In The Bahamas

Compass Rose departed Miami at 7am and headed east towards the Bahamas. We were accompanied by Mike & Casey Ruhr aboard their Krogen 48 Tranquility Base. Although the forecast from NOAA was for 2-4 foot seas in the a.m. and 1-2 in the p.m, it turned out to be more like 3-4 all day. The wind and waves were on our starboard beam which contributed to a rock and roll crossing.

But, at 2:30 in the afternoon we sighted Cat Cay (land ho!) and winded our way through Gun Cay Cut. The water went from 2,800 ft to 12 ft in a matter of minutes. The water becam flat and verrrrry clear once we were on the Bahama Banks. We continued on for another 20 miles and anchored out on the Banks litterally in the middle of nowhere. Very dark and spooky.

Photo: Our travelling companion Tranquility Base.

After a somewhat rolly night on the Banks, we pulled up the anchor at 7am and continued east towards Chub Cay. Sighting land once again, we entered the Chub Cay Marina. This marina is in the process of being completly rebuilt. Floating docks can accomodate boats up to 150' and they are building single family houses everywhere. Apparently, there is great fishing here (the water drops off to 2500' just off here). Very nice place but at $3.85/ft (incl elect) it's a bit pricey.

Photo: The new 'clubhouse' at Chub Cay

Miami, FL

We received an email from Mike and Casey Ruhr (Tranquility Base) that they were in Miami and planning on crossing to the Bahamas on Monday. We agreed to meet them up there and get together.

Compass Rose departed Boca Chita Saturday morning for the 2 1/2 hr trip up to Miami. Saturday on Biscayne Bay is akin to the DC Beltway! A lot of fast boats going in multiple directions with little coordination. Photo: anchored in Sunset Lake.

We found Mike and Casey in a delightful anchorage hidden among the multi-million dollar houses between gated communities on the islands just off South Beach. We are the only two boats here.

Photo: Cruise ships parallel parked in Miami.

Photo: Heritage of Miami on Biscayne Bay

Boca Chita Key

We decided to stay in Boca Chita for another day. By noon Friday every dock space was taken and boats began rafting up. The "Shake a Leg" foundation was having an outing on Boca Chita and arrived with about fifty people and a dozen sailboats. The foundation provides opportunities for handicapped people to sail and they were joined by Univ of Miami students in the Physical Therapist curriculum. They erected a small tent city with tons of food and beer. Their partying went on well past 1am. Photo: Boats starting to pack in.

Photo: Coast Guard checking out the situation.

Phone: Another sunset over Biscayne Bay.

Bahamas Crossing...Not So Fast!

Well, the winds shifted to the NNW Wednesday night...John got up at 2:45am Wed to check on the weather and went back to bed!

For the unitiated, the north running Gulf Stream does not like winds from the north. It has been compared to rubbing a cat's fur from the tail forward; the waves really stand up on end.

Wo we departed Rodriquez Key and had a delightful cruise up the coast and cut through Angelfish Creek into Biscayne Bay. We are now in Boca Chita State Park, a place we stopped at and loved back in November. Looks like the next crossing 'window' will be Monday. We'll make our way north to West Palm and see what happens.

Photo: Boca Chita lighthouse at sunset.

Onward To The Bahamas!!

We plan on departing Marathon on Wednesday and pre-position near Rodriquez Key (Key Largo) for the crossing to the Bahamas. The weather forecast calls for SSE winds at 5-10 kts. A front is expected to come through Wednesday night with winds switching to the NW. Hope the Gulf Stream doesn't react too quickly to the wind switch.

Bob & Gail's Excellent Visit

Bob and Gail Higginbotham left frigid Annapolis to spend a week in the Keys. The weather cooperated here and the seas were perfect for snorkling on the reef.

Photo: Bike riding on the Seven Mile Bridge.










Photo: Aboard Compass Rose at Sombrero Reef.





















Photo: View of the reef from the boat. Water is 20' deep.















Photo: Pam & Gail enjoying the sun and water.

Installing Sampson Posts

Sometimes there is just not enough places to tie off lines from dock, mooriong balls or other boats. So, we decided to install two Sampson Posts on the foredeck of Compass Rose. It is a pretty scary proposition drilling holes through the deck.



Photo: Holes drill in deck to stbd post.

Photo: Layers drilled out. The total thickness is 3".








Photo: Smaller holes drilled through epoxy.
Photo: Holes filled with epoxy.

Photo: Sealant applied to deck.

Photo: Dock line tied around post.

Photo: Sampson Post installed

Key West, FL

Ten "Krogenites" journeyed to Key West to meet up with Kay and Mike Jones (Lowe Key). Kay had scheduled a day of events not normally seen by the tourists.

Photo: The 'Krogen Gang' in Key West.
Photo: Playing Bocce BallPhotos: Some of the sculpturesPam in front of a very large "tree".

Marathon, FL 2007

Scenes from Marathon, FL

















The "Krogen Gang" at the weekly Thursday breakfast at the 7 Mile Grill.



Photo: Sunset from the back of Compass Rose.


Photo: Compass Rose with the 'steadying sail' up. Took the boat out in the ocean but could not really tell if the sail help in slowing down the roll.

Christmas 2006 Letter

Merry Christmas To You All From Pam and John



We hope that your Holiday Season is filled with good health and happiness.

This year we celebrated another milestone. Pam turned sixty on September 19th! Cameron’s birthday is the day before so Pam shared her birthday celebration with her four year old granddaughter. Pam is still doing some contractual work for the Association.
It is amazing how much you can accomplish while at sea. Cell phones and the Internet are wonderful.

We have now been living aboard Compass Rose for 18 months. We spent this past summer in Annapolis as this allowed us to spend some time with the kids and grandchildren and cruise on Chesapeake Bay. In the second week of October we started our second cruise south and traveled the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway for two months. We are now in Marathon in the Florida Keys until the middle of February when we plan to cross over to the Bahamas. The “plan” is to spend two months there and then be back in the Chesapeake by mid May.

Carson with his Lacrosse gear

Kim and Mike are as busy as ever with Carson (who will be seven in February) and Cameron. Carson is in the first grade and loves sports, especially Lacrosse and has earned many belts in karate. We had a real scare this past summer when he was hospitalized with bacterial pneumonia. He was in D.C. Children’s Hospital for 10 days. He is back to his old self again. Amazing how they bounce back.



John & Cameron

Our “Little Princess” Cameron is attending pre-school three days a week and keeps everyone on their toes. She is quite the little talker. She had her adenoids removed in December. She came out of the operation talking up a storm. What a trooper she was.

Kim and Mike have their hands full but they are great parents. Kim spends what spare time she has on the tennis court and Mike can be found on the golf course


Kim & Mike





Travis just completed his fifth year on the faculty at the Haverford School as Asst. Dean, Math Teacher and Lacrosse Coach. He was chosen the Teacher of the Year this past November. It is nice to see all his hard work recognized. He is very much at home in Philadelphia.

This Christmas will be a special time to celebrate our family’s gift of each other and the joy of being together. The whole family will all be together at Kim and Mike’s house again this year.

Hope all is well with you and your families. We wish you and yours a very Happy New Year. We pray for the many military families who are separated this holiday season and may we have peace on earth soon .

John & Pam

Compass Rose

3 Church Circle
PMB 146
Annapolis, MD 21401

John Cell (410) 913-9277
Pam Cell (410) 353-2912

Email: johnloving@yahoo.com
Email: pamcompassrose@yahoo.com

Marathon My Marathon

We made the 35 mi trip from Islamorada to Marathon taking the Florida Bay route rather than the Hawk Channel route in the Atlantic. The winds were 15-20 kts from the east which would have made for a very uncomfortable trip 'outside'. The Keys island chain provided a great wind barrier for the Bay route.

We hit the Seven Mile Bridge channel right at slack current (as planned) to minimize the current/opposing wind waves. It was a smooth ride through the bridge but as soon as we were on the Atlantic side the wind driven waves hit us smack in the face. Instead of turning directly towards Marathon, we had to continue east for 2 mi in order to 'tack' back and keep the 4-5 ft waves off our beam.

But we finally got to Marathon and tied up at the Cay Clubs at Marathon (new fancy name for the Marathon Marina) at 3:45pm. We are three slips down from the one we had last year; this gives us an even better view of the ocean to the west (yes, the ocean is southwest of us!). The sun sets directly off our stern.

Photo: Pam enjoying the view from the back of our boat.

Islamorada

We anchored for the night off Islamorada just as we did last year. Pam was 'hot' to buy fishing gear and wanted to revisit 'Bonefish Bob's'. Alas, when we dingied to shore and walked to his store, it was boarded up. We discovered that Bob had died last spring and no one has reopened the store.

Not to be dissuaded, Pam trekked to the Islamorada Worldwide Sportsman and bought a fishing pole and tackle. Looks like we are going to eat a lot of fish this winter.

Ever wonder why tropical water is so blue? The water reflects the blue of the sky. Since tropical water is short on phytoplankton (microscopic plants) it is also short on green. With bright blue tropical skies and very little green plankton, tropical waters refledct only blue light.

The discussion of "Why is the sky blue, Daddy" will not be taken up on this blog.


Photo: a rainbow welcomes us to the Keys.

Entering the Keys

The unofficial demarcation line to the Keys is Jewfish Creek which separates the mainland from the many islands. US Route 1 to Key West crosses here.

Note: in these politically correct times the Jewfish was renamed the Goliath Grouper in 2001 by the Committee on Names of Fishes (I kid you not!).

Anyway, we passed through Jewfish Creek at 11:59am on November 29th to officially enter the Keys.

Photo: "Open Sesame!". The Jewfish Creek drawbridge opens the way to the Keys.

In case you were wondering...there are 882 islands or keys large enough to be shown on charts of the Florida Keys. Technically a key is an island covered with mangrove or pine. If an island is covered with oaks or pinelands in sawgrass, it is called a hummock. An island of cypress is a dome. Lignumvitae Key is the highest point in the Florida Keys at 18 ft above sea level.

Boca Chita Key

The run through Ft Lauderdale and Miami culminated at Boca Chita Key. This is now a Florida state park. In 1934, Mark Honeywell (Honeywell Heating Systems) purchased the island and built a house, lighthouse and chapel on it. He turned it over to the state in 1954. The island can't be more than 1/2 wide at any point. It does have a beautifully maintained circular harbor that can accommodate 25 boats.



Mike and Kay Jones on "Lowe Key" arrived a few hours after us. While there a 1966 38' sailboat arrived chartered by a newlywed couple, Jersi and Nakeesha. Capt Mike was their Captain. They stayed for about four hours and had happy Hour with us. There were also three other boats there so we had a nice gathering.

Photo: Compass Rose in Boca Chita.




Photo: The lighthouse













Photo: Pam holding up a palm tree.

Photo: View of Boca Chita from the lighthouse.

Photo: impromptu Happy Hour

Photo: The newlyweds and Capt Mike

Photo: sailing off into the sunset.

More Images of Ft Lauderdale

Ft Lauderdale bills itself as the "Yachting Capital of the World". Nothing we saw refutes that! The area has hundreds of canals that are lined with large yachts 'parallel parked'.

Port Everglades is also a major cruise ship and cargo ship port and is located just south of Ft Lauderdale. Here are a few more sights we saw as we made our way through this area.

Photo: Havabanana?!

Photo: This is the "Super Servant" and is used to transport ships and yachts across the ocean or up and down the coast. It works like a dry dock...the ship 'sinks' itself and the boats float in. Then it raises back up and off we go. Not sure if these yachts were coming or going.

Photo: high rise condos on Ft Lauderdale beach.