Boot Key Harbor Life

Since our last post, we’ve been enjoying the warm weather of the Florida Keys, prepping for our trip to the Bahamas and meeting new people in the “neighborhood.”

Kaleo at anchor in Boot Key Harbor, taken by our neighbors aboard SaltyPaws

• Regardless of our plans for the day, each morning at 9:00 a.m. we tune into the cruisers’ net on VHF channel 68. The net is a radio gathering of all the boats in the harbor and are moderated by a net controller. These organized sessions are intended to welcome new arrivals, bid farewell to those departing, share information and local announcements (like yoga at 10:00 at the tiki hut, SSCA lunch at Hurricane’s), allow other boaters to request help on a projects, routes, etc. and facilitate a “treasures from the bilge” exchange, (a buy/sell/trade/give-away session). They wrap up with a challenge (trivia) to try to stump the harbor and any final business. All very informative, entertaining and a great way to start the day.
• On the net we heard about the weekly “meet and greet” for Wednesday evening. Everyone brings a dish into the marina and we all spent some time getting to know each other. It was there that we connected with Deana and Troy on Storyville and Steve on Anchor Management who are also from Kemah and are headed to the Bahamas on the next window. We’ve enjoyed getting to know them, are looking forward to making the crossing together and hanging out once we’re in the Bahamas. Watch out lobstas, Deana’s got her Hawaiian Sling ready for ya.
• While the boat is stocked to the brim with provisions, we have been taking advantage of the convenient walk to the grocery store to pick up some fresh foods.
  There’s also a West Marine within walking distance, so we stopped in to get a Bahamas courtesy flag (a boat must fly the courtesy flag of the country it is sailing through) and a few other final items.
• Saturday evening we stopped by the cruisers’ concert (heard about it on the net) to listen to our anchorage neighbors Bentley and Jim, on SaltyPaws, play for the crowd and Troy, on Storyville, who belted out a few acoustic solo sessions for the gathering.
• It wouldn’t be cruising without a little boat work which included Christie going up the mast to replace a flag halyard and shipping home our spinnaker sail (a large downwind sail that takes up a lot of room and rarely gets used) as well as replacing the fresh water manifold, remounting the WiFi antenna, changing the oil, zincs and fuel filter and adding straps to more easily lift the dinghy’s outboard motor. Ah, we even used a marina cart to haul that sail to the post office where Christie managed to hitch a ride on the cart part of the way (we looked like quite the sailor bums down the sidewalks).
• We got geared up for going under with new fins, masks, snorkels and a wet suit from a nearby dive shop.
• Our digital camera was lost to the depths of Marathon Harbor after a slippery mishap handing it down from the boat to the dinghy. It was painful to watch it sink (like a brick) but thankfully we had just ordered an all-purpose (waterproof) digital camera so the memory capturing will continue uninterrupted.
• Much of our time has been spent watching for a weather window to cross to the Bahamas and preparing for the actual passage. We’ve been doing our research as Kaleo will have to cross the Gulf Stream. The first big leap in getting to the Bahamas is crossing this “ocean river” that runs northward with at least 2 knots of current. The Gulf Stream can either be a benign and helpful current or a rough and hard sail in heavy seas. In planning the crossing you have a number of factors to consider: wind speed, wind direction, sea state, optimum crossing angle, vessel speed, day or night voyage, season of the year and preferred arrival destination. Whew – lots to align for an ideal crossing.
• Two afternoons have been spent meeting with other Bahamas-bound cruisers to swap weather notes, GPS waypoints (specific points along the route we sail towards), anchorage and check-in information. While about 12 boats attended the meeting, the final count for tomorrow’s departure will probably be 6-8. While we are all taking the same route, each vessel will leave at a different time depending on their boat speed. The slower boats leave first, the faster ones last. Kaleo is right about in the middle. We’re as prepared as we’re going to be and are ready to head out tomorrow.