fitzcatsailing: 2009

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Seaworld

Rich and Carol (Great Catsby) were back at No Name Harbor too, so we arranged to go to Sea World. Rich and Carol's daughter Chris was visiting from Rhode Island too.

A visit to Elliot Key

We visited Elliot Key next, then back to No Name Harbor in time for sunset.

Visting Bocha Chica Key

We had been to Bocha Chica before and just love it there. So, we spent another day here.

Visiting some of the upper Keys

While waiting for a weather window to go to the Bahamas, we visited some of the other Keys. These pictures are from Dinner Key and the famous city of Coconut Grove (famous for its art festivals.

Since the last post, we spent nearly a month on the hard getting the boat repaired. As it turned out, it was more complicated than orginally thought. We ended up getting repairs to the rudder, prop, sail drive, and transmission on the starboard side engine. Then as a result, and after we waited awhile for a weather window, we decided not to go to the Bahamas. However, we are enjoying the Florida Keys. While waiting for the boat, the Great Catsby invited us for a few days on their boat. Here are some pictures taken 2-2-09.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Sailing up the Miami River to have Fitzcat hauled

We sailed from No Name Harbor to the mouth of the Miami River. It was super!

The mouth of the Miami River

Traveling up the Miami river with it's many

bridges was a real challenge with one engine, delays waiting for bridges and the large amount of commercial traffic.

Fitzcat being hauled in an unusual, but very effective crane.

No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne

While waiting for the boat to be hauled out of the water, we sailed back across Biscayne Bay to No Name Harbor and anchored for the night. We had a wonderful sail.

When we arrived, we had a late lunch with Carol and Rich at the Boater's Grill in No Name Harbor. It is part of Bill Baggs State Park.

Looking out over Biscayne Bay from No Name Harbor

We did laundry at No Name Harbor. This is Carol.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

From the top of the Lighthouse at Boca Chita

There is a national park ranger, but he is only here part time. But when he came, he allowed us to go up into the lighthouse. It was quite windy as you can tell looking at Carol.

Boca Chita Key

We found out that we were going to have to have the boat pulled out of the water. The nearest place that could handle our width was Miami, and we would have to wait several days before we could get in. So, we went to Boca Chita, a small island that is a national park, and met again with our friends on the Great Catsby Here we are tied up to the wall.

What a beautiful place in Key Biscayne--so close to Miami, but yet so isolated. The island once belonged to the Honeywell family and they donated it to the national park service. Pictured are our friends Carol and Rich and of course, Don and Fitzie.

Rich, Carol and Don read about the history.

Fitzie relaxes in the shade after her long walk.

Heading North from Marathon

We headed north from Marathon with intention of crossing to the Bahamas, but Fitzcat hit something in the water and damaged the sail drive on the starboard side. We anchored with our friends on the Great Catsby, calling a diver from Towboat US to check the damage. Here is a picture of the Great Catsby

Headed into Black Point to have damage checked by mechanics.

Cruising Biscayne Bay in light winds.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Marathon

Approaching the 7 mile bridge

It really is 7 miles long.

Entering the harbor in Marathon.

There is a mooring field here for 260 boats. I never seem to tire of the wonderful sunsets

Goodlands to the Little Shark River in the Everglades

Fitzie rides in the dinghy in Don's jacket.

This was most unusual. We were sailing off the coast and saw this fire. Later, the Coast Guard announced that the Everglades Park was doing a controlled burn. We never did understand why.