Newfound Harbor or Blowing in the Wind
After leaving Looe Reef we anchored in Newfound Harbor. We were here before and it’s prob the best anchorage between Key West and Marathon. It’s a protected bay with lots of center console traffic during the day which quiets as soon as it is dark. A good thing about the anchorage is that we can get to land on both Big Pine Key (where we went to the Flea Market, Walgreens and grocery store) and Ramrod Key (where we went to the Green Market). I guess we are market themed!
We arrived here on February 24th and it’s March 13th! The big story here is the wind. It’s been blowing like crazy.
I had no idea we would be here so long. We were able to provision at Winn Dixie. That means dinghy to shore, pull our wagon on the 3/4 mile walk to the grocery store, walk back to the dock pulling the wagon and holding the extra bag that wouldn’t fit in the wagon cause Eddie is really struggling with his SI joint pain, load everything onto Zoom, dinghy back to Seaquel, load everything onto Seaquel and then store all the provisions! It’s a whole thing!!!! And you qualify for a nap when it’s over!!!
Photo cred Deb
Sadly on March 2, Right Hand departed. They are aiming to be in Annapolis in April, plus Keith wanted to get his Covid vaccine in Fernandina. We are so sad to see them go but we don’t have anything up north until the first week of June so we are not in any rush to leave the Keys. Plus we have friends from Baltimore who will be in Marathon in a couple of days and we were staying to see them. We had a great few weeks together and will look forward to our next cruising adventure together, I guess maybe next winter.
We’ve been doing little projects - like catching up the blog, Eddie has been converting the lights to LED which involves adapting the ballasts, cooking, reading, Netflix and assorted other things.
We did take a long dinghy ride to the other side of the Overseas Highway Bridge, explored canals and had lunch at Kiki’s. On our canal exploration we met a guy who was checking on his crab trap and when seeing Zoom is registered in Maryland, mentioned he was from Pasadena! Smalltimore! The guy recommended the Seared Tuna Nachos for lunch which Eddie ordered and were delicious! But for me, it was served on wontons so not gluten-free. I had a yummy grilled mahi salad.
And then the winds blew in. We have been aboard Seaquel in the winds for 6 days so far! Winds have been blowing hard - mostly 30-35mph with seas at 6’-11’ off shore. Our formerly calm anchorage had 1-2’ waves! Fortunately, it’s been fine aboard Seaquel and our beloved Rocna anchor has been holding tight.
It’s hard to tell from the pic, those are 1-2’ waves in our anchorage!
Hope this video plays!
Tuesday morning wind speed 27- 37 mph.
This gets you totally caught up on our adventures. Wellll, except for yesterday’s entertainment. Not so entertaining for me. I was pretty freaked out. Eddie was on the phone trying to get us a slip in Marathon (nothing available!) when I looked out the galley window at- I wasn’t sure what. I said there’s a lizard, or maybe its a gator or a turtle. What the heck is it? Turned out it was a rather large Iguana and he was interested in coming aboard. Oh no, no, no! I am not a fan of reptiles! It had wrapped it’s front legs around the supports for the swim platform and was trying to assess how to get out of the water. I was freaking out! Eddie got a pole and nudged him off and away he went. To the next bracket and the next bracket until he was swimming off the stern away from the boat. Or not! He turned around and came back! I know this guy was tired but I wasn’t interested in hosting him! Eddie got him off the brackets again and this time he left. Phew! I kept a good eye on him for a while until he was pretty far away. No signs of him today.
I looked it up. Can iguana’s swim? “ They are excellent swimmers, tolerating both salt and freshwater and can submerge themselves for up to four hours at a time.” And from another site, “ Iguanas have powerful tails that they use to propel them through the water. They are able to swim long distances, but will also float by laying on top of the water, allowing their feet to dangle below. Their feet are big and equipped with webbing to help with paddling through the water. All I can say is thank God that’s not a regular occurrence!
Today we thought we had a break from the wind and on Eddie’s motivation we lowered our bikes onto the dinghy and went to shore. It was a wet ride against the wind and the waves. Once we got to shore we pedaled a couple of miles north on the island. There really isn’t much here and a couple of spots that had been recommended on cruiser sites were closed as sadly theycouldn’t survive Covid. We made a few stops; the visitor information boutique, a tie dye clothing store, lunch outdoors at a sports bar type place and a bike shop to talk to them about ebikes LOL They had Norwegian commuting bikes starting at $3500, nothing that folds and no good intel on folding bikes except to avoid the cheap Chinese ones. I did get new hot pink silicone handles as my handles had gotten sticky and icky from the sun. They def made me smile on our pedal back to Zoom.
Things we have been watching, reading and listening to:
Watching - Imposters on Netflix, Soul on Disney Plus, Red Oaks on Amazon Prime
Reading - Gail: The Four Winds, Children’s Bible: A Novel, Miss Benson’s Beetle, The Children’s Blizzard
Reading - Eddie: Fortune and Glory, The Evening and the Morning, Daylight
Listening - American Idol 2021 auditions (ha, don’t judge!), Zac Brown Band, Taco Tuesday Playlist on Spotify, Lavender Blue, 70’s Dance Music, Chris Jacobs Tuesdays Live
Thanks for the update, friends! The wind!!! I get windburn, so have to be cautious.
ReplyDeleteAll is well here in St. Petersburg. Call or text when you are within a 2-hour drive.
The iguana info is fascinating. I never knew they were swimmers. And I love the pink caps in your bike, Gail.
Delete--Pauline