Marco Island to Bahia Honda Key

We have arrived in the keys!  We are anchored between the highway and the old railroad bridge inside of Bahia Honda State Park.   

We left this morning -up at 6am to begin our 3rd big crossing of the loop.  First we did Lake Michigan.   Then we did panhandle to Clearwater and now we crossed Marco Island to the keys in a long (can't see shore) crossing.   

We have another day before bad weather sets in so we will move again tomorrow. More about that later.   Today was eventful. 

When we left Marco Island the water was like glass.  A little breeze but not enough to move much water.   We woke up at anchor (two anchors) and headed to the Rose Marina to get diesel, a pump out, and water fill.  

Then we cruised out and around the inlet to the main channel and into the open Gulf.   112 miles to go to Marathon.   

The sun shone and the water glistened.  And my autopilot functioned!  Not perfect but better.  I could rely on it to keep me pointed in the right direction within three degrees.  

The Gulf ahead anticipated our voyage.  We picked today because it was supposed to be 1ft chop or less.  

One thing I didn't realize is that the ENTIRE voyage would be dodging crab pots.   Crab pots are cages to catch crab with a rope above them and a floating ball to mark where they are.  They also catch propellers and wind them up causing great frustration to both crab pot owners and boaters alike.  If someone could solve this conflict it would be worth money ...

This was my view most of the day.  Tablet on left showing angle and depth.  Autopilot showing and holding course and lots and lots of gauges.  

We journeyed about 45 miles out into the ocean (30+ from last sight of land) when our port engine lost power.   

Out of cellphone range there was no looking up YouTube videos on the subject or googling the problem.  No calling anyone.  

So ... The answer is dig in.   

Down in the engine compartment goes the big dumb white guy.....  

I had a hypothesis as to what might be wrong.  Back in Cortez I cleaned our Racor filter because it had a bunch of gunk settled at the bottom of the bowl.  That's a story for another day - but an adventure all it's own.  Too tired for that tonight.  

But since the 10 micron filter had a bunch of gunk in it I hypothesized that some gunk got through the filter and clogged up the five micron filter on the engine itself.    Fortunately I have a stock of such maintenance items on the boat so we shut down the boat in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and opened the engine compartment, lay down next to a hot engine and took off the fuel filter, filled the new fuel filter with the fuel from the old one slowly and screwed it in place.  

Diesels can't have ANY air in the lines or they simply will not run. So I had to figure out how to bleed the air out of the lines.   There is a set screw above the filter (which I didn't have the proper tool for) but I managed it with a tiny rachet.    Katie keyed the ignition to start the fuel pump while I opened the set screw and then recapped it when diesel started flowing into the bilge again.  

Of course there are more steps. (shut off fuel before removing fuel filter, catch spilled fluid best you can in trays, bathe liberally in diesel fluid mixed with sweat) but eventually we got things back together.   The engine started!  Then died.  Air bubble?   Let's hope so.  Start again...   Took a bit of cranking but it would idle.   Then it would rev up in neutral.  A good sign.  Then we put it in gear (after floating over a mandatory crab pot rope).   Success!

I don't recommend replacing your fuel filters in the middle of the ocean while rocking in the waves and sweating next to a hot engine .. but it is a thing we shall remember.  

Back up on plane to make up time and throw money in the ocean at a faster rate.... And we manipulated through the crab pots successfully and without further incident.  8am on the ocean.   5pm off.   It sure felt longer in the hot sun...  (I know, cry me a river, the sun is out and it's hot and the water turned blue...  Life is rough...)

Eventually we approached Marathon in the keys.  I have been here before (on land) but I was too young to remember it.  Katie has never been in the keys before. 

Thankfully we have a friend here too.   Many know him as Norm.  As in Norm's ice cream. Today we didn't have ice cream but Norm has been a friend for many decades.  

Norm helped me pick this boat up in May and bring it home and we've done many a journey on water together.  Today our journey was on land.  

I had a craving for Mexican!  

so to a Mexican taco stand+tiki hut we go!  

Good stuff.   Enjoyable night with friends Robin and Dan (aboard Horizon Bound, yes we met back up again) and good friend and generous host Norm!

Something I never knew.  The keys have lots of wild chickens.   They forage for their own food and make themselves right at home.  Even on your truck. 

..

Did I mention Norm has a way with a camera?  Lots of these pictures are his .. (obviously since we were in the boat...)

And did I mention this place doesn't suck at all?   It might be 50 or below everywhere else on the continent but not here.   High 76.  Low 67.    Oh the temperature variation....

Our journey for the day...you can see where we 'stopped' in the middle of the crossing.   It would have been trouble to journey more than half the distance on a single engine ...

We slowed down when we got to the 'shallow spots'.   There was never a time the Gulf was 30+ ft deep coming across.  Thus the crab pots...   But when we got to the green section of our track it was 8ft deep or less most of that way with shoals to steer around.  Thank God for electronic charts and navigational aids on the water.  You definitely need both down here....

All in all a fine day on the water.   One of the finest ever....