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This is Steve writing from the Upper Florida Keys on 2/17/10.
It’s been two months since Ginny and I launched Thurston, our modified Sea Pearl 21, on our shakedown cruise. Starting at Pine Island, near Fort Meyer, FL, we sailed south along Captiva and Sanibel Islands, and stayed around Marco for four days. We filled our tanks there (18 gallons) and created a system for Ginny to steer by pulling lines while Steve rows. Then we continued into the Ten Thousand Islands, where we got wholloped by the cold snap that killed so many fish and reptiles around here. We holed up for ten days on uninhabited Panther Key, part of that time in the company of some West Coast Trailer Sailors.
When we finally cleared out of ever-friendly Everglades City, it was with the prospect of a long stretch of remote mangrove coastline before we could provision again. We caught an out-going tide to worm our way our of the inner bays since we have no motor. Once we reached the open Gulf again we had good sailing to, and great camping at, Pavilion Key. Pavilion is exemplary of the many keys where it is possible to get out on dry land, be it only a sandy spit that deteriorates into mangrove. Always nice to stretch the legs! We usually run out one anchor forward and another aft, boat parallel to shore, and tie a third line sideways to shore to pull ourselves onto land. We sometimes dry out at low tide, which is OK except it requires advance planning if we want to be able to leave at a given stage of tide. Other times we have anchored in mangrove coves or creeks.
Due to contrary winds it took us four days to round Cape Sable, but in the process we got to know such choice places as Graveyard Creek, Little Sable Creek, and Lake Ingraham. One hot day I emptied everything out of Thurston, stood on a gunwale holding a mast, and tipped her over to see what would happen. Once she passed about 60 degrees there was no stopping her from turning turtle, until the mastheads hit the bottom, seven feet deep. But since water couldn’t enter the cabin she floated WAY high. I couldn’t right her with the masts in place, but I had little difficulty pulling them out while swimming. At this point the buoyancy of the cabin, rather than the masts, prevented her from turning all the way turtle. She lay at about 135 degrees. If I climbed up and stood on the high gunwale she would rock over to the other side but she wouldn’t right. I tied a docking line to a leeboard axle, stood on the opposite gunwale, and leaned back on the line. She righted! Only about a cup of water had entered the cabin, perhaps from around the main hatch. With our 400 pounds of drinking water, food, and gear locked onto the cabin sole, Thurston would be much harder to capsize, and easier to right. That’s good to know!
On 1/25/10 we reached Flamingo, the National Park headquarters at the northeast corner of Florida Bay. Rather than sail south to Marathon we decided to sail east across the Bay. The chief challenge here were the many shoals that criss-cross this skinny water. Never has Thurston’s shallow draft come in so handy! We ran aground on and off all day. Each time we either pushed our way through or backed up and went a different way. Finally, at dusk, within sight of Islamorada (Plantation Key), we got stuck such that only remedial action at a wee-hour high tide could we free ourselves. We slept until midnight, moved the boat 200 yards, and went back to sleep in deep water.
Islamorada is a small city that includes several of the Upper Keys. We had many repairs to make. First we anchored in shallow water next to Founders Park where we could wade ashore. They kicked us out. Then we anchored where we could wade to a street end that serves as an informal boat ramp. This was good for a week, then the Islamorada cops kicked us out again. “Go out there if you’re a liveaboard,” they said, indicating the bay by Lorelei’s Restaurant where a dozen craft lay at anchor. But we don’t have a dinghy and we’re always having to go to stores or the library. So we moved again, this time to a forgotten canal on the Ocean side of Windley Key, next to a forested tract with an abandoned house. Somebody called it “the old hippy boat yard.” Nobody bothered us, and we got a lot more work done. Following are some of our creations while in Islamorada:
* A system of hooks and bungees to fasten our two Danforth-style anchors and rodes to the foredeck.
* Little shelves in the four corners of the cabin to hold things like headlamps and glasses.
* Cable and locks to secure the cabin and lazarette when we go ashore.
* New rowing footrests for better ergonomics.
* New foam inside our cushion covers (the original Dryfast foam didn’t hold up).
* New solar panel, our old one having given up the ghost.
* Re-enforcement where the mizzen mast step passes through the deck. It had leaked a liter of water one day while we pounded to windward at Cape Sable.
We are travelling slowly because most of the time we are refining the boat. We are a mobile boat shop, with a quart of West System 105 and a canister of colloidal silica on board at all times. Imagine living with another person aboard a Sea Pearl. Now imagine constantly working on her at the same time. Kitchen utensils on top of woodworking tools on top of life jackets! Now picture the location, having to wade through mud or mangrove roots to get to solid land, with occasional rain or insects. It’s truly a test of our patience! Sometimes Ginny would rather move on than undertake yet another building project, but I argue that a little more seaworthiness and stowage convenience are worth striving for up front. I promise her yet again that soon we will be free as birds!
A candid word on sanitation. We don’t have a holding tank or port-a-potti. We dump liquid wastes discreetly overboard, but not solid wastes. The authorities are very concerned about feces in the water, but evidently no law requires a holding tank aboard a boat this size. In some harbors, however, they make you sign a statement saying you will have a holding tank with thru-hull fitting installed within a certain number of days, no matter what the size of the boat.
Today we arrived in Marathon, a major cruising and liveaboard haven. Somebody just gave us a free dinghy! Soon we’ll come to the end of the Keys. After that we still don’t know what we’ll do! But options abound. This is exciting!
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