After 2 1/2 days of motor sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, dodging crab traps the whole way, we arrived in Key West at the Stock Island Marina. Whoop, whoop!
Coming into a marina always gives me anxiety. I hate it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I HATE DOCKING! I’m so afraid we’re going to bang into something, put another hole in the boat, damage someone else’s boat, etc. So far, we’ve only had one major faux pas, and that was in San Juan. I guess I should chill out. It’s probably hard to sink a boat while docking.
Never-the-less, I still hate it. My new mantra is “It’s just fiberglass. It’s just fiberglass.” It’ll sink in some day.
But, we made it to Key West!
The wind was about to kick up in a big way Friday afternoon, so we docked in Key west Friday morning. I know Dad, we cut it close. But we did it. When we arrived at the marina, they assigned us to a slip where we had to motor past that giant super yacht in the picture and pull a Captain Ron by turning 90 degrees and sliding in sideways to the dock. That yacht is a “Below Deck” kind of yacht that rents for $150,000 a week! I didn’t want to get anywhere near it.
“How are we supposed to get in there?”
“Back into that large open space next to you, then make your turn. You should be fine.”
“Can’t we just back into this large open space next to us and stay here?”
“Um, sure.”
So we did. We’ve been to several marinas over the course of this journey, and these two guys were by far the most experience dock guys we’ve met. We tossed them our lines and they knew exactly what to do. We were tied up in no time and headed to the nearest bar for our celebratory rum punch.
This marina is awesome. They have three bars, three restaurants, two pools, laundry, and a hotel. And all at reasonable prices. Gotta love the floating docks, too.
This is where we say good-bye to Mike, again. We have to be back in St. Pete tomorrow, so we’re renting a car in the morning, driving back to Ft. Lauderdale to pick up our car, which we left at Just Cats, and then we’ll drive home. It’s going to be a long day. We have obligations on Sunday, and we fly back here Monday to prepare for our first unassisted overnight home. Wish us luck!
February 2020