Sunday, February 20, 2022
We rocked and rolled all night… I slept lightly, but not poorly, and found the pounding waves to be no less soothing than before. Around 5:30 a.m., there was a loud beeping and I climbed up to the saloon to see what was happening, thinking it might be the anchor alarm. Paul reassured me that it was the VHF radio, so I went back to my bed, awake, but lying quietly. Around 6:30/6:45, I decided to formally greet the day, and opted to do some quiet writing and reflecting as the sun came up.
We changed plans, suspecting the weather might worsen, and decided to take the ½ day trip to the Marquesas and anchor there for the night, then continue back to Key West on Monday, arriving mid-day or late afternoon.
We hauled anchor and headed back to the Marquesas around 8:00 a.m. The seas were kicking up a bit, and the wind was 15-20 knots. We fought the wind for the first part of the trip, Kya Anne bobbing and bouncing with vigor in the waves with Paul expertly manning the helm while I wobbled like a bobblehead in the saloon, content, and a little exhilarated.
9:26 a.m.
I moved to the outside table. Winds are up to 25 knots with 12-15 foot seas. Here’s 30 seconds of us riding waves when it calmed a bit, and there’s Paul, cool as a cucumber at the helm, constantly assessing conditions.
10:00 a.m.
Paul made a judgment call not to continue to the Marquesas. Erring on the side of safety, we turned back to the Dry Tortugas to wait out the weather. What took us two hours outbound was accomplished in just 70 minutes on the return trip; Paul anchored us close to our prior location, but in a spot that offered a bit more shelter and protection from the wind.
We took the tender in to Fort Jefferson to check the weather report, which differed considerably from what we had seen the day before. We contemplated the possibility that I might have to buy a one-way ticket on the ferry because Paul was concerned that if the weather didn’t clear up sufficiently, I may not get back in time to catch my flight. However, we decided to hold off since the weather was supposed to break by Tuesday.
Once back on Kya Anne, we had a quiet and leisurely day – we played some cards (I *crushed* Paul at Rummy (take me to Vegas!)), and retired early… and by early, I mean I was in bed by 7:15 pm and asleep within minutes. I guess all the excitement from the morning took a greater toll on me than I expected…
