More pics from the Marquesas

These are just odds and ends when we attempted to get into Mooney Harbor (wasn't going to happen from our entry point, too shallow for the dink)

Mooney Harbor, those are the eastern keys of the Marquesas.
There's supposedly a way to get it that's 4-5 feet low tide.
Of course, Tim and James want to try it with Elysium.  Boys.

When I grow up, I'm going to make my own little island.

Pelicans hanging out.

Crab dude.

Juvenile ray near the beach. 

Oddly enough, for a deserted beach, it was pretty clean.
I've seen worse as far as sea grass at nice resorts.

Abandoned lobster trap.  The last license on it was from 2009.

What is freedom worth to you?

The next morning we dinghy'd over to Tin Tin Key, when we had come in the night before, I had noticed what appeared to be Cuban chugs on the beach.

There were.  And one was 'fresh' so to speak.  Still smelled of gas and diesel and still turned over the engine as Tim found out.

For those of you not familiar with the phrase Cuban Chug, they are hand made (in secret) boats that Cuban refugees make, then without modern electronics, barely any steering and usually 10-12 people on a 20 foot boat, they make the 90 nm crossing to the United States.  According to the Wet Foot/Dry Foot policy, if the USCG finds you at sea, you will be returned to Cuba, if you make it to US territorial soil, you will be granted amnesty.

Many people who come over often have somebody ready to meet them, so they will abandon the chug and it will wash up somewheres.  For some reason, many get off course and wind up either at the Dry Tortugas or the Marquesas Keys.  Since it is US territorial land and part of Florida, they have made it.  From there either fisherman call it it or take them into Key West for processing, or a contact picks them up.

Many people are starting to complain about the chugs littering the more deserted islands.  Tim and I thought they were fascinating--imagine what these people are going through, and the desperation it took to make such a risky journey--it makes you appreciates the simple freedoms we have in life.

The rest is pictorial with my comments in the captions.

Tim in front of our 'fresh' chug.

The entire smelled of gas and diesel, was full of junk from their trip.
The life preservers were in Chinese.

All the backpacks were empty. This chug was a wood framed with
an aluminum or steel frame bolted over it.
I read they paint them blue and then have a blue tarp, so if they hear a plane, they
cover themselves and try to blend with the ocean.

It's hard to see, but those are the remains of some Cuban crackers.
Evidently having a picnic while waiting for their ride.

Anti-nausea medicine.

More anti-nausea medicine.

Large bag of what used to be rice.
I read that they used sea water and engine heat to cook.

Ruggerini air cooled diesel engine.  Evidently the company went defunct in 1999.
The web was all over the place on info.  I think at least parts are made in China now.

Below are the remains of some older chugs.  These were not as well made, they looked to more like inflatables.

First Day at the Marquesas.

I forgot to mention that after we hit our first tidal swing, we decided to make our first jaunt to shore to Honey Boo Boo Key.

We used the Torqueedo, mainly because it has been reliable, and the outboard that came with the boat has two speeds--full out and off.  We knew we would be dealing with shallow water, and didn't want to play flip the dink.

The main issue with our Torqueedo is that it was designed with too deep of a shaft that leads to the prop.  It is light, so Tim can lift it up and still steer with the prop in the water, but we eventually wound up rowing.  Tim is planning to build a booster seat on the dink transom to help this.

But, exploring a deserted island?  Priceless.

Who's a sexy boat?

My beach, you cannot have.

Mangroves, mother nature's filter

OMG. SO COOL.  Turtle eggs, already hatched, tho'.

Heading back to Elysium.

Trip to the Marquesas Keys

Since the weather was just absolutely perfect for a December, we extended our stay and journeyed out to Marquesas Keys.

Not to be confused with the Marquesas in the South Pacific, Marquesas Keys is a natural atoll (reportedly formed by a meteor) 25 nm west of Key West. Exactly 15 nm out of cell range if you are wondering. I won't tell you how I know that.

After a bout of "Where are the boat keys"-which turned into a battle of the sexes-Team Chick won with: Always look where you least expect them, i.e. toolbox.

We headed out.  Contrary to the norm, we had a beautiful ESE wind, light and variable.  Normally we'd be dealing with 20kts out of the North, at which point we would not have made the trip.

But, variable winds coming from your aft quarter makes for a boring ride.  We tried valiantly with both sails, but finally dropped the main so that we could motor sail with just the full Genoa.  The boat seemed to love that idea and settled into a nice 6.5 kts nice with low RPMs.  About 1.5 hours into the trip, even I was wishing for the North winds, it was boiling.

We made terrific time and made it to Marquesas Keys with plenty of daylight left.  Now, our first attempt anchoring the new boat.  We have a Rocna Anchor, and Tim tried to get me to lay down beside it so we could show how big that sucker is.  Add 100 feet of chain and 200 of regular rode, we have ourselves an anchor.

Now, the two cruising guides we have were horribly against the Marquesas.  But, they didn't explain why.  The Active Captains that spoke badly against it, also did not really explain why.  Please, people, explain why you hate the anchorage, not that it sucks.  Thanks to our new friend James, because without his local knowledge, we might not have made the trip.  His description in our weather conditions was spot on.

So after a quick lesson to my helmsman on how you should read the depth meter and not the chart plotter, we set our anchor.  And it just looked like it sat there.  Little wind on the lee side of the island and the tidal current hadn't kicked in yet.  Hilarious.  I, the anchoring freakout chick, was confident in our anchor--very weird.

I love this chart.  Bombing and strafing target areas.  Whoo hoo.
U.S. and their desire to bomb the shit out of atolls.
But, no atolls in this area were harmed since 1980.

Here's the satellite view if you are really curious.

So, boat nerds, both pics above are north up.  We anchored over on the west side in 10 feet of water, and I can hear the lake people's sphincters clinch over that. (sorry, too much?) In the south west corner you will see two islands.  They are not charted usually, but the north is named Boo Boo Key, and the South is named Tin Tin Key.  We, of course, renamed them to Honey Boo Boo and Rin Tin Tin. We anchored off of Boo Boo Key.

A note to Active Captains. PLEASE, describe what was wrong/right about your anchorage, not IT SUCKS.  Yes, there is a tidal current. We anchored originally true 90 degrees off of it.  We held anchor watch for not one, but four hours so we could go through the first tidal swing and see how we were doing.  If you don't like tidal swings....you are going to be very limited on where to anchor in the Keys-Florida anchoring laws be damned.  But, if you are in a 20kt norther, that would be a HORRIBLE anchorage.  We did it once off of Indian Key, the rock and rolling, wow.

We did notice that with our keel up, we were the first to swing, even before the two catamarans and one power boat there.  Interesting, must keep note of that.  

So, lovely sunset, lovely night under the stars.  The hubby brought out his iPad (read entry about tech twitch) and tried to use the Star Map app, but it doesn't work without a connection. Either he hasn't updated it to use the iPad's built in GPS, or it just sucks I don't know.  We did get it somewhat working, but I know where Orion is, and its opinion and mine were not matching.  Tried to stay up for the moon set, but I was zonked.

Night at anchor.  I did pretty good, this boat also has some stern slap, we might get a damper for it, it isn't a pounding like the Hunter had, but can wake me up.  Our folded down solar panels also block two of our most valuable hatches while at anchor (in tidal swing), we'll have to put them up or eventually move them.

Speaking of gadgets.....

Google Chromecast.  At first I thought it was going to be a big bust, two hours trying to set it up, only for it to stop talking to my iPad.  Really pissed me off.

Then Tim says, I'll give it a try.  Oh boy.  No, all he had to do was turn everything on, and it started talking to his iPad. So I tried my iPad, it worked.  Evidently, it wanted 48 hours to think about it.

So, as an owner of Google Chromecast and Apple TV....Chromecast is very good for the boat, basically it runs over WiFi--Netflix, HBO Go, ESPN Go, and whatever else you've paid for through your cable provider, no matter where your cable provider is.  If you don't have cable, you can enjoy Netflix.

Apple TV...it has its own built in processor, so it has it's own interface, there are also lots of things you can view through Apple TV (and your music) that aren't available on Chromecast. All through WiFi again.

Price:  ChromeCast $35.  Apple TV: $100.  If you want to transfer to a TV, either is good.

***

A couple of weeks ago, Active Captain's weekly Defender special was the Eartec Simutalk wireless headsets.  I showed to Tim, he immediately said: I want those for Christmas.  So, we got them for Christmas, had them directly shipped to the marina.

In a word? Awesome.  They have various setting, but you can set them for transmit/receive.  When we anchored, effortless, after the many attempts of failed hand signals, it was so nice to just talk at a normal voice. Especially on a 46 foot boat with a dodger.  Each mic has a boom cover, so Tim couldn't hear the wind at all.  However, I did hear: OH SHIT, we are in 6 feet of water. No worries, keel up.  (I swear he is doing this just to play with the keel)  However, lesson learned, stop looking at the chart plotter, look at the depth meter.

Coming back and docking, same thing, headsets on, talking through which lines I'll grab and when I have them on. And a polite, "Oh dear, please do not hit your numerous thrusters when I am trying to get off the boat."

Creature Comforts

..or this could be titled Different Strokes for Different Folks.

This has been a culmination of several conversations with boat owners, want to be boat owners, previous boat owners, sailor/cruisers, motorboat owners, etc.

Some of the conversations to me were hysterical, some almost became antagonistic, some were productive and insightful.

It's amusing that boat owners have about as many polarized opinions about boats as they do politics.

But the question overall is:  What do you want out of your boating experience?  Think of that, and plan accordingly, because every decision will affect your bottom line in your cruising budget.

Here's my answer (and if you disagree, tell me to pound sand, I'm fine with that, but before you do, read the first line again).

Your boating experience is completely going to depend on your level of comfort, whether that comfort be knowledge, security (literal and financial), accommodations.  The experience you have is what you want it to be.  If you want to be in a slip every night, more power to you--just remember it will cost, and transient slips and run pretty high, especially where they are at a premium (like Key West).

In Annapolis, I had this lovely full time cruiser ask me why I would possibly even want an air conditioner/generator set up.  To quote: "You will be in such beautiful areas, why would you want to lock yourself up below?"  Huh?  It's air conditioning ma'am, not lockdown in a Supermax prison, I can open the companionway doors and head out.

However, that being said, we are grateful we have the option.  It keeps my spouse happy, and if it gets too hot, I can get cooled down.  With a history of heat stroke and the inability to sweat, this creates a level of comfort/safety for me.  If I'm overheating, miserable and sick, I won't be enjoying the beautiful areas either.

And no, we really haven't run the a/c that much.  We have three separate units, and we have the ability to only run the area we want.  At anchor, even in the tidal swing, we have 25 glorious hatches to provide us a breeze from whatever angle.  So, having the option of a/c is a comfort.  Does it add a maintenance element, yes, so you will have to add that into the grand scheme of things. The a/c gets run back in the slip, it helps de-humidify the boat, and due to the huge hurricane boat sheds, most of wind gets blocked.

Gadgets.  We are in a technological society, we depend on our gadgets.  I have already found out that taking the spouse off of his gadgets cold turkey gets him a bit antsy.  Something he's not used to.  That being said, we both plan to work remotely, so satellite internet is in our future.  The technology is getting better and cheaper, so we will wait on that.  And no, I'm absolutely not afraid of North Korea killing off my internet.  My concern with the spouse is that he still needs to fully be ready for Plan B if our electrical system on the boat went out. He plans to start studying paper chart navigation more.

Again, in Annapolis we met some folks that said, why would you want THAT? You don't need THAT!  Well, we don't need a boat either, it would be much easier to hop on a big old airplane to the Caribbean and rent a beach house.  Quicker and I wouldn't have to worry that if a blow came up in the middle of the night, my house was going to run into the neighbors.

So, what this little dissertation boils down to is: Do what makes you happy. Hang the rest. Just realize that it will affect the amount of money you spend, the amount of maintenance (DYI or paid).  If somebody tries to tell you that you don't need something, consider their input, but if it's something YOU want to make your COMFORT better, than do it.

I admire people who want and are willing to sacrifice a bit to live the lifestyle they want.  It takes self-control and planning.  Tim and I are going on the long term approach, we won't be doing any major cruising for at least 3-4 years.  During that time, we'll probably add and dump stuff as we need.  It'll be part of the process.

But whatever your approach may be, if you decide to take the leap, it'll be for nights like this:

Boat peeps

We've met a couple of great people in the inside harbor, usually we are surrounded by little used fishing boats.  James and wife live on their boat over at the NAS, but runs a captained charter business with his Jeanneau 331.  www.sailing-keywest.com  (See, James, I told you I'd finally give you a plug!)  James also volunteered to be our boat babysitter and float plan monitor while we go out and do stupid stuff.  And yes, we will do stupid stuff, that's how we learn.  Nothing makes something stick better than an 'oh shit' moment.

David, we literally met before leaving, however, another good guy.  (I've yet to meet Mrs. David or Mrs. James).  He owns a Hunter 460 CC, big boat.

It's awesome to finally have some sailors around us.  Our other neighbor is actually a charter boat with Florida Yacht Charters (hint, hint sailor people, you could be our neighbors for a week), but David says the owner of that boat is a hoot.