Sailing Kathryn: So Long Key West.....Hello Ft. Meyers Beach

Having a Drink at Captain Tony's Bar

Last Day In Key West

Our trips on the water are usually determined by wind speed, temperature and weather conditions. We were getting anxious to head north to Ft Meyers, so all the "conditions" were in place for us to leave Stock Island Marina in Key West on Wednesday, May 9th. It was bright and sunny (as usual...:) but with just a bit of wind. I mention the wind, because that can be a tricky problem if you are getting a large sailboat out of a slip. I am not the captain, but maneuvering it out of the slip without hitting the dock, another boat or a combination of the two is always something you DON"T want to happen. So, before leaving on Wed., Steve had one of the marina employees come down to our slip to help us off. (for non boaters, we are on the boat, there is a line holding us and at the right moment you have to cast off....this process goes much more smoothly if someone is on the dock and helps with this process) Well, we were all set and Chris (the employee of the marina) was there to help us off. As we backed out of the slip with everything going just perfectly, Chris tossed us the line at the back of the boat and we were suppose to be clear and on our way. BUT, I was at the front of the boat, Steve was driving and by the time I ran back to pull the line in, it sank into the water and got tangled in our prop on the engine. When that happens you go no where!!!!!! We drifted around and good ole Chris got us back in the slip without hitting anyone. As hard as we pulled, we could not get that line unstuck. So, Chris asked Steve if we had a diving mask on board. Well, yes we do! Chris is the local diver in the marina, too. Such luck. On went the mask, off came his shirt and shoes and into the water under our boat goes Chris. In a matter of minutes, he had it untangled and was on the dock dripping wet. All in a days work, I guess. Well, we gave it another "shot" and were off and motoring out of the marina and out towards the Atlantic.

Our marina was on the south side of Key West, so we had to sail into the Atlantic, around the end of Key West and then head north into the Gulf to go to Ft. Meyers. Interestingly enough, if you look at a map, Key West is quite a bit west of the Florida mainland. If you would draw a straight line north, you would be in line with Ft. Meyers. So, we were off for a 24 hr. sail which would put us in Ft. Meyers the next morning at 9:15!

A lot of this trip, until you are close to Marco Island and Naples, is out in open water and you do not see any land. There really isn't anything to take a photo of other than water. There were a few boats and fisherman we encountered, but that was about it. We did have excellent sailing all that day and were sailing with all three sails up and NO motor. The captain had a big smile on his face....his kind of sailing!

As I have mentioned many times, I am not the sailor on the boat. I just take orders :) When you do an "overnight sail" you do have to take turns doing "watch". Hopefully, the other person on board can go down below and get a few hours of sleep. Well, just as the sun started to go down and night was falling a large band of storms started to appear in the distance and on our radar. So, the captain was in charge and we tried "dodging" some of the storms, but eventually we had to "bite the bullet" and sail on through. On a sailboat, you have a tall mast and you really don't want to get hit by lightening on the water. I was a little tense for awhile, but the storms lasted about three hours. Finally, Steve suggested I go down below and try and get some sleep while he maneuvered through the storm. About three hours later, I relieved him at the helm and did my shift. He always tells me, "if you see something you don't understand or need help, WAKE ME UP"! He doesn't have to worry! Later we switched again and I slept for a few hours. When I came up to do my next watch, the minute I stepped into the cockpit, I smelled smoke. Not just a "whiff" but campfire smoke and it was in the air!!!! I guess I am a bit paranoid on the boat at night, but I had Steve checking every inch of our boat....I was sure we would have to abandon ship. If Steve were writing this blog, he would tell you he was never worried about the boat having a fire, because burning wires or fiberglass would NOT smell like the smoke we were smelling. Long story short, we were off shore of the Everglades National Park and they were and still are having an uncontained forest fire started by lightening. As of yesterday, they had only 20% of it under control. I'll bet we smelled that smoke for a good hour and a half!