The Cruising Adventures of Wild Blue and crew...

[dotnmarty]

Don't tell him! If Bob goes cruising who's going to answer all my questions?!

[JamesTXSD]

[JamesTXSD]

Good morning!

We rafted the boats up for several hours (way past dark) last night; the four of us deeply engaged in conversation. I have been sharing the highlights of the forum with Brent and Dixie, which promted Dixie to give Jeff M a call. Since he was wrapping up things at the Miami Boat Show, she invited him to join us here in the Keys. Guess the timing doesn't work. As always, the conversation was engaging; we took in the stars and the sliver of moon that allowed just enough light to see the rest of it. The water was so calm you could see the reflection of the moon and stars in the water. The topics of conversation ranged from light to deep. A truly memorable evening.

Got the best night of sleep I've had in weeks last night. The only movement in the boat was when Joan got up around 1:00 because she "heard something under the boat." Manatee? Giant shark? Secret agents from Thunderball? Might have been the wine talking.

The forecast for today is: sunny, light wind, high in the mid-70s. I was informed that we like this place - we're going to lube up and go sit on the beach. It is important to have goals. The boat will stay at anchor.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

[garyk]

Joan, Jim, Brent and Dixie
Sorry, my first reply. I hit "new topic", so my thanks is located there. Garyk

[JamesTXSD]

Tuesday, February 20th. Wild Blue stayed at anchor, we took the dinghy for a tour of the cove. Here are some of the photo highlights...
Our boats at anchor. Wild Blue is on the right; yeah, it’s my shot, so Wild Blue gets the foreground!



An iguana in the mangroves. This fellow was about 3.5 to 4 feet long and not the least bit afraid of us. I was just hoping he wouldn’t hop into the dinghy as we went by.





Joan has been facinated by the pelicans that sit in the mangroves. We don’t see the pelicans sitting in trees back home... perhaps because we don’t have much in the way of trees? Our pelicans can sit on a piling or balance on a bridge strut like pros.
More along the lines of this fellow here. We took the dinghy down a canal and saw this pelican on one of the pilings.



This next shot shows the Valhalla Resort - what I call a bit of Old Florida. A few chaise lounges, a hammock, some cabins. Not fancy by any means, but it looks very relaxing. There were a few homes down that canal, and not much else.



Here’s the opening to the cove, showing some very expensive real estate. No home on there, but give it a season or two without a hurricane and I think that will change. It is apparent that something used to be here.



After our cove tour, we pulled the dinghy up on the beach at the state park, got out our chairs, and sat in the sun, looking at the beautiful water.
The four of us were reading and visiting when a woman came up to us with something in her hands. “I am a guide for an Elderhostel. We just finished lunch, and we have this chicken left over. It would be a terrible shame to just toss it - would you like it?” Even though my Mother taught me not to take things from strangers, it took a nano-second for all four of us to say, “Sure!” We were just about to head back to the boats to fix some lunch - perfect timing! Now if we could just find someone who has too much ice cream!

It was a gorgeous afternoon. We watched people fish, read, and just enjoyed the warmth and the sunshine. As the tide started to go out, Joan and I walked in the crystal clear water looking for shells.



By late afternoon, it was time to head back to the boats. The tide had receded a couple feet; we had to carry our dinghies down the beach back to the water. I climbed in first, Joan shoved us off. Brent and Dixie were right behind us. With two sailboats going the same direction, it is always a race... we didn’t realize it is much the same thing with dinghies. Here’s a shot of Brent and Dixie in their dinghy - I think Dixie’s movement is to improve their aerodynamics!



Molly was happy to see us when we got back to the boat... well, certainly happy to see her food dish getting filled up once again. We didn’t stay long on the boat - we gathered up towels and toiletries and went back to the park to take showers; unlimited time showers. New, nice showers.

Then back to the boat again, where it was 5:00 somewhere. Joan made us drinks and we sat in the cockpit; she was reading, I was working away on the computer to put this story together.



We watched the sun go down. Watched a DVD for the night's entertainment. Nice day!

Best wishes,
Jim B.

[sportner]

I guess retirement IS a beach, or a series of beachs connected by cruises. Thanks for the pictures and updates.

[oldgrowth]

Jim – you are right, it is a nice park. I thought I would see Wild Blue and Dreamer, but you must have already left, or you anchored further up the cove.



I wonder how much I can get for the location for this cove?
________
Dave

[Pete in NY]

Dave,
Nice Aerial shot of Valhalla Point Resort and Marina 56223 Ocean Dr, Marathon, FL
(305) 360-2726

Donations gladly accepted

[JamesTXSD]

I knew it wouldn't take Dave long. BTW, we did find that transmitter you put in our boat, Dave! I tossed it onto a Canadian sailboat, so you may think we are in Cuba in a few days!

Now back to: "Where in the World is Wild Blue"?

If I was trying to make it tough, you never would have heard about the resort or the state park.

[Valkyrie]

Hi Jim and Joan,

We were away for four days and, Boy, did we miss a lot- 359 posts!

Marcia and I have stayed at Valhalla Resort and loved it. It is very basic, with not many amenities and we had no problem with that. The beauty, seclusion and ambience of the place made up for it.

You have me curious - how far from Valhalla is this mystery anchorage or is it classified?

Nick
"Valkyrie"

[garyk]

Jim, and Joan,
Your input and pictures are great! In the latest photo, your working the laptop from the boat. Are you using wireless broadband router or do you have a satellite system? You seem to communicate on a daily basis. Fantastic job!
I'm following ya'll with each post. I hope the weather cooperates and you have flat water and happy times
Garyk

[drjohn71a]

Jim and Joan...

While I have really been enjoying your continuing posts, I did not realize that you were such wildlife watchers...

The candid photos of the elusive, wild, flying, racing Brent and Dixie species are so very rare!!!

Without you, we'd have no idea what they were up to!

John

[JamesTXSD]

We Be Fishing...

I am not a fishing kind of guy. Born and raised in the exotic land of Iowa... give me beef, corn, and potatoes, thank you. Joan has been fascinated with the side trips Brent and Dixie have taken, so today they took us fishing on Discovery. We left Wild Blue at anchor and headed out in the Atlantic.

The water was gorgeous - turquoise, blue, green, depending on the depth and the bottom. Brent was very patient, taking time to explain what he was doing as he was doing it.



Joan was the student, I was the observer. Dixie was the helmsperson, while Brent fished. It was not the most productive day fish-wise, but Joan and Brent each caught one.



Grouper was the catch of the day. Here's an image of Brent helping Joan untangle a line...



Did I mention that Brent is a very patient guy?

I enjoyed watching them, being aboard the TC255, the beautiful water; and ... seeing a tiger shark swim up to the boat! Brent casually said, "Hey, there's a big shark." Joan screamed, "Bring the camera!" By the time I went into the cabin, back out, turned on the camera, and got it pointed in the general vicinity of the shark, it dove and was gone. It appeared to be about 7 feet long, and made me very happy that we were fishing and not snorkling! Dixie and I looked it up in their fish ID book... yep, tiger shark. Yep, BIG.

Back at anchor, Dixie fried up the fish, added some pasta, a salad, biscuits, and angelfood cake. No chance that this crew is gonna starve.

Another truly spectacular day in the Keys.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

To answer some questions:

We are able to post here with our Verizon Wireless Broadband card and coverage. From the PNW to the Keys, there are very few places we have not have some kind of coverage. I can do without TV... can't do without my internet.

Basic direction from Valhalla - go to the dock, look to the right; see us, we're waving. I can see Valhalla from our boat.

Regarding the rare photo of the wild flying, racing Brent and Dixie species... we have been living amongst them for over three weeks. They understand that we mean them no harm, and have allowed us to get close. Entertaining and fun-loving, this species would not do well in captivity. We will continue our behavioral study on them and report in as time and circumstances allow.

[JamesTXSD]

We left the quiet cove today, heading for Lignumvitae Key. The water was perfectly flat heading out. We saw lots of boats heading south, probably from the Miami Boat Show (some shiny new-looking stuff). Along the way, we stopped by Indian Key, but the docks were gone (thanks to Hurricane Wilma), as were the mooring balls.



We pressed on to Lignumvitae (is "pressed on" an appropriate term when it's just gorgeous? ) via the Indian Key Channel, arriving there around noon. We tied Wild Blue to the dock and rafted Discovery up to us, got off to explore a bit.



There was a Ranger-guided tour at 2:00, so we went back to the boats for lunch. Molly the cat could see and smell land, but there is a "no pets" policy there, so she had to stay on the boat. She was not a happy little C-Brat cat.



The tour was interesting; Ranger Ben took us through the hammock (sub-tropical talk for: forest), explaining the various plants and trees. This is one of the few Keys that has not been deforested, so it was quite interesting.



When we came back to our boats, there was a 20' Chaparell being towed in... the fishing boat towing him drifted towards the dock and let him go; Joan and I hurried down the dock to catch him. His battery was dead. We got the Honda generator and the automotive battery charger out of our boat and got him running again. I mentioned something about "salvage", but he didn't get the joke.

From there, we moved on to complimentary mooring balls off Shell Key. These are state park moorings; supposed to be five of them here - we could only find two, but that was enough for us. We are quite a ways from Discovery, so there will be no rafting up tonight. The moorings are kind of exposed, but the wind is supposed to shift to NE tonight, so that should be better (yeah, I've heard that "supposed to..." stuff before ). However, the price is right. The wind is supposed to come up tomorrow night, so I made arrangements for the two boats in a marina; we'll see how that works out. The cruising guide says they have cable TV - Joan is very excited, since we haven't seen TV in about a month. The marina is near World Wide Sportsman, so I am very excited. We are hoping there will be some grocery shopping nearby, as well... the cookie supply is running dangerously low.

It's a gorgeous day... temp around 80, blue sky, lots of sunshine. Moderate chop on our mooring ball, but a great sunset - and another chance to watch for the green flash. The green flash didn't happen, but it was lovely just the same.



If you're following along, we are NW of Shell Key, looking at a slip on the bay side of Upper Matacumbe Key for tomorrow night. "Managing the Waterway" has been a great resource, as well as the "Southern Waterways" cruising guide.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

[oldgrowth]

Jim – are those islands on the horizon in the above sunset photo?
________
Dave