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Published: March 16th 2010
March 12 Day 5 Traveled 30 miles by bus, metro train and taxi.
When we got to Key Biscayne, captain and crew were ready to jump ship. The boat head (toilet) developed a leak and the experience was not pleasant. When we got to the marina we pumped out the holding tank and went to work fixing the head. This would be a candidate for the “Dirty Jobs” show. We installed a rebuild kit but the leak persisted. Rick then found a crack in the head pump. What do we do now? Fortunately brother Harold called about that time and offered to look up the phone number for West Marine in Miami on the internet. We did not have internet access at this marina. We called West Marine and they did have the parts we needed. So this morning we took the bus and then transferred to the metro train to get to West Marine in the Coconut Grove area of Miami. The clerk at West Marine was very friendly and very helpful and gave us “out-of towners” some local information on things to do and places to eat. She warned us about Jimbo’s being a little earthy, but they
have great food and it was located on the way back to the boat.
A customer in the store, Jose, offered to drive us around Coconut Grove and show us the sites. Of course we accepted the offer. Jose is a retired fireman and now a charter fishing captain. He is Cuban and arrived in the US at the age of 4 with his father on a raft. It is always nice to get some local flavor in new areas we travel. He showed us the Coco Walk, a touristy area with lots of restaurants and bars. It began raining very hard so we ended up in a sports bar watching the Wisconsin Badgers loose to Illinois. Several beers later we ended up at Hooters.
On the way back to the boat we decided to eat at Jimbo’s, so asked the bus driver to drop us off close to the restaurant. When we got dropped off, all we could see is a deserted road leading towards the coast. We happened to see a taxi so we stopped him and asked him where Jimbo’s was. He said it was about 3 miles down that road so we asked him
Big Fish Dinner
We bought sword fish steaks from a fisherman and grilled them for dinner.for a ride. The taxi driver said he thought it was just a bar, but that they had good smoked salmon. When we got there all we found was some shacks and brightly painted buses sitting around . We found Jimbo in his EARTHY kitchen with cats sitting on the counter. We asked about the smoked salmon and he told us he had very good smoked salmon that his friends make. He said he would sell us some if we agreed to not take any pictures of the smoked salmon and then said something about it being illegal. So when we got back to the boat we had smokes salmon and macaroni and cheese. The salmon was very good and neither of us are sick YET.
And that is our day in Miami!
March 13, Day 6 Crandon Marina to No-name Harbor 10 miles traveled
Installed the new head pump this morning. It works good now. WE will now have a happy crew and captain. Rick did laundry while Wayne worked on the head. We then went to the village and re-provisioned for the next leg of the cruise. We headed out to No-name harbor which
Near Miss
This coconut fell from a tree less than 5 feet from where Rick was walking. is on the south end of Key Biscayne. Wind was blowing 20-25mph and small craft warnings were out. Many Miami boaters were out on this first nice weekend. We made the trip in less than 2 hours motor sailing into the wind most of the way. No-name is a very popular anchorage so there were many boats in the anchorage. WE found a place and dropped the anchor. A large power boat came in to the harbor and lost power and managed to drift into the mangrove lined shore. We watched as Tow Boat USA removed 15 youngsters to shore. They towed the boat out of the harbor early the next morning.
March 14, Day 7 No-name Harbor to Pumpkin Key 28miles traveled.
Today was our first great sailing day. We had west winds of 10-15 mph building to 20mph. We were on a broad reach for most of the 28 miles to Pumpkin Key near the northern end of Key Largo, where we anchored out of the wind for a late lunch. A while later 3 more sail boats also anchored next to us. We decided it was such a nice place we called
The Dummy at Jimbo's
Don't ask which one is the dummy. Probably all 3. it a day and relaxed on the boat. Pork chops on the grill for dinner. Yum Yum!
March 15, Day 8 Pumpkin Key to Travenier Key 25 miles traveled.
Started the day with another good sail down the west side of Key Largo. About every couple of hours we had to motor through a mangrove lined channel. We needed to pick up some ice for our cooler so headed to Mangrove Marina on Travenier Key. The engine quit when we were in the channel to the Marina. Uff Da! Now what? The wind was behind us so we just sailed in and anchored in a bay. We diagnosed the engine problem as a plugged fuel line. We disconnected the fuel line from the fuel filter, attached a tube and Rick was able to blow the line free back to the tank.. Fuel still didn’t flow so we attached a small drill pump (used to change oil) and were able to suck the fuel through the line. We changed the filter and reconnected everything and the engine seams to run OK now. We think the cause of the problem was that we were running the engine when we were
Turquoise Water
And it is not algae. well healed. We would like to fill the fuel tank, but the Marina is closed for the day and isn’t open tomorrow. It’s a Municipal Marina and they have cut their hours. Looks like the recession has followed us to the Keys.
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Captain Karl
non-member comment
good stores
Thanks for the updates. I really enjoy them.. Karl