Makin’ for Da Keys!

Well, we made it.  

We had long planned Marathon in the Florida Keys as the southernmost stop on our Great Loop.  And we arrived there on January 8^th.   Somewhat incredibly (given our various “adventures), this is only 8 days later than we scheduled last May when we reserved marina space here.  

On the other hand…….

• We gave up our plans for a leisurely December on Florida’s Gulf Coast, and
• Our stay at Marco Island slipped from two weeks to one night, and, …….oh yeah,…….
• We arrived at Marathon under tow.

And thereby hangs the tale……..

After leaving Crystal River after Christmas, we made our way thru the 40-mile crab pot gauntlet toward Clearwater Beach Marina.  Volunteer crew member Dan and Commodore Kathleen spent 5 hours on constant lookout for those nasty little floats and their attached lines.  Ugh

 A few words about crab pots:

Fishing for shrimp/lobster/crabs seems to be a major pastime (amateur and professional) in FL.   They use  a wooden or wire cage baited with some tasty (for shellfish) morsel that they drop to the bottom in 10-40 feet of water.  Attached to the trap is a line that terminates with a float, allowing the fisherman to locate and retrieve the trap later.  And there are 100’s of thousands of these deployed in FL coastal waters. 

Crab Pot Floats  (Grrrr!! 😠)

All well and good.  We like shrimp/lobster/crab as much as they next guy.   Until one hooks that float and line with a boat propeller.  Then the line wraps around the prop shaft, and reels the trap up from the ocean floor until it impacts the prop with a resounding crunch.   If you are  lucky, you or a diver can cut the line loose, no damage done.  If you’re not so lucky, you get to have the boat hauled out of the water for repairs.  

To make maters worse, in an effort to make their floats distinctive, some fisherman succeed in making them nigh on invisible.  Like painting them green, blue and/ or black.  There are even a few sadists who is floating polypropylene line, so when they drop a pot, the extra line floats alongside the float,  to turn a “close miss” into a “disaster”.  It seems the only ways to avoid them are to  stick to charted ship channels (which are not always available) or seek out water in excess of 50 feet deep (which on Florida’s shallow Gulf coast, this means being 20+ miles offshore.)  Sheesh.

But, our vigilant crews’ efforts paid off and we missed them all, arriving in Clearwater Beach suffering from the “thousand yard stare”, but safe and sound.   

OK, That's WAY too much  about crab pots. 

After a good night’s sleep, we headed south on the Gulf ICW across Tampa Bay and the town of Bradenton on the Manatee River.   We stayed at Twin Dolphin Marina (where we had originally planned to spend the entire month of December.)  it’s a very nice, well-run facility adjacent to Bradenton’s busy downtown.    At this stop, Volunteer Crewman Dan left us to fly back to winter-bound Spokane. We think he had sufficient “adventure time” with us and was ready to return to hearth and home, wife and dogs. 

Our time there was limited to 4 nights, but we made the best of  our  time, reconnecting with 2021 Looper friends Cliff and Maryjane from Lady Jane, Bill and Patty from Let Time go Lightly and Larry and Mary from Livin’ The Dream, both of whom live nearby (and squeezing in trips to Costco and Pet Smart.)  We also reconnected with old friends from Spokane, Larry and Cheryl Roberts, who now live in Clearwater.  

With Bill and Patty from Let Time Go Lightly

From Bradenton, we re-entered the  GICW southbound through Sarasota Harbor and Gasparilla Sound to our next stop at Boca Grande.   On the way we reconnected with fellow Loopers Mike and Sonja on Grace Sea and agreed to cruise together toward Marathon.  Except for brief encounter with a sandbar at the harbor entrance, our two-day stay at Boca Grande Marina was very pleasant.  The island is a popular “old-Florida” seasonal destination with lots to see and do.  But looking closely, we could see lots of evidence of damage and in-process repairs and cleanup from Hurricane Ian.   At what price paradise??????

Departing Boca Grande, we had to choose between continuing down the protected but slow GICW or stepping out into the Gulf for a faster passage.  This decision was further complicated by the lingering impact of Hurricane Ian on the waters around Sanibel island and Ft Meyers.  Despite heroic local, state and, federal recovery efforts, we continued to hear of debris in the ICW (including sunken boats and cars) and channel makers that could no longer be trusted.  In light of this, we and Grace Sea decided to take the Boca Grande Pass out to the Gulf and to seek water depths of 40+ feet before turning south for Marco Island.   

Visitor at Boca Grande

Our passage to Marco Island proved to be both rougher and more crab pot-intensive than forecast, but we made good time and arrived at the excellent Marco Island Marina in good form.  We were met by Commadore Kathleen’s cousin Louise Shrank and husband Jeff who had driven down from Bonita Springs  to host us at a lovely  dinner.   Marco Island is busy and beautiful, and we were disappointed not to be able to spend as much time as we had hoped to there. 

Kathleen and Louise

But we had to get to Marathon, darn it!!

The morning of January 8^th,  rendezvoused with Grace Sea  off the mouth of the Big Marco Pass and set off in tandem on the 102 mile run south and east to Marathon in the Florida Keys.    With only sporadic crab pots in evidence, we elected to run fast, 1900-2000 rpm for  15-17 mph.  This offered us an ETA at Marathon of about 2:00 PM.  OK, then!

But, wait…..

• Why are we slowing down?
• Did we hook a crab pot?
• Hey, why is the oil pressure in the starboard transmission at -0-?

Oh, ####………

We called Grace Sea back and started looking for the problem.   Port engine and transmission seemed fine.   Starboard engine ran OK, but would provide no forward thrust,  Hmmmmmm………

Commadore Kathleen went below to dig out of snorkeling gear, with this thought that we had hooked something with the starboard prop that one of us would have to dive under the boat to clear.  Wade dove down into the engine room looking for anything amiss.  And in the starboard aft corner, he found it.  There was a large puddle of hot oil under the starboard transmission.  And none on the transmission dipstick.

Oh, ####, indeed!

We were 50 miles out from Marco Island and about an equal distance from Marathon.  The southern (i.e. Everglades) coast of Florida offers little in the way of dog-friendly refuge and almost no repair services. 

Well, its not like we haven’t done THIS before, huh?

We started off toward Marathon with Grace Sea in attendance, using only the port engine.   At our best speed of 7.5 knots, we might make it before nightfall.  But running on one engine is exhausting as it requires a near constant 15 degrees of opposite rudder to hold a straight course.  And the autopilot struggled to assist.  So, we decided to call for help.  

With no cell service, we tried to reach the US Coast Guard on the VHF radio.  Station Key West responded but it was half an hour before we made a reliable radio connection.  We  explained our situation and our desire for a tow to Marathon.  Since we were not in immediate danger, the Coast Guard would not come get us but agreed to contact TowBoatUS on our behalf. (We pay an annual towing membership to TowBoatUS for just this type of situation!)  Thru the Coast Guard we learned that TowBoatUS was being dispatched and would meet us in approximately 2 hours. 

As we chugged along on one engine, we began to speculate about what might have gone wrong with the transmission.  Clearly we had lost most of its lubricating and hydraulic oil.   But how?  All we could conclude  is that a hose between the trans and its external oil cooler had failed.   And with that in mind, we became hopeful that it could be revived with new hoses and fresh oil.  Maybe?  Could be?  Please?

Abut 25 miles out of Marathon the our hero from TowBoatUS vessel arrived and took us under tow.  Our role was reduced to drinking coffee and monitoring the helm and the radio.   

TowBoatUS saves the day!

One we regained cell service we called our marina in Marathon to apprise them of our situation.  Turns out they had been monitoring our radio contact with the Coast Guard and TowBoatUS and were awaiting our late arrival with an easily-accessed slip, extra dock hands, and mechanic referrals.  

About 5 miles out of Marathon, a second TowBoatUS vessel took over for the final stretch to the marina. Taking us “on the hip”, this captain laid us perfectly along the side of the dock at Faro Blanco Marina and almost exactly 5:00 PM.  

Welcome to the Florida Keys!

Thank you dear God.

 

Thanks for following.
Be sure to track us on NEBO!

 

Wade and Kathleen Griffith (and fur-Admiral Maggie!)