Week Five in Key West - Our Last of this Cruise

Growth on the floating piers

     Monday, 2/26 -    With Jenn and Greg coming on Wednesday, there were many chores that I needed to get done today as we will be traveling all day tomorrow.  Hence, the boat cleaning was completed, homes found for final items stored on the aft cabin, beds stripped and remade (not one of my favorite jobs.), defrosted the freezer and complied its inventory, laundry and shop (Publix, West Marine and Fishbusterz Retail Seafood Market for fresh shrimp and Tile Fish.)  It took most of the day, but I’m ready.

Rain showers around Stock Island

    

     Pete installed the new VHF radio head unit.  It fit in the designated spot and works. BUT…The old RAM mike doesn’t work.  No problem! When we had the lightning strike back in 2008, we were given a new RAM mike as the original mike still worked with the new head unit. Pete pulled it out and when we went to install, it turns out that the “new” mike was actually older than our original and the pin configuration is entirely different! Grrrrr! Pete checked on line for new mikes from West Marine and Defender.  Thankfully, the photos show the plug for the Ram Mikes and after zooming in, he was able to identify the ones with the needed pin configuration. He ordered from Defender and paid for 2-day delivery. 

   

     Tuesday, 2/27 -  We are scheduled to leave Key West on Monday, after Jenn and Greg leave.  We rented a car here in Key West, so we can drop the Acura at Riviera Beach Marina.  Our plan was to pick up the car at 10 am, spend 4 ½ hrs driving north and the same for returning.  After stops for breaks and food, we should be back by 8-8:30 pm.  Well… “best made plans….” Traffic on Route 1A in The Keys is always interesting.  Speed limits are restricted on most islands and many of the drivers choose to go even slower.  There was road work in Marathon and bridge inspection along 7-Mile Bridge requiring alternating, single lane traffic and substantial back-ups.

    With Pete driving the rental and I in the Acura, we avoided the Florida Turnpike as we only had one pass.  We should have placed the pass in the rental and gone through without it in the Acura.  They could have deducted the tolls from our account. Instead we hit stop and go traffic from Homestead to Miami.  Then there was construction on 95 in a number of spots, with bumper to bumper traffic for another hour.  Of course, there was also traffic slow downs for no reason.  It was 4:50 pm when we finally pulled into Riviera…6 ½ hours of driving north!  That’s 2 additional hours of traffic delays!  Naturally, heading south it was also 5 pm traffic, making it a 6-hour trip south.  We were finally back at the boat at 11 pm.  I know, we’re a little bit crazy.

     Wednesday, 2/26 -   It was an early morning for Jenn and Greg.  Their flight left Newark at 7:30 this morning.  The good news is that they arrived early and were on their way by 10.  They had rented a Buick convertible.  Unfortunately, there were none available when they arrived.  The gals at the counter apologized and gave them 2 options: Wait for a return or get an upgrade.  The upgrade was a Mercedes C300 convertible!  Of course they said yes to the upgrade!  (Years ago, when we were in Rome, Italy, they didn’t have our car, refused to speak English, and offered us a Mercedes.  Pete was thrilled when he came back to me and the car lot.  “Wait until you see what car they gave me!”  he pressed the lock button for the chirp to find the car.  Well, it was a Mercedes, but the van seats 11!  Traveling through the old cities was a real challenge due to the skinny streets and a full-sized van.)

     We said out good-byes to Hugh and Deb of Simplicity. They, along with their daughter, are heading north to West Palm Beach, then on to Ft. Pierce by the weekend.  We will keep in touch and hopefully reconnect on the Chesapeake later this summer.

     I checked the marina office, but our package from Defender has not arrived. Pete is concerned as he did not receive a confirmation from Defender. He called Defender and the RAM mike has been shipped. He also gave Pete the tracking number, which shows that it was delivered.  I will check tomorrow. If it is not received, Pete will call again as we need it before we start heading north.

     Greg and Jenn took our suggestion and stopped at Gilbert’s Resort, just north of Key Largo, for lunch with a view.  They enjoyed the ride down The Keys with the top down, with the exception of Greg having missed the sunscreen application on the left side of his neck.  Before coming to the marina, they drove the loop around Key West.

      We decided to eat locally at Hogfish, for another great dinner. We also discussed option for the weekend.  It was then we found out that plans changed from our original discussions of their visit.  Instead of heading home on Monday, they will be flying home Friday night.  Jenn has to teach classes on Saturday. (Well, I am really well provisioned for beginning our journey north on Monday.)

Weather Forecast

Sunset over Stock Island

     Before heading to bed, we took down the dinghy and got out everything needed for Greg and Jenn to catch the sunrise over the water in the morning.

     Thursday, 3/1 – Greg and Jenn were up and out by 6:30, but the sun was already breaking over the horizon by the time they had cleared the harbor.  They still enjoyed and will have tomorrow morning to try again.

Rusty Fishing Boat

Greg & Jenn

MY BLACK GOLD

        While I got things ready for breakfast, they ran out for Starbuck’s coffee.  After breakfast, we decided to sail around to Key West.  Winds were out of the ESE at about 15. Perfect for a sail.  We saw a pod of dolphins playing to our port as we headed south.  Everything was perfect until Jenn went down below with her sunglasses and being hot from sitting in the sun. She returned to the cockpit a little green.  We turned around, hoping she would feel better once we were out of the wave motion. Thankfully, that did work.  After sitting back at the dock for a while, it was decided to head out for a late lunch.  Pete and I will bring the car back to the marina, while they explore Old Towne, check out the sunset, cruise Duval and get an UBER ride home.

      Lunch was great at Conch Republic Seafood Company.  Greg shared stories of his time here in KW when his USCG boats came here from St. Pete’s and Miami.  One time, he was left here while the boat he had come down on needed space for law enforcement aboard for the week.

      We were back by 3:30, but they didn’t get in until after 1 am.  They thoroughly enjoyed exploring, Mallory Square, the sunset, the street performers, a bar crawl and ending the evenings at Irish Kevin's Pub.  The entertainer was great and invited all active service people on stage for sing-a-longs and free shots. Needless to say, they had a great time.

     

     Friday, 3/2 –  The alarm went off for Jenn and Greg, but was promptly turned off and ignored.  The sun rose without them to witness its arrival. While I prepared bacon and eggs for breakfast, they did the run to Starbuck’s. This store was different than yesterdays and did not have their act together.  Yesterday’s run with travel time was about 20 mins, today’s was closer to 45.  Jenn said no one knew what they were doing.

     After breakfast, they took the dinghy for another spin before saying their good-byes.  They have a 7:35 pm flight out of Ft. Lauderdale.  Unfortunately, in the mid- and north Atlantic states, rain, snow and ferocious winds of a Nor’easter are raining havoc.  They have been monitoring the flights, but as of noon, the flight is still as scheduled.  By the time they were at the top of The Keys, the flight was delayed twice, and will probably be cancelled as most of the airports in the area are closed.

By 5, they made the decision to book a flight for Sunday, the earliest available, and grab a hotel for the night. Great thinking! 

General Patton's SV WHEN & IF

    The new RAM mike arrived.  Pete did good!  We unpacked it, checked the pin alignment, plugged it in and IT WORKED!!!

     I was able to “un-prepare” the boat for guests and put the boat back to normal cruising mode. Now time to catch up on some reading.

     Saturday, 3/3 –  It is another beautiful day in Paradise. We caught the noon shuttle to Old Towne and walked around the harbor to Marty and Buena’s power cat, SEAPAWS.  They are friends from Kent Island, who have a home down on Florida’s Gulf side, and are visiting KW for a few weeks. It has been a few years since we spent time together. It was great catching up with them, having a great lunch at Pepe’s, gelato at Duetto’s, and taking in the craft’s fair along the harbor.

Smart pelican on the bait float
and a friend nibbling the grass
on the surface here in K.W.  Harbor

     
      Buena shared info on a Facebook group called Kent Island Happenings, which will be helpful and informative now that we spend most of the summer on Kent Island.  By the time we arrived back at our boat, Facebook had quite a few photos of the amazing, super low water levels around Kent Island.  There was also mention of the Bay Bridge being closed due to the high winds.  The winds are out of the NNE and still steady at 25 mph, keeping all that water from returning up the Bay and the moon is just past full, which also affects the tides.

      That Nor’easter is still causing havoc even though its precipitation and clouds are out over the Atlantic.  The news reports that there are huge power outages all over the N.E, blown transformers, trees down, homes destroyed, high winds, flooding, and huge waves are making things miserable. Roads and airports closed, the water in the Chesapeake Bay has been blown out by 40+ mph winds. Photos show water levels down about 5-6 feet from normal high tide on Kent Island, which usually has 18-24" tidal difference. But worst of all, 9 deaths are attributed to the storm. Greg and Jenn are still safe, warm and enjoying the sights around Miami. They made the right decisions yesterday and will go home tomorrow.

Standing guard outside laundry

     Sunday, 3/4 –  I was lucky last week, so I figured I would be pretty safe starting my laundry around 8:30 am.  There was already 2 washers and all 4 dryers in use.  Once I loaded the last 2 washers with my wash, more people came in to also do laundry and had to wait.  As it turns out, when the wash was done I had 2 dryers available and one had 22 mins remaining.  Since this is my last laundry here I wanted to use all the monies on the card.  With the 22 minutes remaining I only had to add 10 minutes more, using my last $0.25 on the card!  There is some good karma in this world.  Last year, I had just put $20 additional onto my card since we were supposed to be here another 3 weeks.  Unfortunately, a day later, I was hospitalized and couldn’t return. Pete returned the card when checking out, and someone got very lucky.

Reading & chillin

     We set down and discussed the wind predictions for the upcoming week.  We are supposed to leave tomorrow, which isn’t a problem with the winds foretasted later this week.  Our concerns are how to stay in protected waters in the Key Largo/Rodrigues Key area on Wednesday.  The anchorage we usually use will be totally open to the 20-25 mph winds out of the ENE. Our other concern is that we have some place out of the strong winds for Sunday.  Passage weather is a great resource in our planning.  We will stay an extra day in order to be safe when the winds do arrive.

    The rest of the day was lazy.  Reading and people watching were great.

     Monday, 2/5 -     We opted to stay one more day.  Since we have the monthly contract, the extra day is prorated at the monthly fee.  Hence the extra day is only $45.

     Pete has a big project and need to spend most of the day with George on Go-To-Meeting, which requires internet connections. He had a very busy morning, but were in a holding pattern after lunch.  He took advantage of the time by checked the engine, batteries and bilge.  He had to check the valves in the hose as the pump wasn’t functioning. Thankfully, it was a quick fix.

     I put the day to use -  I was able to catch the 9 am shuttle and get dropped off at Publix. I was ready and waiting when the van returned to pick me up 30 minutes later. By 10:30, everything was organized and put away.  I did  some light house cleaning, tried to get everything ready to post to the blog, so we are current before leaving.
     While I was shopping, Dorine stopped by and invited us over for cocktail hour aboard DULCE VENTO.  Since I was prepared for Greg and Jenn to spend the long weekend, I had plenty of appetizer makings.  I used up the veggies with Marie’s Ranch dressing as dip.  Ranch dressing is not on Pete’s radar, but he approves of Marie’s. 

     It has been wonderful getting to know Doreen, John and Cindy.  We wish them smooth sailing. They head to Miami over the weekend to wait for their window to cross over to The Bahamas.  Can’t wait to hear about their adventures.  We will reconnect once they return to the Chesapeake in June.  Unfortunately, it looks like Cindy will be making her home here in Key West.  She has fallen in love with the place, not that I can blame her.  There are great opportunities for marine mechanics and crewing on boats.  We plan to keep in touch, so I look forward to hearing all about her adventures.

     It was a great visit here in Key West; fabulous weather, plenty of areas to explore, good food, nice exercise facility and some wonderful new friends. The past 5 weeks have gone fast, but we made a bunch of new friends and caught up with old ones.  Definitely made some great memories!

~ ~ ~ /) ~ ~  K & P