"Slight chop" on Biscayne Bay, my eye!

Weather forecast had the wind direction correct this morning (from the west), but they sure goofed on the velocity. NOAA predicted 10-15 with gust to 20 knots, so we left No Name Harbor after hanging out there for two days, waiting for a favorable forecast to sail down Biscayne Bay. First three hours made NOAA weather forcasters look like soothsayers.

Then the conditions turned "snotty." That really is a sailor term, and it means yucky. The wind gods slept in this Saturday, but woke up around 11 a.m. to kick it up a notch, as good ole Emeril says. We experienced a consistent 28-30 knots with a few gusts greater than that for the next 5 hours. That is NOT fun sailing conditions in my humble opinion. I know that the East Coast is also seeing high winds, along with googads of snow, so I guess I can't complain. Plus it could have been a lot worse--if Biscayne Bay had deeper water.

Speaking of water, we saw Biscayne Bay in many different colors today: turquoise, then pea soup, then dark blue, then coffee with a lot of cream, and finally now black. But a very CLEAR black that let us see the dolphins under us as we dropped anchor.

Captain Pete and crew are enjoying a well deserved happy hour on the hook right now, in Tarpon Basin, off Key Largo. We are now officially in the Keys, and we're still listening to a howling wind at this anchorage. It's really "honking," another perfectly apt term.

We've reserved a slip in Plantation Yacht Harbor on Key Largo tomorrow. Gotta watch those Saints and Colts!