Just turned on the anchor light - Valkyrie in the Keys!

[Grumpy]

Harvey,
Sounds like we need to form a Darth Vadar flotilla of SA patients and do a fashion parade with our masks on at CBGT's

Merv

[Jazzmanic]

[JamesTXSD]

[Mike]

Hey Nick!
Glad ya got over the ailment! Hope all goes well and ya'll catch a bunch of tuna.
Mike

[pcator]

I know what you mean about the concealed weapon. I thought a concealed weapon permit would end a lot of my problems but after getting one I found out I couldn't shoot as many people as I want too. DARN!



Patrick

[Valkyrie]

Hi Brats,

Valkyrie is snugged down for the night in Bahia Honda SP Marina - a great little harbor that is protected and beautiful. It's just a hundred yards to the channel with access to either the Gulf or Atlantic. Marathon is a short run north and Key West is about 40 miles south.

We got here early afternoon and couldn't resist the turquoise water, even though we had a line of thunderstorms heading our way in a few hours. We left the marina and headed north under the bridge into the Gulf and let Valkyrie run across the gorgeous sea with white sand bottom for about 30 minutes before heading back to tie up and get situated. We're amazed that there are only three boats tied up here for the night.

We checked on some local knowledge at a nearby bait shop and the fishing forecast looks good with catches blackfin tuna, some dolphin, cobia, sails, spanish mackeral, sea trout and snapper! It's blowing now and thunderstorms are rumbling through, but it should clear up on Sunday and next week looks good with temps in the 70's-80's and lots of sun. We're both anxious to head out to depths of 150-200' to start trolling. If that fails, chumming on patch reefs or the cuts to the Gulf are options. Okay, after reading this paragragh and telling Rollie I'll post pictures, I'm really afraid that I've jinxed us! What the heck, at least we'll get some sun!

FYI: In "Not For Hire's" album, Mark has a really neat little, four color battery chart that shows percent of charge at different voltage readings. Before I left home, I printed a dozen charts, had them laminated and have been giving them out to C-Brats and other cruisers that I have met. They are a hit and I'm down to my last one. Check it out. It's very useful.

Regards,

Nick and Marcia
"Valkyrie"

[Valkyrie]

Keys Update:

The weather has been great the last few days, with sun and temps in the mid-70's to lower 80's, except today with a cold front coming through and quite a bit of rain this morning. We spent the day in the Marathon area, doing laundry, getting some supplies and having lunch at Keys Fisheries; their specialty is a lobster Reuben! Very tasty and it was enough for two of us, with a bowl of stone crab soup for starters. Tonight it will be stone crab claws and steaks grilled on the Magma, a change from daily fish dinners.

Fishing has not been stellar and with the exception of a few king and Spanish mackeral, we've been catching and eating mangrove snappers, sheepshead and grunts. Nothing spectacular, but tasty. Tomorrow we plan on an early start and heading out to the Gulf Stream (now only 8 miles out) and spend the day trolling, using the Honda 8 kicker. Oh yeah, yesterday we found what we call "Puffer City", an area where we caught between 30-40 puffer fish in a few hours. The first few were amusing, but that got old after a while. The we moved to "Grunt City" where almost all we caught were big grunts (12 inches or so) every other cast for another hour. On her last shrimp, Marcia hooked into something big that took nearly 200 yards of 20 pound test before it broke the line!

We've met a few other C-Dory owners in the last week. We had just gotten in from fishing and tied up when I spotted a grey-trimmed 22 in the harbor here. They tied up and introduced themselves as Jim and Delma from Iowa, who have a home on Big Pine Key. They don't get on the site much, with Jim mentioning that he did check it out early last summer. While fishing yesterday we got a cell phone call from Mike and Courtney on Choir Practice, who had trailered down from MD in one long, non-stop trip to launch at Key Largo. They tied up here in Bahia Honda and we had dinner last night and got acquainted, having fresh fish for dinner. They headed down to Key West this morning to celebrate St. Pat's Day in style.

Looking forward to another nice sunset and hopefully better fishing (big, pelagic stuff!) tomorrow.

Regards,

Nick and Marcia
"Valkyrie"

[toyman]

Nice photos you've posted Nick.

[jennykatz]

Nick I'm glad Bahia worked out for you and Marcia ,As always great seeing you . I hope next time I'll be able to get free.

My brother and I were going to go through Lake O last week we did not make it to much wind on both coasts . Take care Jim

[patrick and linda]

hey capt nick,
been reading your post. where should i send my 44 millimeter s&w? normally i few well placed rounds get's their attention! also, if i'm going to send you a care package should i include my 5000 btu air conditioner?
glad you are doing well and will stay tuned for more updates.
pat

[Valkyrie]

Patrick,

Good to hear from you. If I were you I think that I would stick with a .44 CALIBER, rather than a 44 MILLIMETER! If I could mount one on Valkyrie, I'm afraid the recoil woild force her back in the water so fast that we would be taking water over the transom!

Say Hi to Linda for me.

Nick
"Valkyrie"

[patrick and linda]

dude, i carry a big stick! like any good marine, never leave home without heat, even when you travel to maryland! glad you straighten me out on that deal. i'd still be in the slammer. sounds like you guys are having the time of your life. linda and i are looking forward to taking meaningful time off
from work, as you guys are doing now.
later
pat
ps: must have had a good workout tonight, feel half dead now.
fit and trim, healthy, wealthy and wise!

[marvin4239]

Hi Nick been following your adventure and the GF and I may head that way if we can get all the stars to align (seems impossible lately). Did you leave your tow rig at John Pennechamp? Do you know if Bahia Honda has and area for storing tow rigs?
Thanks,
marvin

[Valkyrie]

Marvin,

We have our truck and trailer here at Bahia Honda SP. They have plenty of space and the vehicle is visible from the boat and is in easy walking distance. The only deal is that with both state parks you can only leave a vehicle there if you pay for a dock (both) or a mooring (Pennecamp). Dockage at BH is $2@ft and at Pennecamp docakge is $26 for a small boat and a mooring is about $20. Access to both bay and ocean is great here at BH, the basin is very nice and protected and at most there have only been three other boats overnighting when we've been here. It's dark, quiet(except for traffic noise from A1A), and very private. It's a great place. Hope this helps.

Regards,

Nick
"Valkyrie"

[marvin4239]

Thanks Nick thats exactly what I was looking for.