Sailboat races!

This is the week for the big international sailboat races in Key West. There are sailboats and crews everywhere, including some just “squatting” at some open docks near us. These are supposed to be the biggest deal sailboat races of the year, and the only international ones held in the USA. They each pay $750 entry fee to race, but there are no limits and it’s not “invitational, so anybody with $750 and the right type of sailboat for a specific racing class can enter.

We’re at Boca Chica Key, which is only about 5 miles from Key West, but there’s cheap marina space here and no space in Key west until Monday, because the sailboat races are over on Sunday and slip spaces open up.

Cormorant Lunch!!
This cormorant caught a large mutton snapper fish and was having a difficult time trying to eat it. Kathy saw the size of the fish and said “Wow! That’s Thanksgiving dinner for a cormorant, if he can swallow it!” Here he has speared the fish near the tail with his beak.

The fish was flapping like crazy and the cormorant was trying to turn it around so he could swallow it head first. He finally did get it turned around and then spent a lot of time trying to get it to go down his skinny neck.

Almost gone! All you can see left is the tail as he’s scoffing it down.
Now it’s just a huge lump in his throat. After this he just swam around for a while, then when he tried to take off to fly, he couldn’t and just wound up literally running across the water flapping his wings. After about 30 minutes he tried again and managed to get up into the air. I last saw him flying out of the harbor about 6 inches above the water with his wing tips making little splashes on every wingbeat. When he got home, I’ll bet his mother told him to go to his room and sleep it off.