The last of Isla Mujeres, the passage north and Key West followed by Marathon

PHOTOS link–>> https://goo.gl/photos/9qm7JVAo3ukqLc4u6

The last of Isla Mujeres, the passage north and Key West followed by Marathon

We had waited and waited for fair winds to sail to Cuba, but time passed and we decided to make a change of plans. The new plans had us going to the USA east coast to get ready for our sail to Bermuda. Our Cuba visit was delayed until later in the year after the hurricane season and then we can spend a good 2 months in Cuba. Our buddy boat Mikiai was still set on sailing to Cuba, as they were not pressed for time.

Meanwhile, while we waited for the weather we continued to go for walks ashore and enjoying the Isla. We dingied along the shoreline and found that towards the southern end there was an amazing zip line set up. We both would have loved to ride the zip line along the cliffs, across the bay and back to shore – maybe next time. Chico had his final vet check for his medical travel cert; we had many social evenings and prepped the boat for our passage.

Finally the weather cooperated and we knew we would be underway. Setting off on March 29^th we had several hundred miles and nights at sea. From the beginning the passage was not the one hoped for, on the way out when I faced the wind for John to hoist the main sail, the mainsheet slide all the way out of the blocks. This was while the seas were starting to roughen up, for me it was an anxiety spike that left me unsettled. The seas on leaving northern Isla were nasty. As there was a fairly strong wind blowing – up to 25knots, the seas were up and due to the shallows surrounding Isla Mujeres it was out right rough! We were going right into the large seas which started rolling over the bow. John did wonder if we should head back, but I felt we would then have to go through it all over again so we continued…..

The 1^st day was really unpleasant, constantly rough with higher winds than expected, gusts up to 30knots, the seas had the regular swell, but a heavy chop on top. Neither of us ate anything except saltine crackers, by later afternoon I was seasick and really feeling like hell. I wasn’t any good as crew. John was then faced with the whole night watch, which loomed ahead. I had to go below and passed out between being thrown about. Thank goodness that near midnight the seas and wind calmed to moderate and the passage improved.

Day 2 John slept on and off most of the day, while I was on watch, but the wind and seas were up and down all day. Plus we had an unexpected current pushing us into the Gulf of Mexico. This meant we had to sail quite close to the wind and with the swell and seas broadside it was again rough and uncomfortable. However my seasickness had gone and I could even read! So keeping watch wasn’t quite as boring and tedious.

The second night was dreadfully challenging. After John took over that night the Gulf Stream current was opposing the wind, which made for dreadfully rough conditions. We had waves crashing over the boat; it was dangerous to try to maneuver through the boat. One wave crashed down on the aft starboard side, ran down into the lazarette, through it and swamped the aft head. It was a dreadful night passage. As the sun rose we decided to cut up between the Dry Tortugas towards the inside passage towards the keys. Reason being it was easier and calmer. Finally once on the inside of the Cays the seas settled and we sailed nicely.

By the time we were off of the Marquises Cays we had decided to stop there and rest for the night. We couldn’t make it rest of the way to Key West by nightfall anyway. So there we stopped and crashed out for the night. Even Chico was mightily relieved. He climbed up onto the arch on the solar panels and looked out.

Continuing the next day to Key West we arrived by lunchtime, stopped at the mooring field, took the dingy in to the town, caught a taxi to the airport and checked in to the USA.

Key West

Key West is just as it was 6 years ago, maybe a bit busier, it is a fun town. We went the mooring field at Garrison Bite where we tied up to a buoy.

Being in the mooring field gives us access to the secure dinghy dock in Garrison Bite, plus the laundry facility and showers. If we had used the anchorage we would not have had these facilities and still would have had to pay to use the public dingy dock. From the Garrison Bite dingy dock it is only a 10 minutes walk to West Marine and then along the boardwalk into the front of Key West.

We also have access to the grocery stores by securing our dingy under a highway 1 bridge and climbing up the bank there before us are 2 shopping plazas! All the stores we need for supplies, foods, and services.

We have purchased our sat phone – an Iridium – It arrived a few days ago and we are very pleased with it. It does, texting, emails, SOS, calls, and even facebook.

Next to arrive to was our water maker – a Rainman. We now can make water at a rate of 18 gallons an hour.

Everyday we go for walks checking out the sites/sights along the roads. Key West has many interesting storefronts, bars/saloons, quiet homes and makes for great people watching. There is a large interesting cemetery too, which we wandered around.

Another fun activity is to take the dingy along the many mangrove canals. There you can weaver along behind homes, under bridges and roads while enjoying the scenery.

Due to the weather we were in Key West for longer than we had planned. The wind just kept blowing from the east exactly where we needed to head. Finally, we had a break and we headed off to Marathon.

In Key West John and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary! We took the day off, went for a nice long walk and had food at the raw bar that we both enjoyed before.

Marathon

It was excellent weather to have a slow sail to Marathon. We saw dolphins along the way, it was so smooth, a real but rare treat. Again we are quite familiar with Marathon having spent time there before we set off over 5 years ago. There were plenty of mooring balls in Boot Key City Marina, so once again we are attached to a mooring.

Boot Key Harbour Marina is excellent! It has all the necessary facilities plus bikes you can borrow for free. Each day we borrow a bike and ride to the various shops to get what we need. I do love riding a bike. We have stocked up on everything we need, Chico was vetted, we made the boat ready for the possible 10 day passage and are just set to leave!

We met up with our neighbours in the mooring field, Joe and Ginny. They saw we were from Bermuda and came over to chat as they had sailed there back in the 80s. They have been cruising for 35 years! What was just astonishing was that after chatting Ginny told us their ages, she is in late 80s and Joe is an astonishing 92! They only look to be in their 70s! We had several pleasant evenings out with them enjoying the local seafood.