About mid morning we lowered the dinghy and headed to shore. We tied up to the dinghy dock at the Key West Bight City Marina, paid $6 to park for the day and started walking. We were only two blocks or so from Mallory Square and Duval Street, the center of things, and we covered quite a bit of ground as we wandered up and down the streets, browsing in the shops, and enjoying the day. Lunch was at Bagatelle where we shared a Cuban press sandwich and some fries. The establishment was “dog friendly” and Lucy was treated well by the staff. After lunch we walked all the way down Duval Street to find “The Southernmost Point in the United States,” a “must do” photo opportunity.
We were all getting tired by late afternoon so we stopped for a drink at Dante’s. Relaxing at a table by the pool, we talked about our day and cooled down. After one round, we ended up ordering chicken quesadillas which served as our supper. And, since the bar’s happy hour started about that time, we took advantage of the lower drink prices and had round two with dinner.
Around 7:30 pm the wind made an abrupt switch from the southeast to the northwest and BL-E-E-EW! After an hour or so, we noticed that our anchor was slipping. Winds were gusting between 30 to 35 mph making for very rough seas. It wasn’t too much longer when we realized that our Delta anchor was not going to hold and we needed to pull it up and re-anchor. We were drifting down on a little sailboat and in danger of pulling her along with us. We bumped up alongside her and drifted past – there was no one aboard at the time. After clearing the small sailboat, we were up against the side of a bigger sailboat just behind the small one. The couple on board tried to keep our boat from damaging theirs while in the meantime, we had to start the engine and cut our anchor line. After freeing ourselves, we were able to motor away. Fortunately, the boats we ran up against held fast and seemed to be okay. Unfortunately, we lost our primary anchor, chain and rode.
Gale had to tie some extra line to the anchors to give us plenty of scope and deployed the Danforth anchor from the bow as Maureen tried to maneuver the boat. The anchor held and we waited and watched for a time to make sure. The wind died down to about 3 knots but the forecast was calling for 25 mph out of the north with higher gusts after midnight. During the lull, Gale took the Fortress anchor and line out in the dinghy and set it for extra measure. He had to fight a very strong current and some waves, but very little wind at that time. The second hook caught right away and held. As predicted, the wind and seas increased but we seemed to be staying put. We were able to rest off and on during the remaining hours until sunrise, but we both continued to wake regularly and take a look around. We were concerned not only for our own holding, but also for the other boats around us. The wind never let up again that night but we were safe, dry and uninjured.
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