Friday, 21 August - As I mentioned last episode, with two storms headed north, one near the Yucatan Peninsula and the other coming straight at the Keys, I headed north to Little Shark River again today. The current prediction indicates it may roll right over me but at least here no other boats can damage me and I believe the 50 to 60 foot mangroves and narrow channels through them will afford significant protection from the winds. Because the channels of the river wind around so much, there should be virtually no waves. The longest fetch, or distance of open water where I will anchor is only about 200 yards. Theres just no chance for waves to form in that short a distance. The only thing that worries me is the fact that I wasn't able to get my furling mainsail down off the mast. That may be a problem. The sail here today was pretty nice, although not sunny. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the lobster fishermen have removed most of their traps from Florida Bay because of the storm. High waves move and tangle them. Since Tom Krueger helped me remove my staysail and genoa, I had to motor to get here and I made it in eight and a half hours. I had plenty of time to take advantage of the high tide and go all the way in to my proposed anchorage, however, I didn't have time to set out all my anchors and the channel is too narrow to only use one anchor. I might swing into the mangroves with a tide change or a few puffs of wind. Since I couldn't anchor there for the night, I backtracked about a mile and anchored in a wide spot where about 7 channels converge. It will be nice here for the evening. With a 12 mph breeze I'll have no mosquitos or NoSeeUms. I wish I could leave the boat open this evening, but there are rain showers predicted. I'm sure I'll sleep well. Even though there weren't many lobster pots out, there were a few so I had to stay attentive all day long. No time to relax, and I still had a couple of close calls. Hitting a lobster pot float could stop me dead in the water and take considerable time to remove in open water, or even damage my prop and drive line. Speaking of that, not only were the porpoises out to greet me at the mouth of Little Shark River, but so were floating logs, limbs and all kinds of other debris floating out of the Everglades because of the high tide flowing out. Even though I backtracked to anchor I still had just enough time to launch the dinghy, reinstall the engine and reload the gas tank to save some time tomorrow. I'll head back into my anchorage as soon as the tide rises enough to get in. With Island Time's deep draft, there are several spots that I need the high tide to navigate.

Saturday, 22 August - No rain showers last night. I could have left the boat open. Nothing till I was up at 6:30 to try the SSB again for weather, then it rained about 8 o'clock just as I was weighing the anchor to move back to my intended anchorage for the storm. It's a good thing I got an early start. I had one heck of a time figuring out just how and where to try to put the first anchor down today. As I mentioned about two episodes back, when I was here last, the anchorage is in a slight bend in the channel, so it has an eddy. That puts me out of the main current, but it makes it hard to get the anchor down in the right place. If I get a little to far in one direction the current is running in opposite sides of the boat are running in opposite directions. It would be much easier with someone at the helm while I'm dropping the anchor. As it is, as I try to glide the boat to a slow stop in the right spot as I run from the helm to the bow, the wind or current easily turns the bow off my line. I dropped the 80 lb. Sarca Excel anchor near the middle of the river to keep me away from the mangroves and immediately got it tangle with the Delta and spent about a half hour fooling with that, then moved over and dropped the Delta plow anchor. When I walked back to the helm, I could see the alignment was wrong, so I retrieved both anchors, looped around, and reset both, this time in a better spot. Next, I got two hundred and fifty feet of anchor line into the dinghy and arranged it so that it wouldn't tangle as I backed the dinghy away from the stern of the boat and readied the 45 lb. Delta anchor on the bow of the dinghy. I backed away from the boat and got almost to the end of the line that was attached to the boat and realized that I had about fifty feet too much, so I had to pull myself back to the boat with the anchor line while piling it neatly it the bottom of the dinghy, shorten the line by about 50 feet, then start over. I'm afraid if I deploy the 66 Bruce anchor, I won't be able to get it up, so after that, I assembled the Fortress 27 lb. aluminum anchor that I store below the flooring in the aft cabin and took it out into the river. Again, I had misjudged the distance and had too much line. The two hundred feet of line I had would have put me clear on the other side of the channel. Since I had attached a float to this anchor to indicate where is is located, I went ahead and dumped it overboard, then rushed to the boat and pulled in the extra line as quick as I could to keep it from tangling on the bottom of the river. I should mention that it was so hot that about every twenty minutes, I had to guzzle down a half liter of water to cool down. I finally finished tying off two more lines into the mangroves about 4 pm and took a break for lunch and to cool down and rest. I have been amazed, until about six o'clock, I hadn't seen any mosquitos or NoSeeUms, even while spending about an hour and a half up in the mangroves to tie the boat off. That was sweet. Today's work would have been extremely miserable if they had been as bad as on the last trip. I got a few lines and tools put away this evening, then retired to the saloon to cool off in front of two fans, relax and type this up. I, also, got on the SSB and made contact with the net controller on the Doo Dah Net, and asked for weather info on Tropical Storm 13. Evidently, they have changed the name to Laura and it is expected to pass on the very west edge of the predicted cone of probability and actually pass west of Key West, so I guess I've made this trip in vain again. When I mentioned that to the net controller, he said, "Well, it's better to have a gun and not need it that it is to not have one when you do." My sentiments exactly, but this sure is a lot of work. Tomorrow, I get to sleep in and I need it. I didn't sleep well last night, anxious about getting in here in time to get all the anchors out and worrying about thunderstorm rolling through and making it harder to finish on time. It did sprinkle a bit today, but only briefly and I had light winds, too. I was never in danger of the boat blowing into the mangroves before I got the outside anchors out.

Sunday, 23 August - Since the storm I was hiding from is apparently passing well to my west, I've decided to not try to pull down my mainsail or take the propeller blades off of my wind generator. Getting the mainsail down was going to be iffy anyway. A ten mile per hour puff of wind could blow it off the bimini top and into the river, even if I am extremely careful. Just not enough hands on such a big sail. However, the storm that they are now calling Laura, and I think was Tropical Storm 13, is still south of me, so I'm not in a hurry to weigh anchors yet. I found this info during a two hour session on the SSB this morning. Unfortunately, that information came as a voice transmission, not a weather fax. I still can't receive a readable fax, and that is a big disappointment.
                    Rain showers here in the Everglades come without warning. One minute it is bright and sunny, the next, it's pouring down rain; sometimes with breezes, sometimes not. It starts pouring and just as I get the boat's portholes, hatches and windows closed or dropped and zipped, it's over. At least so far. The next two days may be quite different. From what I can tell, even though Tropical Storm Laura is passing to the west, which puts me in its northwest quadrant as it passes...and that quadrant gets the most rainfall and wind, it should arrive sometime late tonight or tomorrow morning.
                    I wonder if the big difference in volume of mosquitos and NoSeeUms has anything to do with the number of dragonflies in the air here. I didn't notice any last time and this time there are lots. Maybe I'm noticing the dragonflies because I mentioned to Susie last week that the dragonflies eat mosquitos and NoSeeUms and that may have simply made me more observant. What ever the reason, I'm glad there are considerably fewer. I went into the mangroves again today with just my bathing suit on because it's hot, and they didn't bother me at all. I needed to trim some low hanging branches that could possibly chafe my lines to shore. Then, immediately after a brief shower and when the breeze lulled, the NoSeeUms and dragonflies were both out to the boat. Instead of spraying insecticides to kill the mosquitos, and killing most other insects, too, perhaps we should be breeding bats and dragonflies.
                    I opened up the engine room this afternoon and checked the oil, coolant, and transmission fluid levels, and all were good. I was really glad because it would take about an hour and a half to dig all the lines covering the cache of fluids and put them back. I also checked the hydraulic fluid level under the aft sleeping space and it was fine, too. It used to leak, but my repair of about a year ago is holding up well.
                    With virtually all the storm preparation done, I have time on my hands so I've gotten about a third of the way through "H.M.S. Surprise", a book that my brother, Mike, sent me awhile back written by Patrick O'Brian. It's number three in a series of twenty. You may have seen a very good movie called "Master and Commander" starring Russel Crowe, a few years back based on the first book of the series. While reading the book today, I added a few nautical terms to my web page of terms at the link below.
                    Oops! It's raining again, but this time I have my water catchment system installed. These showers may be the outer bands of Laura, but since I don't have internet access here, I don't really know. I sure miss the instant gratification of having Doppler radar at my fingertips on my phone.

Monday, 24 August - There's still a good chance I'll see some significant wind. The breeze started moving the tree tops at about 10 am and after having listened to VHF Weather Radio channel 5 from NOAA this morning I see that Marathon is expecting winds in the range of 40 to 50 miles per hour, but they haven't been told to evacuate. That's less than 50 miles away, due south, so I'll be getting some of that, too.
                    I decided I'd better pull the blades off the wind generator after all. I was thinking I'd have to climb the radar arch and stand on a very precarious perch while unbolting 9 bolts, but as I loosened the second bolt on the first blade, I realized that if I removed each blade, I'd have to rebalance them, so I took the whole hub and blades off as a unit. Much easier! Since the blades only rotate in one direction, there's no reason to even have a retaining nut on the rotor spindle. All I had to do was hold the spindle to loosen the hub, then spin it in reverse to come off. I, also, realized that I'd better move the Honda generator from the bow to the aft deck in case it stays so overcast that the solar panels won't maintain the charge on the batteries for the next couple of days. Obviously, the wind generator won't work as a backup in this situation. Twenty minutes after I took the blades off the generator, the winds picked up again and a real, but short-lived downpour began, along with enough breeze that I had to close the boat up even better, this time snapping all the snaps on the lower edges of the dodger. Even though I think I've already done everything I can to be prepared and keep my boat safe, about every hour, as I wait for the storm to truly arrive, I think of one more thing that might help. This time it was to tie up the dinghy even more securely. I don't want in on the davits because that would surely add more wind resistance to the whole rig, so I have it tied to the shore-side of the boat. I realized that, if it actually does get really windy, that it might flip over, so I secured ropes across it so that it can't flip away from the boat and short lines holding the near side of the dinghy so that it can't get any lower, thus not allowing it to flip all the way over toward the boat. I, also, tied the engine of the dinghy directly to Island Time so that if things go terribly wrong, I won't lose it to the river. There was one small scupper that drains the foredeck that was plugged, too, so I cleared that.
                    Each time today that the wind has risen and/or the rain began to fall, I thought Ok, here it comes; but it hasn't. I suppose I'll not see this storm. It is now dusk and the ibis are gathering, flocking to their roosts as they do each evening and, although it is gusty out, this is no storm. I suppose it will arrive in darkness and I will merely feel and hear it when it arrives. Marathon and the other Keys, especially Key West have been, according to NOAA, having winds in the 25 to 40 mph range today, moving northwest at 20 mph, all afternoon. I thought it would have reached here by now. So far, all I've gotten is a few puffs, a few downdrafts, and one inch ripples on the river.

Tuesday, 25 August - According to NOAA on the VHF weather channel, any danger from Tropical Storm Laura passed during the night, so I can start reversing the measures I took over the last few days. Here in the river channel, I don't think I experienced any wind more than 15 mph or wave more than an inch tall, but the storm certainly didn't pass near me at all. I'm sure when I return to port others may say, "See, you didn't need to leave after all," but they'd be wrong because before the storm, we didn't know its course or how severe it would be. Hindsight is wonderfully accurate. I wish I had it in advance.
                    The seas are still a bit rough on the outside, but the main reason I won't be weighing anchors today is that high tide was too early today, or rather, should I say, low tide in too early today. I might not have had time to get all my anchors up before low tide arrived, blocking me from leaving since there are spots in the channels that have less than six and a half feet of clearance for my keel, so I need the extra water of a high tide. This will give me time to get a few other things done in order to sail again. I'll move the generator back on deck, reinstall the wind generator blades, and, maybe, reinstall the staysail. Reinstalling the genoa by myself is out of the question, it's just too big to handle even with the minimal breeze there is here. Fuel - 63 gallons.

Wednesday, 26 August - Up at 6:15 to have breakfast and get started as early as I can. By 7:45 I had the two shore lines freed, coiled, and onboard, but the tide was still coming in so I couldn't release the aft line and try to get that anchor up, it was too taught. I realize that I had a little time to wait, then, also, realized that there was absolutely no wind, so here was my chance to reinstall the staysail. By 9 o'clock I had it up and furled. Before the sun came up, the NoSeeUms were out in force so I had to put on a pair of scrubs pants and T-shirt, then cover the rest of me with insect repellent, but as soon as the sun came out and dried the wings of the dragonflies, they were out to the boat in droves to help battle the NoSeeUms. The tide chart indicated that high tide would be at 7:30 this morning but at 9:30, the tide was still coming in slowly. That's not all bad. It postpones the time that I can release the aft anchor, but gives me more time to get all of the anchors raised and get to tonight's anchorage. As I mentioned before, I need the high tide to get out of here. At 10 o'clock the the tide finally topped out, then started back out and by 11 o'clock I had the aft anchor up. The aft, midstream anchor was holding me away from the mangroves so I was able to take the time to take the Danforth anchor back to the boat and get it on deck, then, after a half liter of water, I headed for the mid-stream, Fortress anchor. Last time, I had used a 5 lb. High Tensile Steel Danforth in the same position, but it pulled up so easy that I couldn't believe it was holding at all, even though the boat didn't move. With more wind expected this time, I went for the bigger anchor, but when I went to pull it up, it came up awfully easy, too. There was certainly a world of difference between pulling the 43 lb. Danforth up and the 27 lb. Fortress, although they are shaped very similarly. It's not just lifting them off the bottom, the hard part with the Danforth 43 is getting it out of the bottom. As long as the Fortress holds well, that's great. I pulled the two bow anchors easily today and headed through the maze of channels toward the mouth at just about noon and had just barely enough water under me to make it over a couple of shallow spots, arriving near the mouth of the river about 1 pm. I dropped the bower anchor midstream in a wide spot just inside the mouth of the river hoping the extra breeze and the longer distance to the mangroves might help deter the NoSeeUms. This spot is about 400 feet wide compared to the previous anchorage's 200. Now the closest I can get to shore with 100 feet of chain out is about 100 feet, compared to the constant 50 feet I was for the last few nights, but I suspect the tides will keep me pretty well centered here. It's definitely breezier. It's a joy to work out in the hot sun here compared to the last few days. I sweat just as much, but, here, it does some good because the breeze cools me.
                    The rest of the afternoon was spent coiling 50, 100, and 200 foot lines, disassembling and stowing the Fortress anchor under the sole of the aft cabin, stowing the 43 lb. Danforth and its rode, removing and mounting the dinghy's engine on the stern rail mount, putting the dinghy on the davits and securing it, and installing the mooring lines for when I get back to Marathon.
                    I noticed while working today that although I'm only three and two tenths of a mile from where I have been for several days and only four tenths of a mile closer to open water, there are some significant differences other than the river being wider. Where I was for several days, I never saw any large marine wildlife. Here, in just one afternoon, I saw two large manatees and watched a cunning dolphin repeatedly corralling fish and chasing them into a narrow, shallow side channel to make catching them easier. Also, at the other location, the mangrove trees at the edges of the water overhung the water, hiding the root systems. I had to cut my way in to attach my lines. Here, very few, in fact, almost none of the mangroves overhang the water and all the edge of the water is lined with mangrove roots, visible at both high and low water. I wonder what causes the difference.

Thursday, 27 August - I got up early again this morning to head back to Marathon. I cooked breakfast before sunup, put last minute items in place for sailing, weighed anchor at 8:10 and headed out the river to sea at high tide. Marathon was almost due south and that's where the wind was from, so I had to motor once again. I traveled until about noon before I saw my first lobster float, which was wonderful. I even got managed to read a couple of short stories from one of Mike's books, having already finished "H.M.S. Surprise" and a collection of short stories by Mark Twain. By one o'clock I was seeing plenty and had to really stay alert to avoid the floats, however, the lobstermen must be placing the traps at their farthest locations first because they became fewer and fewer as I approached Marathon. I was really amazed, however, that just north of the Seven Mile Bridge, right in the channel, were two strings of pots; one stretched across the channel at 45 degrees, making it significantly harder to slip between the floats. Who ever put them there is, in my opinion, a total idiot. I came through in the daylight, but if someone comes through after dark, and someone is bound to, they are bound to hit them. That could damage the boat and will certainly destroy the float line, leaving the lobster pot to continue catching lobsters for eternity, and the lobsterman won't know where they are. What a waste.
                    I arrived back at my mooring just after 6 pm, stowed things away and went to the dinghy docks, where Susie picked me up and we had delicious burgers cooked on the grill at her house.

            Until next time.

                        "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S. Thompson

                                          Rick