The Gulf Stream

 We are still in Marathon, in the Florida Keys. It is time for us to get moving north. We have a plan to sail all the way to Acadia National Park in Maine. That is a very long trip and there are many ways to do that in a sailboat. I have been studying our options for a long time. I have also spent a great deal of time asking questions and getting opinions of the many much more experienced captains that I now get to call friends here in Boot Key Harbor. Many of them have been sailing the oceans of the world for many years. 

One option is to run the engine and motor up the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICW) all the way to New York. All of that is protected waters and is fairly safe. It is also slow and boring. The trip on the ICW from Miami to the Chesapeake Bay is over 1000 miles on the ICW. My first plan was to sail along the coast on one to 2 days hops. That is certainly doable, but it is rare to get the right weather, so there would be lots of waiting for the right weather to make the next hop. 

The third option is to take the express lane. The Gulf Stream runs up the east coast of the US from south to north. The current is about 20 miles wide and runs at 3 to 4 knots. We normally go about 5 knots on average, so that would increase our speed by almost double if we sailed inside the Stream for a portion of the trip. The stream is only 10 to 20 miles off shore between Marathon and West Palm Beach. After West Palm the Florida coast line curves west and the stream keeps going due north. As the coast of Georgia, South and North Carolina curves back east, the stream curves back east and gets about 80 miles off shore. It then curves around Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. I want no part of Cape Hatteras. The currents can be crazy and I will opt to go inland on the ICW for that portion of the trip. They don't call Hateras the graveyard of the Atlantic for nothing.

The problem with the Gulf Stream is that you must wait for the right weather. You can not travel in the stream with any kind of a north wind. The wind over the current creates giant waves and very dangerous conditions. I have been studying the weather for months and the windows of good weather are few and far between.

As I write this entry, I have spotted a perfect window to travel north. The first day is this coming Saturday, April 30. If the forecast holds, we will depart Saturday mid morning and head north up the coast. It is 170 miles to West Palm Beach. We should be able to make it there in under 24 hours. It is at that point that we will make a decision. We could duck into the Lake Worth inlet and rest and check the weather to make sure it is smart to continue. We may be able to get weather updates as we approach WPB. If the weather looks good and we are feeling strong, we could keep going. At any point we could divert west and hit one of the other inlets along the Florida coast. If the weather stays good we could sail all the way to North Carolina. With the Gulf Stream pushing us to speeds approaching 10 knots. We could make the 635 mile trip in about 3 days. It will be our longest sail yet, in both miles and time, but not that much longer than our 50 hour sail back in November from Pensacola to Tarpon Springs.  That sail was only 275 miles, so you can see the advantage of using the Stream.

Here is an image of the path and speed of the Gulf Stream off the coast of South Florida

This image shows the path of the stream further north.

We realize that by doing this big jump we will be missing many places that we would like to stop along the coast. Our plan this year is to get north by sailing as much as possible. We would like to be in Maine by July. Then we will take our time coming back south. It is during that trip back south in late summer and then after Hurricane season that we plan to travel in the ICW and see all of the sites along the coast. We will then try to get the boat to a safe place in the Chesapeake Bay or even further south by the first of September to haul her out of the water and have some regular maintenance done and as protected as possible from hurricanes. We will also take advantage of Hurricane season to get back to Missouri to visit the family.  

As I have written in my previous entries about our time in Marathon. This is a great community and we have been having a blast. We had a special treat this past week, when some friends from Houston that we met in Gulfport last year sailed into the Harbor. 

Brian and Gill from Houston on Moosetracks (an Island Packet 45) and Kim and I.

We were at Keys Fisheries, which is a cool bar/restaurant on the gulf side which has a great sunset. 

I also have been doing some fishing. Both Spearfishing and with rod and reel. We took our friend Camie out with us the other day and had a successful day. I speared two fish and we caught three on the rods.

Here I am fishing in the beautiful water. I was able to shoot dinner that evening.

I just thought I would include this shot of us. We do still like each other.

Well that is about it for this entry. Wish us luck and say a prayer for us. I promise to check in as soon as we arrive where ever we stop. 

Time to Catch Up

 I am writing this entry on April 6th. My last entry was March 2nd. Normally when I don't make an entry in a long time it is because I feel that the life that we are living is boring and there is not much to write about. That is not the case in this situation. We have had a lot going on and not all of it has been positive. The result of that, is that our plans have had to change, and I have had a hard time getting motivated to write about it. 

Let's go back to where we were when I made my last entry. We have been enjoying our time in Boot Key Harbor. We have had a very active social calendar. We have been able to spend some quality time with some old friends and made many new ones. We just love this community. We were looking forward to our Daughter Shannon and SIL Brian along with three of their kids (Isabella, Will and Amelia) coming for a visit. It would be Will's first time seeing the boat. 

As with most visits, it was way too short. The weather turned out to be very windy, which made for some wet dinghy rides to the marina and back. Kim went with Brian, Shannon and Amelia to Key West, while I played Pickleball and Bocce ball with Will and Isabella. We had a great time while they were here, but really wanted to go to the beach and enjoy the warm water, but it was just too windy. 

Kim and Amelia in Key West at the most southern point in the US.

Brian, Shannon and Amelia at a beachside restaurant in Key West

Brian enjoying a quiet morning in the cockpit with his coffee. It was the day they were leaving. (I can tell because the water is smooth)

Shannon, Isabella and Amelia relaxing in the cabin. We all slept in the boat comfortably. 

Will in the captains chair. I sure do miss these guys. 

After they left, we had a full schedule getting ready to depart for the Bahamas. Or, so we thought. We had not had the boat in motion for a while so we made an overnight trip out to Looe Reef and Newfound Harbor. The reef was spectacular and the crystal blue water had us very excited to get more of it in the Bahamas. After the day on the reef, we had a calm night in Newfound Harbor and a great sail back to the harbor. 

Kim swimming in 40 feet of water. You can see the bottom like it is glass.

Kim after a good swim. Check out the color of that water.

A shot of the sunset in Newfound Harbor over the top of a neighboring boat.

I had a long list of things to do before we left. After our trip to Looe reef, I was doing engine checks when I noticed that the transmission fluid was darker than it should have been. I started looking for a problem and found that the shift linkage was not allowing the transmission to move all the way into forward gear. I spent about 4 hours adjusting and readjusting until I got it just right. I also replaced a bolt and nylock nut that was in the shift linkage with the correct clevis pin. 

Some of this problem was caused by the installing dealer in Mississippi. I then changed the fluid. I have consulted with the local Beta dealer that is located right here in the harbor and he is very concerned that the transmission has been damaged and may not be reliable. I have also talked to Beta US in North Carolina. They are confident in these transmissions, but told me there is not a sure way, other than removing it and disassembling it, to determine if it is damaged. One suggestion from the local Beta dealer was to get a laser tachometer and measure the RPM at the flywheel on the engine and compare it to the RPM of the output shaft. The gear ratio is 2.5 to 1, so the math should be simple. I completed that test and the outcome was excellent. There is no slip in the transmission, even under heavy load.  I checked the transmission fluid and it looked clean. 

Now the problem is we don't know if it will be reliable. If we went to the Bahamas and had a problem, we would have no help. We have made the tough decision to not go to the Bahamas this year. We are instead going to head up the east coast and see how it does. If it does fail, we could get help from North Carolina or many other service locations along the east coast. 

This whole situation is very frustrating. We made the engine and transmission change last year to reduce the possibility of engine problems, now we are back to worrying. The good news is that we are first a sailboat and the engine is our second mode of power. We do need it to come into most harbors and to dock, but if we are at sea, we can certainly sail back to land. 

This past weekend, us and two other boats left the harbor and went 15 miles to Bahia Honda State Park. It is a beautiful place and we had fun snorkeling, fishing and relaxing. That is until Saturday night, when we got hit with an unexpected thunderstorm at 1:30 am. We did not get much sleep, but our anchor held well and all was good. 

We enjoyed a cookout on a small beach at low tide.

Our three boats at anchor. It was this calm until it was blowing 30 knots. We all made it safely.

SHIFT at anchor

The following day we had more storm warnings. While we were preparing the boat I looked up and saw a waterspout (Tornado on the water) to our north. 

A waterspout and our friends MAC and Kim on "Kim's Crossing". The storm stayed north of us.

I let out more chain and put on our storm bridle. We were ready for whatever came our way. Just like bringing an umbrella to a baseball game. The wind dropped off to 5 knots and stayed that way all night. We had an excellent sail back to Boot Key harbor the next day.

The transmission worked perfectly and the fluid stayed clean. We are now preparing for our departure. We are expecting to leave the keys in later April when the weather looks right. As we get closer, I will try to stay motivated to write in this journal. Thanks for reading!,