Day 4 -- Rock Bottom

Having finally claimed a fitting and comfortable sleeping spot, I was expecting nothing but the best of sleep. I was saddened, or am now, to realize that it wasn't going to happen. Extreme weather showed its ugly face and I was awoken to Ella nearly on her side. I was thrown against the wall of the bed and as I opened my eyes I saw groceries and cooking utensils come flying from their location toward my head. I quickly sat up and got what bearings I could gather. The weather outside the window looked harsh and I could hear a worried bit of chatter up in the cockpit.

I hesitated to join the rest of the crew on deck because of a lack of rain jacket, and interest. I eventually went up and chaos quickly followed. We battled the elements for several hours until we hit smooth waters. Our hearts and minds settled and I was finally able to make up for lost rest. The day turned from gray and cold to brutally hot and bright, which was unfortunate because through a miscommunication in planning we ran out of sunblock. To top it off, Ella's little engine that had been powering us more of the way than we had planned was giving out. We decided to find safe harbor and cut our course due East for Naples to refuel.

We had been about 65 miles off shore and it took us a long while to get close to land. We saw land finally and decided we again needed to shoot off a few rounds from the gun and finish off those damn clay pigeons once and for all. I finally got cell reception and was able to talk to my people, which greatly lifted my spirits for a while, but at the same time it made me a bit home sick.

I slept for a bit and was awoken to panic and lightning. This was happening whilst we tried to enter the harbor in Naples. Mosquitos chewed at us from the mangrove marshes and Ella's engine went in and out of service. We needed gas desperately and it was nearly midnight. We could not see, nor did we know the way to the city dock. So we had to improvize our plan. A mission to find fuel was planned, and three of us -- me, Brian and Jesse -- were dropped off at the dock of a mansion in Port Royal, which is the richest neighborhood in Naples, and likely in Florida. Luckily, or so we hoped, the house was abandoned for the summer and we snuck our way to the street in front to call a cab.

The cabby picked us up and laughed as we explained our predicament. He was very accomodating and felt badly for the harsh times we had to endure. We got gas, sunblock, water and McDonalds for the crew and headed back to the dock at about 3:30 am. As we trespassed through the property, we saw that there was an approaching thunderstorm on its way. No more than 30 seconds after we unloaded the fuel and goods, the heavens parted and we were pissed upon by the gods. I had to lie down for a bit, but got up to enjoy the lifted spirits.

Whilst on our mission, we formulated a new plan to get to Key West, which was either to rent a car or take the ferry from Naples to Key West in the morning. We proposed it to Mac and he approved to the ferry idea. We motored our way to Naples City Dock whilst laughing and chugging champagne, snapping ridiculous pictures the entire way. We tied up to the fuel dock, awaiting the arrival of the Dockmaster. It was about 4:30 am, so we knew it wouldn't be too long. At this point I hadn't slept in many hours, and Day 5 was beginning, whether I liked it or not, with much controversy. Spirits and energy levels were at their bottoms. We needed cold beer badly.