A Weather Day in Key West

Day 17: March 21, 2018

Follow our progress using this link: Steve's Spot

Today was a hanging around Key West day.  We obviously were both quite tired because we finally awoke after 7:00 this morning.  That is over 10 hours of sleep.  That is really atypical of both of us.  We hadn’t set up a pot of coffee last night as we typically do so we had to head out in search of our first cups.  We came upon

Awaiting breakfast at the White Tarpon

the White Tarpon bar which had a sign advertising breakfast.  We wandered in and had a reasonable meal at a somewhat unreasonable price.  Upon leaving, we decided that our fixings on the boat are better than we had at the White Tarpon and a fraction of the cost.

Back at the boat, I did my daily blog scribblings.  The one thing that I have learned in my travels to and through many marinas is that their advertised Wi-Fi leaves much to be desired.  I assume that the amount of

Part of the sculpture of the Wreckers

band width that they provide just can’t carry the load of traffic that boaters today produce.  Not only was it slow, it continually dropped off line. What normally takes me 25 minutes to publish what I have created took over an hour and a half.

The Wreckers salvaged cargo off of ships that foundered on the shallow reefs

We next collected our dirty duds and headed for the laundry/shower.  They had big commercial washers and dryers and they made quick work removing the 17 days’ worth of grime.  The hot showers took care of the bodily grime that had accumulated since we last passed through Key West.

After our typical boat lunch, I started working on our travel plans for the next week or so. The weather has really gone south.  The winds were out of the north today clocking at 17 plus mph.  And, it appears that today’s weather is a sample of what is to come over the next week or so.  I spent a good part of the afternoon contacting marinas in the area to see if it would be possible to lift the boat out of the water and put her on the trailer.  It turned out to be cost prohibitive. 

Tomorrow’s weather will be slightly better than todays’, so I toyed with the idea of heading out for Marathon where we can ride out the rest of the bad weather in a very well protected harbor on a mooring ball.  While waiting, we can rent a car and head back to Fort Myers, pick up our truck and trailer and

One of the old warehouses on the water front converted into a bar

have it available when can get to a ramp to pull the boat out.  I realize that the 40-mile ride would be a real grinder in the large waves and high wind.  The boat is up to it but I am not sure we are.  I checked with the marina here and they have given us a 3 day option on this slip so, although I have just about made up my mind to sit it out here, we will wait until tomorrow and see if the weather predictions are holding true.  I will say that it has been my experience that the marine forecasts are

This is Key West

generally very accurate at least in the near term.

On my way back from the dock master’s shack, I stopped to talk to the crew of a beautiful 90 plus year old schooner parked at our wharf.  Amongst other things, I asked where they would be eating when they got off their shift and the guy said he was heading for his favorite happy hour bar.  After pushing them further as to their favorite eating

Harpoon Harry's

establishment, they came up with Harpoon Harry’s.  

We took the crews advice and we.re pleasantly surprised by the really neat little restaurant.  As we walked up, there was a guy sitting at the door and he laid upon us his spiel.  We acccepted his invitation to enter and were proudly treated to a true hometown restaurant.  I had a ½ rack of ribs for $10.00 and Janine had a stuffed tuna melt sandwich for the same price.  The food was outstanding and the service was amazing.  In this town where everything is way overpriced, this place was a real find.  They also open a 6:30 for breakfast and the waitress said that their breakfast menu has it all.

Fine dining in Key West

Back at the boat, I needed to adjust the mooring lines and fenders.  With the strong winds and the fact that tonight we are in the midst of a spring tide,  the low tides are significantly lower and significantly higher than the average. And, although the piles have nice rubber bumpers on them, when the boat bounces up against them, there is a loud low pitch squeal that renders sleep impossible.  And then bed.

And by the way, Janine set up a pot of coffee for tomorrow morning.