We Arrive in Key West

We Arrive in Key West

Tuesday 26th January 2021

Our journey down from Boot Key harbor, Marathon to Key west went well. The predicted 10-15 knots of SE wind turned out to be 5-10 knots, so we ended up motor sailing. Heading down the Hawk Channel we had wondered how much protection from ocean swells the fringing reefs to the south provide. Today we got our answer – not much! Despite very little wind and seas that at times were glassy there was still a significant short period swell that made it uncomfortable below. When I went down to make breakfast I decided to take a single meclizine tablet to ward off any mal-de-mer. The consequence of this was what we call the “meclizine munchies”. For the next three hours my mind was singularly focused on what to eat next! We pulled up anchor in Boot Key harbor shortly after 7 am and arrived in Key West at 1.30 pm. A radio call to the marina gave us good directions of where to go to our slip. We proceeded up the channel with the slips off to the side and found our spot. We then did a nifty pirouette and backed Cotinga between the pilings that mark the side of the slip. Gloria managed to get a spring line on one of the pilings and friendly boater took our stern lines to tie us up to the dock. It was a little stressful coming in but to be honest it couldn’t have gone much better. We are now docked “Mediterranean” style with our stern 2 feet from a fixed dock and lines from the two pilings to our mid-section (spring lines) and bow (bow lines). It’s a little bit of an adventure climbing off the stern of the boat onto the dock but not too bad.

We tidied up the boat, checked in with the dock master and had a very pleasant shower. Now we are cooking coq-au-vin and looking forward to a relaxing evening. We have the slip for a month so you will no doubt hear a lot more about the area in the days to come

Mike

24 33.709 N, 81 48.093W

Boot Key Harbor at sunrise - the perfect stillness was broken by the sound of dolphins breathing as a pod of four or five swam through the anchorage

Cotinga ready for departure from Boot Key Harbor

We spent a lot of time dodging crab pot floats on our journey today. We also tried to steer away from this fishing vessel, which proved tricky. He had priority (if he was fishing) and as the "stand on" vessel has a responsibility to maintain course and speed, but he was weaving all over the place.