Not so dry Tortugas
22 November 2017 | Anchored off Ft Jefferson, Dry Tortugas
Helen
Woke up several times thru the night as it was lightning, thundering and raining too. We had 6 or 7 fishing boats arrive after dark and anchored all around us. We thought some of them were too close especially when the tide changed. Mark was up at 3 and watched them as the storm rolled in. There were 3 boats about a boat length from us...not a peaceful night for either of us. I woke up at 5 and watched them haul anchor and depart this area and it was still plenty dark. Helped Mark add a couple of fair lead rings to the sail reefing lines. The sun was hot and there was a bit of a breeze from the North. We dinghied to shore and attempted to take a few recycles to the ferry recycle bin, but they would not allow it. We went and had lunch on the ferry and today paid $7 each, which was a great deal. As we were leaving they told us to bring the recycles before the ferry departed and they would take them. We walked over to the beach on the other side of the island and snorkeled. Saw some coral and a few fish. Then swam over to the remnants of some docks and there were more fish but then our visibility went away. Dinghied along the beach the other way. The area at the far side is restricted so we ended up heading back to the boat. Mark worked on the water maker only to find that we are missing a key O-ring. He tried to improvise with other materials but it didn't work. We met Eric and Wendy at the docks and had our SG&T get-together on one of Fort picnic tables. Had a lovely visit. Then we talked about the water maker issues and apparently Wendy has a craft device that cuts patterns. We are planning to go over to their Lagoon catamaran tomorrow and see if we can make a gasket to fit. It was dark by the time we got back to the boat. Thankfully, our little solar lights were working since we had not yet turned on the anchor light. We are looking forward to a great night sleep with no fishing boats or storms tonight.