Boot Key - Part Deux

Saturday, February 8th

Low humidity last night. Gentle breeze. Glorious sleeping weather. We slept in till 0600. Coffee in the cockpit. Normal morning chores. 

There's always something that needs fixing or attention. Today was stern running light bulb replacement. It sounds simple and quick. Easy enough, but it still took twenty minutes to gather tools, swap out the bulb, test it, put everything back together, then replace the tools. 

The freezer needed defrosting. That's another chore. Unload the foods into a basket wrapped with towels to keep things from thawing, deicing the evaporator, removing accumulated water from the freezer, and finally reloading everything.

I also spent some time troubleshooting our water heater. I'll vent on that later. Let's just say that whoever did the original installation apparently didn't know what they were doing.

After lunch, we Uber'd to Pigeon Key. https://pigeonkey.net/ We walked the 2.0 miles out the old Seven Mile Bridge to the island. It's full of history from the time Henry Flagler built the overseas railroad to Key West.









It was nearly sunset by the time we returned to Imagine. Time for a nice glass of Merlot as we said goodbye to the day.


Dinner tonight was cheeses, sausages, and crackers. I was going to grill steak, but we've decided to have that in the morning instead. Goodnight 🥱

Monday, February 10th

Yesterday was pretty busy with taking care of little boat projects and preparing for tomorrow's departure. A quick peddle to Publix for eggs and a couple ribeye, and a stop at Home Depot for mineral spirits was our morning outing. The loaner bicycles here at the marina are bicycles in name only. Bald tires, questionable brakes, squeaky, rusty, and just plain worn out. The marina requires one to provide a chain & lock. A thief would need to be quite desperate to ride away on the frames we borrowed.

Brenda volunteered, sliced and diced lettuce, onions, and tomatoes for last night's Superbowl BBQ & Party. Most everyone brought a dish to share. Brenda's baked bean dish didn't last long. No one left hungry. We watched the game in the marina community room, projected on a makeshift screen. The game was disappointing. We returned to Imagine at halftime. 

Tuesday, February 11th

Yesterday was devoted to prepping for our departure from Boot Key. I finished with work around 1500. Brenda and I dinghy'd to the marina for showers, a garbage run, and check out from the marina. Afterwards, we went to Docksider's for happy hour and some food. We returned to Imagine just before sundown. We craned the engine to the stern rail. The dinghy was hoisted to the foredeck. We slept well.

Moonset just before sunrise.

We awoke this morning at 0630. Coffee was the focus. We had the engine warming up @ 0715. Anchor trouble. The windlass breaker tripped. We snagged a chain. It was big and heavy. We ended up dragging it to the channel. I had to tie a slip line under the chain, partially deploy our anchor to free the obstruction. Free at last, we proceeded to the fuel dock on our way out from Boot Key.

Bing, Bing, Bing... Today is our nineteenth wedding anniversary. Dinner tonight will be lobster tails on the grill, fresh vegetables, and... I'm not sure. We'll share a bottle of champagne too.


We are now on anchor near Geiger Key. It's a small area and can only accommodate a few boats. We are one of five. We'll have a near full moon tonight. Away from civilization, we should have a great view of the heavens.

Marquesas tomorrow I think.

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