Sailing to the Florida Keys XII

Monday, December 12, 2011

Leaving Marco Island
Destination:  Cape Sabel
Left at 4 pm – Night Sail
65 Nautical Miles
Estimated time of arrival: 8:00 am
Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Well, we left Marco Island in the best of spirits after having been there since Friday, December 9^th.  We stayed there for almost three days because there were some bad thunder storms we were waiting to pass. 

I was very apprehensive about sailing at night but since there was going to be a full moon I wasn’t too worried.  We left Marco Island at 4 pm and headed out to the Gulf of Mexico where we headed south.  During the three days that we were at Marco Island, Keith worked on our GPS plotting out our course to Cape Sabel.  Getting out to the gulf was no problem since we still had some daylight with us.  I was at the helm while Keith was raising the sails and setting them to so that the wind would fill them and give us the best possible speed without heeling too much. 

The Gulf, as on all of our previous trips heading south was rough.  The waves kept knocking us from side to side and let me tell you, it is not a very comfortable ride.  A wave will come from our left side…rock the boat to the right, then knock us back to the left and so on…once in a while the boat would surf the waves, it was really cool when it would do this, unfortunately it would not last long!  It was like a roller coaster that goes from side to side instead of up and down. 

Then the sun set!! There was total darkness all around us.  The only thing I could see was the lights way off in the distance behind us of Marco Island and nothing but inky black all around us.  It was unnerving to say the least.   I was afraid to look up at the bow of the boat…to see where we were going, but there was nothing to see…just a pitch black wall of nothing!!  I would imagine that this would be what a blind person would feel, if they ever got behind a helm or steering wheel of a car.  Out of their depth, no pun intended!!  So, I concentrated on looking at the compass…making sure that I was following the course that Keith had set up.  Now, on all of our trips south, Keith and I have never really got into any arguments or squabbles…I am the helmswoman and I follow what the captain told me to do.  But on this one occasion he got a little snippy with me and kind of yelled at me…can you believe I don’t remember now what it was we “discussed”?? LOL!  That’s because it wasn’t that important.  I vaguely remember that it was about the course….the course he plotted put a red mark on our GPS.  The GPS has a compass that tells us if we are going 180 degrees which is south..Etc…BUT, the boat’s compass was not aligned to the GPS compass.  Anyway, we quickly got over that.  No biggie! J

It was a longgggg hour between when the sun set and the moon rose.  But, wow…when the moon began to rise in the east it almost looked like the sun looks when it sets in the west.  Once the moon rose it was amazing!  We could actually see the waves instead of just hearing them right before they crashed against our boat and I wasn’t afraid of looking forward towards the bow because there wasn’t just a black wall!  I could actually see the horizon, faint, but I could see it!  Also, the moon shimmering on the water was beautiful.  I tried to get some pictures of the moon, but it was a bit difficult.  I also tried to get video of the moonlight, shimmering on the water….don’t laugh, but it does sort of look like an ultrasound of a pregnant mother, LOL!!  Try not to think of it that way when you look at it ok?? Wish you would have been here with us to see its beauty! 

After several hours of being at the helm with darkness all around us my neck, shoulders, shoulder blades and arms began to complain!  I was holding onto the helm so hard that I began to have pain shooting up and down my arms, and a burning sensation in my neck, shoulders and back.  But I held onto that helm!  Wouldn’t dare let go, our life depended on it!!

Throughout the night Keith and I took our turn at the helm.  At around 2 am when Keith took the helm I went below with Maxi, laid down and poof…went to sleep!  LOL!  It was bound to happen!  I was only asleep for about an hour before Keith woke me with a start!  I would hear him call me and I’d jump off the main cabin’s bench and stumble around like a drunk person…makes me laugh just thinking of that!!

The rest of the night was uneventful.  If it weren’t for the darn waves it would have even been a pleasant sail! 

I was at the helm at about 5 am.  We were motor sailing so that we wouldn’t go below 4 knots.  If we went below 4 knots it would take us twice as long to get to Cape Sabel.  So, at about 5 am all of a sudden we went from 5 knots to 2.5 knots.  The engine was still working and the wind had slowed down.  The wheel felt heavy and when I turned the wheel it made a squeaky noise.  I called Keith and told him my theory….I do believe we were dragging some Crab Pots!!!  Those crab pots were like anchors, slowing down the boat!!  We are no where near land, the waves and wind have NOT died down at all!  So, we went ahead and pulled down the sails, threw an anchor out and put the engine in neutral.  Keith climbed down from the boat into the dinghy so he could look at the rudder and sure enough…they were there!! Poor Keith, he had to get wet reaching way under there to get those crab pots out!  And I am in the cock pit telling him, “pull one of those crab pots up, for our trouble”!  He tried!!  But we were in 30 feet of water and he was not able to.  We were both happy anyway, once we were crab pot free, happy that there wasn’t something really wrong with our boat…just some dumb crab pots!  Once free of those we were able to once again continue our journey to Cape Sabel without another incident. 

We arrived at Cape Sabel at about 8:30 am.  It was windy and cloudy and once again it wasn’t what we expected!! Oh well!!  Once anchored we got in the dinghy and took Maxi out to potty.  He was such a good boy all night, no whining or anything!!  He slept all night in the cockpit and below with one of us. We took him out to the beach, he did his business, we came back to the boat and went to sleep!! 

Stay with us…as we discover our New Horizons!!!

EL

I tried and tried getting a good picture of the moon but it was futile...

I just couldn't get a good one...but I got this video and it doesn't do

the beautiful moon and moon light on the water justice!!