Day 5 – the wind’s a blowin’
The crew had a slow wake up, still on the dock for their
mid-week break. Half of the crew slept on deck rather than below decks where
the air conditioner was cranking away. It was chilly down there. It was a slow
morning; we had a full, cooked breakfast for the mid-week break, we were in no
hurry because we knew it was very windy out on the ocean and we also had to
drop Ken and Mitch off at the military hotel in town.
Breakfast was great; pancakes, sausage and eggs all
served on dry land…no motion of the ocean. While clean-up was going on Jenna
and I ran Ken and Mitch into KW and stopped at the grocery store for a few
items. When we returned the crew was ready to go. Regardless of the impending
ocean conditions, they wanted to go out and at least take a look.
We left the dock, put up the sails and headed out. As
promised it was quite ‘sporty’ out on the ocean. The water had a milky color to
it which indicated that we were in for bad visibility. We made our way out to
Wreckers Reef, took a mooring ball and discussed the situation. From the
surface our assessment was maybe a little surface current, lots of surge and
maybe 10-15 ft. of visibility. It was decided that I would hop in and take a
closer look so I got into my gear and in I went. Our surface assessment was
spot on. Now the decision had to be made…should we let them dive or not? It’s
not just the diving conditions; if they got disorientated (lost) and were far
from the boat at the end of the dive a surface swim would be extremely
difficult in these conditions. Also, if any sort of assist or rescue needed to
be done it would also be treacherous. After some discussion it was decided to
let the crew dive. Only seven divers wanted to go, so in they went. For the most
part everyone stayed close to the boat and the dive went well. On the surface
the Conch Pearl was rockin’ and rollin’. I think we got the better deal being
under water.
After the dive we headed in to Key West Harbor, past a large
Royal Caribbean cruise ship, to get fuel, then further into the harbor, to
anchor near the mangrove shore so that the
crew could go snorkeling and swimming. It wears me out watching these
young men go, go, go. I can dive all day long but when it comes to jumping,
swimming and ‘fender rodeo’ I get worn out just watching. When all the fun was
over the crew started ‘yo yo’ fishing. Tonight’s contest turned into seeing who
could catch the most pin fish. The fishing was interrupted by a great spaghetti
dinner then it was back to fishing. The crew finally settled down when the sun
was gone and then suddenly everyone was gone and in bed.
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