Category: Captain’s Log

Captain’s Log – Sat 5/24/25

We departed the miserable anchorage around 7am after a hot, muggy restless night. We headed North for Ft Myers Beach where we had a dock reservation so we could plug in to get some air conditioning. It was calm and very little wind so were just motoring.

About 3 miles North of Marco, the engine started to overheat, so we immediately shut it down and put the sails up so we weren’t drifting and could at least maintain a knot or two for steering. With the boat on autopilot under sail, I started to diagnose what the problem was. The strainer was clear, so I opened up the raw water pump to see if the impeller was ok. That was fine, the coolant level was fine. Could the brand new water pump already be bad? Seems unlikely. After the temp came down we started it back up and it started cooling OK.

What I finally determined was that the high output alternator, which was cranking out well over 100 amps, was generating so much heat in the enclosed engine compartment that it was overwhelming the cooling system. The water temperature is already at July levels and the air temperature was quickly heading into the upper 90’s and super humid.

With the engine cover off, I put a cabin fan blowing on the engine and it was able to maintain a safe operating temperature for the remainder of the trip to Ft Myers. Once the battery bank was fully charged and the alternator was just idling, I was able to close the engine hatch and the engine temperature remained at a safe operating level. That’s the first time I had this issue. It’s getting super hot out. I’m going to have to install some very aggressive ventilation to prevent this from happening again. For now, we know how to manage it for the remainder of the trip.

Once docked and checked in, we spent the afternoon in the pool while the AC was cooling off the boat.

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Captain’s Log – Fri 5/23/25

A very long day for us, a little over 80nm. We left Key West at 7:15am, motor sailing the entire way to Capri Pass at Marco Island to make the best time we could. We navigated the pass in the dark, dropping anchor about 10pm in the shallow area just off of the channel at marker G15. There were three other sailboats that beat us there, so it was a pretty tight squeeze. With the afternoon sea breeze powering the sails as well as running the engine, we were doing well over 7kts most of the afternoon. It would have taken us over 17 hours at 5kts. We made it in just under 15 hours.

The passage started out flat calm directly into a light North breeze then shifted NW and built to 3’-4’ seas with the sea breeze in the afternoon. By the time we got to Capri Pass the seas were pretty sporty. The sea breeze fueled a lot of inland thunderstorm activity but fortunately we didn’t have to get into any of it.

The engine ran a bit on the warm side, around 185-190 degrees at 2300 rpm. (The engine is cooled by sea water.) The combination of warm water and very hot and humid weather are making it hard on the cooling system to keep up.

It was a hot, muggy and buggy night. The mosquitoes prevented us from sleeping on deck where it was cooler. We do have a big mosquito tent but we were too tired to hang it. We would have preferred to go into the marina so we could run the AC but the route in is very shallow and zig zaggy and I didn’t want to chance it in the dark. Needless to say we didn’t sleep well.

We definitely have pushed this cruising season to the limit and are looking forward to getting back to St Pete.

Saturday we are stopping at Pink Shell Marina to cool off.

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Captain’s Log – Thu 5/22/25

It’s been a whirlwind trip to Key West! We arrived midafternoon Tuesday at Galleon Marina, stopping first at the fuel dock for 12.3 gallons of diesel. Just as we were checking in, we saw our friends from the St Pete Sailing Association leaving on Bumbugo. They were heading home after the Bone Island Regatta which is a race from Sarasota to Key West. We got the AC running as soon as we got to the dock. It was 97 degrees and took several hours to cool down the boat. We put up the shade tarps to help it out. Then it was time to cool off at the tiki bar.

We eventually worked our way up Duval St to Margaritaville where I had a cheeseburger in paradise along with several boat drinks. Cheers Jimmy! We’ve been living out the songs you wrote!

We then continued our crawl around Duval St, making many new friends. I find the t-shirt shops absolutely hilarious here.

The old Smokin Tuna is now The Alamo. Definitely not as fun as Smokin Tuna was, which I understand is moving to a new location. But it was a Tuesday…

Alicia wasn’t a fan of Hog’s Breath which is one of my fav’s for live music, so headed over to finish the night at Sloppy Joe’s with a very fun young crowd, dancing the night away until the wee hours.

We finally found our homing beacon to get us back to the boat

On Wednesday we got up for Key West morning which is just a bit before noon. 😆 We went to tour the Hemingway Pilar Distillery. I tried to tour it the last time I was in KW but it got cut short as the electrician showed up to fix an issue on the boat. I highly recommend the tour, it covers the history of rum, pirates and Hemingway with his canteen of rum. There is a speakeasy in the back which seemed like a good place to stay out of the afternoon heat. Did I mention it feels like a 100 something here?

The must stop place for us is Blue Heaven. We’ve been going there for what we’re thinking is about 17 years, give or take. Math is hard in Key West. 😆 Banana Bread Foster for dessert, need we say more?

Back on Duval St, we ran into my crew member Kelsey with the Crew of Wings from Davis Island which actually won the Bone Island Regatta. They were heading out to dinner so we steered them to Blue Heaven.

We were a bit late for sunset. The famous Mallory Square is condemned. We caught the tail end back at our marina. We were fading fast after last night’s Duval Crawl and the early start at the distillery so called it an early night.

After brunch on Thursday, we had to get the boat ready to head home and hit the grocery store. Tomorrow will be an 80nm passage to Marco Island. That’s a long day, probably 14 or 15 hours depending on the wind. Must take it easy tonight and get some rest.

After a melting walk down the boardwalk, we had cocktails on Wings with our friends for happy hour before going to dinner. We opted for somewhere air conditioned instead of the usual open air restaurants. It was 100 something again. Definitely time to head back north to the refuge of our pool and air conditioning.

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