Key West - High winds

Palm trees survive by being flexible - a good life lesson

We are in for a blow for the next four days, 20 to 25 kt winds day and night. There doesn't appear to be much rain in the forecast but nobody is going east for the next few days. The marine forecast is for extremely rough seas in Hawk Channel with waves 4 to 7 feet and gusts to 30 kts. No fun going east into that! However, we're secure in our slip, all tied off and with just a step away from land where Hoolie has to go three times a day. It would be no fun coming into the dinghy dock in 25 kts winds.

It also pays to look good too.

Today was repair the anchor day. The last link to the anchor developed some rust that appeared to be troubling. The other links were fine. So I used the hacksaw to cut the rusted links off but that was very slow going. Eventually I remembered I had a Dremel and went looking for it. One attachment is a cutting disk and found it to be much easier than pushing a hacksaw back and forth. I cut off the offending link and reattached the chain to the anchor. Looking at a galvanic activity chart, the chain was sacrificial in protecting the stainless steel shackle. Now the ground tackle is good to go for the trip back north.

It's blowing a hoolie outside so now Hoolie has his namesake to thanks for the windy conditions. We ended the day by walking over to BO's Fishwagon to listen to Barry Cuda play on the piano for awhile, he's always good to listen to.