Key West

Today is a bit of a milestone for us.  We are at the farthest point south of our trip.  From here on in we will be heading north.  Towards home.

After a very bumpy night at anchor outside Bahia Honda, we awoke early and got the heck outta there.  Nothing serious, just a rolly, noisy anchorage. We had been bounced around pretty good all night and neither of us had a great sleep.  It took most of an uneventful day of travel to get to Key West.  Just the regular schick:  taking turns on the helm, working together to figure out where we're supposed to go, dodging crab pots, hanging out below when not on driving duty, doing chores or playing on the computer.  Just a regular Gran Vida day.

We are now in the mooring field in Key West.  For those non-boaters out there, a mooring field is a big area of securely anchored floating balls that boats can tie up to for a nominal fee.

The way it works is, you drive around very slowly looking for an unoccupied ball.  As you do this, you become aware of people poking their heads out of their boat, like gophers out of their holes, presumably to watch the newbees. Once you locate an available ball, one person goes to the bow while the other drives slowly and accurately up to the unoccupied ball, stopping the boat precisely alongside.  Then the person on the bow, with ease and aplomb, grabs the loop on the ball with a pole and very gracefully slips a line through the loop and secures the boat to the ball, the whole process taking mere seconds.  All the while, the two people smile at each other and communicate calmly, clearly and encouragingly.....   That's the plan anyway.  It doesn't always go exactly like that.

Nevertheless, we are now safely tied up enjoying a drink in celebration and looking forward to nap time after our restless night last night.  Staying in a mooring field is new to us and we're excited to have the experience.  Later tonight, after nap-time and dinner, we'll take in the view from the flybridge.  Tomorrow we'll check out the town.  Gran Vida! 

Thanks for reading and following along.  For now, for us...  ZZZZZZZZZZ