Just another starry night

Sometime next week Spring begins in the northern hemisphere and with any luck we will be in the Bahamas. But we still have many projects to do before we leave. One fact of boat life is that for every project completed there are 10 more to do and like education in general, the more you know the more you know you don't know. So the as things get done I learn of so many things I knew nothing about before. But that keeps it interesting.

Evenings here are beautiful. Beginning with the sunsets that I've captured here they are exciting for the brightness and colors they include. But then the sky lights up with thousands of little lights that form a beautiful blanket of constellations and nondescript patterns. Down below in our festively lit screened cockpit the breezes cool off the heat from the day and critters swimming and jumping in the water break up the general quiet.

We've now been here at NAS Key West for a week and gotten a lot done but we've had some fun too. Weekends and days of the week don't have any particular significance except when we interface with people who need a clock. This weekend started with a beach concert by a local band called Island Time. They played a great mix of music including some songs we haven't heard in a long time.

   

I don't remember how Friday night ended but somewhere in the darkness I'm sure it did. But Saturday was a beautiful day. Bright sunshine and a nice easterly wind of about 15 kts and we planned to do a day sail with slip mates Johnnie and Mickey Poole. Getting the boat ready to sale while living aboard is not easy. In addition to getting up all the navigational and boat handling stuff the cabin needs to be secured from the stuff of living in a boat.

So we left the slip a bit before noon and quickly ran downwind to Key West. There were 2 cruise ships in port; a Disney Cruiser and one from Holland America. In front of Mallory Square we tacked and headed back toward Boca Chica Key. We came up on the wind as tightly as we could and still make good speed. We were on a heading of about 175 and 80 miles short of Havana we tacked. It took us several short tacks but we made it back after a perfect sail.

Today started out with a run before it got too hot but it did. We made a quick run to the West Marine thanks to Johnnie and topped off the fuel tank in preparation for departure. Since we fueled up at PGIYC we burned 11 gal of fuel on 7 hrs of engine time. Considering our total travel time that's not bad. We moved our house from PGIYC, to Burnt Store Marina, to Key West and took it out for a sail on about $30 of fuel. 

But after our boat chores we took our dinghy out to a sandbar near the end of the channel to hang out with some other folks in the cool water and warm sunshine.

This evening we joined in with the cruisers Sunday evening "Pot Luck" dinner and then came back to recoup and begin to plan our exit strategy. Looks like it will be about 36 hrs to Nassau by motoring because doesn't appear to be much wind forecasted so planning arrival and departure to do both in daylight is a challenge. Of course once we are on the Bahama Bank we can just drop the hook someplace and stop for a rest and go into Nassau later. Or we can drop the hook near the west end or by Cable Beach.

But for right now we will continue to enjoy the sunsets and a few busy days until our departure.