Key West

Well we had to see the sights so we headed out for Key West, the bus was FREE and we love free so off we went. We got up early as the bus ride is 1 1/2 miles, after all it's 50 mile down route 1. We had lot of local entertainment during the ride and enjoyed the people watching but the less said about that the better.

We went to the Little Whitehouse where the former Presidents would stay for vacations. Then we went to the Mel Fisher museum as our friends Susan and John used to dive professionally for treasure and told us so much about the finds. Then we went for a mid-morning snack of conch fritter which is a must have in the keys, they were delicious. Then we took in the sights of Duval street and window shopped at the gifts and souvenirs. Fortunately on the boat we have no space for little trinkets particularly breakable ones. Then we visited a couple of art galleries as the cruising couple we were with knew a Key West artist and wanted to see his work in a local gallery.

We then met up with a few more cruisers and went to lunch at Amigos, a lovely Mexican restaurant and the food was absolutely fantastic, perhaps some of the best Mexican we have had. These chickens are really brave sitting outside restaurants and they are all over Key West just strutting their stuff.

Then of course being cruisers we had to visit West Marine for parts, but none for us! We did manage to find a nice pole spear for Santa, he wants a fish or lobster dinner! The trip was not complete without Ice Cream and we enjoyed a little feast before returning for the bus home. We managed a quick photo in Captain Tony's while we were here for our friends who love Jimmy Buffet too.

We wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a joyous New Year.
Devin & Liz.

Map trial - work in progress

Well it's been a week out now and I guess since so many people like visual pictures we'll try using google maps to show you all were we have been.

Try this link too see our route so far : http://goo.gl/maps/i2wXh

It's work in progress so please bare with us. We'll try to improve our mapping skills as we go. I understand you can add pictures and comments to our route, maybe we'll learn that too.

Everything in Marathon is great, we got our propane refill today, we carry 2 tanks so we get it when one runs out. We are looking at a weather window early next week, possibly Tuesday, but it's called a forecast because they are not guarantees.

We plan to visit Key West Saturday by bus, so we'll keep people posted.

Fair Winds
Devin & Liz.

In the Atlantic!

Wow, Moosetracks is now in a different piece of water, the Atlantic Ocean. We arrived in Marathon this afternoon following a overnight sail from Fort Myers beach. Weather doesn't look good to cross so we might be here for Christmas, well there are worse places. They have internet and everything else a good marina should have.

First sunset on passage

Well we had a great sail for most of the journey south. The late evening had a drop in find strength so we motored for several hours then stopped as we were getting ahead of ourselves, the wind filled back in at 3 a.m. and we sailed on through. Early in the morning we tried to fish and caught a Spanish Mackerel the first try! Luck is on my side!! Now my fishing buddies on Lucky Dog will not be impressed but considering it was a hand line at 6 knots in 16 ft depth it not bad and more than enough for dinner for 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest was plain sailing as they say. We arrived between 2 British boats. Seems a lot of Brits are over here cruising this year this is the 4th boat we’ve seen in a week. We are nicely settled and ready to rest after the overnight.

Sail under Route 1 into the Atlantic

Will blog again soon.

Devin & Liz.

Sunset

We stayed the night anchored off Ding Darling park on Sanibel Island. It was a lovely sunset as can be seen from our photo.

It was a peaceful night with no wind, but in winter months this is fine as the cabin is still cool. We watched a movie and tucked in early for a dawn departure.

As we came through the miserable mile it was plain motoring with no wind but a fair tide. We made Matanzas pass around 9am. We call for out going vessels and met this pair on the way in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't get shot at but I don't think you want to mess with these coasties!

Had a very successful day at Fort Myers beach getting some parts and laundry done. The repairs are done and we should be off this afternoon. Just one more shower luxuriating in the plentiful hot water and we are all set :-)

Fair Winds

Devin & Liz.

On our way

Well we are on our way!

Moosetracks left St Petersburg Municipal Marina on 12/12/12/ @ 12:12 as planned. There was a small gathering of 14 people on the dock as we pulled away from our slip. Terry and Alma did post a short video of our exit on youtube which you can find here Moosetracks Video

Our first stop was the Manatee river where we met up with Friends on Dulces Suenos, LuAnne and Lyman. We also met with Friendship who want to buddy boat with us to the Bahamas, Seldon and Jackie got in late so we met in the morning. We all left bright and early. Dulces Suenos left for Sarasota and Moosetracks and Friendship left for Longboat key. Nice easy stuff to get started, after all we are cruising now!

In Longboat we set plans for the next hop. Seldon had some charging issues and work on canvas he wanted done so he opted to leave starting for Marathon. Liz and I wanted to taker our time so we headed for our favorite anchorage on the west coast - Pelican Bay on Cayo Costa.

We had the most wonderful sail down the Gulf at 6.4 Knots average speed over 60 nm also hitting 8.5 knots at one point. What a great ride. We were early in Pelican Bay and settled in for dinner.

We have a small repair we found on the cockpit scupper hose so we decided to go to Fort Myers Beach for a replacement hose. We found a mooring ball and decided to split duties, Devin cycled to West Marine and Liz did laundry. Well turns out West Marine closed that branch, but the guys in the laundry knew and offered Liz a ride so they caught me on my way back and drove us 20 miles to the new store! Cruising sailors are really a extremely nice bunch and thanks Braid.

So we now plan a jump to Marathon, weather looks like we might leave tomorrow so we’ll be blogging again from there.

Fair Winds

Devin & Liz.

Bon Voyage Party

Well thanks to all our cruising and boating friends for a wonderful Bon Voyage party last night. We feel truly blessed  to have been part of a truly fantastic community and we will miss you all tremendously.
Here are a few photo's we took..

A Banner event

Great Friends

Great food and weather

Thanks so much to Julie and Rick Peterson of s/v Believe for herding the group and organizing such a wonderful party. We really appreciated the words of advice, wisdom and truths that everyone shared and we will treasure your comments in our book.

Fair Winds & Calm Seas for all of you too!
Devin & Liz

Going to the boat show

We are just off to the Boat Show here in St Petersburg. Hopefully we don't spend too much but more importantly we can't fit anything else on Moosetracks so I wonder if they sell more WATERLINE!

The Boat show update...

We talked at length to Bob and Norma Morris at the authors corner, we have a lot to be grateful for in meeting Bob and Norma several years ago on their IP44. They were a great inspiration and helped us tremendously in our preparations. Bob was having a great day and sold out of his book! http://boatnuts.net/

We also spent time chatting to Dee Dubin who has helped us so much since they returned to St Petersburg after their circumnavigation. Rob was busy getting Ventana their IP40 ready for sale so we'll catch him tomorrow. http://www.sailingvideos.com/

We sat on a wonderful IP460 and chatted with Bob Johnson and Bill Bolin of Island Packet. Thanks for making such wonderful boats. Bob thinks he makes them too strong as they all survived Hurricane Sandy and found safe places to rest afterwards ;-) www.ipy.com

One of favorite artists was at the show, Liz has almost all Eric Stone's albums. We partied the night away with friends and enjoyed the free beer and pizza courtesy of Cruising Outpost - thanks to Bob Bitchin !

Time is getting short now but we know after Thanksgiving that the boat is ready, just need to finalize some land based commitments and we're off.

Devin & Liz