"Volans": A Boat. A Fish. A Constellation

 Pulled in to Long key Florida!  I'll post all the fun deets tomorrow. Time to relax now. 

 We're a day early for Halloween, but we tricked the dock master at Herbert Hoover marina (middle of nowhere, Florida). We pulled in at noon, said we would stay, and changed our minds after seeing the boat ramp zoo. #boatrampchamp. We slogged along another 15 or so miles in the gusts to 30. Wow was it worth it. We're in the lee of a little key. The water is clear, mangroves line the shore, and we've got it all to ourselves.  Crocodile in the marina as we got water and a pump out this morning. A beautiful sight. Miami in our wake.  Cap'n Raymond would say "lots of lilies on the pond" in reference to all the whitecaps. Sneaking in to our first port of call today. Note the depth sounder.  Looks cozy, but if he can do it, we can! Our second stop. A much better hideout.  Dinghied to the beach.  Rocked the swim trunks and enjoyed the clear water. The beard has to go. It's preventing a good seal.  Mangrove Maizey. A sunset.  Less than 50 miles to the fin...

 Seriously. I lost count at 17 after less than half a day.  Last night with the thunderstorms was a little rough, as expected. But the boat got a nice freshwater rinse, so there's an upside. However, we are now sick of humans in boats, having passed through West Palm, Boynton beach, ft Lauderdale, and Miami. Including the Ft Lauderdale international boat show. We're on a mooring ball tonight at Dinner Key marina, coconut Grove, FL.  Here's our morning routine: Maizey sleeps in.  I make coffee. First and foremost, this boat runs on coffee. Then, I wake the Emily. We check the fuel filter vacuum gauge, oil, transmission fluid, coolant, and sea strainer. Here's one of the engines, itself, a 4 cylinder, turbocharged Yanmar diesel. Rated for 75 hp. Once they're started, we go outside to check water is coming out and they're not smoking or anything crazy. We passed James bond's boat.  And ducked under some bridges.  Like this one.  It was cozy.  It was ...

 10/28/21. Day three of Florida. Deeper down the rabbit hole we go. We're in north palm beach tonight, having traveled through vero Beach, fort Pierce, port st Lucie, and Jupiter. There are tarpon crushing bait in the dusk at our anchorage tonight. Lightning and distant thunder threaten to keep us on our toes overnight. Tomorrow we charge ft Lauderdale and Miami.  Up-n-at-em. "Time and tide wait for no (hu)man" Anchor and chain coated in mud. I could help, but documenting our shenanigans seemed much more important. Happy birthday, got you some mud! The devil incarnate. Inbound like a cruise missile. Maizey, our only line of defense. "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!" Quiet mangroves. I'm looking forward to crawling around these when we get where we're going. Coming up on deck after a work call, I swore like the sailor I am when I saw this water. Look how blue it is! Em and I were giddy after being in the muddy, tannic waters of the Carolinas and the low country. Thi...

 10/27/21 Day two in my devolution into "Florida man". We saw our first manatee! Passed the space coast, and traveled 101 miles to drop the anchor in Melbourne, Florida.  " ... Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair..." Like a bad omen, the Florida icw is littered in sunken boats. Easily a dozen were passed today.  Daytona! Home of NASCAR and cap'n Rhett! The coastie boat was called "Hammer". I wonder if the barge it's pushing is called "Nail"? Maizey, fiercely protecting us in her flowery life jacket, from the evil dolphins. She did this ALL DAY.  Yep. Says "NASA". We could see some launch pad stuff in the distance. Buildings full of rockets. You know, the yushual.  There's supposed to be a launch on Saturday, but we'll hopefully be a couple hundred miles away at that point, unfortunately.  Sunset over Melbourne, the beginning. Hammer down. Fast cruise into the anchorage before sunset. 13+ kts here.  Sunset over Mel...