Florida Cruise Dec.27-Jan 1st trip report

[aviro]

hi Dave
i Will be leaving Québec city Friday 27 and planning to arrive the 29.
i Wil trie to meet you there
Mery Christmas
Jean-François

[DaveB]

Do to higher winds and on our nose Friday and Sat.
I have changed the plans as follows.

Looks like winds are going to Stay East Friday thru Sat. with winds 13-16 gusting to 21-23 both days and will clock around the South on Sun. with winds 11-15, Mon. SW winds 3-7.

So I think we camp on boats Friday in Manatee Bay, Sat. head South to Tavernier at ST. Mile 1150 a 20 mile trip from Manatee Bay. They have a park there and small dock for landing small boats and dingys.

Sun. we head up to Alabama Jacks have late lunch and than head over to Main Key (Short Key) for the night and set a fire.

Monday sail to Tide Station North end of Elliot Key and anchor at the sandy beach.

Tuesday Sail back to Alabama Jacks and set another campfire on Main Key.

Wends. We haul out.
I have called Bob at South Dade Marina this morning and he is ready for 7 sailboats.

Dave, Hot Tub




Ok, see you down here. We monitor channel 71 on vhf.
Dave

hi Dave
i Will be leaving Québec city Friday 27 and planning to arrive the 29.
i Wil trie to meet you there
Mery Christmas
Jean-François

[Ixneigh]

Is that Harry Harris park on the Oceanside of Tavernier?
ix

[DaveB]

Before Tavernier, On the Gulf side of Tarpon Basin. There is the City Hall their and Park behind it. Think the Moose Lodge was close by but never found it.
Dave

Is that Harry Harris park on the Oceanside of Tavernier?
ix

[Ixneigh]

Tarpon basin is nearly across the street from my house....but now my boats in the water at Mandalay Oceanside.
the power tilt on my engine seems like it might be having issues but maybe I can meet the group after you get back from that park. The wind seems to be easing, I might be able to make the Ocean Reef area Friday afternoon, and mess around Saturday by myself in the angle fish creek area. Re dog run beach, if the weather is as nice as I am hoping, it will most likely be standing room only there. If that's the case, I will stay a few hours for the campfire and then take a spot to the north side of the area for the night.
my boat is light blue and white with black sailcovers.
ix

[Ixneigh]

Trip update so far, met up with 5 Mac x's Saturday afternoon. I had motorsailed up hawks channel to anglefish creek in 20 k of wind, and that was pretty lumpy. Once I got on the bay side of the islands the conditions were much nicer. I sailed towards short key, where I thought the group was going to be but I actually met them right outside Alabama jacks. Seems there was a change of plan. We anchored that night, then the next morning we sailed as a group to Elliott key, where there is a beach. I passed several boats but couldn't quite catch Dave's. Everyone had genoas, but I had a hank on jib only. That's my story, anyway. It was a lovely sail, with good wind.
That evening We enjoyed the beach and had a campfire. The other boats stayed moored near the beach but I had anchored out. After dark, I was glad I had, since the bugs were bad. I used my board to go in and out to the beach with my dogs. It's easier for me single handing the boat to use the board instead of beaching, most of the time. I met some great people who's names I don't really remember, but there was Hot tub, Valkyrie, Sea savvy and another x, and a star wind, I think.
The next morning everyone had different ideas of what to do. Some went to boca Chita where there is a day marina and small light house, pand some wanted to go on the ocean side to swim. I didn't do either. Instead, I looked at sands cut with the board and the dogs. Lots of current in there and pretty shallow on the ocean side. I guess a couple of the boats went through, but I would only do it at slack high.
Next I inspected the little lagoon on sands key. The entrance channel is wide deep and uninstructed, but inside it is pretty shallow with a hard bottom. There is a little bit of deep water on the ne side. Bugs would be bad at night. There is plenty of dry land though. Looks like they used the material from dredging to build up the surrounding area. The dogs loved it here. I would only park in the lagoon for a really strong norther and I would probably tie up in the canal not the basin. There is only room for one boat to actually anchor, on a short scope. Macs or similar draft only.
The area near the entry to the canal is a nice place to anchor in mild conditions.
Next I motored over to the last of the ragged keys. The wind remained light, and the sky overcast. This small island has some ruins on it, as well as a sea wall that surrounds it. There is a small beach. Also a place where it has been used as an outhouse...ewww. I nicked named it toilet key...the other end from the toilet paper festooned bushes was pleasant. There is the remains of a dock made from old railroad rails. Not quite sure what was on this scrap of an island to warrant such a large sea wall though. Just south of this is a larger island with a fancy house and lots of palm trees. Between that island and toilet key, is an awash rocky area with a shrub growing on it. The cut that rock sits in seems to have somewhat better water then sands cut. IMHO, unless you use them often, all these cuts are high slack, good vis only.
After departing toilet key, I put the sails up in light airs and sailed dead down wind wing on wing at 2 knots. I let the boat steer herself, since she seemed quite willing. I kept a lookout for any of the rest of the party, but saw no one. I did not go over to boca Chita, where I supposed they would be, because i heard dogs are not welcome there. I sailed past the buggy beach where we had a campfire the night before, and anchored off the southern half of Elliott's key in fairly shoal water. Even a quarter mile from land, there are still bugs. To marrow looks like an early morning departure from the Elliott key district back to my mooring in key largo.
Ix

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Hey ix, nice meeting you on the beach. I had the other X on Sunday night at Elliott Key. My boat is called Lucky7 for radio identification but I never actually put the name on the boat (hope that isn't a Neptune violation or something). I arrived back in Tampa last night. As you noted, we made several plan changes during the cruise. I was the guy saying I was going to go to Boca Chita but then I changed my mind and went through Sands cut instead. It was an exciting ride with about 5 knot current I think. I followed the WWP 19 and you were right, there was no turning back with that current and it did get a bit wild on the outside where the water dropped to about 2-2.5 feet at the lowest point and I touched the tip of my CB which was partially down...didn't touch anything else though and the hull still had at least a foot of water under it. This is the kind of thing that might be better with a 26X and swing keel versus 26M and daggerboard. Anyway, both of us made it through ok, the tide was still mostly high although going out. I would never try it at a lower tide. Didn't go to Boca Chita because it was too far around on the Bay side and my daughter and I wanted to dive the reefs. The WWP 19 and I cruised South about 10 miles on the outside near to Hawk Channel marker 21 where I had marked some really nice coral heads two years ago. At the entrance to Caesar's creek channel, Valkyree and Sea Savvy met up with us again so we had 4 boats diving at the reef. It was really nice and got some great underwater pictures too. We all then headed back inside through Angelfish Creek and some of us rafted up in the NE part of Little Card Sound and Val and SS kept going through the bridge into Barnes Sound. Next day, Val, SS and Lucky 7 pulled out but Dave and a couple others stayed for one more day and I presume are pulling out today.

Overall the cruise was a great success (I'll try to put together a report at some point) but I had many problems anchoring, frequently taking several tries to set my Guardian 11. I've never had that kind of problem in the sand and muck on Florida's West coast so I suppose it is due to the harder and grassier bottoms in the Northern Keys. I'm going to be studying some of the anchor mods around here and have some kind of new system developed before I go back to the Keys again, that's for sure.

Dimitri

[DaveB]

Biscayne Bay Cruise.Report

As a small trip to South Dade Marina we had 7 Trailor Sailors join us for the 5 day outing.
All boats were Mac. X's and M's except for Stin on his Potter 19.
Typical for this time of year, the wind was out of the East at 12-15 knots Friday.
We went SE to Thursday Cove for good protection. Dave & Teresa set the anchor and Valkria, Lucky 7 and Lilly P rafted up.
This is a great anchorage for winds from NE to SE and my anchor held all three Mac. X's for the night. (Stin did put out his own anchor)
Sat. we went South as winds were 15-20 out of the NE dead on the nose.
We arrived at Tarpon Bay and many dinghies on the dock but Stin manage to fit in at the docks.
We decided to head North and make a late lunch at Alabama Jacks where we rafted up 4 boats in that small channel.
It was great tho, took more than a hour to get food. Stin came up just as we finished eating and we decided to anchor just NE heading under Card Sound bridge NE. in Little Card Sound were Ian on Shoal Idea joined us for the night.
After a calm night we headed North with SE winds calm at first then quickly get to 15 knots or more.
I was doing 5.5 knots most of the way with full Main and 100% jib, rest of boats were not far behind.
Dimitri and Stin headed for Homestead to refuel Ice and than joined us at a 200 ft. sand beach just North of Elliot Key Tide Station.
We set a camp fire where Ian brought in a dozen ears of corn and was great until sunset were the no-seeums came out in full force.
Even getting close to a big hot fire did not scare these critters away. We all called it an early night by 8:30 and secured all screen hatches and sprayed them.
Morning came and I had over 1000 of those black dots inside my boat and another 10,000 all over the rest of boat.
Never again will I do that as this Island is loaded with no-seeums.All boats were loaded with these critters.
Next Day we were planning to go to Boca Chica and anchor off the S. side.
This changed as wind was calm and Lucky7 wanted to Snorkle on the reefs. Most of the boats wanted to so they went.Randy and Tiffany took to time to do some wake boarding behind thier Mac X Sea Savvy II under full ballast.
I decided to check the front that was moving in and decided to head S. as forcast for these Northerners are always under estimated and good thing I did.
I arrived at N. end of Short Key, Monday were Jean on Abiro Blue from Canada showed up and rafted up. Lucky 7 and Lilly P soon joined us for the evening raftup.(this is a good Ancorage for winds out of the SW to NE).
Tuesday, Jean headed to Tarpon Bay, Dimitri headed to S. Dade to haul out, Stin Headed to Manatee Bay where we went in a 18-22 knot winds. We tried to anchor on Lee side of Manatee Bay 3 times than got the second storm anchor out with winds 20 knots gusting to over 30 knots with white foam all around us.
Manatee Bay has only 6 ft. of water so waves are only 1-2 ft. chops. Holding ground is best in middle of bay.
We Hauled out Wed. and was on the road 10am.

Here are fellow Sailors that joined us.

Dimitri & Larissa on Lucky 7
Tom, Wing, Ben on Valkria
Randy & Tiffany on Sea Savvy II
Stin on Lily P
Jean, Sara and JP on Abiro Blue
Ian on Shoal Idea
Dave & Teresa on Hot Tub

Dave

Pictures

http://s182.photobucket.com/user/dbarni ... uise%20Dec

Hey ix, nice meeting you on the beach. I had the other X on Sunday night at Elliott Key. My boat is called Lucky7 for radio identification but I never actually put the name on the boat (hope that isn't a Neptune violation or something). I arrived back in Tampa last night. As you noted, we made several plan changes during the cruise. I was the guy saying I was going to go to Boca Chita but then I changed my mind and went through Sands cut instead. It was an exciting ride with about 5 knot current I think. I followed the WWP 19 and you were right, there was no turning back with that current and it did get a bit wild on the outside where the water dropped to about 2-2.5 feet at the lowest point and I touched the tip of my CB which was partially down...didn't touch anything else though and the hull still had at least a foot of water under it. This is the kind of thing that might be better with a 26X and swing keel versus 26M and daggerboard. Anyway, both of us made it through ok, the tide was still mostly high although going out. I would never try it at a lower tide. Didn't go to Boca Chita because it was too far around on the Bay side and my daughter and I wanted to dive the reefs. The WWP 19 and I cruised South about 10 miles on the outside near to Hawk Channel marker 21 where I had marked some really nice coral heads two years ago. At the entrance to Caesar's creek channel, Valkyree and Sea Savvy met up with us again so we had 4 boats diving at the reef. It was really nice and got some great underwater pictures too. We all then headed back inside through Angelfish Creek and some of us rafted up in the NE part of Little Card Sound and Val and SS kept going through the bridge into Barnes Sound. Next day, Val, SS and Lucky 7 pulled out but Dave and a couple others stayed for one more day and I presume are pulling out today.

Overall the cruise was a great success (I'll try to put together a report at some point) but I had many problems anchoring, frequently taking several tries to set my Guardian 11. I've never had that kind of problem in the sand and muck on Florida's West coast so I suppose it is due to the harder and grassier bottoms in the Northern Keys. I'm going to be studying some of the anchor mods around here and have some kind of new system developed before I go back to the Keys again, that's for sure.

Dimitri

[Obelix]

Thank you , Dave.

Nice report and pictures.

Obelix

[DaveB]

Thanks Obelix,
Another trip to the Everglades Jan.9th for 4 days from the WCTSS site. Includes Launching at Port of Isle for a 5 mile channel to Panther Key and Cape Romano.
I will miss this one because of work but in the past has always been very nice with bon fire and camping on beach.
http://members.ij.net/wctss/wctss/photos97.html
Or do a cruise with us in March to Cayo Costa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1mF5w9TchM
Dave

Thank you , Dave.

Nice report and pictures.

Obelix

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

I posted my trip report to this Yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MacS ... op=eupdate

[DaveB]

Dimiti, you took my pictures without permission, You took my List of Members without permission.
Next time do all the leg work to create, orginize a cruise and not steal off the hard efforts of the Sponsor of of the trip to write your own trip.
Just got off the phone with Dimitri, he Stated no photos were used from me. ID the photos.
Who took the picture of you at AJ's?
Right click picture on source.
Dave

I posted my trip report to this Yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MacS ... op=eupdate

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Dave, only this one picture on the Mac board comes from your photobucket and I'm happy to delete it if you didn't intend for it to be publicly quoted. As for my report, there is not a single word in there from your report and there is also not a single picture in there that I didn't take with my own camera. If you think otherwise, prove it.

[DaveB]

You stated no pictures were taken from my web. site, Want me to show others? You took my collection of Entries includeing name in perfect form off my original post including names . You also included them in same format I posted.
Demitri, you were wrong in stealing my Trip Log and Report and Capitlized on it.
Dave

Dave, only this one picture on the Mac board comes from your photobucket and I'm happy to delete it if you didn't intend for it to be publicly quoted. As for my report, there is not a single word in there from your report and there is also not a single picture in there that I didn't take with my own camera. If you think otherwise, prove it.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Show me any picture in my report that you think comes from your photo bucket or else stop accusing me.