Sailing to the Florida Keys XI

December 11, 2011
Still at Marco Island

Our next sail is going to be a night sail.  We’ve never really sailed during the night, yet, so this will be a totally new experience for us.  Before we make our next sail we need to be sure that the weather is good, since we do not want to sail during any storms.  We’ve been watching the weather forecast and there are a couple of storms coming through, beginning this afternoon.  The storms will be rain and wind soooooooo, we are going to be staying put till these are over. 

The forecast said that the rain and wind would begin at 3 pm today sooo before it begins to rain we need to make a run to Bealls outlet so that I can buy a warm sweater with a hoodie…getting ready for our night sail.  We didn’t think we would need any coats or jackets while sailing so we left them all behind in Benson!! 

We began our walk to Bealls…the winds are picking up and the sky is overcast.  We must hurry!!  We got to Bealls and I found a warm sweat shirt with a hoodie. When I came out of the store I noticed the winds were a lot stronger and I still had to run in to CVS for some snacks!! LOL…waiting out storms are best waiting out with snacks!!  As we began our walk back to the boat…it began to rain!! Aarrrgghhhh…oh well, it isn’t the first time that we’ve had to walk in the rain and I’m sure it won’t be the last!! 

When we got back to the marina….and into our dinghy we noticed that the wind was whipping the water pretty good…the dinghy was crashing through the waves and, well, let’s just say….we got a good soaking!! But, we made it back to our boat!

We made dinner and hung out inside the boat waiting for the storm to pass…as the wind became stronger you could hear it howling all around us making the boat rock and roll.  Whenever we have been in a storm, Keith always worries about dragging the anchor so he is always popping his head out to make sure that the anchor is holding.   One of the times that Keith popped his head out to check on the anchor he noticed a boat…when the storm began it was quite far from us…now it looked as if they were sailing right by us and he wondered where they were going in a storm!! But, oh Lord!!  They weren’t moving….WE WERE Dragging our anchor!!!  :O Keith yelled at me to go topside, turn the engine on and hurry up and put it in gear and get away from the other boat!!  Of course, in the rain and wind and with Keith yelling….shot my anxiety out of orbit!!  Keith and I both ran topside and left Maxi below…he does not like that…so worried about not hitting another boat and repositioning the boat and dropping the anchor again Maxi whining below was a frightening half hour.  I shudder to think what would of happened if Keith did not go out to check on the anchor….for sure we would of crashed into the other boat and who knows what would of happened then!!  Thank God we didn’t have to find out!!

After the scare of dragging the anchor…well, we didn’t have a very good night’s rest.  Keith slept very light keeping an eye on the anchor to make sure we didn’t drag it again!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Well, we made it through the night safe and sound…without crashing into anyone!  Yayyyyyyy…!! 

And today is the day….or better yet, the night!!  The storms have passed the forecast is good…we will have a full moon tonight…so tonight is the night for our night sail!! 

For today, we are going to get as much rest as possible and after last night’s scare, we will be purchasing another anchor.  That way if we are ever in another storm we can put down two anchors instead of just one.

Stay with us on our journey as we discover New Horizons!!

El