Florida - Palm Trees, Ocean Breeze, 80 Degrees!

Havana to Key West

Our fourth Gulf Stream crossing offered up some pretty spectacular sights. We set sail from Cuba in the late afternoon to arrive in Key West the following morning ahead of a cold front. It wasn't a big weather window but enough to squeeze through and get ourselves back to the USA.

A few hours into the passage, literally out of the blue, our boat was swarmed by dolphins. We had never before seen such a huge pod; 60 or more of them completely encircled our boat. What a thrill! The ocean at the time was supremely clear so we could easily see them below the surface - and above the surface when they did their aerial tricks! 

It's a stampede of awesome!

This one's airborne!

A Spark Between Us

After nightfall, lightening flashed in the distance and our radar indicated that storm clouds were closing in on us from every direction. Before long we were in the thick of it. Happily no strikes reached our boat and so there wasn't any trouble - no big shock. (A warning for severe TS conditions only appeared in the forecast around 1am, AFTER the fact.) The wind gusts were strong and it rained sideways for awhile. The light show was striking with bolts to the sea.  Were the Gods furious or festive? Either way, woo-whee, it had impact! We put the slats in the companionway and holed in down below (which we never do) to wait it out. We kept watch with the GPS on our Ipad. When we were in the shipping lanes our AIS showed traffic approaching and at one point we had to avoid conflict with three cargo ships simultaneously.
 
The thunderstorms didn't last long - by midnight all was quiet. With daylight, and Florida on the horizon, we saw what had become of the predicted cold front. The system had weakened to nothing more than a line of dark cloud - a beautiful sight once it has lost the energy to be troublesome. 

Watt a sight!

Who turned on the lights?

A dissipating cold front.

 

The US Coast Guard made its presence known as we entered coastal waters.  A cutter shadowed our tail for awhile - presumably to identify us. After arrival, when checking in with customs in Key West, the officials questioned our importing (...never mind drugs or weapons, but the big threats of...) artwork and rum! Dave gave them the old "ship's stores" routine (i.e. for our own personal consumption on board) and they let him go without too much hassle.  Honestly, when the rum is under $4/bottle, what are you to do but buy a lot of it? 
 
Cuba is quite concerned with emigration and always went to the trouble of checking our boat for stowaways at every port, but none the less, one little guy managed to reach US soil hidden aboard Kianda. I found him latched to our anchor chain up on deck. A tiny lizard! We released him on an island where he now has asylum. 

This Cuban chameleon used us for his defection.

US Coast Guard patrolling territorial waters.

It's good ballast for the bilge - to keep us stable.

Sharing our bench.
She came to the coffee house because she'd been feeling cooped up at home.
(Key West)

"Watch out, there's a bar straight ahead!"

"A sand bar?"

"No, a tiki bar."

 

The Outer Reefs!
 
Sailing up the Florida Keys was a blast - not for the Keys themselves, but for the ocean surrounding them. The 'key' factor was instead of sticking to Hawk Channel, we sailed 3 miles offshore along the outer reefs where the water was amazing. There are protected areas along the way with mooring balls - making it easy to stop and snorkel. Some of these reefs are very vibrant with tons of fish and healthy coral. A strong current flowed at Molasses Reef and every ten seconds the water temperature alternated between icy cold and crazy hot. Bipolar water! (Or more scientifically, some sort of ocean "cline".  I swam in it but don't ask me to explain it.)
 
We noticed the fish behave differently in the protected zones; they know they're untouchable! The typically flighty ones don't hurry or worry. Groupers, who are always eyeing the nearest exit to escape from predators, in the sanctuaries swam by us untroubled. We watched lobsters confidently walk the open sea floor below us. When we spotted a mutton snapper we both thought: "I want YOU for dinner" and he was smirking because he knew that wasn't going to happen. 

Enjoyed a month going from Key West, up the Keys and around the
Key Biscayne area (Coconut Grove, Miami, No Name Harbor).

Happiness is: water like this!

Having a ball at the reef.

The water at Molasses reef is so clear we could see the fish and coral before even getting in.

Dinner's on the Line!

One day while sailing outside the protected zones of the Keys, we caught our biggest barracuda yet - a heavy mean boy with "mature" teeth.  We don't eat barracuda because of the risk of ciguatera - a toxin that can be found in larger predatory reef fish (especially in barracuda). But not everyone is concerned about being poisoned. We've met Bahamians who love eating barracuda. And in Cuba when we lamented catching 12 barracuda in one day, the Cubans thought we were crazy for throwing them back.  I guess they can stomach the risk.
 
Just when we were about to give up and reel in the gear, we caught a black grouper.  Food value: excellent.  (Yeah yeah, small risk of ciguatera here too...we know.)  With a prize fish like this, I feel pressure not to mess it up in the galley but so far, each one of our catches to table has been a savoury success. 

Black Grouper.  Poor thing.  I honestly feel bad, until this...

Food Network moment: our grouper with roasted fennel.

  

"If I Hear Dolphins, Should I Wake You?"
 
Last night three dolphins kept Dave awake. So he woke me up at 1:30am to join him on deck to have a look. After that it was hard to get back to sleep because the dolphins were using our boat's keel to corral fish.  There was a lot of swooshing going on and in the panic of the chase, fish darted toward our boat like torpedoes as the dolphins chased them to it.  Some fish would ram into our hull which resounds pretty loudly from our bed. This morning we had to discuss whether we want to be woken up in the night if the other hears dolphins. I don't. Dave does. (Hard to believe this is a necessary conversation to have in our life right now - pretty cool.)

I'm relocating a starfish so that it doesn't get grated like cheddar cheese under our anchor chain.

This is Al. He's a resident alligator of Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove, Florida.
I don't know if he's a trouble maker or not.
In Cayo Largo, Cuba, the marina cats were disappearing one by one because of a new croc in town.

A boat dog looking for Al?  

S/V Sea Isle

Hey, we know that boat! We met Ken five years ago when sailing the ICW in North Carolina ("I was a young man back then" he said.) His boat Sea Isle caught our eye because she's a Seawind like ours and there aren't many of them out there. His boat is over 40 years old and he's been the sole owner that whole time. Ken sails single-handed from Delaware to Florida every winter and has no plans to stop. He just celebrated his 80th birthday. 

Ken and Dave at No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne

I Thought it was a Once-in-a-Lifetime Kinda Thing...
 

The other morning, just before lifting anchor, a pod of 6 dolphins idly swam by.  Dave dropped everything and said: "I'm going in!"
 

What I thought was the experience of a lifetime has now happened to us three times this year! Is this common dolphin behaviour?  When we get in the water with them, they're curious enough to come check us out.  It's a little unnerving when the water visibility is poor - we can't see anything until they suddenly materialize 6 feet in front of us! On this occasion, Dave could hear them communicating and when the clicking and squeaking got very loud, he knew they were coming over. They swam around and inspected him, turning sideways and nodding to better see him as they went by.

Easy Like Sunday Morning
 
Now that we're back in the States, life's a breeze! We have a cell phone, there's wifi, we have access to vehicles, the ATMs work, the plumbing works, everything works!, and best of all - there's food.  It is sooo wonderful to have access to good food again! It's unbelievable that we can just... go get it. (Things we took for granted before our time in Cuba now blow us away.)  Right at this moment, in No Name Harbor, there are about 5 places that I could bike to to buy eggs. And I'm 100% sure I could get the eggs without complications. There's no shortage, they won't have a problem with me being foreign, I won't be exploited, refused or sent on some wild-goose chase.
 
Coconut Grove, Miami and Key Biscayne have been our home base for the last two weeks now and it feels good to be here.  The weather is perfect and there there's plenty to enjoy. We're soaking it up!

This bird came to us with a message.  We couldn't understand it though.

Rare two-headed pelican sighting.

Miami Jazz Festival

Biking the South Beach boardwalk.

Toto, we're not in Cuba anymore!