beach later before they left. We proceeded to steer our dink toward the shore with the high waves splashing us, though we dont mind the water is azure blue/green and feels good! I went to the top of the fort and explored and Steve came up not long after to watch our friends Ed and d Claudia sail away to Boca Chicago. Steve and me and only one other boat left in harbor, and he is leaving tomorrow. Steve took a fisherman back to his boat and in return we received 15 lobster tails. I guess we are having lobster tonight. We gave Ed and Claudia some for taking us snorkeling. This barter system is great. Very good for my first time cooking lobster. We are staying here and looking for another weather window so we can leave, which will probably be Mon or Tues. another week in paradise!

Woke up and cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast and put on our bathing suits. Weather is beautiful, sun is shining and wind is whipping with the beautiful sparkling ocean all around us.We have some sailing neighbors actually from Tn, can u believe it! She said she heard my voice and told her husband i was from back home! Whoo Hoo!! They came by and said they were going to go snorkeling would we want to go? Well it took us all of one second to say “YES”. So we ate lunch and awaited our new friends to come by in their dinghy to take us to their boat and sail over to Loggerhead Key to snorkel. The water was calm and we had a ball saw some Barracuda and lots of different fish. Saw some brain coral, looks just like a brain. This island has a light house and it is solar powered and runs by computer control. The sea shells are different too. I collect shells from every island i go to and they all have different characteristics. We rode our dinghy into the beach, or should i say the waves shoved us up on to the beach. We pulled it further onto the beach and walked to the other side of the island past an old building on boards someone had put down and then onto the beach! Into the water cold at first so we just fell in to get over it. lol I loved the snorkeling and we really enjoyed the company of fellow Tennesseans!! I love the “LSU” fish it is bright yellow and bright purple. (could be a “Lakers” fish i don’t know). Plenty of bumblebee fish, grouper and zebra fish. All kinds of sea creatures!! Steve and I had a wonderful time and we all headed back to the beach to the dinghy. Waves were kicking up pretty high and Steve and Ed had to push it out into the ocean Claudy could start it and get us out into the water, where we rode those waves like the Ocoee rapids! Back to their boat (it is just three miles but takes us 30 minutes to sail it). The name of their boat is “Door into Summer, and had crackers and cheese. She encouraged me to take a shower at her boat since it has a stand up shower and they have a watermaker also. The shower was a standup tub soooo nice after my mini shower. Did i turn her down with unlimited hot water “NOT”. Loving the bigger sailboats.  We are having so much fun and seeing all the beautiful things makes you appreciate life even more :-). Here at the Tortugas we have met people who have sailed from all over the world. Germany, Venezuela, and Taiwan just to name a few. After our time with our new friends Steve and I went back to our boat and had marinated chicken and wild rice for supper.Watched a movie called Savages and fell asleep to the sound of the whistling winds!!

CAPTAINS LOG:

Good morning everyone! Today is our first full day at Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas. We had breakfast bars for breakfast and Steve fished while we waited on the ferry from Key West to arrive so that we can go on the Fort tour with them. We paid 10 dollars for the week stay at the park and the ranger said we could go on a tour with the KW group. 🙂 We grabbed our cameras and headed to Ft Jefferson. It was a fascinating tour and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The fort has 3 levels and was never completed due to the fact that it created 8 foot thick concrete walls and before they completed it a gun had been created that could shoot through 8 foot walls. O well they quit building because they could not use it to protect the inside anymore. After the tour we wandered around and then headed back to the boat. I had to stand up to keep from getting wet in dinghy and hold on to rope, it looked like i had hold of an underwater animal pulling me back to boat 🙂 Steve went back to fishing and caught two bonefish and a couple of blue stripe i think. I had to cut up one for baitfish and i had not skinned a fish in years so it looked like a wild animal had torn apart this fish (still good for bait). We are keeping track of our catches for Kayla she is doing research on the types of fish and how many in the area. Our grouper stays under the boat and looks like a huge dark shadow lurking around us just waiting to try to steal a fish off the line. Steve had to jerk one up fast due to the fact the grouper was coming up fast and almost had it. That fish would just pull our boat over if we caught it. The ranger informed us one of those grouper ate a pelican a few days ago right off the water.  Well we are going to hang out on boat for a while just tanning and fishing. No TV No cell phones. Just the wind and grilled chicken!

I went up to the helm with Steve to sail into the Dry Tortugas. I have to give Steve

Beach to right of Fort

We made it!

Lone Palm

Sign at side beach.

Another pic of sign!

Camping area.

Steve and Kayla

Camping area.

Steve at entrance.

The Fort

Fort again

Anchor at Fort entrance.

Pretty water

Entrance Beach

Plane flying in.

Coming into Tortugas

Just water

a tremendous amount of credit you have to know the extremely grueling task of sailing at night in high winds (we are in a 32 foot boat so high winds for us is not the same as a larger sailing vessel, we get hit harder with waves they handle a lot better). Your shoulders get so sore from constantly fighting the current and waves to keep boat on course and our auto pilot is not made for the gulf or rougher waters. I learned that sailing to the Dry Tortugas is a right of passage for sailors, esp in a 32 foot sailboat (the smallest sailboat in harbor while we were there). So we feel pretty darn good. OK back to entering Garden Key and Fort Jefferson. We sailed into the harbor at app 9 am into the sparkling clear green water, set our anchor waited on deck to see if it held and then we met our sailing neighbor Baha and his wife. Then we crashed after a rough night sailing. We woke up at about 3 PM and went over to the island to check out Fort Jefferson to check in. We met Kayla the park ranger and looked around the beaches, they have a salt water crocodile in the moat that goes around the fort. It is about 10-12 foot long. The sand is a mixture of course shells and soft sand. It is a huge fort with beaches around half of it. There is a key off of it that is closed for the Terns mating season. Another key that hosts a nurse shark colony and Loggerhead key with a lighthouse and it is a research facility, usually there is no one on it and the snorkeling is great. We have a Goliath grouper under our boat and they can weigh up to 300 pounds. It is about 5-6 foot long and it is scary looking. Like a 400 pound bass looking for something to eat, lol.  A guest at the key asked which boat we were in and the ranger Kayla said, “the little one” 🙂 We made taco salad to celebrate our arrival. Back to bed with the wind howling and the halyard banging against the mast, so soothing.

CAPTAINS LOG:

Good Morning everyone! I have been out of circulation and have had no internet so i am adding these posts in today at the public library in Key West. ENJOY! 2-6-2013

Headed out early this AM to the Dry Tortugas across the gulf again. There is a front moving in at 11PM but Steve says we should beat it. Steve and I decided to go for it! The weather was beautiful and the waves minimal so that was a good thing. We finally got everything in order on the boat and headed into the gulf. (i had to batten down my hatches some more before we hit the gulf). I love to see the dolphins they are always checking us out, sliding up to the side of the boat and looking up at us. They glide like graceful ballerinas through the sparkling water cutting through it with speed and beauty. We saw some with brown spots haven’t seen those before. We have seen up to 15 dolphins at one time( they aren’t easy to count so I am guessing). The waves are 3 foot + but since we haven’t been on really calm seas i do the Dramamine and Steve captain’s the boat. No standing inside the cabin, luckily i battened down the hatches and we have minimal slingage of personal items across the boat 🙂 The waves are the same height as the rough sea crossing before but less choppy and further apart. We saw a bunch of dolphins and they had little ones with them. They all followed each other through the waves like a little parade in the gulf. Actually they hung around us for about 10 – 15 minutes just swimming around the boat. I loved it when they would come up behind the boat and their heads would break through the waves in perfect harmony and they looked so awesome. Steve saw another sea turtle in the waves. There are no manatees out here but i do hope to get to see one of those before our trip is over. Steve and I were attempting to take turns sleeping at night but the gulf was too rough and he couldn’t sleep at all. I had her from 11-2 i had to have him take over she was hard to hold on course and i was exhausted. We stayed out in cockpit and stared at the sky for a few. The night sky is so beautiful , its like a blanket of stars covering us up.

Steve looked at his watch this AM and said, ‘WOW its 12:30!” Then laughed at me when i said OH NO! It was actually 8:30 :-0 We made our game plan and i headed out to do laundry and  get supplies.Got to wash room and only 2 washers were working and only one dryer. I said to myself this is gonna take a while. So i got out my computer and commenced to work on this blog. I am still at washette and it is 2:30 PM. Been here for about 3-4 hours. The mechanic came in put quarters in machines and they all worked!! Someone just did not know how to work them i guess. I could have used that info earlier but then i wouldn’t get to work on my computer. There is no service in Tortugas i am told so i wont be blogging or talking to anyone. Just a marine radio and an EPIRB. I met a great person named Kandi and her husband they were also on a boat. She was at the washette also. After all the laundry and Steve putting boat back together ( sea water pump) we put our final preparations together for the trip tomorrow to the Dry Tortugas. Have to get up early and head out. We will be out of contact with anyone for a few days. Down in the Tortugas there is no cell, no internet, and only the park rangers radio for emergencies only.

CAPTAINS LOG: Sailing is working on your boat in exotic places 🙂

Got up early Steve said hurry up we are gonna go eat, so i got ready and we went into town and ate at McDonald’s. Walked along the beach for a while and Steve went to boat while i went shopping. Steve had to set motor timing and I needed to pick up a new bathing suit. I spent a few hours lying on the beach and then called Steve to come pick me up. The beach here is crowded and i found a spot at the back in sun applied my tanning lotion and read a book for a while. Steve came over to the shore and we went to eat lunch together and ended up listening to live music on the beach met some nice people and had a ball. The sun was hot and the water felt good. I love the beach and the ocean. After we had too much sun we went to Naughty Nellies for oysters and coconut shrimp by the water. We had a great day today and hope all our friends did too. I know its cold at home and if i could would send some sunshine your way. Thanks for following our blog and stay tuned for more!!

CAPTAINS LOG: awaiting parts for delivery, then off to Tortugas. 🙂

Last night Steve opened the motor compartment to look for water buildup under the motor. There was water and we saw the sea water pump was leaking. Steve took it apart and found out the seal was bad and the pump had broken parts that were missing in engine. Luckily Steve found the pieces after taking some more of it apart. Well we spent the day on the public transit system, one trolley, and two buses to get to the marine parts place that Steve had called earlier and given part number to and they had our parts. It took about 2-3 hours to get there with waiting on the buses and trolly at designated stops.We finally figured out where to get off the bus and boom we were right at the shop. Steve gave the guy the parts and to match up and who would have guessed that the part number was the same as the original part but it was a replaced part that was European and parts were different so we had to order parts and will wait until Friday.Steve had dinghied over to a machine shop to get a part pressed and made friends that said we could have the parts shipped to him. Luckily the guy at the parts place knows him too! Waiting on the part until Friday. We made our way back to boat slowly on bus cooked grilled chicken and rice and enjoyed a quiet evening on our floating palace. 🙂 Goodnight and stay tuned for more adventures.

CAPTAINS LOG: Always check the working parts of your boat and continuously maintain them for reasons just like this one.It would have been bad if it had broken in middle of the ocean.