Boot Key to Key West - Day 3

A pod of dolphins greeted us again as we briskly sailed west along the Florida keys. Our heading is 270°. It seems that Key West is due south of Miami but the keys swing west so we are sailing west as we approach the bottom of keys.

We had another quiet night on anchor. Boot Key provides good protection from west to north winds. Dinner was a delightful dish of shrimp, pasta and broccoli. Bistari is a very comfortable boat with a nice size galley. She has ample storage in her refrigerator and freezer, a three burner stove and an oven that runs on propane so we don’t have to run the generator to cook our meals. We have been eating dinner in the salon. It is a little cool on deck at night and we have been out in the wind all day. It is nice to have a little shelter and enjoy our meal. After dinner Ken and I went up top to enjoy a night cap. There are a billion stars all around. The girls chatted away down below. I did break out my ukulele last night and played a few Jimmy Buffett tunes.

We were underway by 9:00 am and blasted our way along at over 9 mph. That is very fast for a sailboat. We are in the Hawk Channel.

Lynn is enjoying the cruise from her Priscilla seat. A beautiful following sea.

Sailing is often described as endless hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Our experience today was extremely pleasant sailing punctuated by catching a really big fish. We dragged a lure for the first time on this trip. I had a dorado lure that looks like a squid. The line was in the water for an hour when I reeled it in to check the lure. Sure enough there was some seaweed on the lure. I cleared the seaweed and dropped the lure back into the water. I let out about 75’ of line and went back to cockpit. The line started singing out. I grabbed the rod and tightened the drag before the fish took all my line. Captain Ken headed up towards the wind to slow down the boat, started the engine and rolled up the jib. I fought the beast for what seemed like an eternity and brought it to the transom. Ken came back to help out. We estimate the fish weighs 15 pounds.

This is the lucky lure. It is a dorado lure that looks like a squid.

It was an epic battle to land this monster mutton snapper.