Day 133, Year 10: Weather, Weather
Date: Friday, February 20, 2015
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Very Windy NNW10 Turning ENE 20
Location: Dinner Key Marina Anchorage, Coconut Grove, FL
Weather, weather. It seems to be the total focus of our attention these days. When we got up this morning the outside temperature according to our thermometer was 42 degrees F—in Florida, south of Miami, at the end of February. I would expect this in January, but it is almost March. It has been a cooler than expected couple of months for us in Florida, so we’re definitely ready for spring as I’m sure everyone in New England is as well. We don’t have tons of snow and freezing temperatures, so we really have no complaints. We checked into the Dinner Key Cruiser’s Net this morning as newcomers and the net controller asked us where we were from. When we said Cape Cod, she immediately said, “So you are the ones that brought this cold weather.” Sorry. But even with the chilly night, we were warm and cozy under our comforter. I must admit, however, that it felt down right chilly when we first got out of bed. We no longer have the propane tank aboard Windbird that we were using on the trip from Myrtle Beach to Cumberland Island, so we had no easy way to fire up Mr. Heater. So we just waited for the sun to warm things up. It wasn’t long before the cockpit was warmer than downstairs. As always, we are so thankful for our cockpit enclosure. This morning it warmed us up and served as a clothes dryer for the wash I did yesterday. I had tried to dry it by hanging things in our shower, but it was just too cool. The sunny cockpit did the job. Around 10 am we had a bit of a break in the roaring wind, so we launched the dinghy and headed to shore to take a walk and get a few staples at The Fresh Market just a couple of blocks from the marina. We arrived at the dinghy dock and took our trash and recycling to shore. Mark decided to go back and lock the dinghy and while he did that I just waited for him at the end of the dock. For some reason I looked down and just at that moment a mother and baby manatee swim right under the dock I was standing on. By the time I got my camera out, they were moving on. Mark came back about that time and I just pointed to the water. He saw the manatees and grabbed the camera and ran to the next dock where they were heading. We didn’t get great photos, but it was a thrill to see them up close in such shallow water. We then walked to The Fresh Market. It is a great little supermarket, and despite its relatively small size, it has an amazing array of food–much of it prepared. The clientele must be busy city dwellers who don’t want to spend much time cooking. Looking at the food made me so hungry we had to rush back to the boat to have lunch. And it is a good thing we rushed because the wind switched to the NE just about the time we got to the boat and the seas started building immediately. We spent a few minutes going around the anchorage with our portable depth sounder to try and find a deeper place to anchor, but nothing looked any better than where we are. So we stayed put, had lunch, and bumped the bottom at low tide. I decided to make granola so that I would have a good excuse for keeping the oven going this evening. It is not nearly as cool tonight as last night, but it is toasty inside the boat now. And the empty granola containers are filling up.
Both Mark and I spent time reading and planning for our trip to the Bahamas this afternoon. And once again, the weather is serving as the frustration. We would love to be able to leave next weekend, but some reports are projecting more windy weather. You want settled conditions for crossing the Gulf Stream, so we might just have to sit and wait. Well, we really won’t just sit and wait. Our good friends Tom and Detta Porat arrive on Monday, so we will have plenty to do during the week. But once they leave, the sitting and waiting will begin. My birthday is on March 5 and I really want to celebrate it in the Bahamas. Come on weather, be a bit cooperative for a change!
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| 150220 Day 133 Florida, USA–Dinner Key Dinghy Dock |
