Go figure. Back in Key West 5 days and here we go with the first storm of the season. Alberto. We decided to grab a mooring ball for a week or so to allow this crap to blows past. Already had one rip roaring storm whip thru the anchorage causing a 42 ft powerboat to break loose, miss us by 75 ft, hit a smaller sailboat past us and get tangled in their anchor.

We got to the mooring ball yesterday, they had over 25 available then, but after storm upgraded to a name storm, now maybe two available. So we wait and watch, making sure we have backup bailout plan as well.

Here it is Saturday evening around 730, we are seeing winds sustained at 25 gusts to 35 kts. Two boats in front of us have partially exposed sails from stack packs and sail covers shredding. Seas running 2-3 ft in mooring basin with solid whitecaps. I look at the boats around us with an eye to threat assessment. Which ones might break loose? Will they miss us? Our lines are secure no sign of fraying, and spare lines at the ready. This is projected to last for 24-30 hours here in the keys. So far not too much extreme rainfall, but very much driving rain. One bad habit this old boat has is squirreling on anchor or mooring ball. Haven’t been able to deter that yet. Peak gusts recorded overnight in Key West was 43 mph.