Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Key West - Piling repair day

No room, no room! Too tight a fit.
With the hurricane came damaged pilings. Nobody wanted to move but the damaged pilings still had to be replaced so the repair barge started moving this morning. They started down our fairway but quickly ran into trouble, they could not clear the first set of boats and so this huge  barge with a crane on top, backed up. They had three pushers to help steer the barge. There was not much room but they backed out successfully.

By the dinghy dock, still a tight fit.
Having tried to come down the fairway with boats in place, the boats on the other side of the fairway now had to move (they were not happy). Now the barge once again came down the fairway but this time they had enough room to clear everyone and wound up by the dinghy dock where a couple of pilings had to be replaced which consumed the rest of the afternoon.

Now they are done for the night and snug up against the opposite docks
We have a piling right next to us that has an orange ribbon on it so we are due for a replacement piling too. We were told we didn't have to move since they have a crane and can just pick it up without disturbing us (we hope). The barge with the carne is massive! A little 1 kt push against us would crush us! Our turn comes on Thursday so we'll see what develops.

Meanwhile, we're waiting for our second crew to arrive and we just heard they are held up north of route 1 due to a forest fire. Route 1 is closed due to smoke so we don't know when they will arrive. This is as of 7:00 pm and they still have about a 3 hour trip at best. I think it's going to be a late night.

5 comments:

captainwjm said...

Re: highway closures; always remember that there is only one way in and one way out of the Keys. Here in Islamorada, we're halfway between Miami and Key West. We tell all who ask that it's 2 to 6 hours [from Miami, or to Key West] depending on traffic. Accidents, especially on the bridges are the most common cause of delays [folks watching the water not the center line, mainlanders trying to pass while frustrated with the 45 mph speed limit], but any disruption on the two lane road through the Keys will cause massive back ups. As my bumper sticker says "slow down, you're not on the mainland."

Bill
M/Y Travis McGee
Islamorada

Bob423 said...

Bill, everyone finally arrived around 10:00, a very long day for our crew - but now they are in paradise!

s/v Sionna said...

"Slow down - You're not on the mainland."
Love it!

Bob423 said...

Dionne, slow is a way of life for that crane! I see 30 minutes of activity every three hours at best. The rest of the time they’re sitting around waiting for God knows what.

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