Cool Sailing
15 November 2017 | Long Key
Helen/Mark
Slept well as the wind settled down overnight and the island provided shelter from the wave action. Started our day with chores and waiting for businesses to open so we could call them. Our storage unit apparently has new owners and didn't get a payment from us this month. We got some information from our mail forwarding company. Mark worked on the starboard engine once again. He pulled the starter and again thinks it may be the rear seal. We are a day out of Marathon and will get the diesel mechanic to meet us at one of the marinas. We hauled anchor around 11 and motored over to the reef where we saw different tour boats yesterday. We could not get the anchor to hold so we gave up since it was kind of cool to be in the water and flew the jib until we on our southerly course. Winds were around 10-12 so Mark rigged the original smaller spinnaker and hoisted it after we furled the jib. Our speeds immediately boosted to over 7 knots, just as a storm passed us by with showers. Our top speed was 8.3 knots with up to 17 knots of wind. We are anchored in the bay of Long Key which is well protected but still a little choppy with the steady breeze. The water is very clear but too cool to snorkel. Also, it was cold sailing with that breeze and we had to wear our socks and shoes for the first time since Manatee Pocket. We hand steered as we had to maneuver thru the myriad of crab pots. We are the only boat in our anchorage for the second night in a row, very little boat traffic down here.