Isla Mujeres, MEX to Key West, FL (Post #2 of 11)

May 21, 2008--Hurray!  Pine Knot took us safely on another adventure.  This time, across the Southern Gulf of Mexico from Isla Mujeres, Mexico to Key West, Florida; with a stop along the way in the Dry Tortugas--two days and nights to the Tortugas, two nights at anchor there, then a day to Key West.

Pine Knot and her crew arrived at Galleon Marina in Key West about 3:00 pm.  We'll write more tomorrow and download some photos.  See you then!

May 23, 2008--Well, we've been so busy here in Key West I haven't had time to update this weblog. Lousia and I gave Pine Knot a good wash job yesterday morning, then rented a scooter and rode all over Key West checking things out.

[Blue Heaven Restaurant]

This morning, we scootered over to Blue Heaven Restaurant for breakfast.  It's a well-recommended place and was good, full of tourists though.  Later we toured the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum, showcase of the treasure of the Spanish Galleons Nuestra Señora de Atocha and the Santa Margarita.  Both ships were part of a fleet that went down in the Marquesas Keys in a hurricame in 1622, loaded with treasures from the New World.

[Actual anchors from the Atocha on display]

You have to admire and be inspired by Mel for having the drive to work over 16 years, even suffering the loss of a son and daughter-in-law, searching for what has turned out to be over $400 million in gold, silver, and artifacts.  Work continues at the site, and the museum director showed us some things found just the day before.  The museum is well worth a visit.

As Pine Knot cruised to Key West from the Dry Tortugas the other day--in an area marked on the charts as "the Quicksands" just west of the Marquesas Keys--we saw one of the Mel Fisher boats working the site of the shipwrecks.

Louisia had a spa treatment this afternoon, so I used the time to plan the next leg of Pine Knot's current adventure, moving her on From Key West up the Florida west coast. The forecast is for a cool front to come through here Sunday night making things rougher in the Gulf. 

"A large Continental high pressure system over the eastern United States will build southward...bringing a back-door cold front through the Florida Keys Sunday night. Fresh northeasterly breezes will accompany and follow the front...persisting through Tuesday."

Those "fresh northeasterly breezes" will create offshore seas of 4 to 6 feet, not our idea of fun boating, so we either have to leave Key West Saturday morning, ahead of the front, or stay here til things calm down later in the week. 

There's a lot of fun stuff yet to do and see in Key West, so we've elected to stay here til Thursday, May 29, then head across Florida Bay to Marco Island on Florida's west coast.  That's about an 80 mile trip and will take Pine Knot most of the day at her 8 knot cruising speed.  I also need to do an oil change on the generator, do some work on the ice maker, and the pilothouse AC unit before we move on. 

We have a marina reservation at Marco Island Marina where we'll leave Pine Knot for a couple of weeks and fly back home to Texas on June 2. We'll fly out of Fort Myers, only about 30 miiles from the marina.  The June 2 date gives a couple of days leeway in case weather conditions don't improve as we hope.

I'll try to get some photos posted soon.

May 24,2008--Here are a few photos from the trip from Isla Mujeres to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas to Key West. (Remember, you can click on the photo for a larger version)

[From Pine Knot's Bow 30 Miles North of Cuba]

As you can see, the weather and sea conditions were ideal for our crossing to Key West.  Only about a one-foot chop.

["Scrawny Seagull"]

We had a passenger for awhile. This seagull looked as if he needed a rest.

[Freighter in the Florida Straights]

This was the closest approach we had with any ship over two days and nights in the busy shipping lanes.  The freighter was heading out of the Gulf of Mexico and into the Florida Straights.  We were on a collision course but she did change course to pass behind us just as we were about to do some evasive action of our own.

["Lonely Outpost"]

Seventy-five miles west of Key West, Loggerhead Key and its lighthouse greeted us as we entered the Dry Tortugas. 

If you'ld really like to get away from it all, you can apply for the Loggerhead Key or Garden Key Maintenance Volunteer Program. You will be housed, free of charge, in an air-conditioned, one-bedroom, two-story brick house for a minimum stay of 30 full days.  You will be expected to put in at least 32 hours a week cleaning the grounds and beaches, transferring fuel, changing generators, mowing and trimming lawns, burning trash, and doing plumbing, carpentry, electrical, and other maintenance and mechanical work. Apply to Dry Tortugas National Park, PO Box 6208, Key West, FL 33041.

[Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas]

We anchored for two nights between the coral reef and Garden Key, the site of Fort Jefferson, one of the largest of America's 19th century coastal forts.  The fort construction began in 1846 and was planned and supervised by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The labor force during the early years was made up predominantly of slaves from Key West.

Construction of the fort continued for 30 years, but it was never completed.  Changes in weapons technology, primarily the development of rifled cannons, rendered the fort obsolete; the heavy brick walls wouldn't resist pointed cannon shells. After the Civil War, the fort was used as a federal prison. Among the prisoners kept there were several of the "Lincoln Conspirators." One of these was Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, the physician who set the broken leg of President Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. In 1867, during an outbreak of Yellow Fever, Dr. Mudd helped prison doctors fight the epidemic. Two years later the physician's sentence was commuted and he was released. The Department of the Army officially abandoned Fort Jefferson in 1874; established as Fort Jefferson National Monument in 1935, it was rededicated and renamed Dry Tortugas National Park on October 26, 1992.

[Ferry at Fort Jefferson]

You can visit the fort via high speed ferry or sea-plane from Key West.

[Sunset at Garden Key with Loggerhead Key in the Background]

[Pine Knot Approaches Key West Harbor]

[Galleon Marina is just inside the stone breakwater in Key West Bight]

[Pine Knot at Galleon Marina, Key West]

This is the tightest docking situation we've faced with Pine Knot, maybe the tightest I've had anywhere. I swear we have only one-inch of clearance on each side.  As we swung Pine Knot into the slip, her bow pulpit was just a couple of feet off the pulpit of another boat across the way.  Luckily, the wind was calm this time. 

[Pine Knot at Galleon Marina, Key West]

[Pine Knot at Galleon Marina, Key West]

Clearing Customs and Immigration

Notice Pine Knot is still flying her yellow "Quarantine Flag." Whenever we enter foreign waters, or when we return to the United States from a foreign port, we must hoist the Quarantine Flag at our starboard spreader. The “Q” Flag is a plain yellow, rectangular flag. Hoisting this flag signals that the vessel is healthy and that we are requesting clearance into the country.

After the vessel is inspected and the paperwork is done, the Q Flag is replaced by the flag of the country we're visiting.  That one's called a courtesy flag.  When we're in the US, we proudly fly the Texas flag at Pine Knot's starboard spreader with the US flag at her stern, the most honored position.

As required, we called the 800 number for the US Customs and Border Patrol for South Florida to report Pine Knot's arrival in Key West.  After an hour and ten minutes on hold, we were given a case number and told to report in person to the CBP office a few blocks away on Simonton Street.  We hoofed it over there, but the office closed at 4:00 pm. 

The following day we took ourselves, our passports, and our boat papers to the CBP office and we're cleared into the US by simplly filling out a form, no boat inspection.  I guess for 18 hours or so we were illegal aliens or something.

May 25, 2008--Today, Louisia and I are headed out on the scooter to do some tourist stuff in Key West.  I think she has plans for us to visit the Truman Museum, The Ripley Believe-It-Or-Not Museum (Louisia just loves cultural things!), and the Shipwreck Museum.

[Touring the "Little White House"--Pres. Harry Truman visited here several times]

["Little White House" marker]

Scooters or bikes are the way to travel in Key West.  Parking spaces for cars here is in short supply, but scooter and bike spaces abound.  Louisia wanted to rent bikes, but I refused.  It's much easier to talk to each other on a scooter, and an added benefit is that on the scooter, she holds on tightly around my waist! (Louisia makes a great backrest, as well.)

That evening we went to a female impersonator show at the La Te Da Caberet.  It seems Louisia head heard of this guy, Randy Roberts--she may have seen him on "Oprah" or "The View"--and said he's quite an entertainer.  I reluctantly agreed to go, and I do have to admit he does put on a great show.  He does Cher better than Cher!

[Randy Roberts as Cher]

[Randy as Himself?]

Randy finished the show as this character, no celebrity, just the way he fixes himself up in drag.  A bit confusing, I know, we just have to accept these things in Key West.

May 26, 2008--Today we took The World Famous Conch Train Tour, a great way to get an overview of Key West and learn a bit about the colorful history of the island.  The guide pointed out four main architectural styles of the homes in Old Town, and claimed that Key West holds America's largest collection of Victorian style homes.  True or not, the people here have done tremendous work restoring the old homes and renovating their downtown area. 

[Conch Tour Train]

This evening I may have made a "grave" mistake.  I agreed to go on the Original Ghost Tour of Key West.  Louisia was really wanting to do this, and against my better judgement (Louisia is a superstitious sort, see our posting "Sumthin's Gonna Happen" ) we scootered over to pick up the tickets. 

I'll write more about our Ghost Tour Adventure later this evening when I have more time.  Let's just say Louisia is all "wierded out" now about the ghosts of Key West.  She's convinced her digital photos show images of ghosts and orbs.  I'll post some of her photos later and let you decide.

The Original Ghost Tour of Key West

Our narrated, walking tour of haunted sites of Key West included a mix of ghost tales ranging from a crazed Count's love for a woman that extended beyond the grave to a creepy doll named Robert that moved from window to window, even having his own attic room with his own Robert-sized furniture. The tale of a jealous lover's revenge gone wrong may have had the most impact on the group, accentuated by Louisia's eerie photo of a ghost-child peering out a window of an abandoned theater.

Here are a couple of photos of St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Cemetery, supposedly one of the most active paranormal sites in Key West.  Louisia's photo of orbs (balls of light) caused quite a stir among the tour group members.

[Little orbs and big orbs]

Here's a photo of the same church about an hour later (same camera, same settings) after Louisia made me take her back for another look.

[Where did all the orbs go?  Guess they new the tour was over.]

Nearing the end of the tour, everyone, (including me) was a bit spooked.  Our final stop was at an abandoned theater, the Chameleon.  It seems the Chameleon was built on the site of an old Baptist Church.  The story goes that the preacher's wife was having an affair with a church deacon.  (Now that I can Believe!) In a fit of jealous rage, the preacher set fire to the church with his wandering wife inside.  The preacher didn't realize his wife's Sunday School class was also inside.  Sixteen innocent children and the unfaithful wife were burned alive.

The church was rebuilt, it too burned.  Other businesses were tried at the location, all have failed.  It's said the children can still be heard scampering about inside.  Taps on the glass doors will often bring tapping responses from the little Caspers inside.

Here is Louisia's photo that caused the real stir.  Her camera was passed around the group and almost all agreed she had captured the image of a little girl with arms outstretched standing at he glass door on the right.  And just might that be another one of those pesky orbs at the foot of the doors? What do you think?

[Boo!]

May 27, 2008--Continuing our cultural endeavors, today we toured exhibits of the Key West Art & Historical Society in the old Customs House building.  The featured exhibit is "Icons" by sculptor J. Seward Johnson.  Johnson's idea is to take images from art we all recognize, and present them to us in a new form, the form of sculptures. 

Where do people come up with this stuff?  Wanna bet our National Endowment of the Arts is bankrolling this?  Anyway, we took a look at the exhibit and here's what we found.

[Outside, Mammoth Representation of Grant Wood's "American Gothic"]

[These Suckers Must Be 25 Feet Tall!]

[Like trying to move Louisia's shoe bag!]

[Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring"]

[More "American Gothic"]

["Marilyn"]

May 28, 2008--It hasn't been all touring while here in Key West.  I have done some boat maintenence.  Today I replaced the ice maker module board.  I ordered the part from Raritan a couple of days ago and had it shipped to the marina.  The ice maker was putting out just a few cubes a day.  Usually, it makes about 22 pounds a day.  When it did dump ice, the motor and gears made loud clicking sounds.  We'll see if we get back to full ice production.  It's a real luxury to be able to produce lots of ice.  We've had to buy ice for the past few days.  It's expensive and a pain to lug ice bags down the dock.

I changed the generator oil and hauled the used oil to the collection station on the other side of the harbor.  As I said in an earlier post, I'm having trouble with Pine Knot's oil change pump.  I bought a pump that attaches to my cordless drill and used that to pump out the generator oil.  Worked great!  We went to a pack and ship store and mailed off an oil sample for analysis.  I'm eager to see how this sample checks out.  Last analysis showed a bit of fuel in the oil.

I had to unclog an air conditioner drain line in the Forward Machinery Space.  The drain was under one of the compressor units, and it was overflowing into the bilge with the forward bilge pump then pumping it overboard.  The condensate is supposed to flow in the drain line through the bulkhead into the Amidships Machinery Space, and into the shower sump drain box where it collects and pumps overboard when full.  Look like it's working right for now.

Update:  The replacement ice maker module board seems to have done the trick.  The icemaker produced half-a bucket while we were at the market getting some supplies.

The Adventures Continue

Tomorrow Pine Knot leaves Key West headed for Marco Island, Florida.  We have a slip reserved at the Marco Island Marina.  The Key West to Marco Island run will be about 80 nautical miles, about 10 hours at Pine Knot's 8 knot cruising speed. 

We plan to leave Pine Knot at Marco Island Marina for about 10 days while Louisia and I come back to Texas for awhile.