Saturday, April 25. Wind blew ~20 kts all day. Otherwise, it was sunny and nice. I got the head fixed without problem using the 'sausage' epoxy Deb had gotten me - worked great. Next I decided to try my hand at gel coat repair. We have a variety of dings acquired over the years of chartering that are only cosmetic, but are cosmetic. So I got out the Everlast gel coat patch, actually read the directions, and had at it. It is not quite as straight forward as described. For shallow repairs, it is pretty easy. You spread it on, wait for it to set then scrape it smooth. If your timing and technique are good, it doesn't even need sanding. deeper repairs are problematic as it skins over and does not harden readily inside. I found two options: build it up with multiple shallow repairs, or blob it on and let it fully harden and then sand it later. (The crew @ TMM had a third technique - blob it on and leave it!) Interestingly, I found that some of their blobs sanded out quite decently. While grinding some of the gel coat, I managed to get a fleck of fiberglass lodged in my eye. It wouldn't blink out and seemed fairly firmly imbedded, so I went looking in the med kit for ophthane to numb it so I could dig it out. When I couldn't find any, I remembered that ophthane needs refrigeration and thus was not an option in the kit. Oh well, a bit of teeth gritting and a wet Q-tip got it out. After treating the eye with Tobradex, I rewarded my bravery with a beer and a rest in the hammock. Later, I rebuilt the winch that serves the traveler as it had been sticking. It looked like it had never been serviced. Works good as new now, but I just added five new projects - rebuilding all the other winches. Pappy (author of the Keys Cruising Guide) was right, this place is popular on the weekends. Even with the strong winds, the anchorage really filled up. Beyond the park boundaries, there were several kite boarders. The area around Sand Key Cut was loaded with day boat fishermen. Fortunately, the anchorage spreads quite a way along Elliot Key, so even though there are now some 20 or so boats anchored for the night, it really is not crowded. No one in danger of swinging into someone else and everyone with at least reasonable privacy. It certainly has been a show, however, laying in the hammock (reward for finishing the winch of course) and watching the boats come in and decide how shallow they can go and where to put the hook down. There are all types from a young couple with a 3 year old camping in what looks like an open boat with a tent on the bow to a mega yacht anchored well out beyond the madness. Power to sail about 3:1, only one other sail cat but a power cat too. Very different from the week days. Wind too strong to try barbecuing so I am making pork curry for dinner.