by Bob Kranich
Robert’s Best, (Part 9, Excerpt 94)
This is a new story. Robert’s Best is a sail boat. Grandfather Roberts is going to sail it on the Intercostal waterway from Texas to Key West, Florida. That will be an adventure. Then his grandchildren and their parents will come to Key West on a visit. There will be a lot of funny happenings until the criminals from a previous story get into action. A side note is that a 1935 antique Chris-Craft Model 557 Cabin Cruiser is going to play an important part in the rest of the story. Grandfather Roberts is on his trip to Key West, Florida in his sail boat via the Intercostal Waterway. He and his guide have just arrived at New Orleans. They are going to tour the historic old section
Roberts’ Best
We walked across a park and up to a couple of railroad tracks. Just then we saw a 1945’s era streetcar coming our way.
“This nostalgic streetcar is one of two different lines. The other one is the Saint Charles Avenue Line. We’ll ride this one along the river, the entire length of the French Quarter. Then we’ll walk back through the center of the Quarter. We can get a good Cajun meal and listen to some fine jazz. Even though it’s early afternoon, musicians will be playing. Why, there’s someone playing music twenty four hours a day, seven days a week in New Orleans!” Nicholas exclaimed.
We got off at the end of the line near the French Market. Nicholas and I then wandered back through the narrow streets lined with three-story plaster-covered brick buildings. These buildings had wrought-iron balconies which looked down at us. We were on Bourbon Street when we had to stop and listen to the mellow sounds of a trumpet emitting from a restaurant door.
“This will be it,” I said.
We went in and sat down to a Cajun meal and the music of a New Orleans Dixieland jazz band.
As we went outside, Nicholas said, “Tom, we’ll walk the few blocks back to your boat. I’ll tell you the easiest way to move on. It will be ok to stay here tonight. Now tomorrow, early if you can, you need to get moving so you will be gone before the Cajun Queen gets back. Just stay on the port side of the Mississippi. Watch out for the river traffic, and take the next waterway to the left. It’s a lock and uses the same procedure we used for the Harvey Canal Lock. Notify the lockmaster and proceed at his direction. You will be in the Intercostal Waterway and it will turn to starboard shortly after you get into it. Then it is straight, and in ten miles you can continue on the Intercostal to Gulfport or slip out into the Gulf.”
“Here we are, Tom.”
“Nicholas, I want to thank you for the excellent guide service. Here is your pay and included tip. Also my contact information. I will recommend you highly to anyone. Good luck, and God bless you.”
We shook hands and I watched Nicholas walk off into the bright colored lights of the New Orleans French Quarter, and then I turned to go to my Roberts’ Best.
As I mentioned early on when I started my sailing adventure from Galveston to Key West, it would be an abbreviated version. I have rambled on too much already. If you are interested in the rest of my Gulf Intercostal Waterway sailing story, you will need to obtain my book:
Gulf Coast Summer
One Man’s Sailing Adventure from Galveston to Key West.
By: Tom Roberts
Now I’m going to jump past Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagoula, Mobile, Pensacola, Apalachicola, Tarpon springs, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Naples, and Everglades City.
I’m now thirty-five days out from Galveston and in the Gulf heading towards the western Keys, just west of Marathon. In fact I am in the Big Spanish Channel heading to Bahia Channel which will take me out into the Atlantic and the Caribbean.
I saw the markers for the Big Spanish Channel and slipped between. I was then on a slight angle east of south. There were a couple of small Keys I passed on the starboard side, and I could see big pine trees on the Key of the same name. It was a nice sunny and breezy day that I had been blessed with. Next I passed on the same side of a decent–sized Key called “No Name Key.” It too had a pine tree forest on it behind the mangroves.
I was now in the Bahia Honda Channel. The old railroad bridge girder spans with the U S 1 Highway built on top was before me. I steered for the center of one span. I had ninety feet horizontal and thirty feet vertical clearance. It was no problem going between. As soon as I got through I could see the State Park boat basin. I entered it and went up to a slip. I was done for the day!
After eating, I walked over to the other side of the road and swam at the palm tree-rimmed sugar-sand beach which was on the western side.
The next morning, since I was a little anxious, (and that was because I was only thirty-five miles from Key West’s western side, I got an early start. I untied from the dock slip and motored out of the boat basin. A few minutes and I was at full sail in the middle of the Bahia Honda Channel. At a marker designating the Hawk Channel and looking at the Atlantic, I made a course change of two hundred and fifty degrees west-southwest. I would be on that for at least thirty miles, til I was abreast of Key West.
This Hawk Channel was also the southern Keys Intercostal Waterway. With the ocean breeze heading inland, my sails were full, and I was clipping along at a comfortable eight knots. At the halfway point I was probably about three to four miles out from the land. But the distance off the Keys was becoming gradually less and less.
Suddenly the air above me became alive with military aircraft landing and taking off. A quick glance at my charts told me that I was adjacent to Boca Chica Naval Air Station. I changed course a few degrees and now was heading due west two hundred and seventy degrees, which put me off the ocean side of southwestern Key West.
I could see the buildings of the island interspersed with waving coconut palms. I turned sharp to starboard when I got close to the red “Day” beacon marker and headed for a flashing green lighted marker. I was now in the main ship channel, and it was well marked with buoys on either side. I had done my homework some time ago, as a matter of fact just as soon as I had obtained my waterway guide. I was planning on docking in the Key West Bight* and renting a long-term slip at one of the smaller piers.
There it was, the flashing red 24 buoy. I cut on the diesel and dropped the sails. I let the boat float there as I rolled up and secured both of the sails. I could see my marina on the starboard side so I eased in, threw my fenders over the side, cut the motor off, and tied up.
“Where ya-all coming in from?”
I looked up. Across the dock was a Chris-Craft Cruiser. It was a vintage restored unit. There was a vintage guy in blue jeans, white shirt, and captain’s cap sitting on a deck chair in the back of the Cruiser.
From the Author:
My second full-length book , Florida Keys’ Watercolor Kapers is composed of 336 pages. There are 12 stories running from 6 pages to as many as 72 pages. It is fully illustrated with 88 watercolors and sketches. The watercolors I made roaming around Key West after I finished my 750 mile hike from Georgia to Key West. (See book or Don Browne’s SouthWest Florida Online News records, A Walk Across Florida.) As you read these stories you will experience Key West, the Keys, and the Caribbean. These stories span the time of the early 1800’s to 1969. bkranich.wixsite.com/bobkranich
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