Key Biscayne | Sailing For The Son

Fearless Voyager

The first week of March 2021 found Bill and I enjoying the quiet luxury of Stock Island Marina Village as well as the lively fun of Key West.

Our intention was to stay another night in Key West and celebrate Bill’s birthday there before heading back to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne, Florida. Because I’ve never sailed at night, our plan was to sail Key West to Marathon, Marathon to Key Largo, then Key Largo to Key Biscayne. That works out to sailing about 8 hours for three consecutive days and anchoring out each night. Doable, right? After all, one day at a time is how we got to Key West, and that was fun.

Well, an updated weather report disagreed. Basically, the weather forecast predicted that we could either cut our stay short one day and sail 24 hours continuously from Key West to Key Biscayne in nice weather with one to two foot seas, or we could stick to our plan and sail back in high winds with four to six foot waves. Yikes! What to do, what to do? Hmmm…am I afraid of sailing at night? Maybe, I don’t know because I’d never done it. Do I love staying up late into the night? Nope. Do I tend to get sea sick in high waves? Yep. And I have proven that more than once. OK, then, decision made.

My husband is a captain and has spent many nights at sea. He claims to actually even like it. I love him and I trust him, so we said a prayer together, filled up with diesel and water, and headed out at 8:30 am.

I know I wore this shirt yesterday, but think I might need my “fearless” shirt for this voyage!

Bill sailed the first several hours, well, I guess he sailed most of the trip, but this is a picture of me actually at the helm while Bill was asleep. That’s a first!

Bill sleeping-he must have confidence in me, huh?

This next photo is me on my second watch-life jacket on, tethered to the boat, hair getting messy-in the open ocean now!

My hair is messy, but seriously, isn’t this water beautiful?

While Bill was sleeping, I sent a picture of the navigation multifunction display to my friends asking if anyone really understands this stuff and whether or not it’s important. My friend, Crystal, who is a pilot, insisted that all those numbers actually do mean something and that ignoring them just might get us blown into the Bermuda Triangle. I’m guessing that Crystal actually knows what she’s talking about, but then my daughter, Becky, assured me that simply following a dolphin would probably be just fine. Decisions, decisions…as it turns out, there is quite a bit more to this First Mate stuff than I had originally thought! Well, I’ve known Becky longer than I’ve known Crystal, and her plan seemed easier, so…

Really, this is just too much for me to process…

I was still at the helm when the sun set. It was beautiful. I’ve got to admit, Florida has some of the very best sunsets I’ve ever seen.

As the sky darkened, our flag seemed to be the only thing shining, until the half moon made its appearance.

I have to admit that maybe I had been avoiding night sails for far too long. Because my husband likes it, and since I didn’t cry, I suppose that if sailing at night really makes the most sense next time around, maybe I won’t resist. But that’s a hard maybe, because I so love watching the dolphins, turtles, manatees, and even the jelly fish, as we sail along in these unbelievably beautiful waters.

Bill and I are both still smiling on hour 23 as we approach Key Biscayne!

Many, many thanks to my husband (who let me sleep in the cockpit most of the night), and to my family and friends who prayed for and encouraged me. And, a special shout out to my 6 year old grandson who texted me in the morning and referred to me as a “Fearless First Mate”! That means a lot coming from a Student Captain!

Rejoice!

Manatee Musings

My husband and I love Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne. Immediately following Christmas 2020, our friends, Steve and Susan, joined us at the park for a week of adventure and relaxation on Liberty, our 38 foot sailboat. We love vacationing with Steve and Susan, they are as fun as they are funny. Steve is adventurous and pretty much game for anything, and Susan, well, let’s just say that she loves being stretched outside her comfort zone!

Susan and I waited for a calm day to kayak around the harbor because we really wanted to see colorful fish swimming in the mangroves that surround No Name Harbor, which is part of the park. We had already seen a dolphin in the harbor, and heard rumors of manatee, but we didn’t know that we were in for a real treat! As we paddled off, Susan mentioned something about not kayaking into any dark caves like we did in the BVI. I simply smiled knowing that there are no caves in this harbor.

Susan and I had only been paddling for about 10 minutes when I saw a manatee about 10 feet in front of us stick his nose out of the water to take a breath! No sooner than I spotted that manatee Susan looked down and saw a second manatee directly under our kayak! I admit that seeing a 10 foot sea cow, that clearly weighed several hundred pounds, directly under our kayak was a teeny tiny bit alarming, but I wasn’t about to let Susan know that I thought so! We slowly backed away and no one was any worse for the wear. Then Susan said, “New rule, no kayaking on top of manatee!” She’s so funny. Seriously though, Susan and I sat in our kayak and just watched the manatee for what must have been half an hour.

West Indian Manatee can be found along the East coast of the United States, as well as the Gulf of Mexico. I am a native of Iowa and had never even heard of a manatee until 2018 when I spent some time in Charleston, South Carolina. Manatee are not exactly what I might call cute and cuddly, but they are gentle giants that I really enjoy watching as they swim by. By “giant”, I mean that the average manatee is 10 feet long and weights between 800 and 1200 pounds. Maybe what fascinates me is that manatee are herbivores. They spend most of their time slowing swimming around, eating aquatic plants and resting. Now how on earth does Mandy Manatee grow to 1200 pounds on a diet of salad alone? It’s a crazy mystery! The water in this part of Florida is a beautiful blue/green color and very clear. It is easy to see eight to ten feet down, so if a manatee is near, you’ll see it! I took the three pictures above while walking along the sea wall when a manatee was swimming along side it. If the manatee is further away when you spot it, you may simply see the nose stick up out of the water to breathe (they take a breath every three to five minutes), or you may see it come up and dive back down like the picture below. I spend a lot of time sitting in the cockpit of our boat just watching for dolphin and manatee.

Following our manatee sightings, we continued kayaking along the mangroves in search of tropical fish. We weren’t very successful in that quest; however, we did see several large iguana sunning themselves on the branches. At one point, we were directly underneath the green iguana while attempting to get close enough to see the orange iguana. Yikes! As if on queue, Susan said, “New rule, no kayaking underneath iguanas-they could jump on me!” Pretending that I didn’t share her concern (because I love teasing her), I replied, “Susan, new rule: no making up new rules!”

I’m just going to assume that Susan is keeping track of all her rules and that she will continue trying just as hard to keep me within them as I do to drag her into adventures where we just might need them!

Thought of the day: Love and appreciate your friends, and tell them so every chance you get!

The Dolphin Dance

My husband awakened me at 6:30 a.m. on New Years Day 2021. I don’t normally like to get up at that hour, but this time was different. We were anchored outside of No Name Harbor in the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, and we were surrounded by dolphins!

The sun was still sleeping, yet under full moonshine more than two dozen Atlantic bottle nose dolphin danced around our boat. The water was motionless, and it seemed as if my husband and I were the only people awake in the whole world. Listening in the stillness, we could hear the dolphins surfacing to breathe. It’s a sort of blowing/puffing sound that seems loud to me when the dolphins are close!

I really like to watch dolphin swim and play, and when I’m in dolphin territory I’m always on dolphin watch. Dolphin live in pods of approximately 15 or so in the warm ocean waters. Jackpot! That’s where I like to hang out, too! And I like to swim-see, it’s almost like we belong together.

Our good friends, Steve and Susan, were joining us for the week in Biscayne Bay. In the days before our early morning dance with the dolphins the four of us saw one dolphin off the starboard side of the boat while anchoring in the same location. Susan was so excited to see the dolphin, and then disappointed when he disappeared so quickly. Teasing Susan, I asked her if she was expecting him to come closer and kiss her on the lips. I think she said “yes”. Yeah, that’s how I remember it. Unfortunately, Steve and Susan slept through the dolphin dance on New Years morning. After 30 minutes of enjoying the dolphins, I thought that I was going to have to kiss one for her! But, I kissed my husband instead, and thanked him for waking me up.

Which one of God’s created creatures made you smile today?