Night Sailing, Bridges, Anchovies

You know I hate night sailing, don't you?  Sure you do.  If you've been reading this blog at all, I've probably said it a million times.

So, last night, we motored out of Sister Creek under cover of darkness and into the Channel to find a good place to anchor as we waited for low tide to go under the bridge that would take us back into Florida Bay and north towards the Everglades, our next destination.

We had purchased a new spotlight which came in very handy as Elliott standing on the bow lighting up the daymarks for Gary as he made his way into the anchorage.

When the alarm sounded for leaving, at 3am, I just wanted to stay in bed.  My night sleeping has been jarred by the rib injury, as laying flat hurts, but staying on my side helps some, but it's not comfortable.

But I eventually got up and we headed out.  We had to go way around a shoaly spot and then head back in perpendicular to the Seven Mile Bridge (which I could only make out by the lights it was so dark) to make the tide, which should have given us a full foot over 65 feet.  Gary noticed that the steering was acting wonky and I worried about picking up a crab trap on our propeller, but we would have been stalled, so we thought maybe it was the current mixed in with the low tide or something.  As we neared the bridge, we knew we had it made because the tide board read at least 67. 

As we went under, our antenna scraped again, so we realized that the board was wrong and that the bridge was lower than we expected.  We cleared, though, and that was good.  The guys got us good and anchored and we slept for a fitful few hours.

I was awakened by Gary scurrying above me and cursing a bit and pulling something up from the water.  Come to find out, the steering from the night and morning before had been hampered by not one, but three, crab traps which had become entangled around the rudder.  We were so lucky that they missed the prop; thank goodness for that.

Gary got two of them free, but the last one was proving to be more troublesome, so he had to don swimsuit and flippers and enter the Bay's chilly waters to untangle the lines.  

Finally free, we hoped that the owners of the traps would be found someday.  Only bait was in the traps, so no stone crabs for us today.  I found out yesterday that stone crabs are harvested only for their claws; they grow new ones after a short time--a renewable resource.   I know, kind of gross, but they are delicious.

We got the news that a package that should have been delivered to us last week while we were in Islamorada would be getting there today, so Gary has us sailing (quite quickly and nicely) back up there to get this package.  The Post Office there is wacky, for sure.  The new and old owners of the resort we stayed in seem to be not in good stead, so any mail that comes to the resort without the name "resort" at the end is directly sent to the old owner in Tampa.  So, even though our package had Gary's name all over it and said "care of," etc., it was turned away at the post office.  Gary had called and inquired about it and the person who answered the phone had no interest in helping this issue get cleared up and had no information on projected delivery dates or anything.  I mean, really.  Just not good form, USPS.  So, he just found out this morning that it was going back and so we are going back, not a good use of our time, but at least there will be a resolution to this issue.  Grrrrrrrr.

Good thing is that we need to fill the dingy fuel tank and that will be available and their dinner menu at the resort is quite enticing.  Could be worse.

Our boating friends on Azimuth have decided not to go with us to the Everglades, which is the only reason I left Marathon.  Just found that out, too.  They do like to stay put once they find a good anchorage and they've become a bit immersed in the Key West home school community and I can't say that I blame them at all.  I sure do hope we see them at least once again during this trip and would heartily wish them well if we don't.  Elliott is very sad because he loves the two teens on the boat and is really missing them.

** Oh, why is anchovies mentioned in the title when I didn't mention them at all in my story?  Because, along with night sailing and bridges, they are another thing I abhor.  Oh, and eels.