Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Early Morning Key West Ashore

I decided to let Bear sleep and not having her scrub the decks or wax anything (yeah right) and take a bicycle ride around the early morning streets of KW.  The place is clean even after going until 0400.  There were few out on the streets at 0700 except those streaming off two very large cruise ships tied near Mallory Square.  The homeless were testing change slots in the newspaper machines and sleeping in some parks.  There are a number of them.  It is fun to watch people here and the variety of visitors is astounding.  Languages of all sorts are spoken on the streets. 

The mooring field will be challenged today as the winds are expected to pipe up to 25 knots.  That will test the best anchors in the soft mud of the area.  Still, out there is a very good place to be behind any key or island that happens to be upwind of your boat.  Sometimes, the winds change in the night and one might just be on the windward side of the anchorage and in a very motion filled location.  If one happens to spend the entire night in the lee of an island, it is a good thing. 

Bear strained her back somehow.  We do not know when it happened but she is battling a lower back issue so the extra days here will let that situation ease (we hope).  As long as she does not try to walk very fast, the discomfort is minimal.  Anything faster than snails pace and things change.  So sitting aboard for a few days won't hurt anything.  So far, she has had one challenge after the other.  We both feel that it is a matter of getting used to the lifestyle and that it should not change the cruise plan.  Hopefully, that will be the case. 

As for today, it is back on the forward head.  Still having some intermittant problems with it so Bligh the plumber is back on duty. 

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