2009 Logbook S/V Aspen - January 21, 2009 Position: 270 34.75’ -820 44.75’ (Palmetto, Florida) It is dawn in Florida and 40 degrees outside. Brrrr! After nearly 2 weeks of preparation we are ready to leave northern Florida and head south. Aspen is looking better every day and all of the new toys have been installed on her. We now have a tall WIFI antenna to help keep connected to the internet, a new chartplotter, radar and depth sounder so we can see where we are going and for Maria, a digital TV antenna so she can enjoy TV! Steve uses the TV as a monitor for his work too so we can fight over who gets priority. Steve’s Dad is aboard and ready to sail around Florida for our current destination of Marathon. Steve likes to run there, what else! Maria is looking forward to getting stone crabs for dinner and Aspen is looking for warmer water. We turn in our rental car today which means an 18 mile run back from the airport for Steve. Our land ties are slowly getting cut and off we go. Let’s hope for fair winds and calm seas! Steve and Maria S/V Aspen - February 24, 2009 Position: 260 03.562’ -800 07.808’ (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) Aspen is heading south! We loaded her onto the ship Dockwise yesterday and she is on her way to our rendezvous in St. Thomas, USVI. So instead of beating into the wind and seas for 4 months with the associated damage involved, this voyage will take 4 days. Much better! Our trip from Palmetto, Florida (on the west coast) to here (on the east coast) was a lot of fun. We nearly froze to death on our midnight passages until we arrived at Marco Island. Then it finally decided to warm up to 70 degrees. Our first anchorage was at Egmont Key. Normally this is a pretty anchorage near an undeveloped Key with a nice beach. But on this day it was a bit different. The eco-rangers decided to have a controlled burn, of all things. So they set nearly the entire Key on fire! Our picture tells the story. We only managed to go aground twice so that was nice. Going aground, most of the time, happens very slowly. We are usually heading toward our anchoring spot when the water gets really thin. The captain, Steve, quietly says something like – uh oh. The admiral, Maria, can be heard for miles away giving compliments to the captain. We then start the un-grounding procedure by backing away from the shallow area and trying again. The next port of call was Marathon, Florida. We wound our way through the shallow waters next to the Everglades and Florida Bay – dodging fish traps all along the way. Fish traps are set by the local fishermen with a small float that is on top of the water and suspended from the trap that rests on the sea bottom. We try not to hit one of these floats because they can get wrapped around our propeller – stopping us and making the captain dive down and use his brute strength to cut the line away from our boat. This is not fun if it is in the middle of the night or in rough conditions! Marathon was a great stop. It is like the Florida Keys should be – very slow and laid back. The people are down to earth and welcoming. The seafood is plentiful since it is caught right there. Miami called to us so off we went to the land of mojitos and Cuban sandwiches. We stayed near the cruise ship terminal and watched the daily arrival and departures to ports near and far. Joe’s Stone Crab restaurant was a highlight of Miami for us. Stone crab tastes much like lobster and is in season now. The Miami Boat Show was another activity we really enjoyed. We actually ran into a friend of Steve’s there! It is a small world. We also admired the big powerboats like the 58-foot Krogen. Wow, for only $2.2 million you can buy one of these dreamboats. Then you will want a crew of course! For now it is goodbye to the mainland and welcome to the tropics… Steve and Maria
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2009 Logbook
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