Windy In Boot Key Harbor

We're still here, the wind picked up again Friday night 20 to 25 knots and gusts much higher. We could think of worse places to be marooned. We lost some sleep a few night in a row due to the wind but last night we made up for it. The wind died down below 10 knots for most of the night. It doesn't look good for a trip to Key West and the Dry Tortugas. We had some wind and fronts moving through last year but we don't remember it being so constant as this year.

The picture is of the three Hunter boats in a row taken yesterday morning on our way to church. While we were gone the wind of course picked up but when we checked the GPS we were in the same place as when we left. We got back just in time to see another front move though and the wind gusts were 25 plus knots. The wind is great for the wind generator but we are getting tired of listening to it howl.

We plan to stay for the week here in the harbor. Tonight we will attend a gathering of the cruisers at the Dockside Bar & Grill. Everyone here is friendly and looks out for one another. Many boats have dragged during the nights of high winds. Other boaters help by dinghy to reset anchors. It's very community oriented here.

This afternoon I will do laundry and Larry will get a propane fill in one of our tanks. We have just hung out on the boat this morning because it has been very chilly outside. The sun has begun to warm things up a bit, time to go out and enjoy.

LCH When we say 'hanging out', it is never sitting back and relaxing. While it is nothing big, my morning was spent mounting a dansforth anchor on the bow of the boat so it is ready when I need it. I also killed a bit of time trouble shooting our JVC receiver/dvd player which died last night. I traced the 12v from the circuit breakers to the radio connector as the 12v tothe radio is fine. I then spent the next 45 - 60 minutes calling JVC and Hunter to get the radio sent in for repair. Hunter says it has a 2 year warranty (good!) while JVC says 1 year (not good!). But Hunter did give me the name of their distributor for the radio who they say will handle the repair. I have a voice message with them waiting for a call back. I also am waiting for Hunter to call me back in regards to our propane tank. We now have had a third tank have a valve failure. So far Hunter has replaced them but this gets tiring. I will be adding a 20 lb lp tank on the stern rail this summer so I don't have to depend on the 4 lb tanks that came with the boat. The advantage will be more time between refills and I can just swap the 20 lb tank at a propane exchange and not worry any more about bad valves. Lots of little stuff to waste a morning!