Just before we were ready to leave Ft Lauderdale, our dinghy stopped working; Bob did everything he knew to get it started and nothing worked. We were beginning to get concerned since we had guests coming and we needed our dinghy! We had been told by the local police that we had 24 hrs to get out of the anchorage; Ft Lauderdale can be pretty sticky about the amount of time you're allowed to anchor. So, we hauled up the motor and took off for Miami where we hoped to find someone to repair the motor.
Along the way, we called Yamaha repair places and made arrangements for a slip in Key Biscayne, passing the Miami skyline to get there. We were having trouble getting a repairman; many were closing shop for the holidays. We did find Carlos, who came over to the boat with his good luck. He pulled the starter rope, and the thing purred. We figured that with all the work Bob did, and putting dry gas in, it was enough to get it going and Carlos had the magic touch that kept eluding Bob. This was just one of a number of gremlins Bob has been dealing with since we returned to the boat. One by one, he's worked his way through them.
We rented a car and toured University of Miami - Bob's alma mater. It's always a meaningful experience for him to go back and see the campus. Maggie bought a Blackberry - one more way to stay in close touch, all the time!
After two nights, we left the marina and anchored in South Beach, Miami. Pat and Larry arrived on Saturday, the 22nd. We walked around South Beach and then spent the next day on Miami Beach with the rich and famous. (By the way, did you know that Lorenzo has nice intestines .... that's what one passerby stated! Lorenzo has been pondering the meaning ever since.) On Monday, Christmas Eve day, we got underway heading south. At about noon, we passed Christmas Point, so we had to have a drink to toast the occasion. We were headed for Angel Fish Creek, but we ended up in the wrong channel aground for three or four hours before Bob and Lorenzo finally managed to get us off and back to the right canal. Lesson learned - always have someone double check the course (and maybe not plot it after a few drinks!).
We watched a beautiful sunset off Pumpkin Key on Christmas Eve and had a steak dinner in the cockpit.
Then early Christmas morning, we were underway at first light, with clouds all around.
It rained off and on most of the day, but we felt pretty lucky when we saw a rainbow - maybe the gremlins were gone and good times were coming!
We spent 10 hours motoring to Boot Key Harbor, Marathon on Christmas Day. We dealt with the gloomy weather by opening gifts every hour or so. Santa was very good to us.
We had a wonderful Christmas dinner of scallops, lobster tail and shrimp prepared by Chef Lorenzo ... and we had a gold star day, making Bob very happy.
We spent the next day dinghying around the harbor and a few minutes in the water, and we decided to leave the next morning for Key West. We motored at 7 kts with 7 kts of wind behind us, so there was absolutely no breeze. It was HOT! We stopped the boat about 12:30 to jump into the water and arrived in Key West, anchored off Fleming Key about 2:30
What a lively town! Restaurants, bars, shopping, pretty houses and streets, lots of people. We learned that this is Hell Week; one of the busiest times in Key West is over Christmas and New Year's. We packed in visits to a few of those bars and restaurants. Pat and Maggie went on a house tour, seeing five fabulous homes. We thought we'd do it as a walking tour, but found out that the houses were miles apart. Fortunately, Jim and Judy Valentine came along and drove us in their Jaguar - not only were we lucky to get a ride, but we went in style!
The gremlins were still with us - the generator had a clogged intake, so Bob had to dive to clean it out. We were grateful to Larry for his help, including going up the mast to secure our new replacement horn.
We found a few minutes to play in the water - Maggie had to use the crab. She had bought this while in Croatia, and was going to leave it there; but Larry snuck it in his bags and presented it on Christmas Day.
Best of all, was the celebration on New Year's Eve - donned in our gay apparel (maybe not a good choice of words in Key West), a lovely long lunch at Louie's Backyard, stroll down Duval Street, and being part of the wild festivities downtown - people of all kinds, ages, gender (sometimes hard to figure out what gender!).
The highlight was standing by Bourbon Street (a bar) - catching the beads being thrown into the crowd by the people on the 2nd story porch, and watching the star transvestite sitting in a high heel waiting to be dropped at the stroke of midnight. What a scene!
On Tuesday the 1st, Bob brought Pat and Larry to the dock at 4:45a to catch their flight - ending another memorable time with them onboard SeaTryst .
That evening, the strongest coldfront in years came through - we took turns standing watch in the cockpit as the winds climbed to 36 kts and boats broke anchor around us. For hours we listened to VHF Ch 16 where we heard the Coast Guard transmission with a sailboat in distress about 20 miles away. What were they doing being out in this anyway! The wind was a steady 25-30 kts for about 36 hrs, gusting higher.
Finally on Friday, it calmed enough to get off the boat. We visited the National Weather Service to get an idea of the weather forecast and the position of the Gulf Stream, an important factor for our passage to the Yucatan. It can have a strong effect. It looks like next week will be good to leave. With that in mind, we spent the next few days preparing the boat, and Maggie's work, to leave the States.
Coming back to SeaTryst, we had the excitement of watching dolphin playing around the boat, doing jumps as though they were in aquarium show. It was the most spectacular dolphin display we have seen. They were so close that Bob could almost touch them.
On Monday we heard Slip Away call into Chris Parker for weather to sail from the Keys to Isla Murjeres, and then heard them again on another cruisers net. Maggie hailed them and it seems we'll be on about the same schedule. We'll leave Key West on Wednesday and will sail until we hit Mexico.
A new adventure calls......