The First Summer of Forever

Chapter 27- Not Taking Any Chances

Conrad

This morning, I turned on the TV in our room to watch while we had room service breakfast in bed. I switched on the news. We had been
here in Key West for about 5 days so far, and after the first day, we heard there was a tropical depression out in the gulf that they had been watching. Yesterday, it was categorized as a tropical storm, and was still on the other side of Cuba a ways out, but according to this morning's news report, the storm had quickly gained speed and was now a category 2 hurricane pretty much overnight, steadily making its way to a category 3 with an alarming quickness.

Oh Shit, I thought. I guess our trip needed to be cut short. What the hell were we gonna do? I guess we would have to leave the boat here? I don't think it would be safe to sail with the winds so high. "Hey Belly, we might need to cut the trip short, babe. I think we need to get outta here." I said, as she was coming out of the bathroom.

"Whoa. Really?
"Yeah, hurricanes in Florida can be really bad."
"What are we gonna do?"
"I don't know... I guess the safest thing to do would be to get the boat anchored up good and then rent a car to drive to Miami, and then maybe catch a plane to a state farther inland. We'd have to fly back down to get the boat after it was over, if it was even sailable."
"Oh, okay."
"I'm gonna go down to the docks to lock things down. We should probably get everything valuable or important off the boat."
"Okay, I'll come with you."

When we got to the boat the docks were crowded. Several people were down there either securing their boats, or getting ready to leave.

"Hey, man." I said to a stranger.
"You leaving on your boat?"
"Yeah man, there ain't no good way to get off the island. Everyone's already panicking and evacuating. The locals are pretty much gonna ride it out, but most of the tourists are crowding the roads. Seven mile bridge is packed dude. Bumper to bumper."
"So what's your plan?" I asked, prying for information.
"Ah, I'm gonna take the boat into Miami at least. Once I'm there I could try to get a car to take me farther inland, if not, I could ride it out in Miami. It would be better than this small island."
"Thanks"... "Oh hey, where is the closest marina located in Miami? Could you show me?"

The guy hopped on his boat and came back in just a few seconds. He had a map in his hands.

"Here ya go my dude. If you look right here..." his fingers slid on the map a few times, showing me where to go.
"You can keep that, I have another one on the boat." The guy said kindly.

"Thanks Man." I said, and nodding my head at the friendly stranger who just saved us hours of frustration.

Belly turned to me and asked nervously, "So what are we gonna do?"
"I think that guy is right. Our best bet is probably to take the boat to at least Miami. We need to leave asap." I told her.
"Okay... let's go get our stuff from the room and we will get on the water."

We got back to the room in record time. Belly started gathering all of our things frantically and laid them on the bed as I quickly packed them neatly in our bags. Within 10 minutes, we were on our way back to the docks. Once we were on the boat, Belly helped me extend the sails and get everything ready to sail again. As soon as we were done, we set sail, heading towards Miami. The wind had already picked up quite a bit, and I was getting nervous.

The whole ride to Miami was choppy and rough. We fought against the waves and the wind the whole way there. It took about two hours, but once we were in Miami, we anchored up the boat at the marina and looked up the nearest car rental place. I made sure everything was as secure as it could possibly be. Belly was actually a big help. She quickly helped me tie everything down with the extra rope we had. I got everything that was valuable from the boat. Belly had all of my Mom's opal jewelry in her bag, along with her infinity necklace and wedding ring that she was wearing, and to me, those were the most valuable things besides Belly.
"Are we crazy for leaving the boat here?" She asked.
"The boat can be replaced. What we have now, can't." I grabbed her hand and placed it on her stomach. "There's no way I'm taking a chance and sailing any further. I promised your mom I wouldn't take any chances, remember?" She didn't press it any further, but just nodded her head once in agreement.