Key West to Kemah


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North America » United States » Florida » Keys » Key West
June 18th 2010
Published: July 17th 2010
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Sunset at Mallory SquareSunset at Mallory SquareSunset at Mallory Square

Enjoying a sunset at Mallory Square in Key West- beautiful.
This last week has been fast and furious! We sailed into Key West, pulled into the marina, and then it was time to get to work. We had to organize and plan all the details for the last leg of our journey... which is how to get the boat from Key West to Kemah, TX? Our original plan was to sail up the west coast of Florida, over to New Orleans, and finally into Galveston Bay, stopping at a couple of great anchorages along the way. Which was a perfectly good idea... right?!?! But that all changed when the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and created one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history right in our path. Obviously, we couldn't sail our boat thru the oil spill even if we wanted to. Not to mention all the damage that it would cause to our boat if we did- egads!

So it was time for plan B... which is??? Well if you can’t sail thru the oil spill, then you have to sail around it. We studied all the data on where the oil spill was, where it was moving, and where we think the far edge would
Duval StreetDuval StreetDuval Street

Doing a pub crawl down Duval Street in Key West and enjoying all the street performers along the way.
be. The good news is that it looked like we could skirt the oil spill by sailing in a direct line from Key West to Kemah, TX. The bad news is that this is an 800 mile trip, which would take 5-7 days at sea (weather depending, of course). And this was definitely too long of a crossing for Kona (who is almost 10 years old now) and honestly, for me too. So we had to find crew to sail with Jay, get a couple of guys who have the time and experience to sail across the Gulf of Mexico, and organize it all. It was a logistical nightmare; getting plane tickets and airport pick-ups, updating and buying new safety equipment for the boat, provisioning and cooking food for the journey, Jen packing up and moving off the boat and getting the third cabin cleaned out and ready (which acts as our attic and is full of all our crap, so it was no easy task), monitoring the oil spill and the weather constantly (it is hurricane season, you know), and finally renting a car so that Jen and Kona could drive to Texas. Whew!!! And I thought planning a
Does Anyone Have A Clew?Does Anyone Have A Clew?Does Anyone Have A Clew?

Jay and Scott getting the spinnaker set up for the long sail to Kemah, which is one of the many things on our to-do list.
wedding was tough.

Needless to say, we were busy, busy, busy. And unfortunately we didn’t have much time to really enjoy Key West. But did manage to do a few of our favorite things; like a pub crawl on Duval Street, enjoy a nice dinner (complete with key lime pie) at our favorite local restaurant, and watch the street performers and a glorious sunset at Mallory Square.


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17th July 2010

Egads!
Wow - we were in the Gulf - from Panhandle to New Orleans in March - We loved it so and are so sorry about what has happened - your plight adds a new issue to think about! Love your blogs - Don't love what has happened here! You would have loved the trip around the shoreline.
19th July 2010

congrats
Hi, Wow, glad that nightmare is over and things are sailing smoothly for you.Nice you have a home now and you can settle in.
20th July 2010

Got to party
Love your blog, the only way to check up on you...Love you miss you.....safe sailing guys..one day you might get a telephone number so we could call you.... We want to be the first europeans to get a hangover in your new mansion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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