White
Pepper's stay at Stock Island
Marina and Resort, Key West, FL in March and April of 2020 was
greatly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic as it was for everyone. We
arrived three days before the lock down with reservations for a
month. We had planned to restock, rest, and party. We would fly in
guests and make a trip out to the Dry Tortugas. Covid wrecked all of
these plans. The marina shut down on March 18, 2020. Anyone with
less than a 28 day lease was asked to leave. As we had a 30 day
lease we could stay. This was so fortunate as we had nowhere else to
go!
All
of the amenities were closed including the two pools. The hotel was
shut down and were the three restaurants on site. We could walk to
the liquor store, a small convenience store, West Marine, Car Quest,
CVS and the fish store—that was it. We never got to visit Duval
St., Mallory Square, South Point, or Smathers Beach. They were
closed. We ate every meal on the boat and never visited a
restaurant. However, we were very safe. Monroe County quickly
closed the Overseas Highway at Key Largo and would not allow any
visitors into the Keys. Covid was stopped cold. Only 3 deaths were
recorded in the Keys and one was 101 years old.
There was a time in Florida when walking into a liquor store with a mask on would get you shot.
Where did all of the toilet paper go? Our first trip to Publix.
Unlike
so many stuck at home, we were stuck on the boat. The boat provides
endless opportunities for chores. I greased all of the winches. I
coated the exterior wood with 3 coats of Cetol. We replaced the
parted main halyard. Jan repaired the torn genoa. The oil and all of the filters were replaced. A new friend,
Chris, cleaned the bottom. It was so hot the extra insulation had to
be added to the freezer/refrigerator. Most of all, extraordinary
effort was spent replacing the linear drive component of the
autopilot. The project was so over the top that it deserves a blog
post of its own some day. Finally on the next to last day of our
stay that project was finished.
Jan changes the secondary fuel filter
Serviced the Barient 736 three speed winch
We
walked everyday usually after dark because it was so hot. Often to
beat the afternoon heat we piled into the dingy for a tour of the
marina with cocktails. There was wild life in the marina including
several large tarpon, an eagle ray manta, thousands of mullet, and
even a manatee.
Two tarpon find shade under the boat
Dingy "tea"
We
made good friends with Tom and Jessie Page who are just starting out
on the cruising life. They were so helpful giving us rides around the
island. Our slip neighbor Larry was great. Our friends, Tim and
Cricket on Whodoggie,
lent us a fan which was wonderful.
Jessie Page
Tom Page
One
of the curious aspects of Stock Island Marina was that numerous super
yachts flocked to the place for refuge from the Covid. There were at
least 3 yachts over 300 feet and about 5 more in the 100 to 200 foot
range. Needless to say we did not interact with these folks.
Although one yacht did drop off two N95 masks, gratis—many thanks.
Bella Vita, super yacht
Red Head, not a super yacht but famous as Billie Joel's old boat
When
the super yachts started to leave we thought it was time to go as
well. Florida was cautiously opening up and marinas were accepting
transients. We set out for Fort Meyers Beach but ended up at
Clearwater, Florida. We did an overnight stop at Eggmont Key in
Tampa Bay along the way.
Storm looked ominous but turned out to be mild
