Day 2 - Key Largo to Marathon — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 50 fuel purchased $0, it is a sailboat, slip fee $0, daily high temperature 84°f

We are blasting down the Hawk’s Channel towards Key West at 7 kts with a stiff NE breeze and a following sea. It is warm, sunny and the waters are Caribbean blue. Life is good on Pilar.

Captain Gabe as a back seat driver enjoying a Cohiba.

On Wednesday morning Gabe did a little maintenance on Pilar and we hoisted anchor at 11:00 am. It was blowy the night before on anchor with winds gusting to 30 mph. We had tucked in behind Rodriquez Cay so we only had 1 foot waves but lots of wind. Pilar’s ground tackle (anchor) held well and we did not drag.

Here is the track from the anchor alarm on the chart plotter. It looks like a spider web.

A wind squall hit about 7:30 pm just as I going to grill the chicken. After a 20 minute delay I was back at it. The real challenge was grilling the shiitake mushrooms. They were sliced thin and I was concerned the wind would blow them of the plate as I took them off the grill. No casualties, the chicken and mushrooms made it safely to the dinner table. Gabe approved of my grilling technique. Now I am ready to challenge the TV chef Bobby Flay.

Pilar is a terrific cruising boat. She is 52 feet long and 15.2 feet wide. Displacement is 44,150 pounds, mast height 64 feet, fuel capacity 300 gallons, water capacity 300 gallons, holding tank 60 gallons. She is designed by Island Packet for extended blue water cruising. We are enjoying our time aboard her.

The view forward from the helm.

We dropped anchor at Boot Key, near Marathon, at 6:00 pm. We have been onboard for 48 hours without touching land. The crew informed the captain that we are looking forward to some shore time in Key West tomorrow or there could be a mutiny.

Our view at cocktail time with the Seven Mile Bridge in the background.

Here is our course from Key Largo to Marathon. (Follow from the blue dot to the red triangle.)

Bonus photo.