We are through the first week! Hard to believe it’s only been a week, at times it feels so much longer. Time stands still a bit more when you don’t have the constant communication of the world around you…for example…Congrats to the Cubs for winning the World Series…I had no idea until this morning!

After leaving Bradenton in the early morning hours, we sailed down the West Coast of Florida headed for Key West. Our plan was to stop in Key West and recharge for a few days, be tourists and savor our first leg. Down the coast we went, ticking off the miles under a solid Northeast breeze and small seas. Around dinner time as the sun was setting, we reefed back the main to make sure that the overnight run would be less hectic….sleep was not coming easy to anyone. Around 3am, as we were some 40 miles from land and in the Straights of Florida, the wind picked up to about 20 and seas gained some height to about 5 feet. Bonnie and my Dad were on the 3am to 6am watch, while I tried to get some sleep. They said at points we were doing 9 knots as we were coming down waves….so around 6am I took us a bit inland figuring the wind was going to stay up and we were all getting really tired.

The arrival into Key West was a piece of cake and just as we reached the dock…the autohelm failed. Looking underneath the rudder quadrant, we discovered that the “arm” the controls the autohelm ripped from the bolts! Yes, it had indeed been a tough ride! We spent the day fixing the autohelm and everything is sound.
While in Key West, we visited the CG Ship Ingham, Fort Taylor, Hemmingway’s House, Truman’s Little White House and even the Southernmost Point. True tourists with camera in tow and walking all over the place.

On Thursday morning, right on que, the North winds eased just enough for us to make the 40 mile trek north to Boot Key Harbor in Marathon Key. We had to motor in order to make it there in 8 hours…sailing against the tide and upwind would have taken us much longer and I wanted to make sure we arrived in this harbor with plenty of daylight.

Approaching Boot Key is easy, just look for the famed 7 Mile Bridge and Boot Key is tucked just to the right…but of course there is some fun stuff too! As you enter the channel, depths drop to 9-12 feet and it is very narrow. As you travel through the outer channel, you press up against mangroves on one side, passing by a couple of marinas and then look up at the old Boot Key Drawbridge. The span has been removed…but what had our attention was the cable that was running across high up in the air. It is charted as being 65 feet in the air….our mast stands at 62 feet for clearance….I slowed to a crawl and inched closer with Bonnie and Dad trying to see how much we had to spare. The cable does sag right in the middle…..but as we crept closer the mast slid below the cable by about 2 feet.

Into the harbor we went, making an easy landing on a mooring ball and shutting down the boat from the 8 hour slog upwind. Tonight was the first night we were away from land, on our own and self-contained. As dinner cooked on the grill, we watched a beautiful sunset and enjoyed the peace of the harbor.

Looking at the weather forecast for the next several days, it appears we will be here for a bit. I figure we will be here for at least a week…maybe a bit longer. Our next leg is about 135 miles across the Gulf Stream and into Bimini, Bahamas. With all of the North winds that are forecasted….we just have to wait for the wind to change direction. The combination of winds going against Gulf Stream current will bring seas up to 10 feet….something we don’t want.

So, we sit and wait.