An Uneventful Day in Boot Key Harbor
Saturday 16 Jan 2021
I’m normally a fairly light sleeper but last night I was out for the count. So I think it had been raining a while before I realized that we were getting wet in our bunks in the V-berth. The cold front had arrived along with squalls and it was raining hard and blowing pretty strongly as well. I closed the hatches above us and also in the galley, checked the GPS to make sure our anchors were holding and went back to sleep. To be honest we are really glad of the rain to wash all the salt off the boat.
We both slept a little later than usual (7.30-ish) and then had coffee and breakfast and planned our day. We figure that whilst we are spending time chilling out in Boot Key Harbor we should probably get some boat jobs accomplished. Today we focused on filling the stripped out holes for the screws that hold down the floor-boards. It’s been on our list of jobs since last winter but we haven’t gotten around to it. We took the dinghy into the dock and hiked along to Home Depot and bought some plastic wood. We’re hoping that fixing the holes will allow us to tighten the boards and reduce creaking as we walk around. We also took a brush to the waterline of the hull and cleaned off some growth that had started to accumulate.
The marina at Boot Key is pretty cool. The dinghy docks are extensive and brand new. Each dock is segregated into hard dinghies and soft dinghies (not entirely sure why). As well as a large common room with tables, there is also a projects room where you can tackle boat projects under cover – anything from rebuilding an engine, varnishing, making a sail cover or re-fitting a dinghy rub-rail. There are lockers to store things – you just need to provide your own tools. Amazingly there is even a fresh herb garden where you can help yourself to a wide variety of herbs. This seems to be run by one gentleman in particular but he may get help from others. Fresh water is a scarce commodity in the keys and you need to pay 5 cents a gallon, but it’s well set up for boats or dinghies to come in and fill up tanks or jerry cans and is run on an honor system where you pay inside. Today we spent $2 for 40 gallons that we plan to take 10 gallons at a time over four trips. All in all we are very impressed with how well run the harbor is. We noticed that there is quite a strong customs and border patrol presence here that we assume this is due to the close proximity of Cuba.
Tonight we are looking forward to watching the NFL play-offs.
Mike
24 42.220 N, 81 06.131 W
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