Regatta & Round Trip between Biscayne & Key West

Coconut Grove Sailing Club Commodores Cup

New Spinnaker, new'ish crew & a windward-leeward race on Biscayne Bay netted Lasata 6th place. This simple fun club race was a great time on the water and a good learning experience. The crew; John Stein, Kristin Parsons, Stacie, and me handled a fouled Spinnaker and two late starts with a minimum of stress.

Before the race, I had some time to put together our crew shirts,

Awards Ceremony
After the day of racing, we were treated to a keg and some awards back at the club. Tying Lasata to the dock, starting the Air Conditioner, and resting for the evening before we embark on our round trip to Key West. Though sixth place didn't warrant a prize of any kind, we had a good night of meeting some new friends.

Key West Trip
Day one of our trip to Key west, we were able to do some practice Spinnaker sets and had two interesting events. The first event was that a small private Cessna crashed into the water just a few miles behind us. The second was a crazy lightning storm near Duck Key.

At approximately 11pm we were heading to a rush anchor job near Duck Key to batten down and hang on through a fast passing, very exciting lightning storm. Though we dragged anchor a little more than a 100 feet, we dragged in the correct direction. Simply a matter of luck; giving us the opportunity to learn something about weather positioning. We are now well aware that we need a weather eye and constantly updated contingency planning for weather.

Wake up & run to Key West
Waking up at 2:45 am and making the final run to Key West was a joy and though we motor sailed most of the way, John and I were able to spend a few hours sailing at a good speed. Arriving into Key West 12 hours later, we were at Margaritaville having a couple of Loaded Land Shark beers. At one time this was a favorite and traditional way to start the Key West experience. ...Not feeling it so much anymore.

Sleepy Key West evening
As John went out for a walk into town, Stacie and I couldn't help but lying down for a long nap. I'm sure it made for a very atypical Key West visit, but it's how we seem to be doing it this way everywhere we go lately. Sailing just takes it out of us, boaters midnight has become a normal way we spend our evenings.

Oil Change, refuel, and ready to go
After a good breakfast, we headed off to get supplies for our oil change and prep the boat for the 24 hour return to Coconut Grove. I guess I should have drained the Fuel/Oil separator, it would have helped the engine 14 hours later in the trip. It seemed we were starving the engine, and a quick drain-off of the resivouir had the engine running well enough, but I was a little too late for us to regain full power.

Looks like I'll be changing the fuel filters in Coconut Grove.

Can't wait for our next Key's adventure. Maybe we'll have more than a weekend?

Upgrades, Overhauling, & What Next?

Years of enjoyment and ownership requirements

After many years of ownership and enjoyment, Lasata has undergone what I'd consider a series of major improvements, and as of a month or two ago a major refit. Not withstanding the sad news of the "newer" Cheeki Rafiki, the decision to do the upgrades and maintenance on Lasata was borne of my very own paranoia. Basically, a concerning indicator of a 1/4 inch gap at the rear 5 or 6 inches of the keel joint, and a consistent under-powered performance on the ICW and many inlets has forced my hand at the following upgrades.

As of June first Lasata has had her mast un-stepped and stepped twice, hauled and inspected three times, a new Yanmar 3YM20, and what I call a "Keel-Job". Last year Lasata received a set of new standing rigging and for my piece of mind that was enough then. This year before going to the Bahamas, Lasata received a new DSC registration, a new EPIRB, and a minor keel repair. Returning from the Bahamas we finished the Keel Repair and decided after worry at inlets (many of them) causing us trouble entering without full sail, a new engine was also in order.

Here are a few shots of our re-fit and near complete rebuild:

These are a little out of order, but it should give a slight idea of the amount of work done on Lasata over the past few months. Don't forget we also have a complete electronics upgrade, interior upgrade, and Standing Rigging upgrade. Our new survey shows just how much we've done; the surveyor found only that I don't have a fire extinguisher label on one of my cabinets, no high-water alarm, and finally no smoke detectors...
Not bad for a 30 year old boat. Oh, and it is valued for at least as much, if not more than I paid for her more than 12 years ago!

Two months in the Bahamas
We're home; back in Florida, after just over two months in the Bahamas. Any more time would be too much and any less would not have made the trials of the trip worth the effort. We now have a little different perspective on what a clear-water anchorage looks like, and what bad customer service is. Never mind the conveniences we take for granted here in the states; like great internet and phone service, inexpensive and readily available groceries and incidentals. It sure is good to be home!

That said, overall the Bahamas is a real gem. Getting away from places like Nassau and larger cities catering to wholesale tourism like Cruise Ships, Fishing excursions, and Gambling, can take you to a largely untouched wilderness. Finding smaller villages along the way, like Black Point, Staniel Cay, and Bimini were a reminder of simpler times and how we have it so good in the US. We will certainly remember these places fondly.

It's our hope that we will not need to remember for too long, as we are looking forward to our trip back next year. With plethora anchorages and islands, we're sure to find new places as we revisit familiar places. Our new found knowledge will certainly make the trip next year even more memorable in a more distant future.

Beyond Nassau

Stopping to see the Iguana's at Allens Cay
Leaving Nassau our intentions were to head directly to Normans Cay. This place was home to a ruthless Drug Lord in the 80's and has an Air Strip. Considering it is mostly privately owned, I wasn't hopeful to get into shore, but I thought it'd be interesting to wonder about the planes and their passengers as they landed on the secluded island.

It wasn't to be, mostly because I didn't want to make it a long day, and want to finally "enjoy" a little Island Time. Allens Cay was the answer. Again having absolutely no services on the island, this was going to be a sightseeing mission only. With it's resident Iguanas on Leaf Island, and the two notable very large yachts on the horizon, this was a nice respite for the evening.

While taking some pics of the Iguanas, we met the crew and charter from, I believe was the Lady S motor yacht (http://lady-s.rentabo.com/). Based on what I see, that means these people paid nearly a half million dollars to go to the same place we just motor sailed to for a few dollars. Well, at least they were served champagne and Heineken on the beach.

Just before this shot was taken Dan Snyder Heineken in hand, owner of the mega yacht, and the Washington Redskins walked by with barely a glance. Little did he know, I wouldn't have known who he was any way. Eventually, Bruce Allen walks by and stops for a chat, before being ordered away by Dan. Again, not knowing a thing about these people, I noticed the Redskins Polo Shirt and wasted no time in mentioning Stacie's friendly dislike of the Redskins.

After getting back to the boat, I decided to look the Lady-S up, and a quick Google search revealed who these guys we were experiencing the Iguanas with were. I guess I should have mentioned one of their 80 year old fans too.

Emergency Relay
The following morning we got ourselves underway for Staniel Cay.

Along the route just south of Normans Cay, or original first day destination, we heard a frantic call to the local park ranger office. The poor woman probably not knowing that her handheld VHF just wouldn't cut it. She attempted many times to locate a Doctor and requested emergency medical attention. "Pokey Hokey" a trawler, while anchoring or possibly pulling anchor we're not sure, snatched the owners thumb with it's anchor windlass (most likely).  We were a ways away and couldn't render direct assistance, but there were boats on the way. It seems the injured was dinghy lifted off the boat and taken to the nearby airfield on Normans Cay for a flight to the Hospital in Nassau.

Anyway, good deed accomplished, and off we continued to Staniel Cay. .

Shallow Staniel Cay
Entering Staniel Cay was challenging with it's shallow approach. I guess we should have looked at the tides? Albeit I think it's better to arrive on a rising tide versus a lowering tide. After running aground more times than I care to admit, we were snug in a narrow anchorage near the SCYC. Ready to make the best of a couple days here to do some of the typical sightseeing and tourist things. Like feeding swimming pigs and diving Thunderball Grotto.

Feeding pigs and Thunderball Grotto
So after a quick visit to look around:
Little did we know (yet again) we'd run across "Seven Seas" the Steven Speilberg yacht, as we made our way around to see the swimming pigs. Ahhh, what a life, hobknobbing (or at least being in the same breathing space) as the big-wigs

Black Point Settlement
<more to come>

Busy times, but now in Nassau 

So it's been just a little more than three months since the last posting. I guess time flies when you're having fun! 

So, the short of it; we've made our way down the ICW from St. Augustine, finding our way to Hollywood Loggerhead Marina. Staying here for a couple months, for repairs and to visit friends and family, we left for the Bahamas from Biscayne Bay at No Name Key on January 27th. The crossing was made to Bimini in a long daysail with a few boats in the group taking advantage of the weather window. 

Having met with some friends who we left back in St Simons Island, GA and getting into the groove of the Bahamas, overall our time in Bimini wasn't without challenges. For example, we lost our brand new GoPro camera when we tried to do some snorkeling with a new friend. We felt a little ripped off by the local computer supply shop owner. We snapped our dinghy sheer-pin in the middle of the night crashing our dinghy into the beach (ocean side). 

Needless to say we were completely ready to leave Bimini and put this behind us. Trouble is, we had 15+ knots of wind and steep waves on the nose for the first 80 miles of our trip to Nassau. As such, we continued to have little mishaps along the way. For example, we left the forward hatch open in steep waves allowing for a large amount of water to enter the v-berth soaking our bed, and some clothes. Adding to that, I hadn't changed the Fuel Separator filter and Fuel Filter for more than a year, and just when we needed it most, the engine lost power forcing us to sail in large tacks before anchoring for the night. 

Luckily, we are seeing the brighter side and I feel like the trip is going to start shaping up famously soon. We spent a nice evening at anchor in West Bay, where I checked out the keel and did some swimming around the boat. Everything looks good, and the small crack in the aft end of the keel looks completely manageable.

I'll be adding some pics to this post, so check back. 

In Turquoise Water (mostly)

Intermediate Destination In Sight
It's been a while since leaving St. Augustine and we've covered a good amount of ground. We've stopped at a variety of Loggerhead Marinas along the way including; The Loggerhead Marina at Vero Beach and Loggerhead Marina at Lantana. We've made our "home base" at Loggerhead Marina Hollywood, FL for the past month. As luck would have it, I have a Contract to Hire offer at a local software company (within 3.5 miles of the marina) so I'll be keeping up with work. If things go well, I'll be staying on provided they are okay with my remote work requirements.


Preparations!
Stacie now has a new passport, the boat is registered in Florida, we are registered with the CBP through SVRS and DTOPS. So, from an official perspective we're ready. Additionally we've added a new 250 Watt Keyocera Solar Panel, a 200 Amp Hour Lithium Ion house battery, a new 1000 watt true sine inverter, an AC transfer switch, and a cool battery monitor system. Possibly a bit of overkill, but I'd really like to anchor out more than staying in marinas while in the Bahamas.

Next, we will be installing the new foot blocks which were disintegrating rapidly on our way down the coast this trip. Finally we'll be doing the normal Maintenance on the Engine; thankfully we will not be guessing as much with our new Engine Hour meter!

A week in St. Augustine

A short but memorable stay
As previously noted, we arrived in St. Augustine a week ago. Our visit here was a departure from most of our previous stops. Though we can't find much to complain about with respect to any of our stops, we (or at least I) found this stop to be the most pleasureable.

After a horrible experience with Enterprise Car Rental, we opted to
walk away before I did something I regreted. Finding a Avis car, we had a great two days with the car and got a ton of good running around done. The Avis owner was courteous and very professional, albeit intense as he was ex-military (retired). The car and running around was good and productive but not the purpose for the good visit in St. Augustine.

St. Augustine and the St. Augustine cruisers Net made me feel at home and over all the town felt like it could be home. Not so fast though, it seems this place does this for a number of people, and we met quite a few who either cruised by and came back and never left, or just couldn't or wouldn't go any further. One of whom were from California, and even others who were from New Zealand; putting down roots enough to found a local college.

To do in St. Augustine
If arriving by boat you have a few choices in marinas; the City Marina at St. Augustine, where the Cruisers net seems to be focused, Hidden harbor, for an inexpensive visit overall, and River Bend, convenient to the big box stores and the theater. In any of these places, the peopel are likely going to be freindly and very helpful.

While here a trip to the Lightner Museum and the Fort are a must do. The town square puts on a Christmas lighting event, and has a pretty cool fleamarket. The side streets are dotted with lots of local art galleries and other museums, including a Spanish War Hospital. Though we didn't partake, a train tour and horse and buggy ride seem to be a great way to get a sense of it all.

Maybe we'll make this one of our regular stops?