Rude Awakening

Tues Feb 24,2015
Anchored off Plantation Key
Islamorada FL

Today started early. With a thud and violent rocking at 5:30 am. It was pitch black. It was more than someones wake by far. We both woke up, Lee went up on top and looked all around. The water was as still as a farm pond, no boats insight, no ripples in the water. We both thought we had been hit by another boat. There is a lot of traffic in the day time near where we anchored, but none after dark. The only thing we can figure is a manatee hit us. If we had been off shore in deep water we would have expected a whale. Whatever happened we neither got back to sleep.

At 6;30 am Lee listened to the weather guru Chris Parker again. Today he seemed to think it could be 2nd week in March before a good weather window for crossing to the Bahamas came. Getting impatient but will not cross Gulf Stream at a bad time so we wait...

I got a cold shower (sun showers take about 3 hrs of daylight to warm up) and left at 9am for the local hospital. Now that it is over I can say about the 2nd week of this boat trip I found a lump in my breast. This is the first chance I have had to get to a walk in clinic. There do not seem to be Doctors Care and Urgent Care like we have at home.  I got in to a dr and he saw me and ordered a mammo and ultrasound which I had done this morning. The doctor called at 4:30 to let me know it was fine. Just a fibrous mass. I was sure it was not cancer but it made sense to have it checked just in case.

We made a few stops while we were on land for miscellaneous odds and ends and came back to the boat. Lee realized while we were in the dinghy that he forgot to turn the propane tank off yesterday after we used the dinghy and about 8 of the 10 pounds it held had leaked off. Tomorrow we will have to go get it filled again. He has a bad habit of not turning off, or closing up things when he uses them. This one could cause him to have a long row when he is where propane or transportation to replenish it are hard to come by. We have Bill Sears generosity to thank for having transportation to get propane, groceries, to the hospital or we would be hiring a taxi after we dinghy to shore.