Just a short one this month as the amount of travelling we have done is very little. Those of you with good memories or with nothing better to occupy themselves with may remember my commenting on the high price of the marina we stayed in at Key West. I felt $145 for 2 nights to be excessive and so it is. Unfortunately I had my figures wrong and the price was for ONE NIGHT. That’s £85 a night to moor a boat…………

We anchored off, went drifting with some American friends as the wind had died, swam with dolphins and generally had an easy time. Left Key West for Fort Lauderdale with a forecast of SE winds. Course they didn’t materialise and we spent the usual frustrating time beating. The wind came about the same time as we found the Gulf Stream and we found ourselves rushing northwards at 8+knots. With 10 miles to go and 5 hours to dawn we heaved to. Hannah pointed south but drifted North at a steady 2 knots to duly present us with the entrance to FL around 6am. We watched the ships enter and leave before deciding to motor sail up to the entrance. All this time we had been drifting up the east coast of Florida, with a steady 3-4 blowing from the SE. We were a couple of miles off the coast so although it was a lee shore I felt comfortable with the proximity. Until we started the engine and it didn’t. Start that is. Bee went immediately to work, located the iffy wire and had us up and running in a few minutes. Must get that sorted we said to ourselves for the umpteenth time………..

Fort Lauderdale. What on earth can we say about the place? Brash. Tasteless. Obscene.

All that and more. HUGE houses the size of small hotels line canals. Many appear empty (we later learnt that the wealthy do not use their FL homes in the summer) but equally vast numbers of very large powerboats abound. There is a serious amount of money sitting around this town and if all the boats were gathered up and sold the resulting cash would probably eradicate third world debt. Won’t happen of course but…….. So we motored into this bastion of capitalism, spoke to a kiwi yacht and found our way to Lake Sylvia. Surrounded by million $ homes is a secluded anchorage. Busy the day we arrived the locals left by the weekend leaving a smattering of travellers. We shopped, bought charts of Maine etc and took the decision to head on up the ICW  (Inter Coastal Waterway-runs from Miami to Virginia (I think) for 1000 miles. Its shallow in places so for Hannah’s depth is not all navigable but would be ok for 40 or so miles. Lots of bridges of course, some current and hundreds of powerboats. Day 1 passed without real incident other than a current so strong that the engine at 3000 revs struggled to get Hannah through one bridge. The other English boat we had met forged on and we haven’t seen them since. Nearly lost our dinghy, as passing boats seem to deliberately attempt swamping. Reckoned without Bee who leapt into action and into the dinghy and could be seen flinging water out by the bucket load. We anchored for the night and moved on the following day. An easy day that ended in another sheltered anchorage, surrounded by large homes with a convenient beach and supermarket nearby. We subsequently found we were camped in Jack Nicklaus's back yard but it was the closeness of the supermarket we found more attractive. Getting everything done we decided to leave early the next day remaining in the ICW as the winds were still not favourable. As we approached our 3 rd bridge of the day we went into neutral whilst awaiting the bridge opening. Into forward, to be greeted by a foreign noise but no movement. Into reverse to get the same effect. Yup no doubt about it we had lost our gearbox………… So we’re in this narrow river, stream running, little wind but lots of bridges. We dropped the hook in the channel and found ourselves off a marina. We checked the prop. No movement. We talked to the local marina, run by a guy from Manchester, who rang a local yard. We called up a company called Sea Tow but weren’t able to establish contact. They could hear us, liased with the marina and came out. As they wanted $200 to tow us and thought my offer of $20 to be a shade low they went away. The owner of the yard agreed to tow us but wanted $150 so we decided to sail. The wind had freshened, would be on the beam and we might just be able to manage it. We got ourselves ready and then managed to bum a tow from a passing boat thanks to Gemini from Jupiter. They cast us off some 50+ metres from the piles and with more jam than Hartleys we came alongside and reversed Hannah between the piles with no fuss.

The Ways is a DIY yard and we have. Gearbox out, then stripped down. Seemed to be ok but we don’t really know what we’re looking for. Zig, the friend from Key West called by and ran us down to Fort Lauderdale to a company that import the English gearbox. Sure they could rebuild but the time and cost took it close to that of a new one which we could have there and then. We bought. But, the guy insisted he see the drive plate as the spline on gearbox showed signs of abnormal wear. The following day, hanging upside down in the cockpit we inspected. It looked fine, showed no signs of wear and I toyed with the idea of leaving it. Getting it off involved removing the engine bell housing, which is how we discovered the stuffed engine mount……… This time Jim, a fellow yottie in the yard, ran us down to FL and I presented the drive plate. I suggested it seemed ok and the technician looked at me. Turning he picked up another plate and laid by the side of ours. It was only then that we realised that half of the splines had been ripped out and so smoothly it looked to have been engineered that way………. Me and my big mouth. So new drive plate, 2 new engine mounts and back to base. We decided to go the whole hog and get the prop off to be rebalanced. Opted to come out cos we could anti foul but insufficient depth in the travel hoist bay stopped that. A dive company removed the prop and we sit here awaiting its return.

But we’ve peddled our way around the area, visiting chandlers and supermarkets and generally getting ourselves ready for the sail north. Chesapeake is no longer an option so we will probably do the 1200 miles to Maine in one hit to get back on schedule. We can feel the difference in the weather as the days are getting muggier and the last 4 or 5 days have seen a lot of rain. The hurricane season officially starts in a months time and warm weather will be working its way North, making it a good time to reach the rocky shores and inlets of maine. Big tides, rocks and strong currents. Sounds an exciting mix.

So thanks to all who helped, by phone, email, text and transport we should soon be on our way