Day 1 - Plan B on to Key West — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 61, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $0, daily high temperature 84°f

We unplugged, untied and were on our way at 7:30 am.

Sunrise at Coconut Grove.

The night before we made a major provisioning run to Publix, Fresh Market and Target. Gabe is a gourmet chef that has owned numerous restaurants. He is a graduate of the CIA – Culinary Institute of America studied in Europe and currently owns Miramar Bistro in Highwood, Illinois. He loaded up two shopping carts with food for our 8 day cruise. We have steaks, chicken, lamb and pork. This will be a culinary cruise. We might even add Mahi to the menu if we can catch some.

Our trip to Target was to pick up a toaster. Priscilla and I will often have English muffins with chunky peanut butter and raspberry preserves for breakfast. Gabe is on a low carb diet so we chased down a toaster at 9:00 pm. He did not have a toaster onboard Pilar.

Gabe had a celebrity neighbor on his dock at Grove Isle Marina. The Latin pop star Marc Anthony. Marc came onboard his boat Sunday night and had a loud party and then the boat went out for a midnight cruise. On Monday the captain asked us if we knew anyone that that he could hire to drive their tender. Gabe asked when he needed the driver. The captain said now. The tender was still there this morning but Marc and his boat were gone. Seas the Moment is the name of his Azimut 64.

Marco Antonio Muñiz (born September 16, 1968), known professionally as Marc Anthony, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer and television producer. Anthony is also the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy Award and five-time Latin Grammy Award winner has sold more than 12 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads.

We headed east across Biscayne Bay to the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream. The forecast was for winds out of the NE. Normally that makes for a rough crossing. Gabe wanted some experience in rough weather before his circumnavigation. Unlike the forecast the winds were due east and on our nose. The waves were 4-6 feet with occasional 8 footers. After an hour of beating to windward we were not making much VMG (velocity made good). After a brief discussion we agreed to go which way the wind blows. Our experience with sailing is that the wind is either too strong, too light or from the wrong direction. The advantage of not having any particular place to go is you can go with the wind. We turned south and headed down the Keys to Key West. With 15 – 20 knots of breeze on the beam Pilar moved spritely. The seas were confused and we rocked and rolled downwind. After two hours we decided to go into the Hawks Channel. The seas smoothed down and we cruised for another 8 hours and dropped anchor behind Rodriguez Cay which is east of Key Largo. We will spend the night here and then continue cruising south towards Key West. If onditions allow, we will cruise to the Dry Tortugas.

Here is our route today. We are the red triangle.

Bonus photo – who knew Gabe’s boat has a cigar holder