Key West update

We actually slept most of last night, only getting up every couple of hours to check that we were still attached to the same part of the bottom.  Around 7:00 the wind started to shift around to the north, signalling the start of decreasing winds which had been forecast.  There are a few local boats moored by us. 
(For non-boaters, a mooring is a heavy weight or anchor with a short line or cable attached which a boat can tie to.  "Short" being the operative word here.  A total mooring line might be 10 to 20 feet, so a boat would swing around a 20 to 40 foot circle as the wind changed direction.  An anchored boat puts out an amount of line determined by the depth of water it is anchored in.  In general terms you let out 7 feet of line for every foot of water your boat is in - 10 feet of water, 70 feet of anchor line.  In light wind, or with a really good anchor you might use 4:1, or 5:1.  In heavy wind you might use 8 or 9 or 10:1.)
Because of the high winds the last two days we had about 120 feet of line out, in about 12 feet of water.  So of course as the wind shifted 90 degrees we were ending up right next to, and almost touching, one of the moored boats.  We spent about an hour shortening our main anchor line a bit, and then taking a second anchor out in the dinghy at an angle to the first to limit the swing of our boat.  It all sounds so simple, I can't imagine it took an hour.  I did learn that an eleven foot rubber boat with a 5 horse outboard can't drag 100 feet of anchor chain straight upwind.  At any rate, everything turned out alright, and our boat is holding it's position.

Mid morning we noticed the 26 footer from Indiana that has been sharing our windy anchorage was moving.  We thought maybe he (a single hander) got tired of bouncing around and was going to get a dock, but the last we saw he was sailing west.  We think he might be heading to the Marquesas or Mooney Harbor, which is on the way to Fort Jefferson.  We plan to leave early tomorrow morning for Fort Jefferson, so we hope to see him again.  Our 5 and 1/2 foot draft limits getting in either place, so we need to do the whole distance in one day.  We're also hoping tomorrow will be a bit warmer.

Sue called around to find a vet to get the health certificates we need for the cats.  She found one who will come to the boat in Marathon.  He charges less than one we found in Miami (imagine that!) and more importantly, we won't have to take the cats ashore in the dinghy or make them ride in a cab or bus. This afternoon I was able to take the dinghy ashore, and more importantly get it back to the boat.  Key West has a really nice hardware store.  I also found a nice grocery store so we have a couple more days worth of yogurt.