Staying Warm!

Those of you up North probably wonder how we stay warm on the boat during the winter. Obviously, we stay in the Keys as far south as we can get without invading Cuba! (90 miles south of us but illegal for Americans to visit)

In the Keys we consider any temperature below 60 degrees to be FRIGID!!! The normal low in January is around 65 degrees and the
normal high around 75. BUT, cold fronts sweep down here from up north and the low occassionally gets down in the 50's and sometimes in the 40's maybe once a winter!!! (The 100 year record low was 41 degrees!)

When it is too cold in the cabin we light the "fireplace". The "fireplace" is an 8 inch clay flowerpot turned upside down over a gas
burner. The rim actually glows red hot and it radiates an incredible amount of heat. It will raise the temperature in the cabin 10 or 15
degrees in fifteen minutes or so! It is, of course, important to have the hatch open a little to provide adequate ventilation.

For going ashore in the dinghy we bundle up! The photo above is of Linda ready to go ashore when the temperature is 61 degrees!! Burrrr!