We put the boat in the water and headed out to sea. We got about 300 feet and the engine seized and stalled. I soon found that the propeller shaft ingested a 10 foot section of anchor line. It wedged so tight that it stalled the engine. Thankfully we were still in the shallow channel of the marina. So, overboard I went, just like a pirate, with a knife between my teeth.....not really. But I did go overboard with a knife to try to remove the line. I had to call back to the marina to get someone to bring me a snorkel mask. Once I had that I was able to see what I was doing. Twenty minutes later we were back in business.
The prop works fine and we saw the low side of 30 MPH at wide open throttle. Not a bad speed for a 7,000 lb. boat. We headed to a local landmark called Pelican Shoals. This is a part of the reef about 5 miles off Key West that has an exposed coral head that has turned into a sandy beach area. It is a bird sanctuary and it is forbidden to walk on the land area. But, it is a great area for fishing. Just the other day a buddy caught a bunch if nice Grouper, Yellowtail Snapper and Mutton Snapper. We tied up to one of the mooring bouys and threw our lines out. I started to catch a few yellowtail snapper but they were not very large. Later I saw a traveling barracuda and tried to get him to bite After a few attempts, we hooked him and got him in. Nice fight on the light tackle we were using. Later a school of Spanish Mackeral came buy and we hooked a few but only landed one. The others bit through the line with their razor sharp teeth. The one we got though became dinner for that night. We then left that area to see how the boat handles while trolling. The action of the boat was great and I think we will have good luck in the future trolling for Mahi and Sailfish. Here are three pictures!
