Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/31/2014 11:23

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 25.72614
Longitude: -80.23688
GPS location Date/Time: 05/31/2014 11:23:58 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=25.72614,-80.23688&ll=25.72614,-80.23688&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/31/2014 6:18

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 25.34132
Longitude: -80.12616
GPS location Date/Time: 05/31/2014 06:18:05 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=25.34132,-80.12616&ll=25.34132,-80.12616&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/30/2014 19:42

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 24.72055
Longitude: -80.83914
GPS location Date/Time: 05/30/2014 19:42:10 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=24.72055,-80.83914&ll=24.72055,-80.83914&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/30/2014 14:30

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 24.54486
Longitude: -81.33081
GPS location Date/Time: 05/30/2014 14:30:20 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=24.54486,-81.33081&ll=24.54486,-81.33081&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Back in Key West

My estimate of three days sailing from Isla Mujeres to Key West was off by almost a full day, even taking into account our late start from Isla Mujeres. The Gulf Stream current provided a definite boost, but the easterly wind limited our ability to actually sail. We made the most of it, though, by maintaining a northeast heading on our first day, which allowed us to sail a fast close reach, at speeds up to ten knots over ground.

The fun ended in the middle of the first night, during Mike's watch, when the autopilot beeped "Low Batt" and clicked off. Mike recovered control and started the engine, which would remain running for the remainder of the distance to Key West, as we doglegged our course to point straight at Key West and almost straight into the wind. We were able to get a little oomph out of the flat-sheeted staysail and the mainsail with the traveler holding the boom hard to starboard, but it was a tight pinch at the very edge of luffing.

We arrived in Key West shortly after dawn on Thursday morning and pulled into the same slip at the A&B Marina that we had occupied the year before. We secured the boat, took badly needed showers, and ate hot breakfasts at the White Tarpon restaurant. Then it was time for a walk over to the US Customs House with our passports and papers to clear in to the United States officially, except that the Customs and Immigration people were not there; they were clearing in a cruise ship full of passengers and wouldn't be back until later. So we wandered all around town, decided not to pay for tickets to either the Ernest Hemingway house or the Old Town Trolley Tour, stopped back at the Customs House but still couldn't clear in, and ended up eating an early lunch at Amigos Tortilla Bar, across from Capt. Tony's Saloon and kitty-corner from Sloppy Joe's. The food and the service were excellent, and I walked away with two souvenir plastic cups for the boat.

The Customs and Immigration people were back in their office on our third try, and we cleared in without any difficulty at all, except that one person at a time needed to wait outside the building with all of our cell phones because they weren't allowed inside. They asked if we had anything to declare or any produce on board, and they took our word for it that we didn't without sending inspectors over to the boat. They barely looked at the zarpe from our clearing out of Mexico before welcoming us back to the United States.

Paul and I headed back to the boat after lunch, me to prepare the boat for the next leg of the trip and Paul to make plans for leaving the boat, while Mike and Kevin continued to explore. We all met up again for happy hour at the Commodore Waterfront restaurant, the same place where we watched the Preakness the year before, and were attended to by Morgan, the same friendly red-headed bartender. From there, we walked over to Mallory Square to check out the street acts and then up Duval Street to Fogarty's for dinner. The night ended at the Hog's Breath Saloon with a PBR nightcap.

I didn't get a Spot sent from Key West, but here was our exact location: https://www.google.com/maps/preview?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=24.561989, -81.802313&ll=24.561989, -81.802313&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/29/2014 5:44

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 24.45132
Longitude: -81.81876
GPS location Date/Time: 05/29/2014 05:44:00 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=24.45132,-81.81876&ll=24.45132,-81.81876&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/28/2014 18:56

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 24.19559
Longitude: -82.69058
GPS location Date/Time: 05/28/2014 18:56:01 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=24.19559,-82.69058&ll=24.19559,-82.69058&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/28/2014 13:10

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 24.01865
Longitude: -83.34058
GPS location Date/Time: 05/28/2014 13:10:00 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=24.01865,-83.34058&ll=24.01865,-83.34058&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/28/2014 7:07

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 23.74077
Longitude: -84.06317
GPS location Date/Time: 05/28/2014 07:07:30 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=23.74077,-84.06317&ll=23.74077,-84.06317&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/28/2014 1:03

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 23.56912
Longitude: -84.69528
GPS location Date/Time: 05/28/2014 01:03:03 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=23.56912,-84.69528&ll=23.56912,-84.69528&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/27/2014 19:05

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 23.36977
Longitude: -85.28386
GPS location Date/Time: 05/27/2014 19:05:14 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=23.36977,-85.28386&ll=23.36977,-85.28386&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/27/2014 13:10

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 23.10103
Longitude: -85.72790
GPS location Date/Time: 05/27/2014 13:10:59 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=23.10103,-85.72790&ll=23.10103,-85.72790&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/27/2014 6:57

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 22.44787
Longitude: -86.05822
GPS location Date/Time: 05/27/2014 06:57:31 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=22.44787,-86.05822&ll=22.44787,-86.05822&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/26/2014 22:21

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 21.72757
Longitude: -86.43311
GPS location Date/Time: 05/26/2014 22:21:10 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=21.72757,-86.43311&ll=21.72757,-86.43311&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/26/2014 15:57

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 21.26820
Longitude: -86.75525
GPS location Date/Time: 05/26/2014 15:57:55 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=21.26820,-86.75525&ll=21.26820,-86.75525&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Starting out from Marina Paraiso

When Nan and I arrived at El Milagro Marina on Thursday night, we quickly discovered that there were no available slips with adequate draft for Whispering Jesse. So on Friday morning, we moved the boat to next-door Marina Paraiso instead. We spent the rest of the day and most of Saturday and Sunday there working through the list of tasks necessary to get the boat ready to go for the big trip to Miami.

We encountered only two unforeseen problems: Omar from Marina del Sol, where the boat had been slipped since last August, told us that when he was underwater cleaning the hull, he noticed that there no longer any zincs on the propeller shaft; and when we tried to start the dinghy's outboard motor, all it would do is spit gasoline out of a port in the carburetor. We soon discovered that there were no zincs to be had on the island, so that problem would need to wait. We were able to fix the other problem, though, enlisting the services of Marina Paraiso's on-site mechanic, David, to get the outboard's carburetor cleaned out and the motor running well.

We had hoped to check out with Customs and Immigration at around 10:00 on Monday morning, but they didn't show up at the marina until after 1:00, which didn't really matter because David didn't get the outboard fixed until an hour later. We finally departed at around 2:30. With all the last-minute details, I didn't remember to send out the first Spot until we were already off Playa Norte. Here's a link to where we started from: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=21.242817,-86.741031&ll=21.242817,-86.741031&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Upcoming Trip

I have mentioned that Nan and I are looking forward to having our sailboat, Whispering Jesse, here in Miami. Well, that is finally going to happen. We are headed to Isla Mujeres on Thursday evening to meet up with crew members and prepare the boat for a Monday departure. It should take about three days to reach Key West and then another two days to reach Miami, where we have arranged for a mooring at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club.

Nan will not be a member of the crew for the sailing part of the trip, but I have three other crew members lined up: Mike, who has sailed with me on three previous trips, including the one last May that took the boat to Isla Mujeres; Kevin, a friend of Mike's from Colorado who is an experienced sailor; and Paul, a friend I've known since we were in eighth grade together and who will be making his sailing debut. We will meet everybody at El Milagro Marina, our staging location after we move the boat there from Marina del Sol on Friday morning.

There is much to do before we set sail. The boat has been sitting idle in a slip at Marina del Sol since last August, though we checked on her in January and all was fine. The engine fired right up and ran smoothly, and I was able to get the refrigerator working well enough to make ice. I started a list this afternoon of everything that needs to be done and it quickly ran to 25 items, everything from checking the engine oil to charging up the handheld VHF radio. Fortunately, there is nothing critical on the list that would prevent us from departing if it didn't get done; all of those projects were completed before we left Savannah last May.

The only worry is the weather. A severe storm system with high winds and heavy rain moved through South Florida late last week from the north. The wind is slowly shifting back around to its prevailing easterly direction, and I'm hoping it continues around to the southeast or south to give us good, fast sailing. If it stays directly out of the east, we may run into rough conditions when the wind collides with the eastward-flowing Gulf Stream current as we near Key West.

As with past trips, we will be using a Spot beacon to send out our position twice a day. The messages will be posted to this blog, in case you wish to follow our progress.

Here's hoping for a safe and enjoyable sail!