While on Facebook I alluded to Joan's trophy catch of a sunken sailboat. Here is the whole story.

Anchoring in Key West can be a challenge. There appear to be several good anchorages but upon closer evaluation each has a short coming. Christmas Island is a popular spot but offers no protection from a southerly blow if you are hiding from the anticipated northerly in the winter. We have already seen how hard they can blow. It also has a lot of very shallow water and is crowded both limiting the amount of anchor scope you can put out. West of Flemming Key is another option but the Coast Guard has marked off the anchorages and they are already crowded with boats on private moorings. Again limiting our ability to set proper scope.

After motoring around for an hour and coming to the realization it wasn't going to be easy to find a spot that didn't require a very long dinghy ride we spotted what looked too good to be true; an opening in the crowded field with good protection to the north. The optimistic boater quickly comes to the conclusion that the opening is there because someone just left. The realistic boater should believe that there is a reason it is empty.

Being optimistic we motored in and dropped our anchor and quickly got a quick set. Wow what luck we are having. It didn't take long for a kind soul to come over and explain the reason for the open anchorage; we were in a no anchoring zone and had been lured in by all of the boat also anchored illegally. It was explained that they had drug inside the no anchor zone during the big blow because of the poor holding (?). Captain Wasabe told us we could go around to the east of Flemming Key if we wanted to go to the public mooring field so it was time to weigh the anchor and head around the island.

Joan is in charge of the bow of the boat and she has her real woman badge in anchor setting and retrieval. While I am at the helm she is forcefully telling me that the anchor won't come up. The chain is so tight it seems the anchor is trying to pull the boat down instead of the reverse. As we had problems with the windless earlier that day she didn't want to force it but gives it one more try. This time the anchor comes up slowly bringing with it a sailboat mast with sails still attached. The really bad news is that the anchor is still caught in the rigging. Captain Wasabe explained that the boat had sunk in Hurricane Wilma a few years ago and we should be congratulated on finding the wreck.

In an earlier post I mention how cold the water in the Keys had gotten with the last northerly. Now I had a chance to find out just how cold the water really was. I had to go over the side and swim down to the anchor to attach a trip line so we could pull the anchor free. Cold water is extremely punishing when it looks so inviting. We are in the Keys, it is 75 degrees and the water looks so inviting when you have worked up a sweat fussing with the anchor. But no, the body wants to do a Wiley Coyote and bounce right back up when you hit the cold water. To make it worse there is a strong current running and it becomes a longer swim to the anchor. Despite my complaining and shivering I am able to rig the trip line and Captain Wasabe pulls the anchor free. Joan pays him off in cold beer and we have one more great sailing story from our voyage.

We ae now safely in the mooring field.