When we went to bed the night before the wind had died down, so we were encouraged about the trip to Key West the next day. I awoke about 3:30 a.m. to the sound of wind that had picked up again in the night. I couldn't get to sleep, so I got up to start getting ready to leave. Joe held out until 4:00 a.m. and we left the dock at 5:00 a.m. It couldn't have been any darker out. After picking our way out of the inlet, we set our course for Key West. The combination of the wind, waves, crab pots and rain made for a very uncomfortable trip. At one point I considered turning back. I went below and was holding onto the ceiling grab rails as the boat pitched 30 degrees each way. I decided it if got any worse before we made our halfway point, I would turn back. By noon we felt that it was as bad as it was going to get and we settled in for the remaining five hours. The navigation system and autopilot were amazing. The autopilot hummed continually as it kept us on course through pitching and rolling. We decided no human could maintain a course like that in those conditions.
We arrived at the dock at 5 p.m. pretty well exhausted.
By 6:00 p.m. we were enjoying drinks and music at the Conch Seafood bar followed by dinner at Prime. After our 12 hour ordeal, we decided steaks were in order. The steaks were wonderful as well as the service. We especially enjoyed the She Crab soup.
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| Captain Tony's, the self-proclaimed, "oldest bar in florida" |
After dinner we stopped at Captain Tony's, Sloppy Joes and then the Hogs Breath Inn where we ran into a group of family and friends who had participated in a charity run that day.
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| Our new friends - I let him win |
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