In the past month we made it through Christmas, celebrated
New Years, weathered a severe wind storm and acted as Key West tour guides to
our Colorado friend, Juraj.
In December, Key West and the surrounding areas were hit
with a severe wind storm with winds that reached 45 knots for more than a twenty-four
hour period. As the storm grew, Jimi made his rounds on deck where he discovered
a few items of concern. When he checked the anchor rode, he saw it was badly
chaffed and ready to break. The line would not have held out the force of the
winds. He was able to replace it with a much stronger line fixing the problem. In
addition, as the dinghy bounced around we were worried about it surviving the
night. The seas were too rough for Jimi to get on it to secure more line, so he
had to come up with another plan. He secured it with an additional pirce of shock
cord to absorb the forces of the waves. The third item of concern was the speed
of the wind generator. We weren’t sure it if could handle the high velocity
wind. However, with Sanibel flopping around like a fish out of water there was
no safe way for Jimi to climb the mast to stop it from spinning. We had no
choice but to let it go. The good news was after months of low batteries, the
wind generator produced enough power to give the batteries a full charge and we
were dumping power. When we dump power it goes to our water heater. For a short
while after the wind storm, we had hot water to shower with – except, with no
furnace, it was too cold for me to remove my clothing to shower. The perfect
example of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
During the wind storm, about 10 p.m., a sailboat about our
size dragged anchor and swept by us in the turmoiled seas and ragging winds. As
it’s bow reached our stern quarter it crashed with great force into Sanibel.
Jimi was in the saloon; from there he felt the impact and heard the loud canon
like noise. I was laying in my berth at the exact location of the hit. I can
barely describe the noise and feelings that flourished through my body at the
time. I grabbed my flashlight and checked for any internal damage…there was
none. Thank goodness. When I arrived in the saloon I saw Jimi on deck watching
the culprit still just twenty feet from us. The boat was still dragging anchor.
He rushed back in and grabbed the VHF radio.
When he contacted the Coast Guard and they asked him the vessel’s
location his response was “ It’s between Fleming Island and the channel
marker….uh, there’s no more channel marker. The vessel took it out”.
I stayed up for a while before retiring to my berth for the
night. When I did go to bed I was in and
out of consciousness through the night. Jimi remained in the saloon until 5 am,
where he dozed a little and then slept
in his berth for a few hours. The bad weather
lasted through the next day before slowly calming. The damage to Sanibel was
minimal. There was no damage to the hull side, the solar panel missed the
impact by inches, however, the mount was busted, the stern rail was bent and a
couple of stanchions were bent up. Jimi has salvaged some parts from other derelict
boats and purchased a few minor things. All in all we came out ok. The boat that hit us sustained much more
damage, and yet it still floats and is re-anchored by its owner in the same
location where it first began to drag.
This year’s Christmas was the quietest I’ve ever had. I
missed my family like never before. Jimi
and I attended the Christmas Eve service at the Methodist church and then
returned to Sanibel to wait for Santa Clause. Christmas morning we exchanged
our gifts; Jimi received an antique flask and a Pepe’s t-shirt, which is a
shirt from a local and classic establishment in Key West. I received a dress by
Jams World and a bible safely stored in a beautifully crafted cigar box. We
finished the day with a repeat of our Thanksgiving day dinner by grilling a
small turkey breast on the grill served with all the fixins: mashed potatoes,
green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and pie.
Being in Key West for New Years, we couldn’t do anything
else but to spend it on historic Duval Street. The streets were closed off for
patrons to celebrate. Shop owners threw beads from the roof tops, people danced
and laughed, hooped and hollered. We relished in bringing in the new year on
the southern most town of the United States. And we strategically placed
ourselves in front of the live web cam located outside Sloppy Joes for several
pictures. The pictures were available on the website for twenty four hours
after the shots were taken. Jimi was able to download all of them.
One of our dear friends from Colorado, Juraj, flew to Key
West to visit us and Sanibel. He was our fourth overnight guest in the first
year of our live-aboard status. We took him to all our favorite places like
Pepe’s, which has Yuengling drafts for one dollar and the Cuban Coffee Queen,
which serves the best Cuban food anywhere not the mention their perfectly
brewed Cuban coffee. We walked him through Mallory square. Jimi and I typically avoid this area, as it is filled
with a mile or more of street vendors and street performers. The tourists are
so thick there’s no chance of walking side by side or even staying together.
But it’s a must see at least once and the view of the sunset is absolutely
breathtaking with the tall ships sailing in the foreground. We rented bicycles
for a day riding all around the small island to the Hemingway house, the
lighthouse, the southernmost point of the United States, the beach and more.
And now our last bit of news, but the most important: we
received our documentation from the U.S. Coast Guard and are cleared to depart.
We have made our final preparations to leave: boat repairs, laundry and
provisioning. If the weather stays true we sail away tomorrow morning. We’re
headed for secluded islands of sand, rock and water; the land of Culture, Uncspoiled
lands, Beaches and Adventure. Our plan is to be in the Cayman Islands the end
of March, but keep in mind that plans often change. You won’t hear from us
again until we arrive there, so until then, keep us in your prayers and we’ll do
the same for you. Hugs to all!
I finished and uploaded our 2013 scrapbook to Youtube –
check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_IgoftQNWU
