February 2010 - Week 2

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Day 130

Lay Day: Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida Keyes MM 1195.0

Weather: Brief shower overnight then cold and windy, Sunny in the afternoon; high in the low 70s and low in the low 60s; wind calm in the morning then North @ 20 knots

Comment: It's time for a boat chore! At 199.0 hours, the starboard hour meter stopped working. Since it has a lifetime warranty, I received a new one in the mail a couple of days ago. Replacing the hour meter should have been easy, but as you might imagine, problems ensued. After checking the new meter, we find that it doesn't work either! Uh ho, it's probably not the meter after all. How can this be? We have 12.5 volts in the leads? After a series of checks and temporary connections, we find that the supposedly faulty meter actually works. Using the multimeter, I rechecked the original leads and find that we start out with 12 volts but start to lose voltage after a few seconds. After a few more tests, we determine that the positive lead is the culprit. Fortunately, we have enough were to replace the positive lead. After running the new lead, the hour meter is functioning again. We’re back in business. Now we have to catch the meter up to the actual hours that the engine has run. That’ll take about 50 hours!

The Tropic Movie Theater in Key West

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Day 131

Lay Day: Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida Keyes MM 1195.0

Weather: Sunny, cool, temp range low 60s to mid 60s; North wind @ 20+knots

Comment: It’s a Key West Day! We caught the 9:33 AM bus and arrived in Key West at around 1100 hours. After making our way downtown, we lunched at Bo’s Fish Wagon, one of our favorite Key West stops. Today it was Fish (mutton snapper) and Chips. It was excellent. I asked for the local’s discount but Bo’s doesn’t have one per se. But, if you order the fish sandwich special (it’s not on the menu and only locals

know about it) you’ll get the fries for free!

Key West Lighthouse

We walked a bit of the waterfront near the Westin Hotel and also the Truman Annex area (about two miles) before ducking into the Tropic Theater to see “Crazy Heart,” starring Jeff Bridges. Apparently he’s up for an Oscar for his performance. Wethought it was a good movie and the soundtrack was excellent.

Following the movie, we did some more walking. Back to the Truman Annex, we found the new Eco-Discovery Center. We had to take a quick look around as it was near closing time.We’ll go back for a better look the next time we’re in town.

Continuing our stroll, we left the Truman Annex and headed down Whitehead street past the Hemingway House to the Key West Lighthouse. After pausing for a few pictures, we walked back down Whitehead and went into Kelly’s Caribbean Grill and Micro Brew where we enjoyed Macadamia encrusted Mahi Mahi with Banana Buttered Rum sauce and coffee/tea under the propane heater.

Following dinner, we took a cab to the bus stop for the ride back to Marathon. What a nice day!

Thursday, February 11, 2010 Day 132

Lay Day: Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida Keyes MM 1195.0

Weather: Sunny, cool, temp range mid 50s to mid 60s; North wind @ 15 knots to calm by early evening

Comment: Today was a work day with three runs for water, laundry and a run to fill the gas jugs.

Friday, February 12, 2010 Day 133

Lay Day: Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida Keyes MM 1195.0

Weather: Temp range low 60s to Mid 70s; day starts sunny becomes overcast and then severe thunderstorms and very windy (35+ for 1/2 hour) in the evening.

Comment: After listening to the Cruisers’ Net, we headed out for a walk, then to Herbie’s for lunch and re provisioning at Publix.

We had a severe storm warning in the evening. It lasted for perhaps 1/2 hour and consisted of heavy rain and high winds (35+ gusts although 50+ were predicted). We weathered the storm well. Earlier in the day, we checked our mooring lines for chafe, stowed every little thing, and secured the dinghy to the davits. There was heavy chop in the harbor and SUNSHINE was bouncing vigorously in the 2’ waves.

Howard Livingston

Saturday, February 13, 2010 Day 134

Lay Day: Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida Keyes MM 1195.0

Weather: Temp range high 40s to low 60s; mostly cloudy; breezy (20+25 knots

Comment: Today, we attended the Concert in the Park at the Lazy Lakes RV Resort on Sugarloaf Key. It was a full day of music and the talent included: C. W. Colt backed by the Doerful Family, Chris Cook, the country rocking Horse Pistols, hick hop sensation Cowboy Troy, Keys performer of the year Howard Livingston and Mile Marker 24, Mac McAnally and Jerry Jeff Walker. It was a great lineup! Because the weather was chilly, we were dressed in our winter's finest as the concert temperature during the day was 62 degrees, Considering the 25 knots of wind, the

wind chill factor had to be in the 40s (tonight’s low is supposed to be 49)! We had to bug out on the last two performers as it got colder when the sun went down. None-the-less, it was great day. Too bad it wasn’t warmer.

Cowboy Troy

Besides the concert, the ticket price included all-you-can-eat hot

dogs and free beer... all day long! Besides the free suds, folks brought all kinds of beverages to keep a person warm. They even passed out Jello shots to the crowd.

We made it back to the boat by 2000 hours, fired up the generator and turned on the heat!