The cruise to Stock Island was awesome, looking back at my logs it was a day with good visibility and a light chop. We went around the keys on the gulf side in order to avoid the south winds. We trolled part of the way there and were lucky enough to catch a couple of Spanish mackerels we later smoked on the green egg. We arrived at Sunset Marina after an eight hour cruise. As we were coming into the marina entrance I put down the fenders and got the lines ready for Adeline to jump off and tie us up. As we drifted into the entrance I saw a big coral head under us that was beautiful probably 10′ below the boat. I also saw some black stone crab trap rope twirling behind us like a parade. It had obviously gotten caught on some part of the running gear. I was slightly panicked thinking this line could become further tangled when I try to dock and maybe cause us to lose power. We anchored in the entrance to the marina next to the coral head and tried to cut the line off. As soon as I got in the cold water the boat started drifting. This is a narrow spot surrounded by a coral shelf only a couple feet deep that could destroy your boats running gear. At this point I got Adeline on the controls and she pulled forward to keep us from drifting onto the reef while I pulled up the anchor. Once up we come into marina. At this point I don’t know what will happen and when we put the caterpillar motors into reverse, the line got sucked in. Luckily the line caused zero problems for the 3208s, as they ripped and cut the line up not losing any rpm at idle. We successfully docked and went up and g0t our slip assignment. Later on Adeline dove in and got the remainder of the rope off. Minutes after she came up from this task several bull sharks swam out from under the swim platform!
My friend Adam came to visit while we are in Key West, he was trailering down our 16′ Carolina skiff we bought from our friend Jack Stringfield. We removed the davit from the back of Pura Vida at the marina and took the davit back to the vehicle on the skiff. We couldn’t wait to explore with our new and improved dinghy. We took it all over seeing many shipwrecks, live aboards and abandoned boats.
Half way through our stay marina management asked us if we wanted to change slips and dock on the outside of the marina. Because the marina faces west, we now had the quietest spot with the best sunset views. One day, we had a winter blow of about 25mph gusting 35. It did pin ole Pura Vida firmly against the outside T Dock. We stayed close this day to monitor the situation and luckily we didn’t lose any fenders or lines.
Overall we loved our stay at Sunset Marina. The tarpon were very active in the marina and we met some eclectic and friendly people both living there and passing through. We spent much of our time bike riding to and from Key West making many memories we’ll reminisce on forever.
Pura Vida Loop 