Loggerhead Key

Approaching the island
Old caretakers house
Other side of the island
Former Coast Guard house and Bob
Former lifesaving service boathouse
The fort had a working lighthouse when first built but it caused a lot of wrecks. From Key
West, there are numerous shoals along the route to the fort. If a boat heads straight to
the light, they run aground. Eventually they wised up and built a large light house on a
key about 4 miles away. It was actively manned for many decades but now is automated. You
can volunteer to be a keeper but that involves keeping the equipment up such as the solar
panels. Now it is a great place to explore and snorkel the surrounding waters. We found
one spot that was as good as some of the reefs in Okinawa and that is saying a lot! We went
over with the three amigos and had a great time.

Fort Jefferson

Seaplane off loading day trippers
Dusk from the top of the fort
Munitions magazine
Long way from home
Top view
Some of the thousands of arches
The fort lighthouse
Fort Entrance-notice the granite
One of the Bastions
Old foundations
One of several large cacti
Looking out to Bush Key
Shoal water
Bastion stairway
Camper's beach
This is one of our favorite places. We didn't stay as long as we would have liked, but any
time there is worth it. If you are ever in the Key West area, a trip out by either seaplane
or the cat is well worth it. The fort is a blend. There are examples of tremendous feats
of engineering, master masonry and government boondogglery. It is the second largest brick
structure in the western hemisphere according to park literature. They say what is the
largest, not wanting to tout the competition, I suppose. It was the first structure built
by the Army Corp of Engineers using Underwater foundation construction techniques. There
are over 16,000,000 bricks, mostly from Pensacola. There is no fresh water supply (there's
a reason they are the DRY Tortugas) and it is a long way from reliable supplies. However,
the fort was obsolete before it was half finished so it was never fully completed or armed.
It has been used as a coaling station, prison and now National Park. The entire park is
a naturalist's dream come true. It is the nesting ground of several rare birds and breeding
ground of numerous aquatic animals and some of the last pristine reefs left in the U.S.
A large amount of the park is off limits to anything but day trips and some parts are off
limits entirely during breeding seasons. Besides the exploring the fort, there are many
wrecks, coral heads and other spots along the moat walls that are easy to snorkel.

We met several great people on other boats. Meeting other adventurers is a huge part of the
fun of cruising. We met Gary and Kathe from a big, red boat. They hail from Albuquerque,
New Mexico and cruise on a 55 foot steel home-built boat. They gave us a tour and made
Sanctuary seem very, very small. Another group was a trio of guys out for a last hurrah
before the hot, hurricane season sets in. Their wives opted to let them make it a boys only
trip. Sound like wise ladies! Tom, the boat's owner, Guillermo and Bob were a lot of fun to
share drinks,food and stories with on the boats. They headed off to Key West the same day
we came back to the mainland.

On the Way to the Dry Tortugas

One of our visitors
Modern Lighthouse
You can see the pecking order here!
Incredible Blue of the ocean
The winner of the top bunk
Night sailing
The weather window wasn't as promised. We had to continue with the engine break-in
which uses quite a bit a fuel so we planned to mostly sail out then we could motor back
if need be. The winds were as predicted until about midnight then they died to about
3 kts. You can't move this heavy a boat with that much wind and we didn't want to try
and run the spinnaker at night for safety's sake. So we used our precious fuel and motored.
The upside was that we finished the break-in process. YEAH! We kept going figuring, in
our best Scarlett O'Hara mode, we'd worry about the trip back tomorrow. It was a beautiful
trip. We saw dolphins, turtles and a wide variety of bird life. Amazingly, we saw only 1
boat. On the previous trip 2 years ago we saw several. Once again, we were a resting spot
for birds. Fortunately, none of them died. We were treated to a show by two of the
little white herons. One was up on the bow pulpit and the other one wanted up there too.
Every time he tried to jump up, the other bird pecked him back to the lower rung. Reminded
us of kids fighting over who got the top bunk. Over the course of the night, we had over a
dozen birds come and go. Some stayed for over an hour, some only 10 minutes. They didn't
seem to mind us but refused any water. I guess we were just cheap transportation. They
were all polite enough to not leave any calling cards behind. The boat gets dirty enough
with salt residue with a crossing.

Change of Plans

We woke to a cloudy day and had about decided not to risk getting wet on a ride to Sanibel when we decided to check the weather. Turns out we have a good weather window to get out to the Tortugas so we have kicked into high gear getting the boat ready. There is quite a bit of shifting around of supplies and equipment for a crossing. We have to stow the bikes and dingy, get the life-raft and other emergency supplies handy, wash cloths, buy last minute groceries, notify essential people and pray a lot. We hope to be out in the Tortugas by tomorrow evening. Unless things have radically changed from 2 years ago we will have not cell service or internet so it will be about a week before I can post again. Please keep us in your prayers for a safe passage.
Here is the site for the park in case you're interested.
http://www.nps.gov/drto/planyourvisit/index.htm

Captiva so far

Outside waiting area
Gift shop
Restaurant exterior-click for closeup
Beautiful sunset on the waves
Sanctuary at Tween Waters
Strutting his stuff

We spent last night at Tween Waters resort and moved to Captiva Island YC today. We'll probably be here tomorrow night as well, weather depending. We went to lunch at a local attraction, the Bubble Room restaurant. It is an eclectic blend of Hollywood memorabilia, old toys and all things Christmas. Cute place but they definitely trade on their fame and kitsch.
Besides manatees in the area, there are also resident white herons who couldn't care less that humans have invaded their turf. The town is cute but not for the common folk. If we stick around, we'll ride our bikes to Sanibel tomorrow and look at Ding Darling from the other side.

The New Engine

Getting the tools ready to use.

Preparing the boat.

Getting ready to make the boom a crane.

Mark and BJ set things up.

Old engine on cart.

Unhooking old engine.

a big mess.

Lifting out the old engine.

Empty rails.

New engine waiting to be lowered.

New engine waiting to be hooked up. You can see David working on the back from inside the "hell hole". It is basically the lazerette.

New hoses going on.

The engine is finally in. It was quite a process and a lot of work. We spent Monday preparing the boat. We had to take off the mainsail, the dodger and some other items so that we could use the boom as a crane. David, with me as tool wench, drained all the fluids and disconnected all the lines, hoses, wires, etc. It was scary but it took less than 2 hours to pull the old engine and put the new one in place. Mark and BJ were super. They are obviously very good at their jobs and very professional. We spent the rest of the day working on getting the engine hooked up. Daniel, also of MD Marine helped get everything going and spent quite a bit of time giving David the rundown on the differences between the engines and things to do for a proper installation. He had the same sense of humor as David so I got double doses of it! I think he had as good a time working with David as David did working with him. Great guy.

We had to buy some hoses and connectors to finish the job so that entailed a 15 mile ride to town. Thank God for the bikes and the bike path! We had all the hoses and electrical connected by the afternoon and the dynamic duo of Mark and BJ came back to add the fluids and check everything out. Unfortunately, in the whole process, our shifter cable gave up the ghost but a new part will be in tomorrow. We weren't able to take her for a test ride but we did run it and it sounds wonderful and nothing else broke or leaked. We toasted her first tenth of an hour then started taking the pedestal apart for tomorrow's project. Nothing is every easy but so far we're very pleased.

On Top of Clearwater Bridge

Suz Weston

David with his usual "take the picture already" smile

Facing north

Facing northeast

Looking down

These pictures are from my camera taken the evening before we left Clearwater for Treasure Island. I still need to learn how to use the camera better but it was all I had at the time. You can tell it was a bit windy, but what a view. It is different to see things from the top of a bridge you went under just a few days before.