Little Pine and Johnson Keys

March 7th, 2015
24 44.626 N
81 18.656 W

Really blew last night. Not in the forecast. Started about when we were going to bed and lasted until 4 or 5 AM. Must have been at least 25 knots or more. I was up a couple of times checking our position and the anchor alarm. The tide changed at about 2 AM and I was a bit concerned that we could drag then. (Because the boat will pull the anchor chain completely the other way and can "twist" the anchor out of the sand.) But all was well when the sun rose. The tide changed again at about 9 AM - and this time we dragged. But only about 20' and the anchor settled again.

The day's forecast seemed ok - max 15 kt winds - so we timed our departure to catch Hi Tide at our next anchorage and headed out about 11 AM. It was calm at the anchorage but as we headed to the channel thru the outlying reefs, the wind seemed a bit stronger and we could see.... breakers? But breakers an be 12" hi so we plodded on, both of us on the fly bridge.

The looked little to us also!

The situation deteriorated fast as we turned into the channel thru the reef. There was no breaking waves but short and sharp and confused 6 footers all around. We should not have been on the fly bridge and Tide Hiker was being thrown around so much that Deidre was very apprehensive about making the trip down. But she put on a life jacket and keeping BOTH HANDS FREE made her way below and I followed.

Thanks goodness for plastic!

To add to our discomfort the sea was covered with crab pot floats. Normally we can thread our way thru such crabbing fields with "a few degrees here and a few degrees there" but in these conditions every change of course needed to be aggressive. It was hard work.

Adding to the hassles, the sea was increasingly coated with heavy streaks of floating weed. We have no photos because the camera was upstairs and we were wedged in the wheelhouse. I wanted to avoid the large islands of weed because if we suck the weed into the engines they will overheat.

Not long after Deidre started feeling ill and so I was on bucket detail. Poor kid. But now she feels better?

The weather and the sea settled down as the day progressed. We changed our route to a more conservative alternative and made it to a very secure and protected anchorage. There is some issue about the holding - is it rock or is it sand? - but we set the anchor with both engines in reverse and the chain was so bar tight i could have walked on it. Plenty of sleep tonight. Nice sunset too.