Thursday, 12 March 2020 - I dropped the mooring lines at 8 o'clock sharp and joined two other boats going to Little Shark River, entrance to the Everglades. We had light winds initially, but they picked up after we passed under the Seven Mile Bridge and we headed north. A beautiful day for sailing with a temperatures near 80°F, one foot waves and clear skies. I only wish Susie was here to share it with. The other two boats were S/V September Winds with Pam and Reuel Sample on board and Mark and Charlot Switzer on the sailboat Harmony Lee. With 15 to 18 knot winds after we passed under the bridge we were cooking along at speeds in the high fives and at times over 6 knots, but, unfortunately, that only lasted about half of the 40 mile trip. After that, winds died to about 5 to 8 knots, necessitating starting our engines if we were to arrive with enough daylight to enter the river and anchor. On the way I caught a crab pot, but it apparently came off, but I was glad that both boats turned around to give me assistance. At another time I thought I had an even worse problem. I recently had Mark Brewer change out the SSB antenna on the backstay and he convinced me to raise the antenna up higher. I hadn't sailed since then and today the topping lift line got wrapped around the backstay and tangled in the antenna wire. Luckily, I have a boat hook longer than most, 14 feet, and it was just long enough to reach the line and untangle it. I'm certainly glad that happened while we were having the lighter winds. Later, while furling the jib the handle on the line clutch broke, but I'm pretty sure I have a spare. I can replace that before I have to sail again. Still, all in all a great day on the water. There weren't even too many crab pots out, so most of the day I could sail with the autopilot engaged. We arrived about 5:45 and dropped anchor right in the middle of the river, but with light winds out of the west and a strong current flowing out of the Everglades, I couldn't make the boat back up hard on the anchor line to set the anchor. I dropped 60 feet of chain in the water and after trying several times to get the boat lined up to set the anchor, I simply dropped 35 more feet of chain in the water, but the boat never took up the slack. I joked that I might as well raise the anchor because the boat wasn't moving anyway. We finished off the evening onboard September Winds with appetizers and boating stories, of which they all had many more than I do. I brought along some beer that my friends in Salt Lake City might get a kick out of since we frequented a great Mexican restaurant called El Chihuahua. (See the photo link at the end of my story.)

Friday, 13 March - It took me about two hours this morning to replace the broken handle on the line clutch this morning. I finished just as Reuel and Pam came over to get me for all five of us to go tour the Everglades in search of safe hiding spots in case of another hurricane this coming summer. There is room in here for thousands of boats, but, because of the depth that monohull sailboats draw, significantly fewer. I draw 6.5 feet and most of the channels are very close to or less than that or are too wide to afford much protection. We only found about five or six that I would feel safe in, and some of those I can't get to because shallow water blocks the way. It was a beautiful day and the Everglades are beautiful in their own special way. Simple in that they have only two primary components; murky water and mangrove trees without shorelines. The water winds through thousands of mangrove island in "rivers" that are anywhere from 500 feet across to too narrow to get a rowboat into. Many of the mangroves are 50 to 60 feet tall in places and harbor who knows how many different kinds of wild birds. We saw several kinds of egrets and herons, a pelican sitting high up in a mangrove tree at the sharp end of an island where he could overlook the confluence of several streams, and others. Unfortunately, the water is too full of silt, leaves, tannin from decaying leaves, and lots of other detritus so you can't see the bottom anywhere over about 15" deep.
                    An evening onboard Harmony Lee for appetizers and more boating tales finished off the day.

Saturday, 14 March - September Winds and Harmony Lee left the anchorage at 8 AM and by 10 o'clock I was the only boat left within sight. I stayed so I could explore deeper into the park. Yesterday, I was having a hard time seeing the charts and our track on the screen of my iPhone so I spent a couple of hours making a folding cover for it that will block lots of, but not all of, the side, ambient light falling on the screen. I didn't leave the boat until about 1:20 in the afternoon, but since I was alone, I could get the dinghy up on plane and travel two to three times as fast as the five of us could yesterday. I found several places that I think would be good to hide in during a hurricane. I would have loved to have found a channel about 50 feet wide, but anything that narrow fills in with silt and is too shallow. About the best I could find were several places that are about 200 feet across. That will take a lot of line to tie off to the mangroves when the time comes. I saw a bit more wildlife today, including manatees, porpoises, a raccoon, and again, lots of egrets and herons.
                    I, also, came across something very peculiar. As I started back to the boat, I noticed a small platform at the edge of the channel with a cylinder about 3 feet tall by 2 feet in diameter and a stainless steel box mounted next to it. I pulled over to the side. There was a very small dock and a path made of 2 X 10s on 2 x 4s pounded into the mud leading off into the interior of the island. I docked and followed the trail quite a way back in, but came to a fork in the path that had what appeared to be a push button on a cable, I thought it might be a signal to warn others of arrival. I looked around and there were what seemed to be light beam reflectors, too. At that point, I decided that I really didn't need to know what was further up that trail. I certainly might be some clandestine drug operation and I didn't want to walk in on anybody unannounced. I didn't want to push that button, either. I had at first thought the barrel might have been a water level sensor for the Florida Wildlife Resources or park service, since it had a hose going into the water and a cable leading to the stainless steel box. I opened the box and it contained a battery power supply, but I also thought that if it were something official or governmental, it would be labeled as such, which it was not. I guess I'll never know what was back in there.
                    I did clear up one thing I'd wondered about. On my previous trip here on the way to Marathon, I had seen several small, fast fishing boats in here, even after dark. We're about 30 miles from even the smallest settlement and I assumed that they were professional guides and knew the way, even in the dark, and could reach Flamingo in less than an hour after fishing till dark. Yesterday, we saw a large sport boat capable of sleeping quite a few people and assumed it was just a very well off cruiser. I passed that boat again today and it had four of the small, flats boats tied to it midday. Its name was "Outpost", and I guess it really is a base for several days of fishing for several paying customers. I now assume they fish all morning, return for lunch, fish all afternoon and return to "Outpost" to brag, eat, and sleep.
                    This evening, I studied the SSB radio again but learned little. Even if I can't figure it out, I can receive weather reports from Key West on the VHF radio.

Sunday, Ides of March - I awoke with the intention of sailing home today, but checked the weather and it indicated that tomorrow will have more favorable winds. I decided to use the early morning, which is supposed to be when the SSB radio nets operate, for studying about and learning more about that radio. I still can't receive and decode faxes and that is getting frustrating. The reception here is way better than in Boot Key Harbor but I'm still having a hard time with it. I spent three and a half hours on the radio before having breakfast at 10 o'clock. During breakfast I decided to improve my mosquito/no-see-um screening system. It works fine but uses rubber bands made of bicycle inner tubes on straight, copper pins made from copper wire to hold the fiberglass rods that support the screen in place. The bands come off too easily and, also, age and break. This afternoon I spent several hours disassembling the whole system and replacing the straight pins with copper pins that I bent spiraled loops into to hold the fiberglass rods firmly in position. I think this will work much better and there's nothing to drop off, lose or deteriorate with age.
                   About the middle of the afternoon, a couple in a dinghy passed by, then turned around and came over to the boat. They had recognized Island Time from the harbor and introduced themselves an the owners of "S/V The Lauren", a double ender that I pass by occasionally but had never met before today. They are anchored outside the small harbor here and had just returned from a short exploratory dinghy cruise.

Monday, 16 March - Weighing anchor at about 7:45 am got me started toward Marathon early in very light winds. It wasn't until about 9:30 that I got any breeze more than 4 kts. I was under power and moving at about 6 kts with the clean keel and hull. As I was about to pass the Cape Sable at the south end of Florida, I finally got 7.5 kts of wind and passed the first of many crab pot floats. It had been a beautiful, cloudless, and relaxing ride until then. It's 11 o'clock and I'm right in the midst of crab pots again. I barely have time to type this before having to change course to miss one. Sometimes they are barely 60 yards apart. Yikes, had to put the computer down to avoid one. I shut the iron jenny down when I got 10 kts of breeze and am doing a very respectable 5.8 kts speed over ground with 10 to 11 knots of wind about 70° off the port bow. Four miles north of Bullard Bank light, the wind picked up to 17 kts. throwing the balance of the sails off, so I had to furl the mainsail about 4 turns to rebalance.
                    I've been following a green cutter about my size all morning. I was catching him this morning while I had the engine running, so he rigged a spinnaker and outran me, which is no surprise. When the winds picked up, he had to drop the spinnaker and now I've passed him without the engine. In fact, I passed him quite easily.
                    After sailing at about 6 kts. all afternoon, I arrived back at Boot Key Harbor at about 4 pm and noticed on the way in that there are still about 15 boats anchored outside the harbor waiting to get a mooring ball. I'm glad I signed up for another month at the marina before I left. If not, they would have surely rented out my mooring ball before I got back.

Tuesday, 17 March - Susie is still not feeling well so we couldn't get back together. That certainly wasn't in the plans. I finished putting things back in order, or perhaps, disorder, on the boat, read one of my sailing magazines, and caught up on my email that had accumulated while I was away.
                    I had a pretty great week, so I'll get this sent out in the morning.