ISLA MUJARES

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When we got back to Isla Mujeres from our road trip we went to our boat and played some Rummikub and then went to bed. The next day I got up and I did some school. After that we ate a traditional Mexican meal. They were these pizza like thing called sopes. It was so good and all they did to make it was put some meat on this weird type of bread with vegetables. When we got back to the boat we started to clean up the boat because when we left it was amazingly messy with all our stuff on the floor. The next day we went on a drift snorkel and we were going 2 knots without even kicking which was really cool. My dad and mom saw some amazing fish like the giant star fish and a big red snapper. The next day and a half we didn't do much until Barry, Casey and their 3 and a half year old Jacob met up with us at the ferry station. We brought their bags to their hotel and Jacob was happy to see that they had inner tubes, a pool, and a nice beach. We all went to find dinner and then we went our own ways; us to the boat and them to their hotel. The next day my mom left and my Dad and I went to their beach and met up with them. Jacob and I made really cool sand castles and I turned mine into a really cool looking volcano with lava flowing down its sides. After that Jacob got a ball and threw it over the breakwater and watched the waves bring it back. Then we went to the pool and Jacob was in an inner tube and I swam under him and tickled him which gave me the name of tickle shark. That night we went to dinner and after that we went to what Jacob called the ice cream cone with a big red meat ball on top. (Which really looked like a big ice cream cone with a meat ball on top.) The next day we dinghied over to their beach and anchored and swam. On the swim it was only for five minutes that I couldn't touch the bottom because that whole side of the island was a huge sand bar. When. The next day we went out snorkeling with them and there was a strong current going through the area so my dad and I swam against it for a little bit and took the current back (we went so fast it felt like we were on a highway). Mean while Barry and Casey were having Jacob put his head in the water to look at the fish. Then we spotted a wreck that we all swam to and there were a ton of different types of fish. So many types that I couldn't name all of them. After that we swam over to yet another wreck and on this one we spotted a couple barracudas. I also found a coin in the sand and at first I thought it was some old Spanish piece of eight (I later learned that it was half a peso). The next day we met another group of travelers on another sailboat and invited them to come meet Jacob. They had 6 and 2 year old daughters. That day we all played in the pool and Jacob started to get more and more comfortable in the water. But we left the beach early the next day because we were pretty much spent on beach time. The next day was the day before Barry and Casey left and the day our crew arrived Anna, Dan, and Shana. That day before our crew arrived we all played on the beach. The next day when we were all ready to go we went to then port captain to check out of Mexico. Then we got on our boat for a 3 day cruise from Isla Mujares to the Dry Tortugas Florida. On that cruise I mainly was in my dad's bed playing with Anna's I-pad and every night Anna made amazingly good dinners. The second day into the cruise we saw dolphins that Dave and Shana had never seen before. Every night I would come up with a life jacket and a tether and tether myself to a post so I wouldn't fall over board. The rest of the night I would sleep there. On the whole voyage we had pretty good winds. The next few days we saw more dolphins. When we finally got to the Dry Tortugas (it means dry turtles and we didn't see any in our short stay) we had to go through this long and windy channel but when we got to the island we saw the largest brick fort in the in the USA; it had 16 million bricks. The fort was a prison and it was called home by Dr. Samuel Mudd who was one of the 4 men who helped assasinate Abraham Lincoln. Also the fort never fired a single shot. In the morning when we were snoring the park service came around and they had to put a siren on to wake us up to tell us that we were in the middle of the channel and that a seaplane had to go another route because we were blocking their way. After we got settled in in the new spot we went into shore and explored the fort and we saw a 300 pound cannon which was 16 tons. The next day we visited the fort and saw where the fort kept its powder and made bullets and that stuff. After that we met 2 old sailors who were the funniest people in the world. They offered to take us out on their boat to go snorkeling and find a sunken barge. We couldn't find it. So we went to a different spot behind the island and saw some really cool fish and part of the stern of and old ship. Mo had a Hawaiian spear which was different then ours because ours was like a spear gun his was like a bow and arrow (I liked the one he had better than the one we had). With it he caught 5 illegal lobsters Mo thought the rules didn't apply to him we didn't argue cause we had some good lobster dinner. While we were eating a gigantic grouper fish came up to the boat. They were really, really, really big. It was the biggest fish I had ever seen; bigger than the yellow fin tuna we caught on the pacific side. Mo said that one time one of them came up to his arm and sucked his arm into his elbow but he yanked it out. Dave and Shana got in and swam with them. The fish was on the greater side of 6 feet. The next day we left the Dry Tortugas to go to Key West about a 60 mile cruise. Since we were going 6 knots (about the same as 6 miles an hour) it took us 10 hours. When we got to Key West we checked into the marina and went right up to the pool and did a quick dunk and then relaxed the rest of the day. That night my mom was going to drive down from where she was working but she decided to fly because there were way to many stoplights on the drive. The next day we had to check into the USA. Then we took off for Fort Lauderdale. It took an over nighter to get to it. We had to go under our first bascule bridge in the inter coastal water way. A bascule bridge is a bridge that has two flaps when it is open it looks like a gigantic crocodile with its moth open looking up. After we docked we went to lunch and said goodbye to Anna. For the next couple days we relaxed and checked out the inter coastal waterway by dinghy. After we sent my mom off, we left headed out for Stuart. The trip took three days. On the first one we had to go under 13 bascule bridges. It took about 4 hours to do all the bridges but the distance wasn't great. We went slower than usual because we had to wait for the bridges to open and close. On the way there we had dolphins come up and play with us. When we got to the first stop we had some problems with the depth so we had to ask another local boat where the shallow parts and the deep parts were. The next day we only had 11 bridges and when we got to the stopping point it was an Easter holiday so there were billions of boats tied up and it was so shallow and there were so many boats you could walk to one another. We decided to go under another bridge and go to another less crowded anchorage. The next day was our last day of moving the boat. That day my dad knew it was going to be shallow and we were going to try to do it without waiting for the tide (bad choice). We started out okay and went under a couple of bridges but when we went out into the channel we ran aground and we had to call towboat US to tow us of the mud. After we had been moving for awhile when we were close to a fixed bridge we ran aground yet another time and the dingy came up out of the water and hit the back of the boat. It seemed like a whales tale flicked the dingy. We had to call towboat US again and it was the same guy who towed us the first time. When we got to Stuart we moored and went in to the marina to check in. After that we went to look at cars that we might want to drive across country with. I picked a truck that had a big enough back seat for me and a big enough bed for my dad's skis. The next few days we packed up the boat. After the boat was all packed up I started polishing and waxing the boat earning an hourly pay from my dad of about 5 dollars an hour for 8 hours a day. For 9 days. When we got our shell for the truck we started putting all our stuff in it.  When we were all packed up we left our boat to sell it.
Stay tuned for our drive across the country.

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Photos

Rifeled cannon ball
The rifled cannon gave the cannon ball a twist making it more accurate and giving it longer range

Logerhead Lighthouse
It is over 150 ft tall

Lobster dinner
My dad traded his illegal rum for Mo's lobster

Comments

[Stephanie]

The Journey Home
Andrew, I love your casual interjections of Samantha drifting into the main channel and running aground. I just had to smile. I didn't realize at all that this was the end of your sea voyage. It seems to have been wonderful, and now may the drive across country be a great adventure, too. Safe Travels, steph

[Millie Behar]

hi!
sounds great! Call Eli when u get back in town... :-)