Key West and the sad demise of Squiddly Diddly

I have such rose tinted glasses about Key West – this is my third visit there.  I’m sure it can’t all have been cocktails and sunsets and also I have a vague recollection of it being excruciatingly hot and humid on one of those occasions, but my memory gladly smooths over any rough edges and I love it there!  I think it might be all the cocktails and sunsets.

This visit was no exception.  Within minutes of calling up the marina on the VHF we were being given the friendliest welcome by Bill who gave us directions in to the marina and told us to watch out for the wave continuator on the right as we enter.  “I’m sorry, did you say waste incinerator?”  We ask as Bill’s voice had crackled a little on the radio.  “No, it’s a wave continuator.”  Bill replies, trying hard to be clear and explaining what one of them looks like for us.  “Thanks Westin Marina, we’ll look out for the wave con-flum-flum-flum.”  Dad muffles the last word and Tris, Sarah & I get terrible giggles – this is exactly the sort of reason I don’t like going on the VHF!!

Bill is there to meet us at the pontoon and we’re soon moored up and excited to be there.  Within half an hour of arrival I’m enjoying chocolate coated KeyLime pie on a stick.  Within the hour we’re at the airport with customs officer Graham who incinerates our fruit and veg and gives extensive tips on the best seafood and sushi restaurants in Key West.

Hot tub!

Two hours and I’m soaking in a hot tub after a swim (the marina has a pool – hurray!) Three hours and it’s time for cocktails and sunset.  By midnight we’ve had Mexican food, more cocktails, clapped and whooped country rock singer Gerd, grafittied and stapled a dollar to the ceiling of a bar, eaten a stick that may or may not have been sugar cane, thoroughly abused the statues outside of the Old Customs House (see Tris for photos) and

Our dollar

are tiptoe-ing back onboard trying not to wake Dad.  Key West

Sadly we have to leave the next day.  The curse of our trip has been that we cannot stay long in all these lovely places as there are flights to catch and jobs to get back to.  Happily we have the day in Key West to fill with sightseeing, cracked conch and the most amazing strawberry tempura but by 4pm we’re singling up ready for another 2 days’ sail.  Exiting the berth has it’s complications but between Dad’s excellent manoeuvering, Tristan’s clever suggestions and mine & Sarah’s phenomenal crewing, we make it look like child’s play – thank goodness, as there was a boatload of sunset catamaran tourists looking on!

The crew enjoying sunset at Key West

Out in the north channel there is not a breath of wind but it is outstandingly beautiful.  The water is glassily smooth and pink from the amazing sunset in progress.  We’re enjoying it all with a chilled glass of rose when tragedy strikes our crew and sorry to say, I’m on the helm when it happens – the sad demise of Squidly Diddly.  Taking advantage of our ambling pace, Tristan once again lays out his fishing line, determined to finally catch something and loading his new line with brand new weight and lure purchased in Key West.  He’s so proud of his lure he’s named it Squiddly Diddly and so confident of its fish-catching potential that he’s bought special gloves  to handle the fish that will be caught.  The line’s been trawling out the back for about 30 minutes when I slightly alter course to avoid a fishing buoy thoughtfully placed in the boat channel.  What I fail to spot is that it’s connected to another buoy about 7m away and suddenly Tristan’s reel starts to spin out.  He leaps up thinking a fish may finally be snagged on his luckless line but what we have in fact snagged is the fishing buoy.  But Tristan is not giving up on Squiddly yet, we bring the boat around, retracing our path in hopes of unravelling the tangle but alas, to no avail and we must admit the loss of Squiddly Diddly and cut the line.  A sad evening for Tristan and his fishing record continues to be fish-less.  One day Tris!!

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