Lignumvitae Key

Wednesday morning after breakfast we lifted anchor and traveled less than 5 miles to Lignumvitae Key. Lignumvitae is a state botanical site open for tours Thursday though Monday at 10 AM and 2 PM. There used to be five mooring balls to tie up to but the storms have taken out all but two. We were the only boat here last night and until noon today. Other than the wind and current moving the boat about it was a very quiet night.

We took the tour this morning at 10 AM and Jared gave us a very informative tour of the house and fauna on the grounds. The Key is named for the Lignumvitae tree that is native to the keys and has been all but been logged to nonexistence. The key has been preserved just the way it was when the last inhabitants resided here from 1935 until WW II. The famous "Labor Day Hurricane" in 1935 damaged the house by taking off the roof and one side. It was repaired with some changes to make it hurricane proof. In the picture you can see a lignumvitae tree that is 30 years old. The wood from this tree is so heavy that it sinks in water and contains a natural oil that when it is cut and sanded it naturally has a finish that looks like it has been varnished. It is easy see, when Jared informed us of the uses that the tree has, that it was all but wiped out.

This Key has a very interesting history having been owned by different people throughout. I found the last owner to be of particular interest to me. William J Matheson a well known chemist from Miami purchased the key in 1919, he also was the founder of Matheson Chemical Corporation. My father worked for Olin/Matheson (the same company) when I was growing up. The company is now known as Olin Chemical, those of you boaters out there might recognise the name from on safety flares aboard your boat.

LH The cruising guides all state that Lignumvitae has 5 mooring balls on the NW shore. When we arrived, we could only find 2. Where were the missing 3 moorings? We tied onto one of the 2 and I felt uneasy. What happened to the other 3? Once we got settled in I dove the mooring, unusual since you tend to dive your anchor. The shackles on the mooring were new, the pennant from the buoy was new. But when I checked the line through the buoy itself, it had chafed 1/3 of the way through. I dove the mooring dragging a spare anchor line with me and secured a backup mooring line should the mooring line fail. What we do for a good nights sleep!

This afternoon I had to tighten the packing gland on the shaft of the engine.....again. I will pick up some new flax and add some stuffing for now. When I haul to paint the boat this spring I will repack the gland. Later I had to tighten screws on 2 different cleats to try to find a leak in the v berth. Tropical Gale Winds is just a year old but it is constant use. Small jobs add up but you have to keep caught up.