Bequia Chief

As morning came the Weather forecast changed !!!  Now Noaa weather says winds increasing to 10 to 15 by early afternoon and 15 to 20 after midnight. Our nearest port was Marathon which would have put us into there at about 9 pm. We kept hoping through the day we were far enough south to miss most of the bad weather. By 3 pm it became obvious we were going to be right in the middle of the weather. We were only a few miles outside of Marathon but could not make it before dark.
We turned the boat northwest and tried to get to deep water before the winds picked up before midnight.  Just as they said, the winds were strong at 20 to 24 mph, seas had built to 4 to 5 feet.
Around 9 pm we "heaved to" and with the boat going Southwest then turning West at a speed of about 1 and 1/2 knots Larry was able to get a little rest. Shirley sick, sick and sick......
By 2 am seas had built to 8 to 10 feet. The direction of waves coming at the boat  made the boat very uncomfortable in the larger waves.
Larry turned that boat about 30 degrees off starboard bow the foresail only up (auto pilot decided not to work) with motor running and continued  in this direction until almost daylight when Shirley was able to get up and come outside.
At daylight we were 15 miles directly north of the sea beacon to Key West Pass and 70 miles from Marathon pass.
Larry was able at this time to get the foresail down and motor into Key West Pass to safe anchorage.
At no time was Larry worried about the boat. The boat performed perfectly.
Without auto pilot and with me sick below Larry was not able to leave the cockpit and get the main sail up.

As you  can see from the pics of the inside of the boat, we had storage issues. Learning experience on what needed to be tied down differently. Nothing was broken or damaged beyond picking up. And we are safe with only a bruise and scratch or two.