Wind, Wind and more Wind

Greetings from your idle to semi-comotose intrepid cruisers at Marathon Marina. Life here has been very relaxing except for the wind. Correction: the very strong wind. It has been blowing now for two days, whistling in the rigging, healing the boat under bare poles and grinding the fender boards against the dock pilings. Both boats are tied up along side a sea wall with wooden pilings at regular intervals and are oriented basically north-south. The wind last night was gusting over 35 kts out of the west, and after several sleepless hours and journeys on deck to check the boats, it mercifully rounded to the north so that the battering against the pilings was finally relieved.

With the dawn, the wind did not abate and with the evening actually started backing to the west again, so back to the grinding again. The one interesting note was that the people here who are waiting for their weather window to make the crossing to the Bahamas are getting excited. The idea is that once this storm blows through, they will have their long awaited weather window to make the crossing. The normally quiet docks thus transformed into people on a mission. Provisioning, trips to Costco for frozen stuff, canvas work and all the stuff that had been blown off now becomes a priority. Hey!!! What happened to that rule about it being illegal to be in a hurry when you are in the Keys????

The lift off window will be this Friday, so it will be very interesting to patrol the docks and see who goes and who stays. The Passage Weather website predicts a very narrow corridor between the current storm, and the one that follows. Still, these people have been here for a while (2 months), and it seems to be getting personal. More on the drama as it unfolds.

Pete is off on a family vacation skiing in the Rockies, although going to Maryland could be a similar experience. We had planned to head back around this time to close on the property we are trying to purchase, but the record snow falls have made it impossible for all the inspections to be completed, so we are delayed, and remain here in the wind and relative warmth. Normally the Keys at this time of year enjoy temperatures around 75. At the moment it is in the 50's and 60's, so, like I say, it is all relative.