2025-05-04 Coconut Grove and up to Fort Pierce

On Monday, we moved the boat over to an anchorage by Dinner Key, near Coconut Grove, Florida.  It was a bit skinny on water, seeing 4.9' at low tide but found a nice spot to anchor.

Once the boat was secure, we headed into the public dinghy dock, where we saw a small crocodile sunning himself about 20' from the dinghy dock.

About 4' of body and 4' of tail

At least they have warning signs

We walked into town up about a mile to the Home Depot for some engine oil, and new line for our sling seat.  Then across the street to McDonald's for lunch and then over to UK Sailmakers to get a batten we needed for our new mainsail, that we will pick up in Vero Beach.

We had called UK sailmakers, and they said that they had a batten that matched ours, but when we arrived, it was not there, so we ended up with something close, that should work.   It had some damage in shipping, so we got it at a discount for only $40, which was great.  Now we just needed to carry a 16' long flexible batten the 1-mile back to the dinghy through town.

Dean took the lead, and Kris on the back carrying our batten back 

We got some curious looks and a couple of humorous comments, but made it back to the dinghy with no issues.  Dean took the dink and batten back to the boat, and Kris waked the mile to a chiropractor, where she got her back looked at and adjusted.     

On the walk back, quite surprised to hear and see a peacock roaming the streets.

Why did the peacock cross the street?

Evidently, peacocks in Coconut Grove and Miami are common, and protected.   You can't harm them, and they are free to roam.  They are quite loud, and leave large droppings, but also pretty.  Some residents love them, some hate them.

Next day Kris was feeling a bit better, but still quite stiff and sore, so another walk in order to loosen her up.  Walked around and enjoyed some of the sites around Coconut Grove

Sculptures in park by dingy dock

Nice glass ball fountain

Quite a few spots of artwork scattered throughout town

Large lizard in the parking lot - boy can they run fast

Saw a few peacock statues - they are from 2010

Nice tile mural

Thought these were fake flowers at first, but all real.

Wednesday was another walk, as they help Kris's back.  The back is getting better, but still a bit of pain, although much less than when it started.

The weather looked good, so Thursday afternoon we upped anchor and headed out the Miami channel for an overnight sail to Fort Pierce.

Heading on ICW towards Miami

Downtown Miami

We had a very fast overnight sail - faster than planned, seeing 9 to 12 knots in the Gulf Stream heading north.   We got into Fort Pierce earlier than planned, and had to slow up a bit so we were not dropping anchor in the dark.  We anchored around 7:00 a.m. and both took a short nap.

After our nap and shower, we headed into Fort Pierce to go to Stingray Electronics.   

Our Raymarine(Airmar)  Depth/Speed/Temperature transducer started failing by showing the water temperature was climbing - all the way up to 135 degree Fahrenheit, until it failed completely and showed just dotted lines.   Since the transducer was under warranty we contacted Raymarine, and they authorized a warranty repair, if we just shipped it to them, they would take care of it.   We got them to understand we could not do that, as we would have no depth sounder, so they recommended taking it to an authorized repair center.  Dean found Stingray Electronics in Fort Pierce - contacted them, and they said they would just give us a new one, and send the old one back.    WOW - what great service.   

After Stingray, we walked around Fort Pierce a bit.    

Fort Pierce also has peacocks, and they are in an area downtown, where they hang out around the Crain House.  The Crain's brought the peacocks in 1952, and they still are there (not the same ones of course - they live 15 to 20 years in the wild, but up to 40 years in captivity)

Couple of peacocks up in a tree

Little known fact - Kris had peacocks as pets growing up on a small farm in Oregon - along with many other animals.   The neighbors were not happy about that, when sometimes in the early morning hours the peacocks would fly to a neighbor's roof and start squawking - which is quite loud if you have never heard it.  They had to trim their flight feathers so they would not roam the neighborhood.

Today we leave Fort Pierce, and will motor up to Vero Beach where it will be "Christmas" for us with a number of packages coming in.   We have been busy on Amazon, among others, and Vero Beach is a great place for us to ship things.  New sail, new helm seat, new foam and much more.   Kris will also get another chiropractor appointment and work on getting her back fully healed up.

2025-04-27 Heading north up to Key Biscane - Kris hurts her back

We spent all day Monday on the boat just relaxing, doing some cleaning and catching up on sleep and internet stuff.  

Tuesday we headed north, motor sailing 35 miles north up the ICW to Barnes sound, where we spent the night.   So strange to be back on the ICW, although it was pretty deserted, and we did not encounter many boats.   Of course, we did encounter one boat, who was anchored in the middle of a tight channel, anchored right in the middle.  Group of 4 ladies, looking to see some Tarpon, it takes all kinds.

 

Back on the ICW

Boat anchored right in the middle, hoping to see some Tarpon

Wednesday we motor sailed 23 more miles to Boca Chita Key.  We were glad we had gotten an early start, as we took one of the last open spots along the wall inside Boca Chita Key.  The island used to belong to Honeywell - of Honeywell controls fame, but now is a National Park.  You can tie up along the harbor wall for free Tuesday to Thursday.  We did not think Wednesday would be as busy as it was, but it was fun to watch all the boats come in and leave and have parties and socialize.  We moved three times back and forth along the wall as boats came and left to allow room for new boats.

Boca Chita is very small, but had a nice little trail around the island to walk.

 

Decorative lighthouse at entrance to Boca Chita harbor

 

 

 

View of water from the trail

Old building on Boca Chita - the Chapel

Charm tied up along with a lot of powerboats

We left Boca Chita on Friday morning earlier than planned, as a powerboat came in and was trying to dock right in front of us, in a spot that was just barely long enough for him.  To avoid possible damage to our boat, and be nice, we abandoned breakfast, and got underway for a short 13-mile trip up to No Name Harbor.

We anchored on the outside, as you have to pay in the harbor, and there were already many boats inside. 

Kris's back started to hurt in the afternoon, and by evening she was in a lot of pain.   She took some Tylenol, but did not get much sleep with pain in the back and shooting pains in her right thigh.   In the morning, she felt a bit better, so we walked 1.35 miles into town to get groceries, thinking we would get a ride back to the boat with a free ride service called Freebee.   Should have planned better, as when we tried to get a ride back, we got a notice that Freebee was not working on the weekends.  So we walked back, carrying the groceries.  Poor Dean had to carry all the heavy stuff, as Kris did not want a heavy backpack or bag on her shoulder.    

 

Nice walk into town.  Haven't been around "landscaped" roads or sidewalks for some time

We were back at the boat by lunch, and relaxed.  That afternoon and into evening Kris's pain just got worse, but we had stopped and got ice packs, heat packs, ibuprofen and acetaminophen and Kris was using all of it trying to find relief.   Of course, many internet searches were done, and we figure she has a herniated disk which was acting up.   

Sunday was back into land for Kris to walk, -as that is supposed to help with healing.   We took a nice 2-mile loop through the Bill Bags Cape, Florida State Park.    

Nice sunset anchored off of No Name Harbor - Key Biscayne

Quite a few boats inside No Name Harbor

Charm anchored out

Nice path along the shore

Lighthouse at south end of Key Biscayne.

 

Tomorrow we will head over to the mainland, as we found a source for a new batten for our mainsail that we will ship next week.  The weather looks good Thursday for an overnight run to Fort Pierce area.

2025-04-20 Tired of watching the weather, decided to go for it and sail to Florida anyway.

We look at the weather each day, hoping for a 5-day window to sail from Luperon to Florida.  Nothing looks good.   

Monday had a bit of excitement, as a new boat came into the harbor, and was being led by a "friendly cruiser" in her dinghy to an open mooring ball.  Unfortunately, she led them over the large shallow bank in the middle of the mooring field, and they promptly went aground on a falling tide.  Big steel ketch.

We sat and watched the entertainment as several folks in dinghy's and the local man who owns the moorings attempted to get the boat off the ground.   We were getting ready to go help, but could see quite quickly that there were too many bosses and not enough followers and no good coordination to work together, so decided to pass on getting involved.  After a couple of hours of trying various unsuccessful attempts to push it off, everyone left to wait for high tide later in the evening.

 

Around 9 p.m. the local mooring owner boat came out, and easily pulled the boat off the bottom, and took them to a mooring.  No damage done.

Dean decided that it would be a good day to make cinnamon rolls, as we thought we would enjoy them when we finally did leave and have a multiple night passage.  

Hard not to eat them all right away, but know they will be a nice treat on a long passage

Kris got busy and made some removable dinghy registration placards that we need to put on the dinghy when in Florida waters. 

Only Florida has gotten touchy about insisting our dingy be registered, so we registered it in Idaho. 

Tuesday we headed into town to have a meal out, and check out the grocery stores.   If we were going to be here for a couple more weeks, we would need provisions, so the local store or if not we would need to get a taxi or rent a car to head to the larger town.    

Nice lunch out on a restaurant that caters to cruisers - not your typical Dominican Republic fare

Some of the backstreets of Luperon, much cleaner and nicer than the main street

Wednesday, like any other day, we got up, had breakfast and checked the weather.  We both were not looking forward to spending another week or more in Luperon waiting on an ideal weather window.  Kris looked at weather and said - let's go - have to motor sail for one day, and have one day of 30 knot gusts, but all doable if we want to.  Sooo - we got ready and went to town and checked out, and then went to the grocery store to use up the leftover Dominican Republic money we still had.  What do you get  - junk of course, it will last and was some of the higher priced items at the store.

 

What we bought for $1,500 DR - or $25 in US cash

 We got back to the boat and hoisted anchor at 11:00 on Wednesday the 16th. 

Wednesday afternoon winds were light, so we motor sailed for the first 8 hours or so, then the winds built, and the motors went off.  By hour 24 the winds picked up so we put in one reef of the main and kept going around 7 to 9 knots.  By hour 48 the winds built, so a double reef main and jib was moving us along around 7 to 9 knots.  By hour 72 we were seeing gusts to 30 knots, so went to just the jib, and sailed along.  We came into anchorage at exactly 96 hours after we left, averaging 6.8 knots for the 4-day trip.

We do a shift of 3 hours on, and 3 hours off.  Works for us, but it doesn't mean you get a lot of sleep.

Would like to say it was all smooth sailing - but it wasn't.  Had some lumpy seas.  Kris slipped and fell in the cockpit due to salt spray coating everything, making everything extra slippery.   She banged her shoulder had, and her head lightly.  Dean stubbed his toe and walked with a limp for a couple day.  We lost one of our port visors - heavy seas ripped it right off.  We were losing a second one, but Dean was able to reach over the side and save it.     

Kris had an "oh crap"  moment on watch when she heard the kerplunk of something metal falling on deck.   It was night, of course, so a thorough search via flashlight on all critical items revealed a nut had come off the bolt holding the boom vang to the boom.  Dean was called up, and we got the main down and secured, as losing the vang would be a bad thing.  That's when we started sailing under jib alone, and the speed was good enough we just left it that way the rest of the trip.  Next morning we did fix the loose bolt and got the vang fixed.

Some pretty sunsets on the trip.   Passed close to a tug and barge, but not a lot of traffic to worry about on our route.

Kris saw one green "flash"

Tug and barge was the closet we got to any other traffic

Had one brief hour of rain on the first day, but that was it for the whole trip

Day 2 sailing along with double reef main and jib.  Doing 8 plus knots steady in 18 knots apparent

Was not a warm trip - Kris was in pants and sweatshirt most of the time

Pretty much the view for 4 days

It was nice to come into Florida and get into some flat water.  We were tired of rocking and rolling.

We were planning on going all the way to No Name Harbor at Key Biscayne, but it was another 60 miles, and the wind was on ENE, so we decided to come into Lower Morecambe Key as there was one of the few spots we could get on the west side of the Keys for good wind and wave protection.

Approaching the Channel 5 bridge.  One of the few places with a high enough bridge to get us to the protected Florida Bay waters.

 

Once in and anchored, Dean spent the next hour cleaning crusted salt off the boat.  It was everywhere.

Kris checked in to the USA online, and scrubbed the inside of the boat, as we had tracked in salt with our feet and clothes after every shift.

It was time for a nice lunch, and by 1:00 we were sitting down to our feast of pizza.  YUM YUM

 

Fresh sheets on the bed, a nice hot shower, and we are ready to relax and have a good nights sleep tonight.

 

 

 

2025-04-13 Change of plans with the weather - now in Luperon

We were thinking of going all the way from Puerto Rico to the Florida Keys.  Good thing we don't live to a schedule, or firm plans most the time.   

It was a 6 to 7-day trip from Puerto Rico to Key West, and we could not find a long enough weather window for the entire trip.   It seems odd, since usually you would have steady easterly trade winds, but we saw north winds, no winds, and strong east winds up to 30 knots, all lasting more than a day, so we decided instead to take an upcoming weather window to sail to Luperon, Dominican Republic instead.  That would cut 260 miles out of our almost 1,000-mile trip.   

Signpost at Puerto Real.  I think the Galapagos distance is a bit off.

Monday we rented a car in Puerto Real to go to shopping for provisions.  We did a brief drive tour of the Southwest corner of Puerto Rico first, going to Cabo Rojo, and then through San German before heading to Mayaguez to the Walmart, and Pueblo (grocery)  stores.

We were going to go to the lighthouse, but the road was closed to cars, so it would have been a 4-mile roundtrip walk which we were not prepared for, so we didn't go.

Stopped at the view tower for the Cabo Rojo salt flats

 

Viewtower

View of the SW 

Salt flat ponds

After the view tower, we hit the road and drove through San German.  Cute little town on a hill, but the roads were so narrow, there was nowhere to pull off, and Google Maps got us a little lost for some reason, so we did not stop for photos.  Had a quick lunch at a McDonald's near the highway, then onto Walmart and Pueblo for groceries and then back to boat.

 

We did buy a new microwave at Walmart, as our old one was getting a bit rusty on the door and was starting to flake off pieces.

New non-rusty microwave.   It's the small things that make you happy sometimes

Tuesday afternoon we left Puerto Real and sailed to Luperon, arriving midday on Thursday.   Uneventful sail, which is always good, a bit lumpy in 5' seas with a 5 to 6-second period off the stern quarter for the first 12 hours or so, then it got better withe lesser seas, and we could turn more downwind.

 

In Luperon we checked in, first with Immigration where we could pay with credit card for about $65, then to Customs, only $30, then to the department of Agriculture, another $10, then to the Navy, which was no charge.  It was nice, they all took US dollars.   It took about an hour to do it all, even though the offices were all in the same area, just time for everyone to fill out their forms, and stamp them.  Still better than Trinidad, and everyone very helpful and friendly.

 

Across the street, cross the crumbling bridge and up the hill to the Navy office

 

Navy office parking.  Motorcycles are more prevalent than cars here

 

 

After check in - back to boat to relax, as after a couple of nights underway, we were both a bit of brain weary from lack of sleep, so good to just relax. 

Friday we headed into town to see the sights.

 

Statue of General Luperon - where the town got its name

 

Nice tile work outside a pharmacy

Town square

As with most towns, there is part that is nicer looking, and parts that are poorer looking.  In Luperon, they are mixed together, so there is no transition between them.  

Laundry hanging to dry on the side of the main street.  You use the space you have

Across the street is a car wash, with nice cars getting washed.   Everything clean and well-kept.

Right outside the clean car wash, trash in the street, with people picking through the bottles to find ones they can return for money

Make a fence with what you can find.

Luperon does have a nice dinghy dock.

Dinghy dock

 

We had a nice lunch out at a pizza restaurant, which seems to also be a bit of a local hangout.  A 10" round pizza cost 250 Dominican Republic pesos - which is about $4 USD.   We had two pizzas with two large cokes for under $10 USD.    

With the very protected bay, and very cheap cost of living, you can see why Luperon is a place where people stop on their way to the Caribbean from the US or Canada, and never leave.   Many people here have been here more than 2 years, and there is a very active live-aboard community.   We were told you can even get free medical at the local small hospital here.

 

Luperon mooring field

Luperon mooring field

Almost everyone is on a mooring, which cost of $25 USD for a week.  Could have gotten a month for $75 USD.   

A couple of local people cater to the yachts, supplying diesel, water, gasoline, dive services, car rental, tours - any help you need at very reasonable (cheap)  prices.

We will wait here for a good weather window to head to Florida, which looks like at least a week away, but who knows.  Looks like the Keys are out for this year, as we want to make it to Norfolk by first of June.