fish on!! ........... from P

It was one of those days I will never forget. I had planned on C and I going out on the local "head boat" here in KW to bottom fish on the reef for a half day. Well..... as always, C had bigger ideas. I found myself on a big off-shore fishing charter boat, trolling with five lines strung on outriggers in the Gulf Stream! Incredible. It was a perfect day. Tom the bait man (1989 graduate of Cox High in Va. Beach) was more like an offshore fishing guide, coaching us on how to land the big ones. I got lucky and landed a 32.5 lb Wahoo - Tom said it was the biggest Wahoo they have caught this year. Our little boat freezer is now packed full of Wahoo steaks - yesss! C caught a nice King Mackeral, Bonita and a Barracuda. We snapped a few pics below to tell the story. Right now we are prepping the boat for a sail to the Marquesas Islands, then out to the Dry Tortugas tomorrow.




C engaged in the fight!
















C's Bonita. A very pretty fish that you cannot eat. So he got to go swimming again.











It's a big one - what do I do Tom ?!!! What do I do ???












A little too eager to taste my 32 pound Wahoo.

C is in the air! .............. from P

I really didn't think he would do it. But he cannot turn back now. My older brother, C, is on the plane right now, on the way to Key West. Our job was to just get to the marina - not as easy as it sounds. Today was the twelfth straight day of high winds and high seas, but we crashed and rolled through the 35 mile sail today in record time. Once again, we only flew a reefed jib sail, but my GPS showed groundspeeds between 6.7 and 8.1 knots. It was great! So we are now tied up in Conch Harbor Marina, back in good ol' KW.

I am really looking forward to spending time with C. We have not spent a long stretch of time together since the early 1980s when I lived with him and his family for six months or so in Maryland. Now he is going to be stuck on the boat with us for 10 days! We are planning a long sail out to the Dry Tortugas, approximately 70 miles out from Key West. Primitive islands. Sandy beach. Crystal clear water. Good fishing. The forecast calls for tamer winds, calmer seas. If that holds true, we are going. If not, we will sail around in the Keys. K says she can't wait to relinquish her first mate duties to C. Hmmmm, I am not so sure. She is getting to be a pretty good first mate. Plus, she lets me be the captain.

blow update......... from P

It's a new record for us! The 20 knot winds kicked up on Tuesday, the 17th. Today is Friday, the 27th and it is currently blowing a steady 23 to 25 with gusts to 30 knots. No storms anywhere, plenty of sunshine. Just a constant 24 hour-a-day hard, whistling wind. Yesterday we were able to make it about 10 miles further toward Key West, then we turned in to Newfound Harbor and anchored near Little Torch Key. We cannot go anywhere today. After 10 straight days of this wind, the seas are whipped up into a veritable frenzy. Big rollers with breaking tops - no fun at all. So we will hang in here today, take care of some paperwork, read books, play a game, watch a DVD, and eat all our food.

blown away.................. from P

We had a quick, exciting sail yesterday - only about 15 miles - from Marathon harbor to Bahia Honda. We averaged 6.5 knots with only a reefed jib sail, bouncing and rolling on the 4 foot seas. It is blowing like the proverbial hounds of hell down here. We have anchored off the Bahia Honda beach once before and loved it, but conditions were different then. We set two anchors yesterday afternoon, then at sunset we realized we were dragging, so we had to pull them both up and reset. We are holding well right now. Today is the ninth straight day of winds from the east averaging 20 knots windspeed. My anemometer is currently showing 19 knots, then it goes up to 25 with the gusts. The NOAA promises two more days of this. This will definitely break our old record of continuous high winds. We had hunkered down on a mooring ball in Marathon harbor but our week was up, and it was time to head toward Key West. This is a stop along the way. We have to be in KW by Friday afternoon, as my brother is flying in to sail with us for a while. We are anchored 300 feet from the beach (in the lee) in about 9 feet of water, and we are bouncing and pitching so hard that we had to hold with one hand so that we could pour our cereal with the other. So much for getting in a snorkel trip this week. Right now we are just hanging on, and planning for another wild sail tomorrow.

rate-a-bar ................. from P

In the northeast they were Pubs. Down here, they are "places" or Saloons, or just bars. No pubs. That moniker would ascribe a much too traditional predisposition to your experience. Almost all the "places" down here are locally owned and run by the same nice, rebellious souls who call the Keys home. Their establishments are imbued with their own distinct personalities - that is, if it's a good place. There are a lot of bad places down here too, the ones with contrived atmospheres. The good places tend to be gathering spots for locals, and are often as unkempt as their patrons. But you cannot generalize. We have been in a few nice, bright, well run places where conversation is lively and the fish is right-off-the-boat fresh. We have also been in the well worn, plank floored, dark bar with outstanding food and friendly atmosphere. You just never know. So, in case you are planning a trip down the Keys, particularly Key West, I am here to lend a hand. Here is a short list of places to be, and places to flee:

Don't go there:

Hard Rock Cafe, KW. Don't worry, I didn't actually go there myself. I just thought I would start with an easy one.

Hog's Breath Saloon, KW. Big disapointment. Full of cruise ship milktoast carrying their new $25 Hog's Breath T-shirts in their Hog's Breath shopping bags. Subtract big points for having an entire Hog's Breath gift shop attached. $3.50 for a Miller Lite? Still in the can? Puleeze.

Jack Flats. Started out promising, but the Grouper was old and fried hard. Cool photos on the wall, but nothing tastes good.

Sloppy Joe's Saloon. Great history, but now it's all about selling nachos and T-shirts to tourists. You do have to go there once just because it's Sloppy Joe's.

Don't miss:

The Fish Market restaurant, Key Largo. Fresh Dolphin or Yellowtail Snapper sandwich. Go ahead and get a cup of the conch chowder too. The water tastes funny so drink beer.

Burdine's Chicitiki Bar, Marathon. Tie up to the dock, or dinghy in. You may even be able to get there by car. Not sure. Word is that Jimmy B still drops in every now and then. Great little resaurant on the second floor above the marina. The sign on the railing says "no smoking, fuel dock below." Incredible view of Marathon harbor and the mangroves. Get the fresh fish reuben with the home made fries. Wow!

Dockside at Sombrero Marina, Marathon. Happy hour daily from noon 'til six, therefore constantly full of sailboaters. The dock is crammed with dinghies from the harbor. What's not to like?

Lorelei, Islamorada. Fresh blackened fish sandwiches, live island music, and one of the few nice sandy beaches in the Keys.

No Name Pub, Big Pine Key. OK, this one is a pub. Get the smoked fish dip. And a pizza. Seriously. Then staple your dollar to the ceiling and stop trying to guess how much money is stapled to everything, everywhere.

Paradise Cafe, Key West. Other than the one I had at Little Palm Island Resort, this place has the best Cuban sandwich around. Charming. We had breakfast there while watching Obama's inauguration on the wall TV. Meet a local.

Pepe's, KW. Everything tastes good, it's not on Duval Street, and the history is rich. Say hi to the ghost of Hemingway. It takes a while to find the restroom so plan ahead!

Captain Tony's. If you read about old KW, this is the closest you will come to feeling part of it. This place has a soul. And a huge tree growing through the ceiling.

Green Parrot, KW. Rockin' blues bar with a sticky floor. Always full of sunwrinkled, bearded, smiling locals. The popcorn machine looks so oddly out of place it's cool. This is the place to dance in your flipflops.

Kelly's, KW. Be there at 4:00 sharp or you may not get a seat. The best margarita happy hour in the Keys. Gotta get the sweet chili flavored wings. Originally the first headquarters for PanAm air.

Half Shell, KW. On the water near the charter fleet. Super fresh fish sandwiches. Get the Grouper, or the Yellowtail. Or the oyster sandwich. Or....

OK you don't always have to get a fish sandwich everywhere. But I will. Grilled or lightly blackened. If you have to pay more than $2.00 for a beer, keep walking. So when are you comin' down?

William....................from K

I met William on the city bus coming back from Key West. He boarded the bus carrying an old-fashioned round cooler and lurched to the back of the bus. Tall and skinny, he seemed only focused on sitting down before he fell down. I assumed he was drunk or deranged. He stared ahead with vacant eyes. I hoped he wasn't going to ask us for money.
P & I were giggling about a wedding we had just vicariously attended from Kelly's balcony - our favorite KW happy hour of margaritas and chicken wings. The wedding was our afternoon entertainment and now we were trying to figure out the bus schedule back to Marathon. William came to our rescue. Slurring his words, he told us where and when to meet the next bus, then he exited our bus before our stop. We dubiously followed his instructions, and he was right on the money.
To our surprise, when we boarded our next bus, there was William waving at us from the back. He had stopped to have a quick visit with his daughter who worked at the KW Sears store. When P & I got settled in our seats, William and his cooler stumbled to a seat next to us, like we were old friends. His friendliness surprised me, but didn't scare me. I was used to inebriated banter in the public place of the Keys. I began to ask questions and he told me his story. Yes, he had always lived in the Keys. Yes, the hurricanes frightened him, but he had learned to prepare for them. He told me about the storm of '62 when his parents sent him to stay with relatives (perhaps he's not as old as I had guessed!). His dad, a shrimpboat captain died during that storm - his boat and body were never found. William had been a fisherman too, until a grappling hook flew across the deck and embedded itself into his jaw, setting off years of infections and illnesses. He took my hand and let me feel the hollow in his jaw left by the hook.

Suddenly, he paused and apologized. He said, "I had lunch with my son down in Key West and I had two cocktails. I'm not a drinker, you see. My diabetes won't let me." And he stared at the water cooler wedged between his feet. I felt bad that I had judged him so quickly. And who was I to judge? Eager to continue our conversation, I asked him about snorkling spots and his eyes came alive. "I volunteer at Adventure Camp in Newfound Harbor, you know. We teach kids from all over the world about the ocean and the reefs and the wildlife. We teach them to snorkle and and to care for the coral and....there's a picture of me at the camp kissing a Hammerhead shark...I tell the kids, 'don't do that!'" I laughed and much too soon, he was balancing himself to his feet to get off the bus for his home on Big Pine Island. I shook his hand and thanked him for the history and geography lessons. I should have thanked him for much more.

Our view of the wedding reception from the happy hour balcony at Kelly's.

it blows .................. from P

When it comes to weather, you can't have it all. We are loving this constant daily temp of 75 to 80 with plenty of sunshine. And when we are sailing, the constant wind almost always scoots us along. But there are some negatives to go along with the positives. I just looked at the forecast, trying to pick out a day to take Senara out to the reef to go fishing. No way. The next five days show 15 to 20 knot winds (again) out of the East and NorthEast. That's great for exciting sailing, but lousy for dropping an anchor near the reef and trying to fish, or dive, or swim. I have learned (the hard way) that constant strong easterly winds kick up a huge chop on the reef, as the swells from the 300 foot deep Florida Straights collide against the 20 foot deep reef area. Not the place to be this week. K and I tried to dive on the reef a week ago. As we neared the reef the wave action got progressively steeper; Senara's bow and stern began to take turns pointing skyward, up and down like a hobby horse being ridden hard. Even though it was one of the best diving locations in the world, we decided to turn around and sail away. No way to safely get on and off the boat with diving equipment strapped on. During one stretch of time in February, I counted nine days in a row where the windspeed never dipped below 15 knots. No problem, I'll take the tropical temperatures and sail fast in the tradewinds - no complaints there. But I would like to go fishing one day without having to hang on to the lifelines.




A pretty bank of puffy clouds blowing up around 2:00.









This is what those puffy clouds turned into this afternoon around 6:00. The good news is that I am only one of many lightning rods in the harbor!

Driving Mr. P........... from K

We're back in Marathon - home to our near-sinking disaster, but this time we're on a mooring ball and the weather is fabulous! Marathon has a terrific boating community. Each morning at 9 a.m., Cruiser's Net comes on channel 68 VHF and everyone has an opportunity to announce themselves if they are new to the harbor. Then they have announcements of meet-and-greets, DVD swaps, items for sale, hailings for help and a sailor's weather report. Our first night here, we got a dinner invitation from our friends we met at Pennekamp last month. They have a roomy catamaran and lots of activity with 2 children, a laid-back dog and a verrrrry curious cat: during our dinner of pasta and shrimp, we spied Shiraz several yards down the dock investigating the police dinghy. Apparently Shiraz has taken several swims as he explores his environs. Nothing a good shake-off won't cure!














My goal at this stop is to learn to start the dinghy engine and maneuver it competently. My first attempt at starting the Suzuki 4-stroke took several tries. One of our boat neighbors finally came out and invited us aboard since we didn't seem to be going anywhere - sheeesh!!! Once engaged, I was pretty good at directing it to the dock. Coming back was another story...lots of good-natured ribbing about Va. drivers and suggestions that maybe I needed a few more drinks. A drink certainly wouldn't have hurt my technique. But I'm not giving up - I'm determined to lick this dinghy motor. I'm tired of playing Miss Daisy - I'm ready to be Earhart of the dinghy dock.

Gotta go - we're going to find out how sailors celebrate St. Pat's Day... who by the way, was WELSH, not Irish. I learned that on the Cruiser's Net this morning.

remains of the day......... from P

I thought it was Oscar Wilde who said "Three O'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do." But I looked it up, and it was Jean-Paul Sartre. Whoever. It still holds true when you are living on a boat, sailing from spot to spot, while factoring in the weather and daylight. But - the late afternoon, beginning around 3:00 or 4:00, has become my favorite part of the day. That is usually when we have arrived somewhere, the anchor or mooring lines are set, and we can relax to enjoy our new spot for a while. It's a welcome change when the only things that require thought and planning are dinner, the dinghy, and whether or not we want to hoist the digital TV antennae up the mast to try to pick up a signal to view on our laptop. It's nice and warm now (80 degrees most days) so we have the option of cooling off by throwing a "floatie" over the stern and jumping in. The water is a nice 72-74. I am so glad the time changed, giving us another hour of daylight in the afternoon. Yes, I am usually up "early" and ready to go sailing, but I do love the afternoon down time.

K doing her floatie thing.

Afternoon anchor neighbors, behind Rodriguez Key, all of us trying to get protection from the constant 15 kt easterly wind. The island key is out of the frame to the right, and does a nice job knocking down the chop.

Time to put away the unused toys. Because of the wind and 4-5 foot seas out on the reef, the air tanks are still full, and the fish bucket is empty. Yes, I'll blame the fishing on the winds too.

New fears.........................from K

I used to tell P that my only fear was boredom. Okay, I don't like heights either, but boredom scares me more. And being married to P keeps my biggest fear at bay. P is always good for an unexpected idea (let's quit our jobs and go sailing!) or just jazzing up a dull evening by cooking artichokes and watching a bizarro video. But this sailing adventure has taken me far beyond the fear of boredom into developing fears that I didn't know existed. Last July, I set out so full of enthusiasm that I'd at least learn from our inevitable mistakes. I thought the struggles we'd meet would make me feel stronger, more confident. But instead, now I worry and fear things that haven't even happened yet - just because I know they CAN happen. Ignorance was bliss. But alas, I'm no longer ignorant of hellacious winds or vicious currents or my own nervous clumsiness.

I fear 25+ knot winds now. I fear hitting a shallow reef and ripping off our rudder. I fear docking our boat when the winds are blowing in the opposite direction of the current. I fear smashing my hand between the boat and a piling. I fear inhaling a mouthful of saltwater and drowning when we're diving. Mostly I fear that a bad experience will frighten me away from this adventure.

So, is fear all bad? I don't know. It makes me more cautious. Fear makes me better prepared and it makes me communicate my intentions more clearly. I wish I could say that facing - and surviving - frightening situations makes me feel more confident, but it doesn't - not yet. I still feel like a failure when I miss picking up the mooring ball on the first try. And I forget to congratulate myself when I leap off the gunwale and lash a piling just in time. But I'll keep trying to find confidence out here. I'll keep trying to overcome my new fears - at least I don't have to worry about boredom anymore.

P.S. - I miss you HA & MJ! I had to hang out on Pennekamp Beach with all of the Spring breakers by myself : (

Here are some of my favorite photos - the girls playing in dinghy, HA's dream home, and P fishing:

Out of Ft. Lauderdale and into the Barracudas........from HA & MJ

Part 1 by HA:
As we left Ft. Lauderdale on Monday, we motored through the canals lined with million dollar plus homes. We then sailed to No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne. On the way there we saw two Portuguese man o'wars. Once there MJ and I dinghied in. Dad and I had been here before, right before Christmas, so this time I knew what was there. The last time I was there, we didn't have a clue what was on the island because we couldn't read the cruising guide, which they still haven't replaced. The half destroyed guide became a real problem in Ft. Lauderdale when it said "Beware of the . . . " and "This bridge is really low. Its clearance is only . . ." So once again I plead with my mother to PLEASE get a new copy. So back to Key Biscayne. MJ and I walked down to Lighthouse Beach and enjoyed some fruity popsicles from a snack bar there. The packaging said "With Real Fruit Chunks!!!!" and they weren't kidding, they had even included the leaves.

Part 2 by MJ:
Sailing from Key Biscayne to Elliot Key was a beautiful adventure. The waves weren't too rough, the sun was shining, and we had a little bit of breeze to fill out our sails. Once reaching the waters around Elliot Key though, we motored for fear of how shallow the surrounding waters became. We anchored Senara and then took a dinghy ride that was about 3/4 of a mile to Elliot Key. This island in the chain of the Florida Keys is the largest island that is entirely encompassed by the Biscayne National Park. After checking out the local "beach" which was overgrown mostly by mangroves and infused with a sulfurous stench, we decided to take a trail that would lead us on an interpretive nature escapade around part of the island. There were some informative signs along the way but our biggest discovery was if you ever need a free pair of non-matching shoes, this National Park can definitely help you out. Whether everything we saw on our walk along the other side of the island was left by visitors or washed up, we are not sure. But there definitely were many interesting items to be found including toothbrushes, deodorant, buckets, chairs, and Spanish birthday balloons.
After the dinghy ride back to our patiently waiting Senara, we swam and played in the refreshing water until we got cold and hungry. Back on board, we had a few drinks, turned up the Jimmy Buffett and became his next back-up singers on spoons instead of microphones. We had some delicious grilled chicken, a few more drinks, and then swapped old time stories with P & K. HA was very interested to find out that they had once partied at the Playboy Bunny Club in NYC. The moon was also full this night and it was neat to see it rising amongst the clouds while the sun was setting across the other side of the water.
This morning P and K got up really early while HA and I were lazy and slept in. (It is our spring vacation after all.) We sailed into Pennekamp State Park and tied up at a mooring ball to do some snorkeling. The water was gorgeous and we could see the bottom all around us. We paired off and tried to avoid the local tourist boat that was full of other loud snorkelers right near us. It was amazing to swim over the reef and see all the colorful fish! There were big lone fish and schools of smaller fish. They came in all shapes, sizes, and colors. We even saw a lobster hiding inside some coral - he was huge! K and I were careful to avoid the large masses of barracuda while poor HA was dragged along by P for an unwanted closer look. After snorkeling for a bit, we relocated Senara because it was becoming low tide and we needed to look for deeper waters. Now we are anchored off of Rodriguez Key and enjoying the blood-red moon and many constellations while marveling at the glow-in-the-dark jellyfish swimming around the boat.

spring break ..... from P, HA, and MJ

Whooooo Hooooo! Spring break in Fort Lauderdale. Is it 1981? Maybe not, but when we stopped in for a margarita this afternoon across the street from the beach, it sure took me back to the day. A note about the boating scene - I have never seen so many boats, mega yachts, and mega homes on the water, all in one place. HA saw a factoid on the web site - there are 41,000 boats registered in Ft. Lauderdale. That is not a typo. More amazing, most boats I see are not even home ported here. No telling how many total acres of floating fiberglass actually ply these canals. I took a few pics as we made our way from the inlet toward downtown. Also, I have two guest bloggers below. My D#2, HA. And her cousin (K's niece), MJ. They are helping us re-live our spring breaks, lo those many moons ago.





Typical little houses and boats along the canalways in Ft. L.















Now I know where the Carrie B spends her winters!














MJ, K, and HA scoping out the spring-break beefcake.





From MJ and HA....
So, according to some reading that HA was doing this morning, "Fort Lauderdale now attracts a more sophisticated and affluent tourist, while largely ignoring the dwindling college crowd." Well, we would like to inform the readers that Ft. Lauderdale is still a top college spring break destination. We decided to take a relaxing tour of the beach area on this gorgeous day. The plan was to walk along Las Olas Boulevard, which we did, but we had the delightful pleasure of happening upon a street fair art exhibit. There were some gorgeous and interesting paintings, photographs, and glass work which were for sale if you had a very large checkbook. After passing the street fair and walking further down the boulevard, we got tired and hailed a cab to take us to the beach. We stopped and got margaritas (or water and snuck sips of P and K's), used the facilities and hopped into our swimsuits. The early afternoon was spent relaxing on the beach which was overrun with many college students playing corn hole and frisbee while coveting those all too well known red and blue Solo cups. HA and I ventured into the water which was a little chilly but also refreshing.
After sitting out long enough to have a few tender spots from the sun later, we all decided we were tired of the beach and wanted to catch the $1 a person Sun Trolley back to the marina. Well, since the street fair was taking up part of the boulevard, all of the trolleys were behind schedule because of the detours. While we were sitting at the bus stop on the beach, we witnessed a street side scuffle between some more than slightly inebriated college blokes. One of them must have been in a generous mood and started tossing dollar bills into the air and then left them strewn about the sidewalk. We waited for him to come back and claim them, or at least some other passerby, but no one seemed interested. Well, there were four dollar bills moving along the ground in the breeze and four of us who needed some trolley fare. HA was brave and chased down the bills and even ventured into the street for one... so where ever you are big, drunk college guy in the red shirt, thanks for the free trolley ride! Our feet really appreciated the break from the 2 mile walk back to the marina!
After cleaning up from the beach, we walked across the street to enjoy a 3-D Imax extravaganza about under the sea creatures narrated by Jim Carrey. We now all want to adopt some adorable sea lions which K claims resemble her childhood dog named Poochie. Now we are relaxing on the boat enjoying the view of sailboats passing through the drawbridge that we are docked next to, all full from the hamburgers that P grilled for us.

any given moment....... from P

What a wild day. The forecast was wrong... again. We just got settled at anchor in a great little lake in Ft. Lauderdale surrounded by eye-popping mansions. But to get here, we sailed through some of the roughest seas I have been in. This morning the marine forecast called for 2-4 foot seas. Well, our 37 foot boat was burying her bow into huge waves as we pitched and rolled our way out of the Miami harbor (Government Cut). It got better once we got offshore into 100 foot depths, but the seas stayed a steady 6 feet (angry and breaking), and the wind hung around 20-25 knots ENE all day. We did make some good decisions (reefed Genoa only, life vests, deep water, centerboard down). Now we have that weird, tired but exhilarated feeling of having come through a tense day in tough seas, and other than disheveled items and a smashed up tomato, all is OK. One moment we feel like we are on the edge of trouble, the next moment we are settled, safe, and enjoying an adrenaline high.

What a great little party! You just never know. My motto is "always have cold beer just in case." Yesterday, after walking around Miami Beach, we dinghied back out to Senara and noticed that a new boat had come in and dropped anchor. Lo and behold, it was flying an Old Point Comfort Yacht Club burgee (our sailing club). Before long, the skipper dinghied over and joined us on board for a little happy hour. Simon is a Dane who bought his boat in Maine. OK, that's all the poetry for today. It was great swapping stories with an accomplished cruiser, and great to meet yet another club member from home out here on the water. Simon - we will catch up with you again in the Keys!

Any small malfunction, or weird occurance, can change everything - and Murphy is a hard worker. Yesterday morning I was routinely pulling up the anchor when suddenly the anchor windlass just quit. Uh-Oh. I seriously doubted that my back would abide the strain of pulling my 35 lb anchor and 42 feet of chain out of the mud by hand. Worse, the thought of another three months of using the boat engine to pull the anchor loose, then hand hoisting it every morning was not appealing. But after only a few minutes of tracing wires, I found one loose wire-nut, tightened it up, flipped the switch, and the drum started turning once again. Moment to moment.

Murphy worked some OT yesterday. When we had climbed out of the dinghy to walk around Miami Beach, the tide was low. While we were walking about, somehow the dinghy found its way under the pier, then the tide came in! When we returned, we found it squashed under a support brace under the pier, just about ready for water to start pouring in over the squashed rubber pontoons. It was about to go down - dinghy, motor and all. I rolled up my pants, jumped in, pulled the motor off, and deflated the dinghy while trying to hang on to the pier. Eventually, we dislodged the deflated dinghy. But now, how do we get back to Senara on a limp piece of rubber? Thankfully a nice young man in a powerboat offered to ride me out to Senara to get my air pump. Moment to moment.

daily decisions ................ from P

It is morning - time to make another set of decisions that will determine whether we have a good or bad day. That is probably the biggest difference between living on a boat and living at home. Our physical comfort, indeed our well being, depends upon how we choose to deal with the elements each day - and especially during the night. We are anchored at the south end of Key Biscayne. Our only goal is to be in the marina at Ft. Lauderdale by Saturday morning. So, theoretically we have plenty of time to make a short trip. We have to sail on the outside - in the ocean - around the northern part of Miami to get around a bridge that is too low for us. The marine forecast is for 18 knot winds gusting to 23 out of the NE with 4-6 foot seas today. 16 knot winds with 4 foot seas tomorrow. The following two days are about the same, although any wind forecast more than 48 hours into the future holds no credibility down here. There are two outlets to the ocean, one is where we are now (tip of Key Biscayne), the other is the port of Miami entrance. Based on that information, we have decided to make a very short trip today on the inside, behind key Biscayne and Virginia Key to stay out of the 6 foot seas, up into an anchorage area just north of the cruise ship terminals in Miami, but just south of the too-low bridge. Then tomorrow we will exit out of the port of Miami sail up the beach to the Port Everglades inlet which is the big port entrance at Ft. Lauderdale. This can all change if we wake up tomorrow and the wind is whipping up 6 foot seas again.

Sometimes the constant drill of studying charts, pondering forecasts, weighing options, plotting courses, making contingency plans, and having to adjust on the fly can give a married couple a case of decision making fatigue. I think it was just yesterday when one of us said to the other "Why are you looking at me like I've lost my mind ?!" But I have come to believe that this is the essence of our trip. We live each day in a different environment, and in different circumstances. We have to think through the options, make the decisions, and then work together in the wind, the rain - or on a gorgeous sunny day - so that we can spend the night in a relatively safe place. Then we get up, drink our coffee, and pull out the charts again.

Journey of imagination.......from K

As I have time to think – to really delve into ideas, I realize that my imagination does not go much beyond my reality. My disparate thoughts fall into memories both good and wincing, but rarely moves beyond. Even before this trip began, I could not fathom my daily routine. Friends asked what I feared and I could not come up with an answer. My fears were limited to the problems we had already faced and survived, so why fear them now? Is lack of imagination linked with a lack of intelligence? Einstein certainly seemed to think so: Imagination is more important than knowledge.

So I sit on the bow of my boat and I push my thoughts beyond my past experiences. I play the “what if” game, trying to imagine the wildest possibilities: a whale surfacing to port and rolling our boat; a mermaid teasing me with a flip of her tail; Pat suddenly jumping ship, leaving me to captain Senara. Would I panic? No, I would do what I’ve always done, the necessary jobs to survive. I would respond to the moment, to the crisis. I would rely on myself as I always have.

So how does one develop imagination? I crave creative, unexpected ideas to entertain myself, to solve problems, to make myself – and perhaps others – a little more interesting. As I journey through my 'middle' years, I try desperately, sometimes with futility, to find my childhood life of imaginary friends who accompanied me to secret forts in the palmetto bushes of Miami, but these friends have lost their voices. To spark ideas, I purposely read diverse books at the same time. "The History of God" provides surprising allusions to my articles in Sail Magazine. Interestingly, I find more blessed spirituality in the sailing articles than Karen Armstrong’s rhetoric on religions. I open myself to authors I used to avoid, fully immersing myself in their storytelling worlds.

But alas, I realize that my obsessive reading is an attempt to live some else’s imagination – not my own. Solution: write my own imagination. This is where I freeze. Yet, if I write what I know, I ignore creativity. Do I try to meld the two? Ahhh, it’s painful to change the truth. Stephen King’s advice haunts me: begin a story and go where it takes you. That advice sounds strangely familiar... sort of like taking a sail trip. But writing is so much scarier -- because the journey is on the inside.