DAY ELEVEN. 1-11-12

Sorry for the delay in the postings but so much has happened over the past few days. First of all, here is day 11. Actually I would like to forget about this day. Once we left Biscayne Bay in Miami and entered Card and Barnes Sounds, we were committed for the rest of the day with no place to duck into a marina or even anchor. The sounds are quite large and we had winds at 25-30 miles per hour. The waves were in the 2-3 foot range and the wind pushed the boat everywhere. It was a very difficult day piloting this big old boat. But that was not the worst of it.

We finally made it to the North end of Key Largo and the marina did not respond to radio or telephone calls In an attempt to anchor in these high winds, we broke the anchor line and lost the anchor and line. We made several additional attempts with a spare anchor but were unsuccessful. We finally were able to squeeze into a cut in the mangrove trees, tie to them and ride the night out. Then, the boat started taking on water through the shaft seal and since the bilge pump automatic float was broken, we had to manually turn on the bilge ever 2 hours to pump out the water. Jim was a trooper and did all of the hard work. Cannot begin to tell you how much having him on board meant. It is very clear to me that for a long trip, the boat is too large to be safely operated with just one person.

The only photo is when we tire and you can see how dirty the boat was and so were we. Glad this day is behind us.