Diver – MV Simple Life

A Door 2 Fathoms Down

We left our slip in Solomons Island and the captain forgot to close the boarding gate door. We pulled up to the pumpout dock and the dockhand asked me to pull a bit more forward so the pumpout hose would reach and we heard a metal noise? The boarding gates on Simple Life open outward (very strange and a bit dangerous if you lean against an unlocked door) and when open they stick out further than the rubrail. The door caught on the fixed dock pilings and the sound was it being removed from the boat.

What to do? We are tied up at the dock and our door is 2 fathoms below us. It’s muddy brown Maryland water. Now… I love being “on the water” but I don’t like being “in the water”. Especially when the water is 57 degrees! Hmmm. Let’s call for an expert.

Diver Jeff Myers entering the cold murky water under the dock

It made me nervous just to watch Jeff our diver jump into that water. When he entered the water he took quite a few loud deep breaths. It looked cold to me. Jeff disappeared for what seemed like 5-10 minutes as I watched his bubbles appearing on the surface up & down the dock. I stood there holding the line he had attached to the dock and himself. I finally gave a tug on the line (cuz I think I saw that in a movie once) and he came up empty-handed and cold. He agreed to try another spot closer to the stern of the boat and he was down another 5 minutes… He surfaced and smiled a frozen smile. He had me pull the rope and the door came to the surface. Jeff had felt with his hands in zero visibility around the bottom until he felt the metal door and rapped his dive rope around it several times. We had already turned the heat on inside MV Simple Life so it was 80 degrees inside. Teresa handed Jeff a steaming hot coffee and a towel. Judging by how he stood in the path of the heat with both hands clenching the coffee cup under his chin… I’d say he appreciated it.

We spent the end of the day chatting with Jeff and decided to stay another night at the marina.

The door was unharmed. I spent the night pounding the aluminum hinges back into shape before reattaching the door which did not even have a scratch on it. (smile)

There is a great Italian restaurant at the marina called La Vela Italian Restaurant.

The next morning we had a great breakfast and set out for Gwynn Island just south of Solomons Island, MD.

I love the lines of a Chesapeake Deadrise

We anchored just off Gwynn Island and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

The next morning we set out for Norfolk, VA. As we passed the Norfolk Naval Yard we snapped a few photos.

We anchored at Hospital Point right next to Tidewater Marina.

We snapped a few photos while there.

In the AM we pulled out and circled ICW Mile Marker 0 which is actually this red buoy #36

The next morning we weighed anchor and pushed southward through the Great Bridge Lock.

Soon we docked at AYB (Atlantic Yacht Basin) in Chesapeake, VA and noticed the 80′ Northern trawler that had passed us while we were anchored was docked near to us. We met the owners briefly and discussed some boaters that we knew in common.

iiwii is pronounced E-WE and stands for “It Is What It Is”

We were excited to be docked because we had just enough time to get cleaned up and go to dinner with our boater friends who were driving to Chesapeake to have dinner with us at the Butcher’s Son restaurant. Caroline and Ruth are the best friends anyone could ask for. We wished we could have kidnapped them for the rest of our trip.

By the way that local Mosiac Goat IPA from 2 Silos Brewing was spectacular.

It was sad to leave our friends but the next morning we topped of the 1/2 full fuel tanks ($3000 worth of diesel) and set out for Coinjock Marina. When we arrived we saw MV iiwii was already tied up at the marina. We had just enough time to clean up and rush to get the Coinjock Restaurant’s famous 32 ounce prime rib special.

We actually ran into Fred and Sharon of MV iiwii and while waiting for a seat in the restaurant and Fred thought fast enough to tell the hostess that we would dine together as a party of 4 to make things easier. We enjoyed dinner with our new boater friends who entertained us with their boating stories from all over.

In the morning we cast off the lines and set out for Belhaven, NC. We snapped this photo of a nice looking sportfishing boat called MV McLovin which hailed from a port near me in RI.

Soon we were anchored in Belhaven, NC and enjoyed a night binge watching Friends. We are in Season #2 now.

The sunrise was amazing in the morning.

In the morning we weighed anchor and headed for Camp Legeune anchorage in Jacksonville, NC.

We saw the craziest rainbow spot in the sky. Not a whole rainbow but simply a dot in the sky?

We were now fast approaching Camp Lejeune.

It was a long 100NM trip here today cruising at 10kts. We left as the sun was coming up and dropped anchor just as the sun was going down.

As I sit here anchored in Camp Lejeune I am finally getting a blog post out. The five unblogged legs of our journey that got us to this location looked something like this…

The trip down to Key West was full of things to see. It started with an overturned vessel. We saw a diver in the water possibly attempting to flip it? Hope nobody was injured?

There was a diver in the water hooking lines to the overturned hull

As we got closer to Key West, the water became a beautiful green-blue color.

We passed SV Toucan, a 40’ Manta catamaran underway and hailed them on the VHF offering to take some pics of them. Capt. Elizabeth thanked us and returned the favor.

The crew of Toucan would later invite us for a “Sundowner” which is live-aboard speak for why don’t you dinghy over to our boat just before the sun sets and we’ll do drinks and appetizers. They were terrific hosts and I enjoyed getting a tour of their amazing catamaran. If I get a copy of the selfie we took, I’ll post it here.

When you approach Key West from Hawk’s Channel (ocean side) you see sights such as huge cruise ships underway in the channel and others docked.

You pass Margaritaville Marina and many anchored boats.

Looked like they had student sailors aboard?

The US Coast Guard Key West station is down here and they have a large ship docked.

The Navy’s Naval Air Station and Army Special Forces Underwater Operations have a presence in Key West. We passed the many buildings with military logos and such.

US Army Special Forces Underwater Operations building logo

At one point a couple of inflatables with Army Special Forces motored by.

We grabbed a mooring ball in Garrison Bight Mooring field rather than fight the crowds in the different anchoring locations. Garrison Bight is the only real transient mooring field that I am aware of here in KW. The mooring field is run by Key West City Marina. Getting onto the mooring is a lot like in Boot Key Harbor where the mooring ball has a short pennant line that comes up from below the ball (rather than on the top of the mooring ball as it’s better to keep the scope angle low leading to the mooring anchor itself). Up North in Rhode Island, most mooring ball pennant lines are mounted on the top and have either a single long pennant line or a single that spits into two lines with loops for throwing over your bow cleats. Here in Key West the mooring pennant line is very short with a thimble that you must thread two of your own dock lines through. They ask that you keep a minimum of 10 feet between the boat and the thimble. The winds can really blow down here and they don’t want you short tying to the ball and potentially dragging the mooring anchor.

Dock lines through mooring pennant with thimble at end

Once tied up it was a bit of long dinghy ride into the marina office which is located in a different location than the transient dinghy dock.

We arrived on St. Paddy’s day so we wasted no time getting an Uber to Duval St. and hitting some of the local watering holes like Hog’s Breath Saloon. Want to see the drink menu? It’s on your plastic cup (not a bad idea). I had to do a Gumbash Smash just to make Danny & Dina smile. (Inside joke)

Every bar should do this. Starting at the top…

We found that the Sunset Pier had a good band playing and spent some time there taking selfies and enjoying the cool breeze off the ocean.

We ate at Margaritaville’s and found it was less crowded than adjacent restaurants due to the St. Paddy’s day crowds. The food & drinks were good.

The dinghy ride back to the boat was hysterical as we had not paid enough attention to where we left the big boat and we were driving around in the dink trying to find Simple Life. Fish were jumping out of the water as we skimmed over the shallows at high speed.

While there I got to visit places like The Green Room.

The Whistle Bar (AKA the Bull)

Is it the “Whistle Bar” or “The Bull”? – Branding issues?

We joined the 1st ever Key West Cruisers Net Social at Key West Waterfront Brewery (right on the water). We had lots of fun sharing drinks and stories with other live-aboard cruisers.

They teased me a bit being a live-aboard cruiser on a trawler vs. Sailboat but I like to tease them back a bit 😉

Waterfront Brewery right on the water, nice breeze

Lots of fun drinking & chatting with the other cruisers

We made the first ever Official KWCN Social

Don’t you just love the banter between sailors and those who went to the dark-side?

Some nights were dead calm which can get hot aboard without a breeze. Other nights the breeze was blowing in through the hatch and you needed a blanket to keep your toes warm. The funny thing about no wind is… the boats tend to spin randomly rather than all lining up with the wind. Our neighbors on a Manta 44 power catamaran had to jump in the water to untangle their mooring line that was wrapped around their mooring ball.

I offered help but they wanted to fix on their own. He’s a trooper

At night we would see amazing sunsets as we relaxed in the aft cockpit with a drink or two.

Tag: Diver

Virgin – Olina

A Door 2 Fathoms Down

Key West