Why are these people smiling?
"We are the people, our parents warned us about...."
Monday, 12/21 off we go even before the sun has reported for work. Scratch that there is no work out here. We are up and going bright and early, making it out of Longboat Pass by 0730 and pointing our way south for the Keys. The weather forecast is perfect for us, 10-15k winds, ENE with moderate, read 2', seas. The first 18 hours are just perfect, the sun is shining, the wind is off our port beam (that's at a 90* angle to our left) and we are sailing along at a comfortable 6-7kts of boat speed. Breakfast, lunch and dinner under sail life is good. Sunset is great and we are into the night crossing at least this time around there is no fog and the moon is providing a good amount of light and then there are the stars, beautiful.
Monday, 12/21 off we go even before the sun has reported for work. Scratch that there is no work out here. We are up and going bright and early, making it out of Longboat Pass by 0730 and pointing our way south for the Keys. The weather forecast is perfect for us, 10-15k winds, ENE with moderate, read 2', seas. The first 18 hours are just perfect, the sun is shining, the wind is off our port beam (that's at a 90* angle to our left) and we are sailing along at a comfortable 6-7kts of boat speed. Breakfast, lunch and dinner under sail life is good. Sunset is great and we are into the night crossing at least this time around there is no fog and the moon is providing a good amount of light and then there are the stars, beautiful.
All this is before we pass Sanibel Island and leave US waters for international waters and the area of the charts which simply states, "Here there be dragons". It's deep and dark and of course the wind picks up along with the seas, so much for weather forecasts. N, NE winds replace our 
ideal and pick up to 20-25k with following seas of 6'. For those that have heard the saying, fair winds and following seas, it is really not a blessing but a bit of a curse. Following seas mean that big, nasty roiling bodies of ocean come crashing into you from behind, making things very uncomfortable. After reefing (reducing) all of our sails around 0200 on the 22nd, we were still surfing down waves making a good 7-7.5k (for Boto under reduced sail this is fast) finally we bring in the head sail completely using a reefed main only and still make 6-7k of boat speed and still we rock-n-roll. By 0500 things are getting a bit tiring as the rough seas and gusty winds have made sleeping difficult, at best we've each caught a brief puppy nap (no cat naps on Boto). By 0700 we've given in and cranked up the engine hoping to flatten out the ride a bit and give us some more speed as we've dropped below 5k.
ideal and pick up to 20-25k with following seas of 6'. For those that have heard the saying, fair winds and following seas, it is really not a blessing but a bit of a curse. Following seas mean that big, nasty roiling bodies of ocean come crashing into you from behind, making things very uncomfortable. After reefing (reducing) all of our sails around 0200 on the 22nd, we were still surfing down waves making a good 7-7.5k (for Boto under reduced sail this is fast) finally we bring in the head sail completely using a reefed main only and still make 6-7k of boat speed and still we rock-n-roll. By 0500 things are getting a bit tiring as the rough seas and gusty winds have made sleeping difficult, at best we've each caught a brief puppy nap (no cat naps on Boto). By 0700 we've given in and cranked up the engine hoping to flatten out the ride a bit and give us some more speed as we've dropped below 5k.Sunrise shows us that the large waves we caught glimpses off during the night were not our imagination, while 6' is not huge, when you are in the trough between two 6'+ waves you feel small, especially when they are occurring every 5 seconds or less. By noon of the 22nd things are looking up, we make sight of land and by 1300 we've made it to the outer sea buoy marking the channel into Key West. We've both been to Key West before as we're sure have many of you out there, but arriving via the water on a small boat is kinda exciting.
The trip down has been great, wind and waves aside and we make it to our anchorage off of Fleming Key without incident. We actually get a great dolphin show on our way in, imagine we get to see all the dolphins we can take in without having to fork over money to the dolphin tours, we also get our fill of sunrises and sunsets without having to sign up for the tour. Grab a boat and go see for yourself.
Mija and Chula have decided Key West is their favorite stop so far, especially as our first landfall on the 22nd was to grab a bite to eat at the Schooner Bar before getting some sleep and they were both welcomed to come in and have a seat. Of course they got to share in the burgers and fries but not the beer, there are limits after all. Christmas in Key West we've decided should be fun. Of course from there we decided that New Years in Key West should be even better, so here we are enjoying some time on the hook in the Southern Most city of the Union. Of course the Conch Republic views itself differently.
We've met a number of great folks, other cruisers as well as some of the locals all have been very eager to help and share a story. It's somehow reassuring to have a beer and a conversation with a 19th century pirate (not a make believe pirate, but a pirate) not to mention the angel (complete with wings) to his right.
It's a little chilly now as the coldfronts continue to roll through and the high winds continue to rock us to sleep, but for now life at the end of the line is comfortable. Sunrise, ah!
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