On Our Way to the Keys

(Note: You’ll read a lot about food in these posts. Yes, we love to eat! But I can’t always remember what we love to eat. So, I’m also using this blog as a food journal for provisioning. Pretty ingenious, right?!)

11/14 Saturday – We left DeSoto Pointe and had a nice day motor-sailing for about five hours, making good time to the Crow’s Nest Marina in Venice. Admiral Tanya did an admirable job (nice pun, huh?) pulling Casstaway up to the fuel dock and doing a figure 8 maneuver afterwards to get us into our spot on the long dock. Said hello to our surprise new neighbors Dave and Jackie Cox (longtime friends from Noblesville) and their BIG power boat. Ted and Jan Mast (also longtime friends from Noblesville) arrived on their power cat Double SS on Sunday for one night, so it was a small and very quick Indiana reunion.

After tidying up Casstaway, we left her at the marina in order to spend Saturday and Sunday in the T&T Suite at the J&J B&B (John & Jackie’s Bed& Breakfast). John grilled steaks on Saturday and made yummy chicken thighs on Sunday. Great Bloody Marys as always. Did several loads of laundry and picked up grocery provisions. Todd also primed our brand-new ice maker!

11/16 Monday. Once again Admiral Tanya made a smooth marina exit. Todd grew concerned that I was a little too hot on the throttle and sure enough – I was. Seems our dashboard instruments decided to take a temporary break and the RPMs weren’t registering. Hey, Tanya felt comfortable, so what if Todd was  clenching. It was a beautiful, sunny day motor-sailing most of the way to Charlotte Harbour. Crab and lobster traps annoying as hell, necessitating a constant game of dodge-pot. Left Venice at 9:30 am and dropped anchor in Pelican Bay by 2:00 pm. Ted and Jan followed shortly thereafter. Galley-wench Tanya made spinach ravioli with Italian sausage tomato sauce, once again in the IP.

11/17 Tuesday. Winds in the low 20’s mph and rough seas. Ted and Jan decide to make a run for Burnt Store, which they later said was a wild ride. We opted to stay in Pelican Bay and wait out the next few days of windy weather. Todd replaced our bilge pump just for fun and Tanya decided to do some things to clean out the fridge -making both hard-boiled and deviled eggs, and an instant pot gumbo for dinner. Brewed iced tea since we now have plenty of ice, yay! The next few days were lazy ones. Friday the 20th was a beautiful, sunny day so we took the dinghy to Cabbage Key and had a nice (pricey) lunch and strolled around. Saturday evening we dinghied over to Jim and Jolene Shoop’s (friends from Regatta Pointe) beautiful sail cat for snacks and cocktails.

We left Pelican Bay on 11/23 Monday – a chilly and very foggy morning. Destination the Mantanzas Mooring Field in Ft Myers Beach. Ball 15 at Mantanzas was to be our home for 2 nights, with a pump-out scheduled for Wednesday morning before our departure. On Tuesday 11/24 we went ashore on a search for coffee and ended up having Bloody Marys and people watching, then a little shopping and exploring before burgers and fries for lunch. Wednesday 11/25 we hung around the boat all morning waiting on the pump out service. No show. After being promised that it would definitely happen tomorrow, we headed back to town for lunch – an early Thanksgiving treat since we plan to pull anchor tomorrow morning (after rescheduled pump-out) and head to Marco Island.

11/26 Thursday No pump ‘til Friday! So, once again we splurged (it is Thanksgiving Day after all) and found a small coffee shop in town. Bloody Marys at La Ola (our new favorite).  Lazy day back on the boat sunning, drinking, napping. For Thanksgiving dinner Todd grilled Teriyaki boneless pork chops, and Tanya made cilantro-lime rice with green beans and Browned-butter sage carrots.

11/27 Friday Finally! Got a pump out!

11/28 Saturday Headed to Marco Island. Gorgeous day. We arrived in Smokehouse Bay (thanks to Steve and Sher Smeltz for the recommendation) after a meandering entrance though residential areas. Seemed a little strange to be motoring Casstaway basically through folks’ backyards.

On Sunday we enjoyed lunch at Mangos (thanks to Perry and Angela Covey for the recommendation) and a quick walk to Winn Dixie for fresh produce. Afterwards we headed back to the boat for a Zoom-event call with family. That evening we grilled pork loin with zucchini and peppers. Tanya made lemon basil spritzers to use up some of her quickly growing basil.

We really loved Smokehouse and offer a few suggestions to those who might follow us:

• The Winn-Dixie dinghy dock is fixed – if you go at low tide you will have a ladder-climb to reach the dock.
• There is a long dinghy dock that runs along the front of the Esplanade. Pull in anywhere except in the marina slips near Mangos, which are reserved for larger boats.
• Mangos serves both lunch and breakfast until 2pm on Sundays.
• The Esplanade is an easy walk to almost everything you need – restaurants, pharmacies, groceries.

On 12/1 Tuesday we left Smokehouse for Rose Marina – another pump-out (better safe than sorry), fuel and water. There was no one to help at the pump dock but Todd managed the lines well. After the pump-out Tanya aced backing into the fuel dock. The deck hand was way too easily impressed and asked if I give lessons! Spent the night at anchor across the river from Factory Bay. Tanya used up the leftover pork loin and fresh veggies to make stir-fry with brown rice.

12/2 Wednesday On to Indian Key. Gorgeous day. Motor-sailed the first half of the day then into the wind. It was chilly so Tanya made chili (White Chicken), my first attempt cooking dinner totally underway to take advantage of the engine power to run the Instant Pot.

 On 12/3 Thursday we headed to northwest Cape Sable. Todd grilled sirloin and Tanya, once again, used the IP – this time to bake potatoes.

12/4 Friday. On to Marathon. Motor-sailed with reefed sails most of the way. It was a bit of a harrowing trip – cold and windy. Tanya was in full winter gear sitting in the princess seat trying to watch for crab and lobster pots. Captain Todd described it this way in his Ship’s Log notes:

Today marked the opening day for the crab pot/lobster trap trade show with every sales person displaying their floats in the Gulf of Mexico. Also on hand were experts performing how-to seminars (tons of fishing boats). My tracks thus far have gone right over the 12ft contour which is apparently the golden honey pot for fishermen. In future going to track further East away from contour line and see if that’s any better. Not quite at full high season so can only imagine this will get worse until May 2021.

Tanya cooked again in the IP while under way – whole wheat penne pasta with meat sauce, green salad (used the last of the fresh produce) and rosemary cracker sticks.

Finally! We cross under the 7-Mile Bridge and arrive in Marathon! Twenty-two months since our last sight of the Atlantic.

12/5 Saturday night was pretty comfy at anchor. But Sunday night was a wild and rocky ride with very little protection anchoring outside the Marathon Marina entrance and winds in the high 20’s mph it was like going through Eta again, but without the rain. Tanya bounced on the master cabin bed while Todd was on-watch in the salon. Tomorrow night is supposed to be just as bad, so Todd arranged for us to come into the marina early. Unfortunately, the marina switched our slip assignment and neglected to tell us. So, Todd had all the lines and fenders set on the port and we ended up back in our old slip from two years ago – number 5 – which is a starboard tie slip. Fast thinking and action by both Todd (with the lines and fenders) and Tanya (at the helm) managed to get us situated safely.

Monday 12/7 – Thursday 12/9 Lovely stay at MM. On our last night Tony Maselli (another friend from our days at Regatta Pointe) treated us to a yummy dinner at the marina restaurant Lazydays South and we had great fun reminiscing – lots of salty sailor talk and adult beverages.

Friday 12/10 Tanya backs down a crooked fairway to the sling for our haul out. Very smoothly done until the sling catches on our rudder and things go a little askew – even the bow thruster couldn’t help with that. Fortunately, the sling was quickly lowered by staff and any potential mishap was avoided. We then said our temporary goodbye to Casstaway – she heads to the hard for a bottom job, while we get on a plane and head to Indiana for the holidays.