Bay of Florida Blues

View Larger Map What was I saying about the world being small at 100 miles a day? Sometimes I make myself feel foolish. The weather man has fooled me once again. He lulled me into thinking it would be an easy sail across the bay of Florida. Indeed, it would be if I were willing to devote a week or more to it. Last night I made a lovely dinner of spicy beef bulgogi and rice. Almost all my fresh veggies are long gone, so until I can get to a grocer it will be frozen or canned. Perhaps I was too hasty in leaving Marathon, and I should have taken some time for a resupply trip. Well no matter now. As I typed the previous entry last night I was ghosting along at 3 kts under the drifter. Once again I am in want of a bigger light air sail. Anyway, that was 3kts total, but 1.5 was current and the other 1.5 was from the sail. I fought all night in glassy waters to just get the autopilot to maintain steerage. I would curse it, but after I turned it off I found it very hard to control the boat myself. The 15kts of wind after 10pm never materialized, instead it was a ghost of 3kts or so, barely enough to move under. Due to the extreme proliferation of lobster traps I wouldn’t dare start the motor. The lobstermen, sensing that little traffic takes place on that side of the water, dropped their traps in such a thicket that it would be tough to steer in daylight. So I drifted with the tide until it was neap, and I was chagrined to watch my speed drop to less than 1kt. The good news was that the seas were glass flat, without even a ripple of wind, so the going was soundless and smooth. I rested into the evening, but by 12AM it was obvious that the sails and drifter and tide were unevenly matched, and the boat was sailing backward on the lobster traps while still pointing forward. This was my cue to very swiftly drop first the anchor then the drifter. I didn’t bother to set the anchor very well. I wouldn’t go far, and the ocean bottom out here is uniformly flat and very shallow, about 10ft. This allowed me to get a decent bit of sleep, but by 5am I was up and wondering what next. The seas were still flat and dead calm, with the same whisper of wind, but the tides had started to reverse. I mused that I could get to my destination simply be timing my anchoring with the tides, and I calculated a 12 day journey if I did so. It’s always good to have a plan B. Instead I started to sail to find to my dismay that with drifter and tides I was still making less than 2.5 kts, so I resolved myself to give my engine a good test of it’s metal today, but only after breakfast and coffee. So that’s what I’ve been doing since about 7:30, watching for lobster traps and reading. The seas have picked up a tad as I moved into deeper water, now 5 fathoms or so. The traps have thinned out a good bit, and with the mild chop this is much better than the trip from the Tortugas to the Marquesas, but still It’s a bummer to rely on the engine so much. I’ll motor until sunset then attempt to sail. At this rate I might make it to Port Charlotte if I motor all Wednesday, but I might not have the stomach for that. Wednesday night the cold front is supposed to roll through bringing spirited winds from the North-NorthWest, At these depths I doubt it could get really nasty, but it’s possible a swell from the gulf could upset the seas and maybe ruin my day. To get over the noise of the engine, which really wears on you pretty quickly, I am wearing my Bluetooth headset and cranking the music. It’s kind of not good, as I can judge the health of the engine and boat in general from sound. Ocassionally the music I listen to will make a noise that will freak me out, or the bass will couple with the vibrations and I think something is wrong. Hopefully the motor stays functional, I’m not very interested in plan B. I haven’t seen many other boats out here. Earlier I was passed at quite close quarters by a 60’ motoryacht, with a hired crew by the uniforms. I would have preferred if they kept their distance and didn’t wake me out in otherwise smooth water. Can you guess who else is out here? Lobster boats! I’ve seen 4 already. And I’ve seen quite a few sea turtles. I came right up to spitting distance of a huge leatherback, maybe 8’ long. I expected him to dive under but he might have been a bit deaf and blind. It wasn’t until I had passed him that he saw me and dove beneath. I just came into a particularly thick patch of lobster traps, and I wasn’t paying enough attention as I was typing. By the time I noticed and told the autopilot to steer I hit one which made a shimmy as the prop destroyed the floating Styrofoam ball, but thankfully didn’t suck up the line. My propeller is particularly suited to sucking up lines due to its design. Before I had steered back I had hit a second one, again producing a slurry of Styrofoam but doing me no damage. For the next 15 minutes I had to hand steer because the traps were so thick. The traps are certainly an annoying aspect of navigating down here. I am tired of motoring and the dodge-the-traps game, but if I want to make any distance then I have to keep the monster running. I would like to take some time to write my science fiction stories, but it’s hard to concentrate on whatever I’m writing while looking up every 30 seconds to check for traps.