Key West - Anchor backsplice, St Patrick’s Day, Oyster Shot, BO’s for Conch Fritters, etc.

 

Big party on the top deck

Everybody had a full day today. The first order of business was to get our new Spade 140 anchor ready for Fleetwing. Before that, the 90 feet of new 3/8 BBB chain needed a backsplice to 150 ft of 5/8 inch nylon line. Ann and Sarah deciphered the instructions and got that accomplished. Meanwhile, I had Matthew up forward to clean out the anchor locker which had collect various levels of debris over the years. I wanted to new 5/8 inch line and 3/8 inch BBB chain to start off like new, not to mention the new anchor. 

The Poker Run fast boats start to arrive

All that consumed most of the morning and once I finish the final step of attaching the anchor to the swivel, Fleetwing will be ready for the trip north. The kids were now free for the serious stuff of having fun. The Brewery (at the end of the dock) was hosting a St Patrick’s Day party on the open upper deck. They were giving away tee shirts and selling beer at half price. We went up for a while but the kids were over at BO Fishwagon for lunch with fish sandwiches and conch fritters. They joined us later. 

We retired back to Fleetwing but the kids kept on. The kids went over to the Raw Bar and Kiean took on the challenge of trying the “World Famous Raw Bar Oyster Shot”. You can see the video here of his reaction after gulping down the drink! https://youtu.be/r6xZt8H18E8 You can see from his reaction in the video that it didn’t go down as he expected.

While the kids were exploring the Raw Bar, the Poker Run Boats came in. They were very loud with their engines, you can see them arrive in the video. They took up the previously empty side-to docks behind us. https://youtu.be/2B_5EiFAMYA

Meanwhile, Ann cooked corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots in the Instant Pot. The corned beef was cut-with-a-fork tender, a good recipe. Needless to say, the 2.5 lbs of corned beef was gone without a trace left at the dinner table. There were a few vegetables hanging around but that was it. Dessert was ice cream with chocolate syrup. It was a full day.