8 February -- Day #66. We still plan to spend time visiting Key West, but we've decided 'Nellie D.' is quite comfortable here at the dock in Boca Chica for 1/5 the price. After studying the charts and talking with fellow cruisers, we decided to navigate the short distance in the shallow waters with the dinghy to see Key West. We quickly abandoned that plan today when our dock neighbors offered to take us on a tour of Key West in their car. We spent the day with Hank and Ann, 'Queen Ann's Revenge' as our guides. There wasn't an area of the Key we missed, we now know where to find best restaurants, where to take walking tours, and where to find the favorite cruisers' haunts. We celebrated our arrival at Mile 0, the most southern point of the US, with a conch sandwich at the famed Bo's Restaurant. At the Boca Chica Naval Air Station marina. 0 nm today and 1582nm total. BJH

7 February -- Day #65. By the end of the day we're napping and listening to the Superbowl game on the radio. We'd spent the entire day stripping and sanding cetol off the exterior brightwork. The marina's Beach Club put on a Superbowl party with free hot dogs, we naturally had to go. By half time we were both dragging so we returned to the boat. An early night at the Boca Chica Naval Air Station marina. 0 nm today and 1582nm total. BJH

6 February -- Day #64. The docks are near the runway and there are two frequent sayings here at the marina when the F-18s and F-5s scream by overhead: "I love jet noice" and "That's the sound of freedom." The sound will temperarily deafen and all
conversation stops until the jets have passed. The winds quickly picked up today and we were quite happy to be securely tied to the dock. We've been assigned to A Dock--the party dock. Tonight we had a pizza party. Happy at the dock in Boca Chica Naval Air Station. 0nm today and 1582nm total.

4 February - Day #62. Good thing we made some mileage down the Hawk Channel yesterday. Today's East winds have things churned up but it's only a four run to Boca Chica. By some miracle we got a slip for two weeks at the Boca Chica Naval Station's docks. The picture says it all. From here it's a 25 minute dingy ride to downtown Key West. 23nm today and 1559nm total.

3 February - Day #61. Clocking winds in a crowded and shallow anchorage always makes for fitful sleeping. After checking on things several times last night we woke this morning to calm waters, blustery winds and an overcast sky. As predicted the winds now pushed us towards a lee shore. The anchorage shoals quickly so I turned on the depth log to see how much water was beneath the keel. Three things immediately became clear: Nellie pointed in a different direction than everyone else; Nellie wasn't bobbing like everyone else; Nellie's depth gauge read zero. Individually these factors could be discounted. Combined they pointed to an irrefutable and alarming conclusion. Nellie was aground. So much for a lazy morning. The first good news came after a quick scan of the tide tables. We were less than an hour into the rising tide and in the next five hours could expect a foot of lift. Being abeam to the shoal the immediate problem was how to keep the winds from blowing us farther onto it. Using the dingy we set a kedge anchor and attached its rode to Nellie's stern. Then both the bow and stern rodes were drawn tight. Since the stern draws more water than the bow it was important to keep the stern anchor's rode as tight as possible. Today's first photo shows Bicki modeling our block and tackle solution for keeping the kedge's rode tight. Fortunately a rising tide does indeed raise all boats and about an hour after the excitement started Nellie was back in deep water. A little later Jack and Mirka, S/V Zeiggy, who were anchored just upwind of us, stopped by to say hello. After they said they hadn't even noticed Nellie's predicament we were hopeful that her crew's incompetence might have been missed by the rest of the fleet too. Fortunately all the morning's excitement didn't prevent us from attending the Waterway Radio and Cruising Club's (WRCC) luncheon. We've been talking to Chuck (ND7K) for over a year now and it was nice to finally put a face with the voice. After lunch it was with pleasure that we weighed anchor and left Boot Key Harbor behind. On a well set anchor and all by ourselves on the west side of Ramrod Key, FL. 21nm today and 1559nm total.

2 February - Day #60. Just south of the city of Marathon is one of the best anchorages in the keys. Because it's protected on all sides Boot Key Harbor attracts all types: Bahamas bound sailors; snow birds; Keys cruisers; and a fair share who've found Nirvana and whose boats are slowly being reclaimed by King Neptune. The bay's prime real estate is consumed by 248 moorings which means what area is left for anchoring is both small and marginal. Since there were no moorings available we found some room and dropped the hook. Here's a picture of one of the dingy docks--talk about crowded! On the hook in Boot Key Harbor, FL. 6nm today and 1538nm total.

1 February - Day #59. No doubt about it the boat was tailing us. He'd been back there for about an hour, in the haze, but was catching up slowly. Now he was just 100 yards astern and hovering. We checked the chart and assured ourselves that Somalia is indeed 4500nm distant--so he's probably not a pirate. Still ... Playing it safe we altered course, left the channel and headed directly for Marathon. He did too. Then came a radio call, "Nellie D. by any chance are you headed for a marina?" Well, that answered that, he's not a pirate just navigationally challenged. On the hook in pirate free waters, Marathon, FL. 62nm today and 1532nm total.