Key West-We move from mooring field to marina

What a surprise this morning brought us--cold and blustery weather. We've had such warm, humid days since arriving in Key West, we didn't expect the change. Jay, Pegg and Kodo departed early for their 7+ hour drive back up to St. Augustine. Kodo was none too keen about the dinghy ride into town, but at least it was downwind. Dan was wet and cold when he returned. So much for his plan to dive this morning to check the zincs on the propeller and shaft! With Key West Race Week over our chances had improved for finding a berth at a marina and Pete was busy working on that plan because he has to fly back to Philly for a business meeting on Monday and didn't want to leave Kathy stranded out in the mooring field.

At noon we all slipped our lines off the mooring balls and headed around the corner to take slips at Conch Harbor Marina. The trip took about 45 minutes and I neglected to turn on the computer GPS to track our progress, so our "icon" still has us in Garrison Bight. Hopefully I'll get it moved by morning. We are now in a slip with extra lines tied all around as we've been experiencing a real blow (which seems to be coming all the way from Mexico across the Gulf) since early this afternoon. As I was cooking dinner tonight I gave a thought to gimballing the stove, not something I've ever even considered while tied up in a marina before! We spent the afternoon doing "household" chores, including pumping out holding tanks, washing down the boat, filling water tanks and doing laundry. We did find time for a trip to West Marine, and Betty and I joined Pete and Kathy's lunch date for a "Dark n Stormy". Quite an appropriate drink considering the weather! On the way back down the dock we stopped to watch a fishing boat as it cleaned it's catch. We weren't the only ones interested in the activity. The pelicans were having a field day.

Glen and Maureen came by to join us for dinner and are lamenting their plight. No one seems to be able to provide them with a new transmission until March 23!! Not good! They can't decide what to do with themselves while they wait for parts. We all keep hoping a transmission will show up somewhere a lot sooner and they'll be able to continue this grand adventure with us. We'll all just have to wait and see. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

A quick reminder, especially to new readers, if you click on a picture, you'll get a larger version of it. Then click the back arrow to return to the blog. M

We were sorry to see Jay, Pegg and Kodo leave this morning, we always have such a good time when they are aboard.

As we watched the feeding frenzy at the stern of a fishing boat, we noticed that one of the brown headed pelicans had a gaping hole in his beak pouch. The crew cleaning the fish and tossing bits tried to direct their tosses to this guy as much as possible.

It was quite a sight to seen the seemingly orderly bunch all flap at once as they attempted to get a morsel. The aforementioned injured pelican (bottom center) did his best to fight like the rest of them!