The plan for today was to get up early, purchase fuel, top off our water tanks and leave.  Since the fuel dock was so close to our anchorage, we didn’t take Daisy in the dinghy for her morning walk.  We got up at 6:30 am, quickly got ready to go and motored to the fuel dock a short distance away.  We filled up, took Daisy for a walk and got ready to leave.  Then, Mark noticed something wrong with the genset so he checked and the water filter was filled with debris.  He emptied it and we were finally on our way at 8:30 am about an hour later than we wanted to start. 

Today our speed averaged from 5 kts to 7 kts  thanks to some strong winds and also the fact that we motorsailed most of the day.  We thought it would take us all day to get to Key West and even considered stopping at Sugarloaf Key.  We arrived at Key West at 4:30 pm. and anchored at Fleming Key. See pictures above.  There are over 50 sailboats anchored here.  There is a very strong current here so everyone is swinging and rocking.  We could try a Bahamian moor, using two anchors, but there is always the possibility they could snag together and we’d lose them both, so we’ll see how bad this gets.  There are several areas to anchor in Key West, but they all have something which makes them less than desirable.  This one has a very strong current.  Wisteria Island has poor holding.  The marinas are grossly expensive now that the summer is over.  There is a mooring field, but it’s not very protected either.

We are going to spend tomorrow in Key West for several reasons.  First, we would like to get some rest in preparation for the next leg of our trip.  Looking at the miles we have covered over the last four days, as well as the forecast for this week, we will need to revise our sailing route.  Rather than follow the west coast of Florida, we are now considering  doing several overnight sails and eventually cutting across the Gulf to Mobile.  Mark’s son Eric will meet us in Ft. Myers and sail the rest of the way with us.

We walked around the city of Key West with Daisy in the evening and discovered a Starbucks.  I am fairly addicted to caramel frappuccinos, but haven’t had one for four days and haven’t missed them. However, we did go to the Starbucks and had some delicious fraps.   I guess I’ll need to join a 12 step program for Starbuckolics so I can learn some strategies to  resist the temptation.

While walking around Key West this evening, many people stopped to ask about Daisy and pet her.  Daisy enjoyed all of the attention, but I suspect she would be embarrassed if she knew what was on the front of the cardboard display when Mark lifted her and put her head in the face opening.