The Dry Tortugas is the last of the Florida Keys and is approximately 50 miles west of Key West. It is a national park and includes the infamous Fort Jefferson (where Doctor Mudd served his sentence for setting the leg of John Wilkes Booth after Booth assassinated President Lincoln). Very few people visit because you can […]
4/7/13 10:30 PM We arrived at the Dry Tortugas just in time to meet our great friends Alan and Kit Bryant. The surprise birthday plan was hatched by Kit more than a month ago. Kit gave Alan a wonderful trip to the Florida Keys, including a Sea Plane flight from Key West to Fort Jefferson […]
Latitude 24.70 N Longitude 84.96 W 4/6/13 1:00 AM When I came on watch this morning, my fellow crew member, Tom, let me know that the GPS had quit working. No problem. A quick flick of a switch and the on board navigation system is using our backup GPS unit. But that wasn’t good enough […]
Current position 24.4900N, -85.5600W. 155 n/m from the Dry Tortugas. ETA is tomorrow evening, hopefully before dark. We made up for lost time today with favorable winds and current. Winds came from the NW blowing 25-30 knots with 8-12 foot seas. Now currently blowing 20 knots and seas have subsided to 3-6 feet. All is […]
Latitude 24 52 N Longitude 88 28 W 4/5/2013 12:18 AM I thought I’d blog daily while crossing the Gulf of Mexico. Things tend to get in the way. I’m not complaining, but this has been the roughest Gulf Crossing I’ve ever had. Poseidon and Zeus have been conspiring to keep us from passing west […]
Current position is 24.60N, -89.29W. Winds have backed to the NW at 25 knots and are finally pushing us straight for the Dry Tortugas. Seas are choppy with 6-8 foot waves, but still comfortable. ETA to Dry Tortugas is late Saturday night. View Larger Map
Current location 25.44000N, -91.04000W. Last 24 hours have been rough but everyone is doing ok. High seas, winds from the SE at 45 knots. View Larger Map
4/3/12 Question: What about Pirates? Answer: You can see them coming from a mile away — those silly pirate hats and the skull and cross bones flags are a dead give away. Question: What do you do all day? Answer: Something ALWAYS breaks. So far this trip, I’ve had to bypass a fuel filter on […]
Lat 27 57 North Long 91 43 West 4/3/12 4:00 PM “Sailing Vessel Double Wide, this is guard vessel Bunny Bordelon and you’ve got yourself in a real pickle. The vessels around you are part of a seismic research group and you’ve sailed within the boundary limits…” As the captain of the Bunny Bordelon was […]
Current position 27.2000N, -92.0500W. East by North East winds at 15 knots, overcast skies and choppy seas. The wind is forcing us further south than we’d like to, but it’s all good. View Larger Map