Tuesday March 29: Miami!

It's been a good two days of travel. Light winds, partly cloudy and smooth waters.

Sixty miles to Barnes Sound and then an additional fifty miles to an anchorage just north of Miami.

We left Banana Bay around 9 yesterday morning. It's always nice when the friends around come to see us off - complete with hugs and goodbye's until next year (although we hope to see several on the way north or once in the north!).

It really was a nice day to travel with the light south winds just off the bow.

It was nice being back in a travel mode even though it was a long couple of first days.

The dolphins are back!! First time in a while that they have come to the bow wave. Two this time - staying for just a few minutes. I think they get bored because we don't travel very fast!

The usual sights along the way - complete with the cormorants lining the cuts through the shallow areas. Each has it's own little perch,

Not sure what these stakes are for but the birds sure do like them!

And they also love boats which are sitting on sand bars :-) I think this boat has been there for quite some time ....

So we anchored last night in Barnes Sound - just north of the Jewfish Creek Bridge.

You know - go past the entrance marker, make a right turn and drop the anchor (the red dot on picture left). Perfect. Not a boat for miles!

And then there was. After dark. I'm hearing a boat - why does it sound so close? Are the pirates arriving? I see a bright light. And then I hear an anchor chain being dropped. REALLY?? There must be a gazillion miles of open water for a place to anchor. Does this guy really need to anchor 50 yards from us?

Very strange but I guess they thought since we were anchored and holding it must be a good place to be!



At least we had a quiet time before being invaded. While we were traveling, Steve had made deviled eggs for an appetizer so on the flybridge with wine and eggs. Seems like a strange combination but it was quite good!

My camera is still stuck on the "smile detection" setting and just takes a picture itself when it "sees" that someone is smiling. Makes for some funny pictures but wouldn't let me do a timed pic. One of these days I need to get the book out for that camera ....




The storm clouds went around us last night and the wind died down. Quite a pleasant night - except for worrying about the pirates anchored next to us.

Kept waiting to be boarded in the middle of the night ....

In the morning when we could actually see the boat, it turns out it was a trawler that was sitting at the dock at one of the marina's in Jewfish Creek. Glad it wasn't really pirates :-)

The farther north we went today on Biscayne Bay the more we were reminded that we were approaching big boat country.

This cruiser buzzed by us - seems he was traveling at least 20 mph. Beautiful boat - almost no wake.

Small by comparison of what we'll see the next few days though.

Miami skyline

Eventually Miami came into view along with the storms that seemed to be moving east at leisurely speed. Good for us as we were able to keep ahead of them.

There were some really fun cloud formations though and we were fortunate enough to make it to our anchorage before the storms moved in.

Turns out the weather was a non-issue. Some wind but no major blows or rains









We had anchored in a very protected cove just west of the very popular sand bar by Haulover Canal in North Miami.

Perfect :-)

Tomorrow: on to Hollywood for a couple of days. One of our favorite marinas!

Sunday March 27: Time to Head North

It is definitely time to move north. Every day is now in the mid to high 80's with high humidity. Where did the winds go that we complained about just a short time ago?!

The Easter Bunny did show up here in Banana Bay despite the heat though. I'm thinking the chocolate bunny needs to be in the fridge :-)

But there really was an Easter Bunny (and it wasn't Steve) that brought an egg full of chocolate and toffee goodies. Steve found the egg sitting outside our door this morning.

After some sleuthing around we have determined the identity of the mystery bunny - one of the boaters in the marina was up early and left the eggs on the boats around the marina.

Fun to find and just yet another indication of what great folks are at this marina!







So it's time to leave - tomorrow around 9 am. We'll be in and out of the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area before the weekend . No one in their right mind travels through that area over a weekend - it is SO crazy with boaters zipping around.

The last few jobs are getting done before we leave. There has been more under the floor work - mostly for Steve.

One thing he's been wanting to do is paint the airconditioner. With the generator out it's a much easier job that ever.

Safety Matt: please note the fume filtering mask Steve is wearing as he does the sanding and painting!

Looks MUCH better!!

The other project involved painting the pontoon furniture that has been on the flybridge for 10 years now.

It has held up fairly well and really just needs replaced but we were too slow in actually deciding to do just that. Plus it was a no brainer of a decision once we found out the company would ship the pieces for free!

So until we are back here next year, we invested in $25 worth of spray paint for vinyl.


With paint in hand and a couple of large boxes from Amazon, we started spraying. It's taken me a while to really do this. Kind of afraid of the outcome!

Mmmm... not looking too bad -

So we kept going .....

Not sure how well the paint will hold up - who knows maybe it'll start flaking off the first time it's used!

In the meantime, it looks way better than it did with the poorly chosen glue where the original seams were pulling apart!

Last minute electrical work and engine work completed today. Relax at docktails and then off tomorrow sometime around 9 or so.









And one last celebration with Nancy and George and Andi and Mike (on Two Hearts) with a festive Easter cake designed and made by Nancy and Andi!

A perfect ending to our 3 month stay here at Banana Bay!

One last look from the flybridge ......

Sunday March 20: Time with the Kubits

Joe and Joy arrived right on schedule late Friday afternoon. We saw them last about a year ago as they were in Marathon on their sailboat for a few weeks before heading to the Bahamas.

Since then our former 55th Street Marina boat neighbors have sold their boat and settled in to their home in New Hampshire. I feel certain they should have had enough of winter having lived in Cleveland for ?? years but apparently not!

Joy still enjoys skiing and that is certainly hard to do unless you are willing to live in the climate that produces snow (or of course you travel to Dubai).

They came bearing gifts: purportedly the best key lime pie in the Keys.

Personally I wouldn't argue that it wasn't!. Found it somewhere in Key Largo and had to make a U-turn after passing up the place the first time through.

A definite winner and with careful cutting, it made it for desert three times :-)

Of course we had to play Euchre every night. I don't seem to recall who came out ahead overall - it was perhaps the guys but then with my bad memory maybe it was us ;-)

It was plenty warm on Saturday - enough so that Steve and Joy went snorkeling off of the beach. Surprisingly murky though.

And later that day it was a gathering in the water for the Banana Bayers. People just kept on joining in! Very fun. (Thanks to Nancy for the picture!)

Prime location for us as you can just make out the front of "Yesterday's Dream" to the left of the tree. Love this new dock!



Sunday morning was a trip to the Blue Hole. It did not disappoint as Wally Gator was there waiting for visitors.

There was also a soft back turtle laying eggs along the shoreline - very unusual according to the park guide.

Steve also found a green heron. In the picture left, it's head plumage standing on end (apparently this is attractive to the females!) and then in the picture on the right is the same bird with it's plumage flat.

Oddly enough, green herons are one of the few species of birds known to use tools. In particular, they commonly use bread crusts, insects or other items as bait. The bait is dropped onto the surface of a body of water in order to lure fish. When a fish takes the bait, the green heron will then grab and eat the fish! Perhaps Steve should try this method next time he goes fishing :-)

There were several key deer spotted along the road as well. Look very much like Ohio's white-tailed deer - just a lot smaller.



And the Banana Bay resident ducks can be spotted most days (and heard most mornings) hanging around the area.

This day was particularly hot so they were sitting in the shadow of the dock piling just in front of the boat. Guess everyone's just trying to stay in the shade on these hot days :-)

Friday March 18: Life on the Hard

Most things that go wrong on the boat are no big deal - easily dealt with, corrected or replaced.

Except when a thru hull is involved! So when we were completing the major engine work last week, the bolt in the thru hull for the engine raw water broke off.

Not a good thing as the bolt holds the handle tight into the thru hull - thus preventing water from leaking into the boat. We've found from experience that water leaking into the boat is never a good thing!


And of course the biggest problem with trying to work on a thru hull fitting is that it has to be done out of the water. Should we replace it now? Should we wait until we're traveling and will stop for a week in May anyway?

It was pretty much a no brainer - let's assume the temporary fix of hose clamps will work temporarily but better to get it fixed ASAP.

We headed out for the local boatyard (2 1/2 hour travel time because it was on the ocean side of Marathon). The view out the back was pretty nice actually - so even on the hard life was good :-)

The only real difference was we needed to climb the 8 foot ladder to get on or off the boat!

Hauled on Tuesday and work started on Wednesday. Jeff (the great guy who did the work on the thru hull) had the fitting ground off and out within an hour!

As you can see by the hole thru the hull on the picture left, this is something that could sink the boat in very quickly!


After waiting a day for the part, the new thru hull was in place in short order. Sure looks better than what we took out!

In the meantime, Steve occupied his time cleaning the rudder and prop with a wire brush. Sitting in Banana Bay is hard on the running gear as lots of little critters like to cling to any and all surfaces possible (barnacles mostly),

Sure looks nice with a new coat of anti-fouling paint on both surfaces!

I spent my time stringing a wire from the aft cabin to the outside of the main cabin wall. Seems simple enough - NOT! Not hard - just a pain in the neck. This line will allow us to hook up the solar panels from outside instead of having to run the hookup through the hatch or window.

We're still enjoying the sunset even though the boat is out of the water!

The lack of any bugs at Banana Bay is being appreciated though as we are closing up by 6 pm as the mosquitoes and no-see-ums are out by then.

Fortunately with fans running (can't run the air conditioner as it requires us to be in the water to use), it was quite tolerable.

 Jeff suggested adding a screen/scoop on the outside of the thru hull as well. This eliminated the need for a filter on the inside as well as providing additional flow of water to the thru hull to the engine.

He also took some time to remove an obsolete depth finder transducer from the bottom. Another hole patched - definitely a good thing!!

The most fun was a call from Jenna Star (George and Nancy) on Wednesday saying they were going to take a cruise to the Island Grill - did we want to meet them? Of course :-)

A one hour cruise from Banana Bay but a short 1/2 mile from our workyard!

Definitely a score :-)

And fun to see a helicopter land for lunch. What the life :-)


We arrived back to Banana Bay about noon and are awaiting the arrival of Joe and Joy - our boat neighbors from East 55th St Marina in Cleveland!

Monday March 14: Mundane Things

Although the sun has now moved so it is setting over the water, we have yet to see the green flash.

We watch most nights as the weather is cooperating quite nicely. In fact maybe too nicely.

It's in the 80's and sunny - and humid. Some days it's tiresome just moving around!

So it's been pretty low keyed around here lately - you know, kinda just getting mundane honestly.


And then I checked out the synonyms for mundane: humdrum, dull, boring, tedious, monotonous, tiresome, wearisome, unexciting, uninteresting, uninvolving, uneventful, unremarkable, repetitive, routine, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, commonplace .... well you get the idea.

Then I came to the conclusion that mundane really doesn't describe what we do every day. Each day is different even though all one way or another revolve around getting this boat ready to travel a total of more than 4,000 miles to Canada and back this year.

Things need to work properly! First off was a road trip to Miami with George and Nancy. Destination: Sam's Club for a new set of golf cart batteries. Apparently the trickle charger we had on the batteries when the boat sat from May to December overcharged the batteries. No solution other than to replace them. What a pain in the arms for Steve to lift the 65 lb battery over the engine and into the battery box. Four times. Good to go.

Next was to make a storage cover the for solar panels we decided to carry. Helps keep the batteries charged and lessens the need to run the little Honda 2000 gas fueled generator.

Lots of floor work! Good job, Steve :-)

Happy with the fit. These two 4' by 2' panels will proved 200 watts of power on a nice sunny day. Plenty to run our fridge and freezer when we are not plugged into shore power.

Screw the storage bag to the back of the seating on the flybridge and good to go.

Easy place to store the panel and well protected from mishap.

And finish up the wiring needed. Which always seems to mean bring lots of tools out along with various fittings.

Good thing there is a workbench/kitchen in the main cabin!

As usual there are always some casualties involved. Not usual is that it was Steve!

Cut finger with a knife - bleeding heavily and in need of pressure. What better solution than a paper towel with a velcro strap to supply the pressure!

Of course antibiotic dressing and a real band aid but good enough for now :-)

Best good idea in a while?

Fix Steve's broken flip flop with the good old glue gun - and so far it has worked!

New sandals are definitely going to be ordered soon .........