Key Lime Sailing Club - Happy Easter

One of the advantages of celebrating Easter at a sailing resort is there are so many more interesting places to hide Easter eggs than most other venues. Aiko the greeter helped us out and hid several eggs for us. One giant egg was hidden in the storage box for the snorkeling equipment.

Jackson persevered and found the giant Easter treat. He sent a letter to the Easter Bunny over a month ago to let him know that he would be in the Florida Keys for Easter. I guess it worked.

At 9:00 am we met with the dock master Neal and he gave us our orientation on the Catalina 22. There is a quiz that you must pass to be allowed to take out the boat. There is a trick question. Which winch do you use to hoist the mainsail?

A. Primary winch

B. Secondary winch

C. Either the primary or secondary winch

D. Neither

Another question is when was the last time you were sailing. My answer was - Wednesday.

We also filled out and signed another dozen hold harmless documents that basically said no matter what happens the owner is not responsible. The document indemnified several future generations of the owners family. We found out there are seven Catalina 22’s available with the cottages.

Our Catalina 22 is named Kalypso. Most of the other boats in the fleet have roller furler jibs. We have a hank on jib. No worries.

Neal provided details on several potential sailing destinations in the area. We chose to sail six miles to Nest Key. This is one of the few islands in the Everglades National Park where boaters can go ashore and use the beach. We blasted downwind with twenty feet at the waterline nicely making way. Sailing dead downwind has its advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage is you have the wind on the nose the entire trip back.

When we arrived at Nest Key there were forty other boats already on anchor. It is party central. The water depth where we anchored is four feet. All of the Catalina 22’s have retractable centerboards so they have a draft of two feet with the board up. This is a good thing since the water is very thin on the gulf side. On our sail home we were escorted by a pod of seven dolphins. Everyone including the six year old skipper thought that was pretty cool.

Captain Jackson on the helm and a cloud over his head that looks like a halo.

The boats are older but serviceable. They all have new outboard motors which makes them very dependable. Our motor starts on the first or second pull. The head is a five gallon bucket but we are swimming off the boat so that is not an issue.

Our cruise home had the wind on the nose so we sailed for a few hours until it wasn’t fun any more and dropped sails and motored the final 2 miles. We docked at 4:30 pm. There is a huge radio tower behind our resort. It can be seen from many miles away. That is a great landmark to help find our way home. I used Navionics on my iPad and it was extremely helpful keeping us in deeper water.

Jackson is wearing his flippers and snorkeling with his mom.

My daughter Alison was the crew utility player. She hoisted the sails, dropped and raised the anchor, tacked the jib and steered the boat.

Before dinner we had another egg hunt. Just because we are at a resort doesn’t mean we can’t keep my six year old grandson entertained.

After dinner we sat in the tiki hut on the gulf side and watched the sunset. All the boats have Lucie lights on the masts at steaming light height. Even the boats on moorings are lit up. Perhaps they had incidents of moored boats being hit in the dark. There is also a fire pit with lots of Adirondack chairs. You must provide your own wood which is available at Publix or Winn Dixie. There is no ice available on site. You get a small empty ice tray in your mini fridge. Good luck.

The answer to the quiz question is “D”. I got it right.