| Travels of Dursmirg Vol. 3 Chapter 1 |
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CHAPTER 1 DOWN IN THE FLORIDA KEYS, SWINGING IN A SUMMER BREEZE
“I am going where the wind blows, when the spirit moves me and the price is right.”
These were our feelings, our goals and aspirations that we would fulfill beyond our wildest expectations. Our quality
of life and standard of living were to be far above anything imaginable. Yes, we did it!
This is what our mood and sentiments were as we entered our next few years. We dodged the bullet that wounded
the nation and slipped off into a utopian paradise while the world was in turmoil and upheaval and we migrated
together with like-minded sailors into a new dimension.
Vietnam, two Arab oil embargos and run away inflation were but a few very good reasons to “drop-out” and let the
flack hit the proverbial “political fan”.
For many these years were traumatic and frustrating while trying to cope with geo-political screw-ups that would
mangle and maim, divide and split, distract and divert the whole country and even the world…never to be the same
again.
We were off to tropical places;
The tropics are where the coconuts grow and this is where we would spend our next few winters of our lives aboard
our boat Dursmirg, our floating mobile home.
To better understand the term tropics one must look at the broader picture of the earth as it turns and twists, bobs
and weaves in its methodical annual elliptical path around the sun. Note: go to the end of chapter 19 and read our
expanded explanation of the tropics
INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME 3
Again I will give a condensed travel log of our first trip by boat down the east coast of Florida and through the Keys
using our ships log book and letters that Jane wrote to her parents interspersed with interesting accounts of the
people and places that made this end of the world so very captivating, interesting and intriguing to us.
In the subsequent chapters I will take you step by step to the various places that we frequented over the years by
land and sea.
Florida the “Sinkhole State” is noted for its killer weather conditions that devastate quickly and costly and then move
on leaving behind a tantalizingly tranquil place of complacency to snare the next unwary souls.
From Cape Canaveral to Tampa the incidence of violent thunderstorms is among the most concentrated of any
place on planet earth and tends to be a daily occurrence throughout most of the year.
Twisters, tornados or waterspouts have randomly torn up all parts of the state in all seasons of the year and at all
times of the day and night. Jane and I have even witnessed two of these destructive freaks of nature at the same
time while helplessly observing them from the deck of our boat down in the Florida Keys. With winds at near the
speed of sound they have been known to drive a straw from a broom through a telephone pole and even pluck
boaters out of their boats to somewhere over the rainbow never to be found again.
Tropical hurricanes from June until November keep the residents of the “Sinkhole State” wary of impending disaster
and all boat owners with little or no insurance coverage glued to the weather channel with a hurricane hole to put
their vessel into in order to ride out the blow.
Jane and I have been driven to extensive protective measures knowing that if a direct hit should occur and we
should sustain the full brunt of any hurricane with winds over one hundred miles an hour all would most likely be lost
including our lives.
(In volume 4 you can read about our experience in St. Augustine, Florida October 19th, 1973 regarding the
“Hurricane Hole”.)
With regard to the state of Florida, the “Sinkhole State”, we have been up it, down it, around it and through it by
boat, bike and car!
Sinkholes are no joke to the unfortunate Florida residents that find that not only their home but even their real
estate may drop into the earth at any moment without any forewarning. Quietly subterranean water flow will
undermine vast areas of soil and without warning the earth above drops into the awaiting cavern. The Chamber of
Commerce doesn’t tout this attribute about Sunshine State real estate.
Even with all of the above possible negative attributes back in the early 1970s when the population of the entire
state of Florida was 7,000,000, it was more than just fabulous; it was in many places still pristine, unspoiled and pure.
In our offshore travels the only place along the east coast of America that we actually noticed significant enough
quantities of air pollution to be distinctively seen from some distance out to sea back in the 1970s was along the
Gold Coast. The Gold Coast includes Dade and Broward Counties where Miami and Fort Lauderdale are located
and ironically this was during the Arab oil embargo. At that time the US was burning ten million barrels of oil each
and every day and had just begun to be a net importer. At that rate they were burning more than they could
produce.
We are now very happy that we had that opportunity to travel and visit this part of the world then because now that
situation with pollution, congestion and all types of traffic has more than tripled as the population of Florida tripled.
American consumption has reached in excess of 20 million barrels of oil per day and America has now pumped 90%
of its oil reserves out of the ground and searches globally for new sources to burn.
Nuclear power is heavily produced in Florida at several locations, one at Turkey Point Station south of Miami. This
helps to reduce air pollution from fossil fuel consuming power plants and helps to keep the Sunshine State semi-
functional.
Many years during the springtime the Everglades, which are the wetlands west of Miami, dry sufficiently and for one
reason or another get set ablaze. The smoke from those blazing fires fanned by the tropical trade winds becomes so
substantially thick that the setting sun will be obliterated. The busy airports of Miami keep the skies overhead
packed with air traffic because a multitude of flights to Central and South America connect and refuel at Miami
International Airport.
To escape this contamination and the crush of the mechanized world Jane and I head out to sea to enjoy the very
best of the tropics. The last unspoiled frontier of the Sunshine State was here for us to see and enjoy. That was
thirty years ago and even that is now just a faded memory.
The storms may be just as violent as any place but the water doesn’t send chills, frozen fingers numbed by the cold
are not a consideration and bundling up for survival even through the driving rains isn’t necessary. The elements
are just kinder and gentler at these latitudes. So, Volume 3 will be about sailing, anchoring and exploring in this
tropical environment in those days before it all went away.
Over the years, we have traveled this unique stretch of coastal North America countless times in a variety of vessels
both north and south and inside and out. Inside refers to the Intracoastal Waterway and outside refers to the Atlantic
Ocean, Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.
From a postcard Jane wrote her parents
1973 November 2nd
(Caption) JOHN F. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER
NASA
The N.A.S. A. Atlas-Mercury- the vehicle that carried the American astronauts into orbit being readied for launch at
Cape Kennedy, Florida.
“We were here yesterday. It’s a very exciting place to visit. We saw the Skylab rocket that is going to be launched
the 10th.
We had been docked at the yacht club in Melbourne, Florida all week.
We had generator trouble but got it fixed.
Fishing is great here so we have smoked a lot of fish.
We are moving south today.
Love Jane and Bing
A letter Jane wrote her parents
1973 November 16th
Dear Mom, Dad and Joel,
It was sure nice to talk to you last week and thank you for sending the mail and your letter. I’m enclosing another
check to cover the last of our mail. Next time you send mail could you put a string or extra tape on the ends? The
post office really beats up everything heavy and both ends of the envelope were ripped open. The mail was tight in
the envelope so I didn’t think anything fell out. Thanks again for sending it. We really enjoy getting our mail.
We are still in Melbourne, Florida area.
This morning we watched the launch of Sky Lab from the deck of our boat. It was real exciting.
We have had a great time in this Indian River area. We have been catching more fish, (mullet), than we can eat. We
smoke a lot of them in our smoke oven and give a lot of them away. All of the people we have met here say they are
the best smoked mullet they have eaten.
We get all of the oysters we want. We wade out next to some of the little islands around here and pick them out of
the water. We do the same thing with clams. We eat oysters and clams raw, steamed, roasted or fried. I also make
clam chowder. It’s really good eating.
We have really been busy since we have got to this area as we have met so many people. Since our boat is so
unusual it draws a lot of people, also not many boats stop in this area on their way south. We have been invited to a
lot of homes and parties and really learned a lot from local people. We are finding out that there are a lot of nice
people around. Thanksgiving we are going to have a roast turkey with a couple from here. We are going to have it
on one of the islands in the river. We have been out sailing on our boat just for the fun of it a few times and took
some people out with us. We even went aground but managed to get off.
On November 28th we plan to be in Hollywood, Florida to meet a friend of Bing’s from Saint Paul. He is going to be
at a convention there for three days.
We will probably leave here right after Thanksgiving, as it will take us a few days to get there. After that we will head
for the Florida Keys.
I’ll call you when we can receive mail. It should be within a month.
My homemade wine is coming along good- some of it is really good. I’ve been doing some woodcarving, just flower
designs on wood but its fun. We always have some work to do on the boat that keeps us busy. Someday we will get
it done.
Well, I better close for now. Bing wants to take the dinghy into shore so I’ll mail this then. Hope everyone’s well, we
are. Love Jane and Bing
next chapter
“I am going where the wind blows, when the spirit moves me and the price is right.”
These were our feelings, our goals and aspirations that we would fulfill beyond our wildest expectations. Our quality
of life and standard of living were to be far above anything imaginable. Yes, we did it!
This is what our mood and sentiments were as we entered our next few years. We dodged the bullet that wounded
the nation and slipped off into a utopian paradise while the world was in turmoil and upheaval and we migrated
together with like-minded sailors into a new dimension.
Vietnam, two Arab oil embargos and run away inflation were but a few very good reasons to “drop-out” and let the
flack hit the proverbial “political fan”.
For many these years were traumatic and frustrating while trying to cope with geo-political screw-ups that would
mangle and maim, divide and split, distract and divert the whole country and even the world…never to be the same
again.
We were off to tropical places;
The tropics are where the coconuts grow and this is where we would spend our next few winters of our lives aboard
our boat Dursmirg, our floating mobile home.
To better understand the term tropics one must look at the broader picture of the earth as it turns and twists, bobs
and weaves in its methodical annual elliptical path around the sun. Note: go to the end of chapter 19 and read our
expanded explanation of the tropics
INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME 3
Again I will give a condensed travel log of our first trip by boat down the east coast of Florida and through the Keys
using our ships log book and letters that Jane wrote to her parents interspersed with interesting accounts of the
people and places that made this end of the world so very captivating, interesting and intriguing to us.
In the subsequent chapters I will take you step by step to the various places that we frequented over the years by
land and sea.
Florida the “Sinkhole State” is noted for its killer weather conditions that devastate quickly and costly and then move
on leaving behind a tantalizingly tranquil place of complacency to snare the next unwary souls.
From Cape Canaveral to Tampa the incidence of violent thunderstorms is among the most concentrated of any
place on planet earth and tends to be a daily occurrence throughout most of the year.
Twisters, tornados or waterspouts have randomly torn up all parts of the state in all seasons of the year and at all
times of the day and night. Jane and I have even witnessed two of these destructive freaks of nature at the same
time while helplessly observing them from the deck of our boat down in the Florida Keys. With winds at near the
speed of sound they have been known to drive a straw from a broom through a telephone pole and even pluck
boaters out of their boats to somewhere over the rainbow never to be found again.
Tropical hurricanes from June until November keep the residents of the “Sinkhole State” wary of impending disaster
and all boat owners with little or no insurance coverage glued to the weather channel with a hurricane hole to put
their vessel into in order to ride out the blow.
Jane and I have been driven to extensive protective measures knowing that if a direct hit should occur and we
should sustain the full brunt of any hurricane with winds over one hundred miles an hour all would most likely be lost
including our lives.
(In volume 4 you can read about our experience in St. Augustine, Florida October 19th, 1973 regarding the
“Hurricane Hole”.)
With regard to the state of Florida, the “Sinkhole State”, we have been up it, down it, around it and through it by
boat, bike and car!
Sinkholes are no joke to the unfortunate Florida residents that find that not only their home but even their real
estate may drop into the earth at any moment without any forewarning. Quietly subterranean water flow will
undermine vast areas of soil and without warning the earth above drops into the awaiting cavern. The Chamber of
Commerce doesn’t tout this attribute about Sunshine State real estate.
Even with all of the above possible negative attributes back in the early 1970s when the population of the entire
state of Florida was 7,000,000, it was more than just fabulous; it was in many places still pristine, unspoiled and pure.
In our offshore travels the only place along the east coast of America that we actually noticed significant enough
quantities of air pollution to be distinctively seen from some distance out to sea back in the 1970s was along the
Gold Coast. The Gold Coast includes Dade and Broward Counties where Miami and Fort Lauderdale are located
and ironically this was during the Arab oil embargo. At that time the US was burning ten million barrels of oil each
and every day and had just begun to be a net importer. At that rate they were burning more than they could
produce.
We are now very happy that we had that opportunity to travel and visit this part of the world then because now that
situation with pollution, congestion and all types of traffic has more than tripled as the population of Florida tripled.
American consumption has reached in excess of 20 million barrels of oil per day and America has now pumped 90%
of its oil reserves out of the ground and searches globally for new sources to burn.
Nuclear power is heavily produced in Florida at several locations, one at Turkey Point Station south of Miami. This
helps to reduce air pollution from fossil fuel consuming power plants and helps to keep the Sunshine State semi-
functional.
Many years during the springtime the Everglades, which are the wetlands west of Miami, dry sufficiently and for one
reason or another get set ablaze. The smoke from those blazing fires fanned by the tropical trade winds becomes so
substantially thick that the setting sun will be obliterated. The busy airports of Miami keep the skies overhead
packed with air traffic because a multitude of flights to Central and South America connect and refuel at Miami
International Airport.
To escape this contamination and the crush of the mechanized world Jane and I head out to sea to enjoy the very
best of the tropics. The last unspoiled frontier of the Sunshine State was here for us to see and enjoy. That was
thirty years ago and even that is now just a faded memory.
The storms may be just as violent as any place but the water doesn’t send chills, frozen fingers numbed by the cold
are not a consideration and bundling up for survival even through the driving rains isn’t necessary. The elements
are just kinder and gentler at these latitudes. So, Volume 3 will be about sailing, anchoring and exploring in this
tropical environment in those days before it all went away.
Over the years, we have traveled this unique stretch of coastal North America countless times in a variety of vessels
both north and south and inside and out. Inside refers to the Intracoastal Waterway and outside refers to the Atlantic
Ocean, Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.
From a postcard Jane wrote her parents
1973 November 2nd
(Caption) JOHN F. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER
NASA
The N.A.S. A. Atlas-Mercury- the vehicle that carried the American astronauts into orbit being readied for launch at
Cape Kennedy, Florida.
“We were here yesterday. It’s a very exciting place to visit. We saw the Skylab rocket that is going to be launched
the 10th.
We had been docked at the yacht club in Melbourne, Florida all week.
We had generator trouble but got it fixed.
Fishing is great here so we have smoked a lot of fish.
We are moving south today.
Love Jane and Bing
A letter Jane wrote her parents
1973 November 16th
Dear Mom, Dad and Joel,
It was sure nice to talk to you last week and thank you for sending the mail and your letter. I’m enclosing another
check to cover the last of our mail. Next time you send mail could you put a string or extra tape on the ends? The
post office really beats up everything heavy and both ends of the envelope were ripped open. The mail was tight in
the envelope so I didn’t think anything fell out. Thanks again for sending it. We really enjoy getting our mail.
We are still in Melbourne, Florida area.
This morning we watched the launch of Sky Lab from the deck of our boat. It was real exciting.
We have had a great time in this Indian River area. We have been catching more fish, (mullet), than we can eat. We
smoke a lot of them in our smoke oven and give a lot of them away. All of the people we have met here say they are
the best smoked mullet they have eaten.
We get all of the oysters we want. We wade out next to some of the little islands around here and pick them out of
the water. We do the same thing with clams. We eat oysters and clams raw, steamed, roasted or fried. I also make
clam chowder. It’s really good eating.
We have really been busy since we have got to this area as we have met so many people. Since our boat is so
unusual it draws a lot of people, also not many boats stop in this area on their way south. We have been invited to a
lot of homes and parties and really learned a lot from local people. We are finding out that there are a lot of nice
people around. Thanksgiving we are going to have a roast turkey with a couple from here. We are going to have it
on one of the islands in the river. We have been out sailing on our boat just for the fun of it a few times and took
some people out with us. We even went aground but managed to get off.
On November 28th we plan to be in Hollywood, Florida to meet a friend of Bing’s from Saint Paul. He is going to be
at a convention there for three days.
We will probably leave here right after Thanksgiving, as it will take us a few days to get there. After that we will head
for the Florida Keys.
I’ll call you when we can receive mail. It should be within a month.
My homemade wine is coming along good- some of it is really good. I’ve been doing some woodcarving, just flower
designs on wood but its fun. We always have some work to do on the boat that keeps us busy. Someday we will get
it done.
Well, I better close for now. Bing wants to take the dinghy into shore so I’ll mail this then. Hope everyone’s well, we
are. Love Jane and Bing
next chapter
