Rob is at the helm and the pups are taking naps in the cockpit. I’m sunning myself on the bow of the boat when I hear a big splash. I peered over the edge and I see two dolphins playing and jumping right in front of us. They swim with us for a while and I’m smiling ear to ear with excitement. I think to myself, “we have found paradise”.
Rewind 24 hours and I look at Rob and say, “I don’t think I’m cut out to sail in the ocean.” He chuckles a little bit, but only a little bit because he knows I’m not kidding.
I’ve just returned to the cockpit from securing some flying objections down below. I’m worried about the dogs. Jaela is so terrified that she’s shivering and foaming at the mouth. Baxter is hyperventilating and I’m worried his little heart might explode. The 3 – 5 ft waves in the Gulf are hitting our starboard side, causing the boat to rock very uncomfortably. I pop a Dramamine and hope it’s not too late to avoid seasickness. And I wonder, how on earth I’m going to deal with this for the next year.
What a difference, 24 hours and about 20 mph in wind speed makes. We spent a total of three nights in Naples. One night anchored outside the $5 million mansions and two nights on a mooring ball at Naples City Dock. $10 a night was a good deal. We had easy access to the dinghy dock and to downtown Naples.
We had our Valentine’s Day dinner at Old Naples Pub (the Pickle Bar) and enjoyed some relaxing time off the boat. As always, we spent a few hours doing some boat maintenance, while we monitored the weather. After reviewing the weather forecasts, we decided we would trek down to Marathon on Tuesday and Wednesday (Feb 16th-17th). We planned to leave bright and early on Tuesday morning, but some unexpected thunderstorms made us scrap that plan.
We left our mooring ball at 8:30 on Tuesday morning. Now while the winds had calmed down, the seas were still stirred up from the thunderstorm. As we exited Gordon Pass, we had about 3.5 foot seas. The waves were very frequent, causing the boat to rock considerably. It was at this point that I started worry about the dogs and started feeling pretty discouraged about our choice in transportation for this adventure. But luckily, within an hour, the seas calmed down and we were able to bring the dogs up into the cockpit. Once in the cockpit, the pups calmed down and napped.
By the afternoon, it was smooth sailing. Because of our late start, we decided to anchor out at Indian Key in the Everglades. We read that there was a beach we could dinghy to and thought it would be great for the pups, since potty training on the boat isn’t going well. The anchorage was beautiful and besides from a few crab boats that passed by, we had it all to ourselves.
We took the dinghy to Indian Key where we planned to explore and kill a few hours before dinner. However, we were instantly swarmed by a thousand mosquitos. Needless to say, our stay was short lived. Back at the boat we enjoyed a mosquito-less dinner and a nice sunset. We called it an early night, because we knew we’d be leaving early the next morning for Marathon.
We took the pups to shore at 4:00am on Wednesday and prepared the boat for our first sail in the dark. It’s a pretty eerie feeling to sail in the pitch black and have little visibility. We used a spot light to find the channel markers and to look out for crab pots. We were happy to see the sunrise about an hour later and the pups were even happier, because that meant they could join us in the cockpit. The winds were light, so we had to motor sail. The waves were non-existent and you could tell it was going to be a beautiful, smooth sailing day.
I’m going to petition the Olympic committee to get crab pot dodging added as a sport. I know the perfect training course. A couple of trips between the Everglades and Marathon and you’ll be a pro. At first Rob and I were pretty militant about spotting crab pots. “Crab pot at 12:00.” “Crab pot at 11:40.” But a couple of hours and a few thousand crab pots later, we gave up calling them out. Instead we took turns at the helm avoiding the little buggers. Hitting one would mean that we risk getting the line wrapped up in our prop and we definitely didn’t want to deal with that mess.
It was while I was on a crab pot dodging break when I watched the dolphins swimming at our bow. I’m sure seasoned sailors are used to this sort of thing, but it was a pretty magical moment for me.
Things could not have been going any smoother. It was 4:30 and we were nearing the Seven Mile Bridge in Marathon. This meant that we would have plenty of daylight to find a decent anchorage and take the pups to shore. We had planned it perfectly. Then our engine died right after we crossed under the bridge. We had traveled over 200 miles and the engine just couldn’t make the last 5.
Rob quickly changed the fuel filters and bled the fuel line, but no luck. I opened a view port on our diesel tank and verified that we had fuel. With the sun setting and us stopped in our tracks in the middle of the channel just after the bridge, we had no choice but to call for a tow.
Luckily we had just purchased Boat US Towing insurance. What would have been a very expensive ordeal, didn’t cost us a dime. Jared from Boat US towed us into the Boot Key Harbor and helped us find a place to anchor. We then had to endure a very long dinghy ride in the dark in order to walk the pups. It was not how we had envisioned our first night in the Keys. But at least we made it safely.
It’s becoming very obvious that this adventure will be full of highs and lows. But one thing is sure, cruising is never boring.
It’s probably a fuel problem. Good luck.
It was a fuel problem. We were correct to change out the filter and bleed the line at the secondary filter. But we didn’t get all of the air out of the line when we bled it. The next day we learned that there is another bleed nut downstream of the secondary filter on the high pressure injection pump. After bleeding it at the second location, she fired right up. Another learning opportunity for us :).
It’s probably a fuel problem. Good luck.
It was a fuel problem. We were correct to change out the filter and bleed the line at the secondary filter. But we didn’t get all of the air out of the line when we bled it. The next day we learned that there is another bleed nut downstream of the secondary filter on the high pressure injection pump. After bleeding it at the second location, she fired right up. Another learning opportunity for us :).