Rodriguez Key

We have been anchored out in Rodriguez Key waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream, but we have had no such luck. It has been a week since we left Marathon and we can't see any weather window with all the weather prediction sites available to us. We made an attempt to cross the Gulf Stream on March 25th, but we got our butts handed to us. We both took ginger pills after a pasta dinner to help prevent sea sickness. We both tried to take a nap before leaving, but neither one of us could sleep. We left Rodriguez Key at 11 pm with 10-15 knot winds and a bright moon. We looked at the weather prediction and Passage Weather said it was supposed to get a bit rough 20 minutes before we were supposed to leave. At this point we both decide this is our only chance to cross and if we don't try we won't be going anywhere for a while because the weather didn't look good for the rest of predicted days. We pull up anchor and head out with our foul weather gear on. It wasn't too bad when we first left, but then the winds picked up and the waves started to get really big. The winds were holding steady at 22 knots and the wave height got up to ~6 feet. We made it past the reef and the weather just got worse in the Gulf Stream so we decided to turn back. The weather got worse and it began to rain and get cloudy so we had no moonlight. We could only see some lights off on the distance, which were occluded by the crest of the waves. When we turned around, we had the wind on our backs blowing the exhaust from the engine into the cockpit and I began getting sick. But then the hand held GPS device was running low on batteries and JR needed me to go into the cabin and get new batteries for him. So I went in and got the batteries for him, but then I proceeded to get seasick. Before long I was hanging my upper body over the lifelines on the port side of boat and revisiting my dinner. Needless to say I was feeling awful and had the nausea for the following day too. It took forever to return to Rodriguez Key, but I was going in and out of consciousness falling asleep while JR and the autopilot navigated us back through the reef and into the bay. It turns out that we traveled 30 miles round trip and we put 17 hours on the engine. We got back to our original anchorage at 5:40am and we slept immediately after throwing our anchors down. I didn't want to turn back because I felt we were getting the worse of the weather and if we just continued going we would eventually get there and all of it would be worth it. But we suffered through the weather and ended up where we started. It was quite a demoralizing attempt to get to the Bahamas. So I don't think about it and enjoy reading some books while relaxing on the boat. The water is clear here and I would like to jump in, but it is not warm enough for me. The water bottom is dark due to the sea grass and JR saw a sting ray jump out of the water when we first put down our anchor. We haven't seen much marine life from the deck. On the last day here, I saw two sting rays jump out of the water, clear jellyfish and a small cuttlefish swimming around our anchor chain. It is pretty quiet here and we like that, but we don't like the speeding power boats that cause big wakes around us. We didn't see too many boats anchored here until the weather started to get bad and then several came in to wait out the storm. We have been hit by the worst winds we have ever seen with it reaching 40 knots yesterday! Luckily, JR dug up and threw out our huge Danforth quick set storm anchor before it got really bad and we had our own personal mooring. The holding here in Rodriguez Key is bad with the slick sea grass bottom so beware if you ever come here to make sure you take all precautions to secure the boat because if you aren't careful your boat could float away. We originally put out our two primary anchors (a Delta and CQR anchor), which we found the Delta anchor held better with this bottom. The winds at 15-20 knots were coming from the East, which of course is where there is no protection (land) so we were getting tossed around by the big waves slapping against our hull. This was not a pleasant time to be on the boat, but it wasn't bad. Then the cold front rolled in with heavy rains and strong winds gusting at or above 40 knots. We felt like we were in a washing machine with the rough seas and not being able to see much further than 100 feet. I tried to capture the moment in photos and videos, but they just don't do it justice. When the rain passed we went out to the cockpit and found several jellyfish floating around. I believe they were Portuguese Man of War, but they didn't look like the ones I saw at Sombrero Beach because their sails were different and I couldn't see any tentacles underneath. The wind slowed down now to 20-25 knots and gusting up to 30 knots. We then found we grounded the boat because the charts were wrong (yet again) and this was the lowest tide of the month due to the full moon. Luckily, we have fin keels which kept us upright and more comfortable. However, we didn't enjoy our time being aground because of the waves beating against our hull from the side and rocking our boat unpleasantly. It sounded like the water was punching our hull from inside the cabin. On the bright side, we had plenty of power with the wind generator needing to only run for a few minutes to charge our batteries after hours of use. The storm anchor was a very good idea and definitely worth the trouble of getting it out, exchanging it with one of the primary anchors, and heaving over the bow. We didn't drag much, if at all, during the entire onslaught of bad weather and rough seas. When the weather lightened up we saw that the Islander (boat) anchored in front of us was now drifting past us on our port side in the distance, but the weather was still too rough for us to move our dinghy from deck into the water and getting the outboard motor onto the dinghy was a whole different issue. It would have been dangerous for us to get out there in such weather and so we watched and waited, hoping the boats anchors (yes, he had two anchors with rope rode out that both dragged) would catch and miraculously they did in a few minutes. We had actually just lent our oars and oarlocks along with some sandpaper (?) to the owner of that boat, Jason. He had drifted to our boat in his dinghy because his outboard motor died (remember, the winds were strong already and the seas quite choppy). So he sanded something in his motor, which I don't know how it would help it start in the first place. I am not the only one wondering how that would fix his problem. But it didn't work and he was tied up to our boat for a while until we lent him our oars and oarlocks because he only had one oar and no oarlocks on his dinghy. Either someone stole his other oar or it fell off the boat was his excuse, but we are wondering how he put himself in this situation. His outboard was not the most reliable as he told us it broke down just yesterday. Then he had no back up method of propulsion, aside from his single oar with no oarlocks. On top of everything he was going out into the water with his dinghy to get to shore when the seas were raging. He said he would only be on shore for an hour, but then the huge storm rolled through and he couldn't return if he wanted. He was very lucky his boat didn't drift into Hawks Channel and float away into the ocean or go crashing into the rocks on shore. When we talked to him the next day, he didn't seem too concerned that his boat wasn't where he left it. Amazing. But I guess that was because he found his boat unharmed. No one should ever expect to be that lucky. We take enough precautions to make sure we don't need to be that lucky I suppose. The winds calmed down at night and we were able to sleep without the boat rocking. The full moon looked really neat as the clouds passed by and the light reflecting off the water. It's really too bad the weather is not right to cross the Gulf Stream because the moon light would have been very helpful to see.
The next day was a complete 180 with respect to the weather. It started out a little windy with 15 knot winds, but as the day progressed the wind dropped down to 5 knots and was sunny and nice. I even put on my swimsuit and got in the water to check out the hull growth and swam for a few minutes near the boat. The water was pretty cold, but it was not so bad after I got my entire body in the water for a little while. It would feel really great if it was hot. This trial run allowed me to test our swim ladder and I found that I couldn't really climb up without JR's help on deck. I also noticed that I kept getting pulled under the hull when I just held onto the ladder while I was in the water next to the boat. It was either due to the slight wind or water current that we believe caused me to be pulled under the boat. But it is a good thing that we found out I need a rigid ladder to pull myself up out of the water. JR says that he can use our ladder to get up onto the boat and so he would get on first and then pull me up, but I think we need to modify our ladder or get a "real" one (professionally made). I believe we saw the Italian boat at Marathon in the mooring field when we were there and I wonder where they are heading. JR looked at the weather and even with the calm waters we are seeing today he says that the weather is not right because tomorrow the wind will be 5-10 knots from the north, which means it will make the Gulf Stream choppy. He already said we aren't going unless it is calm and blowing from the south with less than 1 meter waves. I wonder how long it will be before we get such weather.