Margaritaville – MV Simple Life

We spent the night on anchor in New Haven Connecticut because the marina we had planned did not have room for us. The anchorage provided decent protection from the south winds in the middle of the night. The next day we set out for Port Washington, NY where we had reserved 5 nights due to a low pressure off the coast that was causing strong winds and waves.

Cruising

When we weighed anchor and headed out into LIS (Long Island Sound) the south wind was making the boat rock so we headed directly into it until we hit the LI shore and worked our way west to Port Washington. We were passed by this cool looking boat.

Soon we were passing Execution Rocks Light. It has been rumored that the island got the name “Execution” after slave owners murdered slaves by chaining them to the rocks on the island and waiting for high tide to drown them. I can only hope that that horrible story is not true or the way the island came to be known as Execution Rocks.

We tied up at Safe Harbor Capri marina in Port Washington and doubled up on our lines for the predicted strong winds. A small tugboat came in behind us.

Tug Boats

Not a Nordic Tug

Yacht identification is a hobby of mine. I like to guess yacht manufacturers. It’s never easy and rarely can I say with certainty the manufacturer and model of a passing yacht. Some manufacturers make it easy to identify by always incorporating their signature design element into all the yacht models they produce. Even classifying a yacht as a trawler or as a tug boat can start a religious war among other boaters who argue which design elements make a particular boat a tug vs. a trawler vs. a motor yacht, etc. This particular tug intrigues me as most recreational tugs I see are Nordic Tugs, American Tugs or Ranger Tugs. All nice looking boats in my opinion. Less often I see tugs such as the Gozzard Pilgrim 40 (no longer in production) . This particular tug reminds me of a Lord Nelson Victory Tug?

Damaged Radar

When we arrived I planned on repairing our Furuno 1942 MK2 marine radar system which had stopped displaying targets shortly after we anchored next to the USCG boat in Fishers Island. I often wonder whether powerful military style radar systems that output much higher power microwaves can damage our low power 6.0 KW system?

Once when I was near Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay there was military testing operations going on around me. The warship hailed me on the VHF and warned that if I got within a mile of their vessel that it may result in damage to the sensitive electronics aboard my yacht. That started me thinking… it would be useful for military ships to be able to damage the sensitive electronics on a hostile boat by emitting a focused high energy pulse. Older style marine radars like our Furuno 1942 MK2 (circa 2005) emit analog microwaves using a magnetron like you find in your household microwave oven. These magnetrons have a predictable lifespan. Newer marine radars use lower power digital rather than analog microwave emissions.

Electronics Upgrades

After diagnosing the radar I believe our magnetron had given up the ghost. We need to have radar to travel safely so I ordered a new modern radar system as well as some other electronic navigation upgrades.

GMR Fathom 24 Radome
gWind Wireless 2 Wind Speed / Direction Transducer
GMI 20 Display Instrument
Scanstrut PTM-R1-1 Tapered Mast
Garmin GPSMAP 1243xsv MFD (multi-function display)

Train Ride to the City

It would be days before I could have the needed electronics delivered to the marina so we decided to go into NYC and visit my nephew who was living and working in the city.

We took an Uber to the Port Washington station and hopped on the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) into NYC (about a 45 minute ride)

We arrived at Penn Station and should have just walked to upper Manhattan but we decided to take a NYC cab ride instead.

I’m not sure I understood any of this conversation

Colin

Waiting for us when we stepped out of the cab was my nephew, Colin who we were very happy to see. We. made him take pics with both of us for the blog. Either we are very short or Colin seems to get bigger every time I see him.

We grabbed lunch at a great little middle eastern deli and Colin had to run back to work. We thanked him for showing us around and we headed off on foot to Central Park just a block or two away.

Central Park

Steinway Tower (Worlds Skinniest Skyscraper)

I recently watched a video about the construction of the Steinway Tower masterpiece of engineering on Billionaire’s row

The Sights

As we walked downtown in search of a decent pub we saw many interesting sights.

Times Square

When we arrived at Times Square we took a moment to look around

By this time our feet hurt and we both agreed we needed a margarita and an IPA. It was almost Margaritaville until it was the Yard House.

On the way back to Penn station Teresa hailed a cab and instead a strange man pulled over and said he was a cab. We both laughed thinking our parents had told us never to get in the car with a stranger but we hopped in anyway. It turned out to be a $20 ride to go the short few blocks to Penn station but our sore feet said it was worth it.

Work on the Boat

Back on the boat and some of the new electronics had arrived. I quickly began to wire them up in the pilothouse to test before the actual installation.

Now hopefully the removal of the old radar and install of this new tech goes smooth tomorrow… Stay tuned.

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: Margaritaville

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