The Sailing Shipleys

Jolene is an oasis in a sea water desert. She carries 90 gallons (340 liters) of fresh water. After 18 days, 2 sponge baths, and 1 load of laundry in a 5 gallon bucket, we’ve been through only half our supply.

An oasis is as life giving as the water it supplies to weary travelers. As our floating home, Jolene is often just that for us. Not so much can be said for Fort Jefferson, the U.S.’s southernmost naval station built in the 1800s. Although it could distill 7,000 gallons of sea water per day at the time, it was not approved for drinking. At its height, the 2,000 residents had to wait for the ferry for fresh food, relying on salted pork and dried beans during the inbetweens. The tiny island in the straits of Florida remains a tourist attraction, the center point of Dry Tortuga National Park, and a stones throw from Key West and Cuba.

Roseate terns and masked boobys (it’s a bird, I swear!) find refuge here, haunting the skies like daytime bats, keeping watch over nesting mothers. At sunset, hermit crabs scurry from shaded cover to waters edge, free from the dangers of tourist footsteps. The sky bursts oranges, pinks, and purples, the perfect backdrop for this architectural and engineeringj feat.

Fort Jefferson is a desert in the ocean. There is no fresh water available to the public, no fuel for visiting boaters, no pump out or trash receptacle. Pack in, pack out, which we even did with Moses’s number twos…Jolene was our personal oasis in this National Park, and we loved our visit. The dinghy ride was short and we could take Moses to land multiple times a day. We watched the seaplanes take off and land, maneuvering between anchored boats in 20kts of wind; waited for the daily ferry to arrive and spill out 160 tourists; watched the hermit crabs emerge at night, and walked the moat edge at sunset.

It was the perfect place to make our first landfall and ease ourselves into the hurriedness of American life. No cell service so we could truly unplug (thanks fam for letting us be out of contact a few days), no stores to shop at or restaurants to taste. Just us, Jolene, afternoon swims, and watching Goliath grouper shelter between the keel and rudder.

That was nearly two weeks ago. Jolene is currently marina’d at Boca Chica Key, an active Naval Base just north of Key West. We did spend a week on a mooring at Garrison Bight, but after a few long dinghy rides to town for a hot shower and expensive ice creams, we’d had our fill.

Next stop for us is Miami, our busiest stop yet. Hopefully we’ll find another oasis in the city!