May 8, 2007 Key Largo to Key West, FL

We enjoyed our stay in Marathon. From here, we're headed to Key West on the "outside", meaning the Atlantic side in the Hawk Channel. We stayed in a marina and got to go to the local grocery store and do laundry and wash the boat. Always fun! We discovered a dockside bar/restaurant that we could walk to and that had local music and we enjoyed it so much we went there both nights of our stay. We even had ‘happy feet’ and danced to a few songs. The restaurant was described as ‘Keysie’ which we learned means: flip flops, Hawaiian shirts and a very laid back attitude. Gotta love life in the Keys! We particularily enjoyed the singer, Dan Sullivan, and his signature song ... "I'd Rather be Drinkin a Beer Here, Than Freezin My Ass in the North."

We left Marathon for a 6 hour cruise to Key West and spent 3 nights in that wild town. We enjoyed our time there as it felt like we were ‘on vacation’ from the boat. The marina that we stayed in was a resort/marina so we took advantage of it and used their pool a couple of days…and it felt just like being on vacation. It was fun. We ate some wonderful food and enjoyed drinks at a couple of the many, many bars that Key West has to offer. We left on the morning of Cinco De Mio, which was a good thing since it is their version of Mardi Gras; a bit too much craziness for us.

We have spent the last 3 nights in a small anchorage on the south side of Key Largo. We came here to get out of the way of storms which were coming from the North. We knew the weather was going to get bad so we wanted to find a place to hide from the wind. On Sunday night a huge thunder and lightening storm was parked over the boat for about 3 hours. The wind was fierce and the strobe lightening was a bit frightening. But we didn’t see any of the nickel sized hail that was predicted. While the winds have died down somewhat, it is still a bit more lively than we like to travel in.

Today we took Rickshaw about 6 miles out onto the reef and did some snorkeling. It was so cool to be able to do that from the boat.. Tomorrow, assuming the weather cooperates; we will leave and head north to Key Biscayne and anchor in a place called No Name Harbor. Below is a 'Keysie' boat!

Scenes leaving Marathon.

Customs House as we approach Key West.

Coming into Key West; Mallory Square where everyone goes to watch the sunsets.

Hanging out at the pool.

One of the many sailing ships that take folks out to see the sunsets.

These pictures were taken on the way to snorkling. The water was an amazing shade of blue.

May 3, 2007 Key West, FL

We have been remiss on updating the blog. Guess we are having too much fun!

After leaving Boca Chita Key, we continued our trip south. We anchored out next to a very small island called Pumpkin Key because some folks we know, who also have a Defever 44 like ours, were there. They came over for dinner and we had a great time.

Our next stop was in Key Largo at what Rick called a funky marina (I called it ratty). The dockmaster seemed to have only two teeth in his mouth and was, let’s just say, not overly friendly. However, we went to the Tiki bar for a hamburger and an adult beverage and it turned out to be a great burger and we had a fun time talking with the locals. We weren’t able to go into Key Largo proper because A-1A is the main highway from Key Biscayne to Key West and is dangerous to walk on or ride bikes. So, we did fun stuff like laundry and washed the boat.

We left Key Largo and made our way to Islamorada, the next island south. Our boat draws 4’7” and we bumped the bottom 2 or 3 times. We knew it was shallow water and just went slow. Luckily, what we bumped was just sand so no damage was done to the boat. We anchored out in a beautiful anchorage for 4 nights. It was a wonderful anchorage and we got to go swimming for the first time. We took the dingy ashore and ate dinner at the Lor-E-Lei Restaurant and Cabana, famous for their conch chowder. It was good!

In fact, it was so good we decided to go back for Sunday breakfast. We both got home cooked breakfasts, and two glasses of orange juice. Since it was prior to 11:00AM, and certainly 5-o’clock somewhere, we added some vodka to each glass, making Screwdrivers … their Sunday morning special. We then tooled around in the dingy, and explored a little mangrove basin which had another dingy dock with shopping. Then back to the boat for a nap …! Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

Tomorrow, Monday, it’s on to Marathon at Boot Key Harbor. For this leg we’ll be crossing over from the Florida Bay (northwest of the key chain) to the Atlantic side, as the water from Islamorada further west is even shallower than we found earlier. We’ll run thru the Channel Five cut into the Hawk Channel, which will take us down to Marathon and Key West, with water in the 20 – 30 ft range … much less stressful.

In Key Largo we watched a guy providing fresh water to a manatee under the dock. The manatee drank from the hose for about 30 minutes.

The color of the water is just amazing.

This is actually a dingy that has been made to look like a pink cadillac. Only in the Keys!

We finally were able to go snorkling. It wasn't that clear but we had to give it a try.

The Islamorada anchorage looking east. Lots of trawlers and lots of room.

Rick's sunset pictures at Islamorada.

We passed a bunch of stakes in the water to the left of the channel. The cormorants decided this was a good place to roost, and it made an interesting picture.

April 22, 2007 Boca Chita, FL

We have made it to the Keys! We enjoyed the trip down the Intercoastal Waterway in Florida; seeing the mansions, the yards, the incredible boats, and all of the funky parts. But the bridges!! Yikes. There are more than 80 bridges with heights from 6 ft to as high as 75 feet.

In the Palm Beach/Miami part of the ICW, there are bridges every few miles. Some of them open on the hour and half hour, some of them open on the quarter and three-quarter hour and some every 20 minutes. Which means that you do a lot of hurrying up, which isn’t so easy for a slow boat to do, and lots and lots of waiting for the bridges to open.

We left Ft. Lauderdale and headed to Coconut Grove which is, technically, part of south Miami, and a large art community. We took the dingy into town but were a bit disappointed that we didn’t find lots of artist’s shops. However, we did eat lunch at a great Peruvian restaurant, which one doesn’t find every day.

We could see the lights of Miami and Key Biscayne at night. We also got ash all over the boat from the fires in the Everglades, which we hear is a yearly occurrence. The ash in the sky, however, provided for a beautiful sunset.

After leaving Coconut Grove, we cruised about 2 hours to the northern-most Keys. Coincidently we passed some friends from our DeFever Association, Steve and Diane, as they headed north delivering another boat to Ft. Lauderdale. It was good to catch up on the radio and wave as we passed each other on the ICW. We’ve also made phone contact with Bob and Barbara, who are waiting for a weather window to cross to the Exumas, as well as Ron and Charma who are hanging out just south of us and we hope to see them tomorrow.

We are now tied up to the dock wall in Boca Chita. This is a very small island that was bought by Mark Honeywell (of the Honeywell Corporation) in the 1930’s. He built his own lighthouse as an aid to navigation and a pavilion to entertain his friends whom he brought over in his 70’ yacht, and this was during the Great Depression! Since his lighthouse was “out of spec” the Coast Guard wouldn’t let him keep it lit. It is now a part of the Biscayne National Park, and still pristine.

When we arrived on Friday morning we were one of two boats in the small basin and it was a lovely day with swaying palm trees and lots of silence. Since it is now the weekend, the small basin is full of small boats from Miami, sometimes rafted up together, and lots of boom boxes playing Cuban music. Just another adventure!! Tomorrow we will continue south looking for quieter keys, and will plan to do some gunkholing … hanging out at anchor, fishing and snorkeling.

Below: Yard art...yes a fish and a cow!


In the little park across from our Ft. Lauderdale anchorage; a man and his parrot enjoying the day.






Rick on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale.
Yes, a helicopter on the back of the boat, er, ship!

Lynnie driving Rickshaw as we enter North Miami.

Ash in the sky made for a beautiful sunset in the Coconut Grove anchorage.

This is the entrance to the small basin on Boca Chita. The lighthouse was built by Honeywell.

A picture of Rickshaw from the lighthouse. The Atlantic ocean is on the other side of this tiny island.

The water is incredibly beautiful. These shots are looking out over the Atlantic.

Lastly, the sunset. The first was interesting; as the sun set, it traveled through the lighthouse light!

Moving south tomorrow.

April 15, 2007 Lake Worth, FL (north of West Palm Beach)

Rickshaw has left the Palm Beach Yacht Center boat yard! We are now anchored in Lake Worth, which is north of PBYC and the main departure point for the northern Bahamas. After 9 weeks of repairs, we are finally on our way again. It has been a long wait but the boat is in better condition than ever and we are thrilled to be back on the water. While we wish this hadn’t happened in the first place, we were very, very lucky to have been in the care of a fantastic, competent and caring team of professionals at PBYC. We will always count them as friends. We have a request into the Coast Guard for information on what obstruction they may have found which caused the damage. We’ll let you know as soon as we know!

Our original plan was to find a buddy boat here in Lake Worth and cross over to the Bahamas. But due to the amount of time we lost and the weather conditions here for the next several days, we decided to head south to the Keys instead. Plan B isn’t a bad thing, in fact, we are both looking forward to it. We just don’t want to wait any longer to get ‘somewhere’! So, as our friend Capt. Norm says, tomorrow we are going to put the pointy end of the boat heading due south! The Bahamas will have to wait for a future trip.

As we post this, we are putting together some plans for the trip to the Keys. We’ll run down the ICW, through the exotic multi-million dollar area around Ft. Lauderdale and Miami … it is said this is a great trip … once. There are lots and lots of bridges to deal with, and narrow “no wake” zones, but it’s supposed to be worth it to see the mansions lining the ICW. Then we’ll probably stop in the Biscayne Bay area and sort out our next path. We’ve already decided we’ll run down the Atlantic curve of the Keys in Hawks Channel, as opposed to the Gulf side, since the latter is apparently very shallow and full of shoals.

Thanks for all of the support that we received during our ‘ordeal’ from friends and family. We also met some new friends, Bill and Ruth, who keep their boat in the same marina and watched over our boat during the 2 months we were back in NC. Ruth took some great pictures of us leaving the marina, which we really appreciate! We’ll update the blog as we make our way south.

Below we are starting to provision Rickshaw before we put her back in the water.

This is a look at the repaired propeller and rudder and of Paul, the yard manager, putting on the finishing touches .





Rickshaw on her way to the water...and finally, in the water. YEA!!!

Two very happy campers on their way again.

Leaving Palm Beach Yacht Center.

On our way to Lake Worth. It feels really good to be on the water. We both feel like we have to find our 'sea legs' again but that will happen quickly.

Sunset on Lake Worth after a day of lots of rain and very high winds and potential tornados. Tomorrow, on to calmer seas and winds. YEA!

February 18, 2007 Cary, NC

Rick and I decided to come back to Cary. There wasn’t anything more that we could do while Rickshaw is being repaired so home we went. It was about a 12 hour drive back from West Palm Beach, long but uneventful. We’ve hung around the house since we got back just getting over bad colds. We feel that Rickshaw is in good hands and that we will, hopefully, be back in Florida in a couple of weeks to continue our trip to the Bahamas.

Prior to Rickshaw being "grabbed" by something in the ICW near West Palm Beach, we had not had a chance to update the blog with our trip from Palm Coast, so we thought we'd add that now, along with a few pictures.

On our way from Palm Coast, we stayed in the Melbourne Marina which was great. Another cruiser took us to the grocery story and later we all ate at the local bar and grill, Ichabod’s. Our next stop was the Vero Beach anchorage where we tied up to a mooring ball for the first time. You have to take your $11 into the dock office so Rick got a ride in with a neighbor. Our last stop was the Lake Worth anchorage. Amazing houses and boats line both sides of the ICW. Here are some pictures of the trip. We have had so many dolphins swimming with us this trip, and we never tire of watching them.

Cormorants hanging out under the bridge.


The Melbourne FL Marina and Ichabod's restaurant.



These guys were putting new ICW signs up. Pretty high tech!
Rick's taxi ride to the dock house in the Vero Beach anchorage.

The Vero Beach anchorage in the morning.




A couple of the small mansions that we passed along the way.

This is a boathouse, really!!! The big house is behind the trees.

The shoreline at the Lake Worth Anchorage.

Working session! Yes, we actually have them. Local color.

Unloading fruit in West Palm Beach. Busy place.

Notice the jeep on the back of the little cruising boat we saw.

We'll update the blog when we hear more about Rickshaw's progress.