Tarpon Springs to Key West (Our first long distance trip)

We are sitting in Key West waiting out some wind and catching our breath. We are midway through our first long distance cruise on Makin Memories. We have blocked two weeks this month to cruise to Key West and back as a shakedown cruise in preparation for the loop. In six days we have traveled 400 miles in 59 hours. Several days have been 10+ hours. We have anchored out off of Sand Key (Clearwater, Fl), Cayo Costa (Boca Grande), and Indian Key in the Thousand Islands (Everglades).
We have tied up with a couple of great marinas and met some wonderful people.
We are having a couple of ongoing challenges that keep us on a watch. The swim platform through the hull bolt has a small leak occurring that I have packed with epoxy and 3M 5200. It barely weeps now, but I sponge out the area every two to three hours and find maybe 16 ounces of water. We will pull the swim platform off next haul out and replace and repair the transom. We are finding and fixing topside leaks as we live and cruise aboard. I don't think this unusual for a thirty-year-old craft, but it is a never ending and a source of frustration for the mate.
Many lessons on cruising being learned and experienced. We have a scheduled maintenance we perform on the engines and deck each time we stop for the evening and so far all is performing well.
It is raining now, and we are planning some shore time in the city, more to come.

Greetings,
Sounds good and par for the course regarding leakage on a new, to you, vessel. Don't forget to take some time to de-stress and relax. That's what it's all about , after all. Eventually, most things will get done AND new issues will arise. Did I mention, relax?

It is great to see you 'out and about'! When frustrated, just remember the name of your boat as that is what cruising is all about!

Stay safe!
Blue and Michelle

It's great to be out and about...Jean and I think of you two often. Hope all is well and look forward to crossing wakes once again.

I do this very same trip almost every year. As a matter of fact I just finished making marina reservations for our next trip at the end of July.

We normally take a few days and go slow. We hit Turtle Cove in Tarpon followed by the Holiday Inn at Indian Rocks Beach then on the hook at Jewfish Key for a night or so. After that we head to Stump Pass for a bit and launch out of Boca Grand for a straight shot to Key West.

The return trip normally brings us in by Ft. Myers and then up the ICW on the back side of Cayo Costa with a stop at Cabbage Key.

Slow down if you can.

That almost sounds like a delivery schedule.

Capt.Bill11 said:

Slow down if you can.

That almost sounds like a delivery schedule.

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Agreed! When we do this trip it is normally a 16 day event. Too much to see and do to go fast.

I've run the 10-15 hour days on both delivery and family trips and it's no fun.

Heck, the crossing from Boca to Key West takes us darn near 8 hours at 17kts. and I hate it.

Late to the party, but this is one of my bucket list trips whether by power or sail.
Live not too far from Tarpon (we launch our yaks out of Turtle Cove quite a bit), and I love the Keys.

If you dont want a crew mutiny stopin some nice places such as Naples, South seas, cayo costa, sarasota, St Pete. etc You may think it is all about boat driving and stuff but I doubt the crew does.

I'm currently sitting at Turtle Cove marina right now with a broken generator and crap weather. We are making our way south with a final destination of the Dry Tortugas.

Planned stops include Longboat Key, Stump pass and Key West.

Recommend Rusty Bellies for a great dinner. They are about a 1/4 mile from you.

Cruising = fixing your boat in strange and exotic locations

Making Memories, we are docked right next to your boat.


KTDTX, you aren't kidding. I spent the day rebuilding a generator water pump Thankfully the previous owner of my boat subscribed to the same theory as I do. Keep anything extra.

I was able to cobble together a rebuild kit out of spare parts and rebuild the pump using a hammer socket to drive the bearings out and a screwdriver.

The bearings and the bearing shaft sat in the freezer for a few hours so they would shrink just a bit and slide on easier.

MacGyver would be proud.

As Clint Eastwood said:

Adapt, Improvise, Overcome.

Sounds like you made something broken work..Good Job

MakinMemories said:

Recommend Rusty Bellies for a great dinner. They are about a 1/4 mile from you.

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I like that place too!

jleonard said:

I like that place too!

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Rusty Bellies is great. Good views, good food and drink and a light and lively atmosphere.

Enjoy the other great Greek cuisine restaurants on Dodecanese as well. Very cool place to spend a few days.

OD