Overnight Passage

6.5

Today was the day we left Key West. Parting with all the wonderful friends we had made was very sad, but we had been there long enough and were ready to move on. After all, what good is a sailboat when it isn't being sailed?! We were leaving behind our very good friend John, who lives up in DC and is a Hokie - so I am sure we will be seeing him again soon. But we had talked our friend Blake into returning to Tampa with us - he will be meeting us there in a few days. He originally lived there for a few years before sailing down to Key West. He hopes to make the trek over to the Bahamas, so we talked him into holing up in Tampa with his boat during hurricane season and then we will all make the trip over together. It will be the first one for us all and we hope to hook up with some more experienced boaters before we cross the stream over to the islands.
The trip up to Marco Island from Key West is a little over 90 miles. This obviously cannot be done within the course of one day, so we were told the best thing to do is leave the evening before and arrive mid-day the following day. You never want to arrive in a new port after 3pm due to changing tides, blinding sun and unfamiliar territory.
So, we packed up the mothership and headed out at 5pm for our first overnight passage. The day started out well; we motored out of Key West and it appeared we would have a southeast wind to push us along. But as soon as we turned the corner and headed North, the wind shifted and was directly off our bow at only 2knots - not enough to sail, especially headlong into a wind. So, we decided to motor without even raising the sails. It was very hazy and the sunset was blurred by the clouds on the horizon so we did not have any blinding conditions. It stayed light until about 8:45pm and then darkness started to creep in. The moon was not due to come up until 2:45am.
At 1am, I took the helm so Brad could get some sleep. As I sat down with my Ipod music and my flashlight and looked out around the boat, I realized that I could see.....nothing. It was pitch black dark; the kind of darkness that surrounds you and makes you feel pinned in. It was the most eerie feeling I have ever had - sitting behind the wheel, (although not steering due to our wonderful autopilot) watching the wheel move by itself, hearing the waves lapping at the boat. Since there were no landmarks to compare our movement to it felt as if we were flying, racing through the waves, when in reality we were only going 6 knots. When I looked up it felt like I could see every star in the universe. The sky was blanketed in twinkling stars; we could see shooting stars and even the milky way. There was no light pollution within 50 miles of us so the sky was pristine.
The wind still had not picked up so we were only motoring. In truth, it was probably better that way. I would rather have light wind and no waves on my first overnight passage than wind piping up to 20 knots and unseen waves rocking the boat onto its side.
Once I settled into my position at the helm, it became relaxing - the constant lapping of the waves, the occasional shooting star and the salt wind in my face. The low glow of the radar provided some ambient light, although there was no point in the radar, as we did not come within 12 miles of another boat the entire night. The ride was so relaxing that I soon fell into a rhythm and even let Brad sleep 5 straight hours as I monitored the trek northward - of course the Red Bull, Mountain Dew and M&Ms may have contributed to my constant alertness for that extended period of time. At 6am, I finally needed to sleep, so I woke Brad - who was very grateful to have slept that long and pleased to see that the sun was starting to light up the east sky.
I crashed heavily and slept for 3hours before we pulled into our anchorage in Marco Island. We pulled in among mansions and anchored in the middle of a small bay that one of the Tortugas couples had recommended to us. Here we were able to dinghy into the local yacht club and rub elbows with the wealthy power boaters that docked there. Although Marco Island is beautiful, it was quite the culture shock - coming from Key West where there are people and bars every 10 feet to this small retirement island where we walked for 20 minutes before seeing another person and the only bar we could find was a "lounge" attached to a local restaurant - "Porky's Last Stand".
We enjoyed talking to a few of the locals one of which called himself "The Legend" of which he was not! We will be heading out Wednesday morning to go north to Naples.