January 26

It all started at noon on Sunday, January 21.  With a fresh 15-20 knot wind from the east northeast, we set out from Bayside, with all crew aboard, excitement and anticipation driving us up to the flybridge to celebrate Miami in the rear view mirror.  The cats, less excited and anticipatory, were driven to their usual cruising location.

On auto, the boat handled well.  For the first time since we have owned her, Emma Jo had full fuel tanks (800 gallons) and water tanks (200 gallons), so the rolling was slower and less snappy.  With a short slacking of the wind in the late afternoon, those of us off watch tried to nap, but as our course turned more westerly, the rolling increased.  We figure by about 3 a.m. we were surfing the 6- to 8-footers coming in from our stern quarter and taking rolls of up to 25 degrees.  Out in the deeper water south of Hawk Channel, we saw at least four cruise ships lined up, making for Key West and Cozumel.  Last time we were through Hawk Channel, in August of 2005, we played "minesweeper" with hundreds of crab pots, and hoped that this time there would be fewer.  There wasn't much we could do about it anyway, as it was pitch dark and hand steering was a struggle.

At about 5:30 a.m., we pulled into an anchorage in the channel between Key West and Wisteria Island, on the advice of the pilot boat that was on its way to pick up Jewell of the Seas.  Once we picked our spot, things started to go off kilter.  First, the starboard engine died any time Ole tried to put it into gear, and the wind and current kept trying to sweep us into one of the several sailboats in the anchorage.  Then, the anchor chain wouldn't pay out.  I guess rolling back and forth 20 to 25 degrees for 16 hours might have had some impact on the chain in the locker.  After several attempts and quite a bit of swearing in Norwegian, we finally dropped anchor, cut the engines, and decided to sleep a bit before trying to figure out what was up with the engine.

A business meeting over mojitos (thanks again, Lise) concluded with the decision to replace both 20-year-old transmissions with new ones, for peace of mind.  When the marina assigned us a slip for the night, it was fitting that the name of the boat usually moored there was "Only Money."

 We had filet mignon and champagne, scheduled originally for our arrival in Mexico, at the dock at Oceanside Marina.  What the heck -- we're cruising.  And it's only money.