Best laid plans don't always work out as intended.  We had a frustrating week in Key West, hoping to leave for the out islands of the Keys and then on to Mexico, but finding ourselves stuck waiting for parts and repairs instead.  Realizing how many people gladly come to Key West in December, I reminded myself of the importance of attitude.  How bad was it really, being "stuck" in Key West?

     Always eager to share our experiences with any friends that are willing, we had worked out a plan to get David Delaney back on Zia for the trip to Mexico.  He flew into Key West a week ago.  We picked him up in the car and he joined us for our farewell dinner with Paul and Mardy in Cudjoe Key.  The girls and I took over their kitchen and prepared a meal of bruschetta appetizers, chicken parmigiana with fettuccini and salad, and a white chocolate mousse for dessert.  Over dinner we came up with a plan to sail to Looe Key the next morning, about nine miles to the southeast, before continuing on to Key West.  Paul and Mardy raved about the snorkeling on the large reef there, confirming a previous recommendation we had gotten from Jean, our kiteboarding friend in Boston.  It lived up to our expectations with a huge variety of fish, barracuda the size of our kids, wonderful coral formations and even a couple of sharks to get our hearts pumping. 

     Continuing on another twenty miles, we found a nice anchor spot that afternoon relatively close to the dinghy dock in front of Turtle Kraals.  We had finally decided to bite the bullet and replace our batteries.  We got a good deal from the local West Marine store, and worked out a plan to tie up at the public dock for a couple of hours to execute the swap.  The four new AGM batteries weren't due in until Wednesday morning so we had a day and a half to explore the city and get our other chores done.  Unfortunately, the weather was hot and muggy and the water in the anchorage skanky.  Still working hard to get back on track with school, we spent a lot of time sweating it out on the boat.  Once the sun went down and the temperatures with it, everybody's spirits rose.  

     The battery replacement went smoothly.  Although we didn't see any material difference in terms of the way our electronics functioned, we immediately noticed our charge controller displaying much more generous readings for the amp hours remaining and the overall voltage of our battery bank.  Given our cruising grounds over the next few years, we made the right decision to buy new batteries before leaving Florida.

     The other necessary chore we had to perform was obtaining a health certificate for Boo.  When traveling to a foreign country, you need this document, issued within ten days of arrival, certifying all the vaccinations given and the overall health of the animal.  It was a traumatic day for Boo, exposed to the sights and sounds and smells of the streets for the first time in her life.  We tried to travel the cruisers' way, waiting nearly an hour for a bus that dropped us off a few blocks from the vet's office.  Our timing was perfect on the way home, catching the return bus just as it was pulling up to the stop.  Unfortunately, the driver wouldn't allow us to board with the cat.  Apparently we need a certificate from the transportation department to bring an animal on the bus.  Where are all the taxis when you need them? 

    The original plan was to leave right after returning from our vet excursion.  One of the plagues of boating struck, however, as our refrigeration all of the sudden stopped working.  In the nearly five years since installing the system when we first bought the boat, it had worked flawlessly.  The temperature gauge had malfunctioned a couple of times, but that was an easy replacement.  Joe did his best to trouble shoot the system and could find nothing wrong.  We found an outfit certified by the manufacturer and prepared to be scalped.  Of course, you know what the acronym BOAT stands for, don't you?  Break Out Another Thousand.  Well, two days and just over one BOAT unit later, we finally took off for the Marquesas.  We couldn't figure out if it was a good thing or a bad one that the apparent blockage in the closed system cleared itself up in the course of all our tinkering.  We saved the cost of replacing the evaporator, another boat unit, but will worry about the problem recurring while we are far away from replacement parts and trained technical help.

     In the meantime, we made the best of our situation and explored Key West.  The aquarium was a hit.  We got to pet a nurse shark

and the fierce-looking but friendly iguana.

Juliana got friendly with Hemingway as he perched on a bench outside the museum, smoking his pipe and telling tales of his adventures.

     David fit right in through it all.  He brought his own headlamp, an essential tool for any cruiser, regardless of the state of a boat's batteries.  He embraced the opportunity to see all sides of the cruising experience rather than just the glamorous sailing from beautiful port to deserted beaches to foreign lands.

We were so happy to be finally free to leave that we proceeded to the Marquesas on Friday afternoon, despite the fact that we would arrive after dark.  The water surrounding these mangrove islands is very shallow and, we soon discovered, riddled with pot buoys marking traps on the bottom.  After catching a couple during daylight hours, I spent the last hour of our passage on the bow with the night vision scope plastered to my eye calling out whenever we came close to catching another.  We anchored in the middle of nowhere, about a mile north of the island in 8 feet of water.  The stars riddled the sky and the frustration and stress of the week was forgotten.

     Our passage to Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas was another challenge.  Thunderstorms loomed in the distance, the seas were rough and the wind well forward of the beam.  It was only a forty mile trip and we sailed for the first twenty miles without too much discomfort.  As the wind clocked around in front of us, we rolled up the gib.  Luckily, we decided to drop the main as well.  As I was zipping up the cover, the squall hit us with 35 knots and buckets of rain.  We made it to the anchorage behind Fort Jefferson just before the next one reached us. 

     By Sunday, the nasty weather was behind us.  The Dry Tortugas is a National Park and no-take zone.  Consequently the fish grow quite large.  We got to meet a couple of them up close and personal when they came over to rest in the shade of Zia's large shadow. 

Built in the mid-1800s, Fort Jefferson served as the United States' outpost from which it controlled navigation to the Gulf of Mexico and protected Atlantic-bound Mississippi River trade.  It served as a Union military prison during the Civil War and held four men convicted of complicity in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.  Today the fort is undergoing restoration but is open for self-guided tours.  Half a dozen park rangers live at the fort, ten days on and four days off back in Key West. 

     It was a thoroughly enjoyable stop and a welcome return our more typical style of cruising.  We even got a chance to try out my early Christmas present.  We had seen these inflatable stand up paddle boards in West Marine.  Looking online, I found many comments to the effect that although not spectacular, these were certainly serviceable, especially for the kind of paddling I expected to do.  I won't be catching many waves on this baby, but I look forward to a little exercise and exploration in flat water.

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