Marina Life

For just over a month now, we have adapted to a new way of life.  We have become marina “live-aboards”.  No longer just “cruisers”, for the first time in our journey, we have settled into the regime of marina "live aboard" life.  Where there are many similarities to life ashore, there are enough differences that they are worth some reflection.

What follows is a short look at the good, bad, and the ugly as we have experienced marina life in this, our new capacity.  It is perhaps a good time to reflect on this topic, as we are now getting ready to cast off from this place and head to Key West and then on into the Gulf of Mexico to finish this year’s cruise. 

The Good

1)      Second Wind is not just a place on the water where we endlessly pour our money.  But it is also a place where we are forced to immerse ourselves into nature.  Docked in our slip, our stern faces northwest and looks across Community Cove into the mangroves.  The water is so clear that we are able to watch an abundance of sea life under our boat.  Sea birds surround us and perch on adjacent boats.  Cormorants spend their days fishing off our stern. And herons fish along the shoreline totally indifferent to us. A boat is the perfect platform to commune with nature.

 

2)      There has always been something magical about the water itself.  During the day, in different light and weather, it changes in character.  Sometimes the water is smooth and sedate, and at other times dark and stormy.  It sparkles, shimmers, or turns foreboding in response to changes in weather.  We live aboard totally connected to the water and its moods.

 

 

3)      Live aboard life has allowed Cece and I to get active.  We spend our days walking, biking, playing tennis, in our kayak and paddle board, and staying active with boat chores.  We are staying more physically active than we have in years and we love it.  Since a boat moves all the time, even if gently in a marina, we find our muscle tone improving.

4)      We learn to simplify.  As a live aboard, you by necessity learn to keep your possessions to a bare minimum.  Storage of consumables is essential, and a place for food supplies and drinks can always be found.  But space for new stuff requires you to get rid of something in return.  There is no attic or garage to store stuff, and everything onboard either has utility or needs to be gotten rid of.

5)      Spending time together has been a great joy.  Every day I am reminded of why I fell in love with Cece so many years ago.  I did well to marry my best friend.  I do even better to chase a few dreams with her.

The Bad

1)       The community of people we meet is changing daily and long term friendships are hard to develop.  Cece and I have met many wonderful people.  But, we are usually limited in our ability to develop long term relationships out of necessity.  Boats are constantly coming and going.  And although we meet lovely people, it’s hard to leverage these acquaintances into deep long lasting friendships without adequate time. Long term community by a group of people is hindered by the transient nature of marine life.

2)      Accessing life’s necessities can be difficult.  Laundry, groceries, shopping, and yes even haircuts and doctor appointments represent major challenges.  Being so far from home, it can be difficult tracking down the services and supplies we once took for granted.  This week Cece finally had to take a flight back to Annapolis in order to address some of these critical needs.

3)      Although email, phone calls, texting, and face time have allowed us to stay in touch with family and friends that we care deeply about, we do miss the time spent together with them.  The promise that the cruise has a finite end helps remind us that we will be back again in the near future with loved ones.

The Ugly

1)      Weather is much more transparent on a boat than anyplace else on earth.  We check weather forecasts constantly while onboard, because our lives revolve around the wind, temperature, and rain.  When the weather is good, life is very good.  But when the winds are high and the sea fetch is up, life can be ugly.  We will get very little sleep in a strong Northwesterly, and the boat pitches and rolls while the seas slap our hull and winds whistle through the rigging.  We find winds over 30 knots out of the west to north can create unhappy conditions aboard.

2)      We have very little control over the marina environment itself, and rely on the marinas management and our fellow boater’s good conduct to sustain a positive marina environment.  When either fails, it gets ugly.  As an example, marina restrooms, public spaces, docks, and parking lots can quickly deteriorate into slum like conditions without a joint commitment to maintenance.  An extreme example occurred the other day when I walked into the bath house here.  Posted on the mirror was a new sign that read “Please use the toilet for number two and one.  Do not poop in the showers”. Not believing the sign, I asked the cleaning crew if the sign was for real.  I was told “We’ve been having problems, it only takes one bad boater”

 

Baseball

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball.
I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.

                                                                                                 Rogers Hornsby

Wednesday saw Cece and I up early, and headed up the street to “Thrifty” to rent a car for the day.  Our goal was to make a spring training baseball game.  The Washington Nationals were playing the Miami Marlins in Jupiter Florida.   And, the game was "only" 150 miles away.

 

 

Cece had found tickets online, seats three rows back behind the Nationals dugout.  These were probably the best seats for a major league game we would ever see.  For $21 a piece we were going to sit in spitting distance from Brice Harper, Ryan Zimmerman, Michael Taylor, and the rest of the Nationals $142 million payroll.  A three hour drive got us to Roger Dean Stadium an hour before game time.  This, in plenty of time to watch batting practice.  Game time temperatures were in the high 70s, with an abundance of sunshine and a light breeze blowing out to right field.  At 1:05, right on schedule, Wei-Yin Chin threw the first pitch to Ben Revere (the Nationals left fielder) to start the game.  It was a strike.  The 2016 Baseball season had begun for Cece and I.

 

The first two innings flew by as both Wei-Yin Chin for the Marlins and Blake Treinen for the Nationals threw strikes and found there outs.  It wasn’t till the top of the third before the Nationals offense opened up the game with four runs.  Trea Turner scored the first run behind a Ben Revere single.  On the next at bat, Michael Taylor homered to right center field to score three more runs.  This was all the offense the Nationals would need to win.  In the sixth inning, the Marlins scored two against Nick Masset, a Nationals pitcher Cece and I had never heard of.  Final Score WSH 4 MIA 2.

 

Baseball is back for 2016, and hope for a World Series Championship is alive, at least for a little while.

 

Windley Key

About 7 miles from Community Harbor by road, headed south along the Overseas Highway, sits Windley Key.  By bike the distance takes about an hour for us to travel from our marina. Cars and trucks, traveling south bumper to bumper, zip past the bike trail.  Most are headed to Key West.  Under the hot Tropical sun, a bike ride proves tolerable only because of a cooling sea breeze that blows in from the east.

 

We took the day Friday to travel down the highway in order to visit Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological Park.  Located at mile marker 84.9 on the Overseas Highway (miles are counted starting at mile marker 0 in Key West), the park is the site of three quarries.  Also of note, the park has on site the highest ground elevation in the Keys (18 feet above mean low water).  During the great Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 (at that time the practice of naming hurricanes had not been introduced) hundreds died in this part of the Keys after 24 feet of water washed ashore virtually submerging the entire land mass.  At that time, the quarry at Windley Key was active in support of a coastal highway project being built during the Great Depression by World War I veterans.  Entire work camps disappeared during the storm.

 

The Windley Key Quarry was first established in order to provide rubble stone for use in the construction of railroad beds for the Key West extension of Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway.  Flagler purchased the land, and excavated a limestone / fossilized coral material called Key Largo limestone.  (For a great book on the construction of Flagler’s overseas railroad read Last Train to Paradise by Les Standiford.) Later, the quarry started producing slabs of “Keystone” for use as a veneer in building construction.  The Vizcaya home of James Deering used this type of stone in its construction.  Finally, as land prices in the Keys climbed in value the quarry closed, and in 1960 the property was bought by the state as a Geological park.

 

A quick comment on the stone; It is beautiful.  As the coral fossilized into limestone the old coral patterns were to remain in the stone.  Looking at the stone, it is easy to pick out brain coral, fan coil, conch shells, and a myriad of other sea life in the stone face.  It has a soft beige color, and is very light weight.  Walking the quarry, we walked along 8 foot walls of the stone where excavation once split giant slabs of the stone for construction.

 

Beyond the three quarry areas, the park has a mile and a half of trails through the Hammock.  (Hammocks are subtropical hardwood stands located at higher elevations along the keys).  A rich variety of canopy trees provide a cool cover, a perfect escape from the harsh tropical sun.  Although birds were scarce during our hammock walk, butterflies and a rich variety of trees kept us more than entertained.  Perhaps the most interesting thing about the trees is that they have no tap roots.  The variety of trees have all developed large horizontal root systems that clutch the underlying stone and have adapted to the water scarcity of growing on rocks.

 

 

 

 

Key Largo

Just like Bogie and Bacall
Starring in our old late, late show
sailing away to Key Largo

We’ve finally arrived in the Florida Keys!!!  Sailing from Dinner Key in Coral Gables on Saturday, February 20^th , we spent one night at anchor in Thursday Cove off Key Largo before arriving in Community Harbor in Tavernier. 

 

For the last couple of weeks our time onboard has confirmed a few simple truths: 

·        The value of friendships can never be understated;

·        Warmth and sunshine are wonderfully restorative to one’s health;

·        Settling down in one place, for even a little while, can be most comforting.

We’ve been visited by three couples, dear friends all, who have brought their inquisitive spirits, good conversation, and warm friendship onboard.  First Christer and Camilla in West Palm Beach helped bring the boat down the ICW, through Ft Lauderdale, and into Key Biscayne just in time for the Miami Boat Show.  John and Bobbie then joined us in Coral Gables, and after a few days of provisioning and onshore exploration helped bring the boat down past Key Largo to Tavernier on the Florida Bay.  Behind their departure, Tim and Donna joined us for a week of touring by car and boat as we went out to dive the offshore reefs at Grecian Rocks and then took the boat around to Islamorada, Ligum vitae, and Shell Key.  Good company and exploration were the theme of all three visits.  Second Wind proved a great platform for entertaining, with her separate cabin, berth, and private head providing some level of separation for our gusts.

 

Highlights of these three weeks have been numerous, but include:

·        a walk down Collins Avenue in Miami Beach during the Boat Show to see Mega Yachts too numerous to count;

 

 

·        a day trip to Vizcaya in Coconut Grove to see the 38,000 square foot mansion of James Deering (built between 1910 and 1922);

 

 

·        a day trip to Marathon to visit Crane Point Museum and Nature Center. This visit provided a glimpse of an environment, now long gone, showcasing the land as it existed before Flagler’s Railroad opened the Keys to tourism and;

·        a day trip to snorkel off Grecian Rocks in Hawks Channel. 

An adventurous spirit has proven to be the critical ingredient to our time down here, as we have walked, bicycled and mastered the single bus route on the keys.  Without a car, accessing a laundry, grocery store, boat store, or even the beaches requires some resourcefulness.

Warm, sunny weather has also dominated our days since arriving in the Keys.  This, much to Cece’s delight, has encouraged long bike rides, walks, paddle boarding, and kayaking.  The regenerative power of the sun and so much outdoor activity is clearly evident as we now are showing a golden color to our skin and a windblown look to our countenance.  Any residual “stress” left from our previous lives have been driven off by the climate.

 

The keys are very different from the mainland.  They are not islands, but made of coral rock.  So, construction is challenging as also is growing vegetation on the rock.  Stylistically, It looks like the last construction boon occurred here in the 1960’s.  About a third of the houses are trailers and the remaining are either corrugated metal structures or concrete block painted the calming colors of green, blue and yellow.  There are no apparent zoning regulations, with the boat storage yard or auto repair shop right next to million dollar homes (of course anything that is not a trailer is over a million) which are also built adjacent house trailers that have been modified in order to take on all the amenities of a thoughtfully constructed house.  There are very few “subdivisions” and where they exists, they are rarely bigger then 3 or 4 blocks in any direction.  All electricity and fresh water come from the mainland.  Inexplicably there is a paucity of solar cells or windmills for power. 

 

The keys are very narrow and low.  You can walk from the Bay of Florida to the Atlantic Ocean in 10 minutes or less. The population seems to be primarily those younger than 40 or older than 60.  There are many examples of ingenious ways to live on as little income as possible.  One poignant example lives directly off our port (left) stern (rear) as we sit in the slip in the marina.  Imagine anchored in the harbor a 30 foot sailboat that is without a mast, lashed to a 20 foot sailboat that still has its mast.  Tied behind these two boats is what looks to be a floating chicken coop, but we have yet to see any living thing in the cage.  Tied to that is a kayak and a 12 foot motorized dingy, used as their transport back and forth to the shore.  It appears that they live on the biggest boat and use the 20 footer to hold their gas powered generator and other supplies. Then there is the guy who has lashed an old piece of floating dock to the side of his sailboat and uses it as a “front porch”.

 However, with all its quirks, the keys seem to grow on you.  Jimmy Buffet has really captured the laid back life style and the simplicity of the infrastructure, and you really can’t complain about 80 degree temperatures, sleeping with your windows open, and 72 degree water when you fall off the paddle board.

 

Having now traveled about 1,400 miles on Second Wind, we have finally settled into one spot for a little while.  We’ve paid for a month’s lease on a slip in Community Harbor in Tavernier, and plan on staying through Easter.  We write this blog this evening staring across the Harbor to a beautiful setting sun.  A ritual at sun set is for the “ live-aboards” in the harbor to blow their Conch shells with the setting sun.  And so, the sounds of numerous Conchs compete with one another and reverberate across the water accompanied by blazing red explosions of color to our west.