I just read my last blog and was remembering the night before last. That storm was amazing and it precluded the one to follow which brought winds shifting from a pleasant, warm southerly to a hard driving northeasterly. This happened somewhere around 11pm when we were well into dreamland. It was about that time that I woke, not sure why, and looked out the port thinking "hmm, looks normal" and put my head back down. Another 30 seconds brought a big "thunk" and I jumped up the companionway to find us broadside to the wonderful little bird sanctuary we HAD been anchored off of. Apparently with the wind shift, our anchor had either dragged or given up the fight and let loose altogether and we quickly and efficiently drifted right onto the rocky edge of this habitat!
Now anyone that knows me can imagine that I just stayed calm, cool and collected; reviewed the situation and had it at hand in no time . . . YEAH RIGHT! Okay, so I kind of started freaking out - not entirely, but definitely in a way that I thought appropriate for the situation. Rob's great in these times - he really DOES stay cool and thinks really clearly. Thank heavens I'm at least able to follow directions! Anyway, we tried to back out of where we were with no success and I got on the radio and sent for SeaTow (our saviors!).
Steve, the area supervisor, was on his boat quickly after our call and another boat followed him shortly thereafter. They arrived and we tied our bow to his stern and within about 30 seconds, we were off and RACING out to open water at probably about 12-15 knots. What a ride . . . sailboats just don't GO that fast! We set anchor once again and cast Sea Tow's lines back to them . . . but not so fast, my readers . . . to find that they were somehow caught below Moonshadow's hull. This brought on a whole new form of excitement when Nick on boat #2 got out the snorkel and fins and jumped overboard with knife in hand (picture big guy with big belly putting mask on while holding open switchblade - ugh) to try to remedy the problem. Apparently the line caught in our prop while we were setting the anchor. We really were in need of the extra excitement, right?
I didn't sleep much that night wondering if the anchor would get creative again so we didn't get going so early the next day. It took me some time to clear my head but we did manage to pull it together and get back on our way around 9 the next day. And what a day it was! The winds from the north/northeast were perfect for our almost westerly travel and we raised the sails and headed out of the protected ICW channel (and the crab traps) into the Hawk Channel just outside the chain of Keys. And the winds blew and Moonshadow SAILED! What a glorious day! We were whipping along for a good part of the day between 7 and 8 knots which for our boat is a great speed. I finally got to feel a real day of sailing and it was a treat! The sun was shining although the temp was cool and we sailed the entire day all the way to our next anchorage just before Key West.
Now that last anchorage was not one that was in our anchorage guide and I was determined that we would only anchor in those that were from now on. So we headed up Boca Chica Channel to the Stock Island anchorage from Skipper Bob's book. You can sense a story coming, right? And I'm thinking, whew, this should be an easy night . . . as we turn "port after mark G5B" per good 'ole Bob. That's just about when we slid to an unexpected halt . . . aground again! REALLY?!!!?!!! And I stayed calm, cool and collected (right) . . . . . . good heavens! Can this be real? And all of those wonderful thoughts and feelings came rushing in - like "I want to go home" and "are we doomed" came to mind!
With the tide running out and our attempts to release ourselves failing . . . we call Sea Tow again. Do you realize what this feels like?! I mean, really, does this happen to other people?! And if you know anything about some of our previous sailing history from 20 years ago . . . is this just how it is for us?! But SeaTow came and the guy, Steven, was just great and had us off the one spot of muck in the entire area without more than a quick tug. Ah, the joys of power. Anyway, Steven came below and we made margaritas and had a laugh or two before he headed out to more pleasurable endeavors.
And we slept and we rose and we left the anchorage and we motored our last leg into Key West . . . and we MADE IT! We actually MADE IT! Even with more challenges in the past three weeks than even I would have imagined, we stuck with this thing and we worked through the problems and we celebrated the successes and we MADE IT! So it's just after midnight here and we've been anchored for over 12 hours in the same place and after a day of wandering the streets of Key West and an evening aboard our floating home, all of the challenges of the weeks behind seem like distant memories - and life is righteous and good.
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