The Sail We've Been Waiting Months For (Thursday, March 15)

We left MYC bright and early for Cudjoe Key, home of fat albert (some weather blimp). We had a beautiful 55 nautical mile sail and a short motor to our private anchorage in Kemp channel. We sailed right up to the mouth of the channel, using the screacher and main (we were having issues with the little jib-we'll fix that tomorrow). We were hitting 12 and 13 knots on a tight reach through the big Spanish channel, even with all the gear on the boat!

The breeze was about 10-12 knots and moderate chop until the last few legs. We had some bigger rollers that made one tack really unstable, the waves were basically hitting us completely broadside so we had to head a little hotter than we would have liked. We felt a little sluggish sometimes but we later found out we had been dragging weeds. Other than that, the sun was shining and we were happy! We dodged shallow spots and crab pots the whole way but we had a beautiful tack coming back in from the Gulf.

We anchored in a secluded area near the mangrove islands, had sloppy joes for dinner (using our Coleman camping stove), and listened to the sound of choppers driving down the keys on the overseas highway. Scott set the second anchor (14 lb plow) with the kayak. We noticed how strong the tidal current was when the boat whipped around and clung to the other anchor when the tide switched. It was a quiet evening reading, and we went to bed with not one boat in sight.

We anchored in a secluded area near the mangrove islands, had sloppy joes for dinner (using our Coleman camping stove), and listened to the sound of choppers driving down the keys on the overseas highway. Scott set the second anchor (14 lb plow) with the kayak. We noticed how strong the tidal current was when the boat whipped around and clung to the other anchor when the tide switched. It was a quiet evening reading, and we went to bed with not one boat in sight.

Knee deep in the water somewhere,
Lauren & Scott

Lessons in Shopping (Wednesday, March 14)

We spent most of the morning rigging the sails and lines. We talked to a few people around the club and met a past commodore of DYC, Jerry Richardson. He and his wife are living on their beautiful boat just in front of us. They have been cruising the boat for about 5 years now and plan to do so at least another 10, living the dream!

While we were packing the boat up, we tried to leave as mush as we could since we finally came to the realization of how much we had. And by "we," I mean Scott, I had previously declined packing a pillow because I was already getting claustrophobic with the amount of gear packed into boxes. We re-provisioned; just for dry ice, chapstick, nuts, and floss. But we learned many things on our shopping spree; the West Marine on Marathon is the most expensive we have ever been to, we should have budgeted more for dry ice, cheap crab traps are exactly that (cheap!), and we need to invest in a better cooler.

We dropped the truck off at Driftwood Marina and took a cab back to MYC. The rest of the night we studied the charts and cruising guides, stressing ourselves out over the shoals that lie ahead in tomorrow's adventures.

Craving adventure,
Lauren & Scott

Welcome to the Keys, Home of the 35ft Minimum for Transient Slips (Tuesday, March 13)

Just as the sun was beginning to heat up the land, we wished the Nuzzos a happy 30th anniversary and headed towards the blue water. We crossed Florida via Alligator Alley. I saw no gators...Scott, on the other hand, claims he saw several when I put my head down to prepare his sandwich. We realized time didn't matter anymore once we crossed the first overseas highway bridge, that is until Scott remembered we had a time limit for dropping off the trailer, but that's a little later. The blue and green water was as beautiful as ever! We checked out our plan "A" ramp at the Blackfin Resort and Scott was not impressed so we moved to plan "B," a public ramp right next door to Marathon Yacht Club. 

2.5 stressful hours later, the boat was floating, Scott was on his way to drop off the trailer at Driftwood Marina, and I was unpacking our home for the month. Just after sunset we slid the boat back into Marathon Yacht Club (using Bayview Yacht Club reciprocity) and learned of the "35ft minimum" going rate for transient slips in the keys.

 We had dinner at "Lazy Days" and stuffed ourselves (after skipping lunch to rig the boat and beat the clock). Scott ordered an extremely expensive pound of stone crab and I ordered the cheapest dinner sandwich (fresh catch of the day and it happened to be dolphin). I was stuffed halfway through dinner. Scott had buyer's remorse and ordered another basket of bread. After dinner we decided to stay at MYC one more day and night to get the rest of the boat set up and packed.

Ready to go sailing,
Lauren & Scott

Reunited (Monday, March 12)

Monday morning we flew into Fort Myers and Jim Nuzzo picked us up at the airport. After a quick lunch, that Carol prepared, we headed for a local marine resale shop to find a smaller plow anchor (22 lbs was a bit too large for storage on the boat). We probably could have spent all day scouring this "Marine Trader." About 80% of the store was junk but the other 20%, buried in everything else, was treasure. Scott and Jim had a good time looking around, bother mariners got a kick out of some of the vintage items. We found success at the shop and proceeded to Charlotte RV Storage for "Threesome" and the green monster.

While Jim and Scott were taking a hack saw to new battens (we broke a couple last season and had to cut the new ones to size), I was clambering around the yard chasing geckos.

We did our provisioning when the sun went down. Carol and I split off to pick up groceries and the boys went to the back of the store for items they called necessities, which included (but was not limited to) two child sized kickboards, cat food, and a fishing license. The day ended at a mexican cantina.

Too excited to sleep,
Lauren & Scott