Tortugas Off the Stern

As we departed the Tortugas, the winds remained strong. Exactly how strong we do not know, because our wind instrument was still not working. Waves were four to six feet. What fun it was to make almost eight knots surfing down the waves powered completely by wind in our sails! Elvis Ann held onto her perch for dear life in her V-berth cage and held up well through the ride. By noon the waves subsided to about three feet and the winds had weakened considerably.

Our destination was the Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West marina at Boca Chica. We were delighted to learn that Island Chariot can make it through the Boca Chica channel. As we neared the marina, a couple from B-dock greeted us from their RIB. Richard from Calypso was standing by and called us on the radio to let us know where our slip, C29, was. He and others met us at the dock and assisted us with our lines. Although we can come and go from docks by ourselves it is always nice to have a hand. Once we were settled, we quickly became friends with many of the couples wintering there. We enjoyed dinner out with different couples on most of the six nights we stayed.

Naturally, we were exhausted on our first night in Boca Chica. We made an easy dinner and turned in early. The next morning as we enjoyed the scenery from our back deck we heard a familiar sound. Could harriers be at NAS Key West? We looked up into the blue skies and sure enough, those were harriers! We moved the bikes off of Island Chariot and pedaled over to the hangars to see which squadron was in town for training. To our delight, it was VMA-311, commanded by none other than LtCol John “Sugar” Kane. Sugar and John (aka “Greedy”, earned for being greedy for flight time in the training squadron) are great friends. They deployed to the Mediterranean together in 2002. John has been thawing out and melting back into civilian life after retiring last May. It felt good to be with an old friend in a familiar setting.

The entire Boca Chica experience felt familiar. Every evening on C-dock, marina residents equipped with conchs and drinks gathered before sunset. To celebrate another beautiful day in the Keys, we played our conchs in unison. When we arrived, the 10-day Conch Republic celebration was well underway. Groups from the marina went together to the “Drag Races” and “A Taste of Key West”. These “drag races” involved drag queens, high heels, and shopping carts in the 700-block of Duval Street. A Taste of Key West is an aids benefit during which local restaurants set up tents on the water in the Truman Annex and offer one or two food choices for participants. Our group finished the evening listening to the band play 70s music at Sloppy Joes. One of our companions was a petite, delightful young-looking woman who retired in July after 26-years as a neurologist in her own practice. I was proud of myself, because I was not surprised at all!

What we had originally intended to be an overnight stay in Boca Chica turned into a six-night stay. I’m noticing a trend here. Our six month anniversary of being on the water was on Monday, April 20th. We had originally intended to be home in six months. We are back in Marathon now. Winds have been 25 to 35-knots from the east for several days and are predicted to be through at least Tuesday. We will start toward home when the winds relax a bit and clock around so they are not in our faces as we sail to Key Largo.