Tarpon Rolling in Kemp Channel (Friday, March 16)

So far, we’ve had our typical rollercoaster of some stressful times among the fun. And you might roll your eyes imagining what we can possibly stress about while cruising the keys for a month. While there is a certain level of “romantic” in cruising the keys with your significant other alone, there are some things to be worried about as well. For instance, there are only two people responsible for everything that happens to the boat (mostly Scott considers himself responsible because he’s “in charge” but I’m often left with the blame). But we both have to know how to perform every task possible on the boat, without the other person, just in case.

 

I know I worry about some strange things, but this trip worrying about pirates and melting ice seem like okay things to worry about. Scott worries about the batteries running out and running out of money. This morning I woke up just as it was getting light outside to shut off the battery. It was pretty neat to be awake with the splashing of fish all around me. Yesterday, my dad has told us how Cudjoe key was a magical place to fly fish and that there would be tarpon rolling in the morning. Here I was, taking it all in: light breeze and smooth water, and I could hear the tarpon rolling around in the shallow spots. Tonight we are going to try a solar powered walk way light as an anchor light.

After banana bread for breakfast, Scott and I discussed things to be done differently. We definitely need to invest in a better cooler. Preferably one that has two half doors so that we don’t let so much cold out while grabbing snacks. The worst case is that all our perishable food goes bad and we have ramen until we go to shore. We decided we also need to invest in a better solar panel to recharge our battery, right now we aren’t exactly sure how well ours works. In the future, when the larger purchase of a new outboard is made, we would look into one with an alternator to help recharge the battery. You can tell Scott really frets over the battery, I’d like to think it started when he acquired his iphone, which has terrible battery life compared to his humble blackberry.

After our brief discussion it was time to sort a few things out- mainly the jib. I made a makeshift bosun’s chair and Scott (who’s afraid of heights) hoisted me up to the top of the rig to work out the problem. What a stunning view! Halfway up I really wished I would have thought to grab my camera.

After that task was completed, we tried fishing. Yesterday we tried lures but to no avail, we quit early. Today, however, we noticed Scott’s stockpile of beef jerky had gone moldy (7 pounds of meat before dehydration). So, let’s feed it to the fish! We got nibbles but nothing stuck. We also set up the crab trap and baited it with jerky. We went for a short kayak up and down the mangroves and Scott found a starfish. Later in the afternoon we went for a swim. The water we are anchored in is about 3-4 feet deep with a muddy bottom. It’s basically too shallow to snorkel in and pretty murky when you’re in the water. But it was a nice swim and Scott scrubbed the hulls while I tried to catch bait fish.

Dinner was a meal to write home about (the fish and birds would agree). We had two beautiful steaks that Carol had helped me pick out while we were provisioning in Punta Gorda. With the steaks we had mashed potatoes and rolls. We used our scraps to fish with. And when we were done fishing with the scraps we tried to chum them into our crab trap but nearby birds came and snatched them!

It really was pretty amazing how easy the day went by. Tomorrow we plan to leave bright and early to spend a few days in Key Weird (West). 

Heading for civilization,
Lauren & Scott