Key West

The weather forecast was predicting a large blow out of the North to arrive in Southern Florida Wednesday evening and last for several days. We decided to cut our stay in the Dry Tortugas National Park short and head back to take cover in Key West. When chatting with other sailors at the park, some decided to leave Tuesday and make it a 2 day trip. Others decided to leave Wednesday and race the storm in. Even though Tuesday was un-sailable due to winds on the nose, we decided to leave then and motor. I didn’t want to take a chance of arriving in the dark, during a storm, trying to catch a mooring ball. We also wanted to hit Publix to re-stock before the blow hit.

Before we left, we did talk our neighbors into going to Loggerhead Key for snorkeling and exploring. It was an almost 2 hour dingy ride and we decided to go with another couple just in case of a break down or other issue. I guess I am getting more cautious in my old age.

I didn’t bring my wet suit because it was hot and I didn’t want to mess with the fresh water cleanup afterwards. I should have brought it. The snorkeling was great. I’ve never seen so many lobsters before. It was reef after reef of amazing sea life. Unless you have a boat, I’m not sure how you’d be able to get there to snorkel.

We left for Key West at sun up on Tuesday morning. As predicted, we motored into a head wind and waves 3/4 of the way to Key West. We found a nice key to anchor at before night fall which put Key West in easy striking distance in the morning.

Marinas are outrageously expensive in Key West so we decided to stay in the town operated mooring field. $24.50 a day gets us a secure mooring ball, access to the dingy dock, laundry facility, pump out boat, showers, bathrooms, and garbage service. Normally, I’d anchor but the holding in Key West area is suspect, enough so that some refer to it as the bowling alley. If you anchor, you still have to pay $15 a day to use the dingy dock and services.

We got tied up to a ball before noon and were able to make a run to Publix to resupply. Our friends on a fast catamaran left Wednesday morning and arrived in the field at sunset. They were able to sail the entire trip, but the blow hit just as they finished tying up.

It’s way too rough in the mooring field to take the dingy to shore today. We’re riding it out on the boat waiting for the winds to die down. Looking at the forecast, we may be here for a while…

Wednesday morning I heard from our insurance company and we’re approved for The Bahamas. As soon as the winds die down our next stop will be Marathon and then Miami. In Miami we’ll stock up one last time and then make the crossing to Alice Town Bimini.