Flashback Friday Arriving in Key West During a Pandemic

October 1, 2021 - By Jill

Last Updated on October 19, 2023 by Jill

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After a long sail home we are back in the states. We pulled into the fuel dock in Key West around 3:30 am and crashed for some much-needed rest. We were woken a little before 7 am by the dockhand. They didn’t want us tied up to the dock due to the pandemic. Which we didn’t know.

The dockhand was very upset and gave us a very harsh scolding until… down below were two puppies who began barking and he asked us if we had dogs, we said yes and told him a little about the girls. He immediately changed his tone and said “well you guys have been at sea for 9 days we aren’t worried about you guys. I bet those dogs could really use a good walk. Why don’t you take those dogs for a good walk and stop by the coffee queen and get a bite to eat before you head back to the boat No rush take a good long walk”. Wow! what a change. It sure pays to have a dog on board.

After that, we went and anchored out and got some decent sleep. We needed it after the last 9 days. I am sure you are all wondering how our sail went. Well, let me tell you it was pretty interesting, exciting, scary, and boring.

I won’t bore you with the play-by-play every day but instead, give you the highlights.

The Sail

Pulled anchor around 8:30 am and left St. Thomas with beautiful weather. We were able to sail for several days straight. Just as we were sailing past the Dominican Republic and Hati we got word that a serious storm that was supposed to pass before us had slowed down and was going to go right over our path. After talking with Chris Parker he recommended that we pull into Great Inagua and anchor through the worst of the storm. This was allowed due to the approval that Salty Dog got for us. The wind had died and we turned the motor on. We discussed it and talked with a couple of other boats near us and all agreed it was the smart thing. We set our course for a protected anchorage off Great Inagua.

Storm

Getting into Great Inagua was a little wet. The storm had started and we got soaked, you could hardly see the rain was coming down so hard. Luckily that cell passed and we were able to anchor in light rain. It cleared up for a while and then the big cells came over us and scared the pups. The next morning we pulled up anchor around 8 am heading back on our original route. We had a couple of nice days. Sailing past Cuba we kept having problems with the furler on our headsail.

Late in the night one evening, it just wouldn’t budge. So, as soon as daylight hit Dave hoisted me up the mast in the bosun chair and I sprayed it with some lubricant and got it loosened up. Yeah! Back in Business. The weather at night for the remainder of the trip was dodging one storm after another. The days were pretty calm. Getting into Key West was calm until about 8 pm when we got hit by a huge storm and on top of it, we were having problems with our engine. It took Dave all he had to keep us out of the worst storm while fighting the current and engine problems. I had the dogs down below to help lower the chaos level.

Finally getting through that and then the long channel into Key West we tied up to the fuel dock and got a couple of hours rest.

Key West and beyond

It’s great to be back in the states. Our original plan was to leave for Galveston after getting fuel and sail another 4-5 days. However, we had friends in the Tampa area who told us to sail up and spend some time. Honestly, we were exhausted and we jumped at it. The next day we made the sail to Tampa.

Shortly after pulling out of Key West, we had an overwhelming smell of something burning down in the cabin. After looking everywhere we found the smell. One of our batteries had an internal fault. Dave changed it out with one we had. We had more issues with the engine and Dave ended up changing the fuel filter. Pulled into the dock at around 10 am or so after 2 nights.

We have decided with things already building in the gulf that we are going to stay put here. We will put the boat on the hard and then borrow Dave’s dad’s RV and tour the states and see family.

Since this is my last flashback post from our sailing journey you can catch up with us on our RV adventures and start from the beginning of them by clicking here. We are currently working our way back to the boat. We will be putting her back in the water to continue more sailing adventures, so stay tuned for that post in the next few weeks. Until then, here are some pictures from our sail back to the states.