CruisingKatmandu

  History of Elliot Key: The Homestead Act of 1862 offered 160 acres to any citizen who agreed to cultivate, improve and live on the land for at least fivers. Two years earlier an experimental patch of pineapples on Plantation Key (southwest of Key) proved there was money to be made off the keys coral rocklands. This attractive combination caught the attention of Asa E. Sweeting, an English Bahamian who had immigrated from Eleuthera to Key West in March, 1866. In 1882, at the age of 64, Asa and his two sons, George and Thomas, sailed from Key West and found a spot on Elliott Key that reminded them of their land in the Bahamas. Asa claimed 154 acres on Elliott Key and moved there with his wife, Lillian, and five children. He later purchased an additional 85 acres. They grew pineapples and limes. George owned severals schooners to transport his produce. He also used the schooners to take mail, passengers and salvaged ships wrecked on the reefs. One big hurricane wiped out their agric...

 As much as we enjoyed No Name Harbor it was time to move further south. First we rafted up to Dani and Wayne's to unload 5 containers of fuel for them. They departed that evening for the Gulf Stream crossing to go to Bimini.               A quick raft up to deliver fuel We headed down to Boca Chica key. There's a very small harbor there that does not permit craft over 40 ft. So we anchored off Sand Key which is the next key down the chain. It's a beautiful anchorage with water so crystal clear that we can see the bottom. Florance let out a scream as she dove in the water to check the anchor. It is a little chilly at 78°. We spent three days here enjoying the snorkeling underneath the mangrove. We saw big parrot fish, blue striped snapper, mangrove snappers, small barracudas,Sergeant Majors, two 3' nurse sharks, box fish, stingray nudibranch, and so much young coral formations. Folks on a day trip were snorkeling from 2 sailing ketches, too. One e...

 We really enjoyed our 3 night stay near Key Biscayne Village and in the lovely little No Name Harbor. There is no water, fuel or electricity though.  Boater's Grill is the restaurant by the dinghy dock for the harbor. It is open to the locals visiting the State Park, too. We made plans to spend the afternoon at the pool with Dani and Wayne. But first Ben worked on the refrigerator that was on the blink  and we installed non slip under the cockpit mats which makes me very happy. before heading to the Village via Freebee. I swam laps for about 30 minutes and a worked up quite an appetite.  We were offered a ride by a new friend, Andy, in his golf cart to his favorite gourmet grocery and deli, The Golden Hog. We had a delicious supper with burgers and wraps and fresh veggies. This was a fabulous cosmopolitan deli with food products from France, Italy, Venezuela and everywhere. The extravagant cheese counter was staffed for tasting as well as the wine bar.  I ...

As the title implies we awoke after a very rough night on the anchor to three and a half foot seas and high winds. Thank goodness the anchor held overnight and was continuing to do so.  But we were getting a little concerned because we were rather close to a stone seawall. We watched the sea and wind conditions carefully until around 11:30 when we felt comfortable pulling up anchor. We had checked around and found what looked like a very good nearby Anchorage called No Name Harbor. It is a part of Bill Boggs Cape State Park. We motored over and easily anchored in a very calm and lovely lagoon. It is very protected from all sides having only a narrow entrance to get in. This is a very beautiful Park with a wonderful lighthouse. Unfortunately we're in a spot where there is no fuel and no water so we were glad that we had fueled up and watered up at the Key Biscayne Yacht Club. We were able to get out and do some serious walking along a gorgeous boardwalk beside the bay and then the o...

Leaving Lake Sylvia with good reviews, we headed out early in the AM leaving the busy port with 6 cruise ships at the dock and a container ship coming in the inlet. Monitoring Channel 16 is required by the Port Authority.  We were about 1 1/2 miles  from the beach in following 2' seas. Several dive boats and fishermen were out there and also 7 white mooring buoys. The water was beautifully clear. The skyline of Fort Lauderdale is dramatic. Yet Miami's skyline is third in the nation for number of highrises and height. The newest one being built will be 1049' tall with 100 stories! Miami's first skyscraper was built in 1925  but since 2003-2008, latter part of 2010 and now in 2022 onwards, Miami has become "manhattanized".                                        Fort Lauderdale Coastline   Miami's skyline from KBYC We saw 7 of  27 The Stilt Houses of Biscayne Bay bui...

 Really beautiful day today the temperature is finally in the 80s. We took off on our usual dinghy ride under the low, low canal bridges and down the canals to the Southport Raw Bar. Florance got her hair done while I took a nice long walk. I went back over the 17th Street bridge again. And we had lunch for the 4th time at the raw bar. After returning to Katmandu, I tested the water temperature and discovered that it was 76 and as it was a beautiful sunny warm day decided it was finally time to get under the boat and clean the bottom. This is something I've been putting off until we got to warmer water. It's amazing how much growth can be on the bottom of a boat. There was about a half an inch of slime and in that slime every imaginable small creature was living and decided to climb all over me as I scrubbed the boat. Was able to rinse most of them  off on the swim scoop with the shower back there. We had noticed that our friends on the Hawaiian named boat were gone this morni...

 We awoke to find ourselves rather close to the boat that was behind us. In fact we were close enough that the lady was standing on the bow suggesting that perhaps we should move. So being the kind and gentle people that we are we moved and found ourselves actually a much nicer site here in this Lake. It's very crowded and although it's a very nice place to be there's not a lot of maneuvering room. We realize that we're going to have to do a better job with our bridle and our anchoring. It was so crowded when we came in that I let my anchor pile up on the bottom rather than gently backing on it because I was afraid I was going to bump into someone. As it turned out that was not a very good idea so it was a lesson learned. Once we got re-anchored we took off in our dinghy to our usual dinghy dock at the Southport Raw Bar. Florance shopped in the stores for chocolate and clothes. The locals here spoke Spanish, Russian, French, German and English. I was also able to sear...