Little Shark to Marathon (April 10-11, 2013)

Most of us get in our cars for a vacation trip and it’s not unusual to travel three hundred miles or more in a day which just doesn’t happen when traveling by boat.  So not only do you have to think of living in small spaces when cruising, you have to get used to thinking of traveling short distances in a day as good progress.  It’s not unusual for us to cover only 30 to 40 miles to get to the next port.  And where in a car you can average 70 miles an hour, on a boat it’s probably going to be only about 5 or 6 nautical miles in an hour, making a 40 mile day sometimes stretch into an 8 hour passage.  The nagging questions of “Are we there yet? or When will we arrive?”  do still come up, but are answered quite simply by our electronic road map, ie chart plotter showing a computer read out of our present location and distance to the next way point.  Captain has entered these points all along our journey to make sure we get to the correct destination and avoid any shallow or hazardous areas especially given Aurora’s 5 ½ ft draft.

Yesterday was an almost perfect sailing day, and every bit as good as our trip to Burnt Store last Friday.  Leaving Little Shark at 7:00 our heading was south with easterly sustained 15-18 knot winds, thus we traveled all day on a one-tack reach with no engine power.  Almost as soon as we left the anchorage at Little Shark though, crab pots littered the water by the hundreds and even with the engine off we kept a sharp lookout to avoid hitting and wrapping one around the prop.   From Little Shark three of the Bahama bound boats with shallower drafts (less than 4 ft) in our group, Chatty Cat, Broadwater II and Chat-eau took an easterly route heading for the ICW, the inside route up the east coast of FL to Miami, while the other three of us with deeper drafts, the Sharps on Lena Bea, Beers on Valhalla and us, needing the deeper water of the outside route cleared the Seven Mile Bridge about 1:00p.m and into Boot Key Harbor by 2:00 p.m.  And then the decision for the Bahama bound Sharps and us, do we stay here two nights, or only one and then head north in the morning?  With winds tomorrow predicted to be 20-25 knots we opted for a day of R, R, and R (that’s rest, relaxation, and as always, repairs) here in the safe harbor.  

Valhalla's plans all along were to accompany us just this far on their maiden gulf coast voyage and then stay to explore the Keys for a few days before returning home.  We cheered as they pulled into their final destination, Boot Key Harbor, picking up their mooring ball on the first try and with the high winds quite an accomplishment!  We have been blessed to get acquainted with these two amazing and tenacious sailors.  Last night during our sunset dinner at Burdines they leaned forward and gave each other a kiss, something they said they have done for the last 45 years:  a truly amazing couple.

Just imagine sailing for 6 hours covering 36 nautical miles with no engine, certainly a wonderful first for us, and making short distances a perfect way to travel.