Ahoy! From Cat-n-Dogs: Good news, bad news

Our day with the Anchor People was fruitful. We learned a good deal and did some anchoring (on a rougher sea, no less). Once lessons learned we did some "anchor-needs" shopping, and had a couple of good meals with our new friends. Jill and Rudy were great company for the two days we had them on board.

However, weather isn't going to be kind to us. While today and tomorrow presented a weather window to get to Marathon, getting to Key West by the 23rd would be a challenge we'd like not to have just yet. So we cancelled the trip there, and are trying to find a dock in Naples instead. Christmas in Naples is hardly a loss. We'll get to the Keys eventually.

Russ dropping anchor

Rudy and Russ -- look cold, don't they?

Jill watching the workers

Sunset after an exhausting day

On anchor day we were able to flush out some problems in our anchor system. Since we have a catamaran, we have a "bridle", a piece of rope that attaches to the 2 pontoons of our boat, instead of a single point on the bow. But it had a metal piece on the end that was supposed to go on the chain, and had to be attached while bending over the anchor. On the rougher seas, that was clearly a scary thing to do. So we decided to change our strategy to using a "snubber", or another piece of rope we'd simply knot onto the chain. So, Rudy and Russ spent the morning doing just that. By 10 am, the snubber was made, the lines were spliced, and the new bridle was attached. We were good to go.

From Ft. Myers we started the journey to Naples, which is "outside" meaning we're on the Gulf. No more safety of the ICW. Turns out we couldn't have asked for a more pleasant day. Waters calm, breeze gentle. The hardest part of the journey was docking. Stern in, again, and BOY was this slip tiny!