The wind got worse and at 7:39 the anchor broke out and we decided since we were underway without power to start the engine and get going toward Marathon. I was registering 29kts wind speed with my hand held meter and it was gusting more. So, we started the engine with my normal checover of the oil and water and log entries of the fuel levels egine hours and anything else that needs attention before we normally get underway. We winched the anchor up and quite a time and Susan had a difficult time keeping the bow pointed at the anchor for it to come up the roller straight. Thank goodnes Susan had suggested putting the dinghy into the davits last night. I was going to wait until the morning. That would have been a bad scene and could have resulted in dinghy lines getting hung in the prop. Getting the outboard off the dinghy transom would have been very difficult if not impossible. But I had taken Susan's lead and had the dinghy hoisted in the davits. We finally got all the chain and the anchor up and it had an acre of grass and mud. The mud actually felt greasy which is why we had such poor holding.
After cleaning the anchor and getting it stowed with the bow bouncing up and down we headed for the ICW channel and on down toward Marathon. The boat was too confusing for the autopilot so I steered most of the time except when I needed to figure the next course to steer. We were constantly in under 10' of water (very nail biting ) and LOTS of grass and debris. My biggest concern other than being blown out of the channel (remember you have to look behind you to verify that) was that the cooling system would get clogged and we would have to shut the engine down. My eyes were glued to the temperature gauge and listening to the sound of the exhaust to detect and decrease raw water flow. It appears that the grass from the everglades was flowing there. Everything worked out and we arrived safely and are tied port side to at the Marina. I had to take a nap since I had been up since 3 AM logging our position and wind speed every 15 minutes.
No picture. Still an't find my camera..
Wait Check this picture of another over the top boat. 4 yes FOUR 300HP outboard engines. Remember we have ONE 120HP engine that move 22,000lbs.