Boot Key Harbour

We arrived at Boot Key Harbour in Marathon Tuesday morning.  We tied up to a mooring ball and settled in.  We checked in and checked out the place.  It has a project room, showers and bathrooms, TV theater area, Internet area where we saw many kids being home schooled. The  mooring field is huge and holds 226 boats and is pretty much filled up.  We are planing on staying a week here.  Including tax and a free pump out the bill came to $120 dollars.  This is a city operated facility.  I will try to describe it, maybe eclectic? maybe a trailer park on the water?  a safe anchorage for sail boats and Yachts passing through?  Our a place where folks from 20 to 95 have just dropped out?  Quite the diversity!

The weather is about 85+ and humid, but a good breeze up most days.  Last night it only cooled down to 80 so sleeping was not as comfortable no issue!.  We are glad we are here as the winds are going to kick up to 20 Knots and seas on the Atlantic side are. 4-7 footer.  We are well protected here.

We have been dingying in to joints for happy hour most nights, can't beat 3 dollar well drinks and 2 dollar beers. This afternoon we are going to check out a Marina for a possible spot to stay next year for  a month.  Its the week end so Brigiite just told me

 I am making lunch! Bloody's  it is!  Cheers!

Bahia Honda Key to Marathon

On Sunday we took a leisurely cruise of about 14 milw to Bahia Honda Key which is a State Park.  We anchored between the old railroad bridge and US1.  More on that fiasco later. We took the dinks into the harbor watered the dogs and went for a swim on the beach (Atlantic) had ice cream. We basically chilled out.  This a very beautiful spot!  As the day went along the boats rolled a little bit at anchor but nothing to un comfortable.  In the morning Brigitte , Cody and I went for a two mile walk along the ocean. Dick and I watches all our weather sources and decided Monday might be a little rough on the outside so we decided to stay another night.  Hey, the anchorage is very free and great access to get the dogs off. As the day progressed so did the roll of the boats.  Our anchorage between the Briges is exactly were the Gulf and Atlantic meet.  The current ripped through here swinging the boat 180 degrees at each tide change 4 times a day.  This was fine until the winds picked up to a sustained 13 knots and gusts to 20 from the West.  Now the boats  were pinned by the current and taking all the wind on the beam hence the roll. I would guess a good 20 degree roll with some to 30 degrees. This known as being in a bath tub!  We felt confident our anchor would hold as we a hundred feet of chain out in 7 ft of water.  I took Cody out around nine  through 2-3 footers in the dingy yes we both had life jackets on.  We went to bed to tried to get a couple ours of sleep. I got up every two hours to keep watch.  At around 3:30 I got up and noticed that our buddy boat had change anchorages and was much closer to us, Strange why anyone would reset an anchor in this storm,  I forgot to mention it was raining cats and dogs and gusting to 23 knots.
In the morning I meet up with Dick at the Park and I kind of kidded him if he got a good nights sleep.
The reason he had re set the anchor was that during the middle of the night his anchor broke free and he was washed up on shore. Luckily his keel hung up in some sand just before the all coral shore line.
He called Sea Tow and they they arrived in about 45 minutes and pulled him off.  He had 60 feet of chain out! More is usually better if you have room. We both decided to pull anchor and get the hell out of the still heavy rolling seas. Inga stated that in their nearly 6000 miles of cruising it was the worst night they had ever had. As we pulled out in to the Atlantic we were managing 4 foot swells which we managed well and once behind the islands it went down to a 1 foot swell. We only had 12 miles to Boot Key Harbour and Marathon.

Heading out into the Atlantic

We left Key West around 9:45 after a pump out and topping off our tanks! We rounded the end of the Island and headed out into the Atlantic.  For the first time our compass did not read a southerly course.  We are headed North East.  The weather is unbelievable,  80 degrees no wind and a dead calm ocean, yes we had glass waters to run on.  We cruised along our friends Dick and Inga for about 35 miles to Picnic Island which is about halfway to Marathon.  We could see the bottom 16 to 20 feet below us, the water is the most in unbelievable shade of turquoise.   Unfortunately even though I was trolling 2 lines we could see no fish.  We did see a large sea turtle on the bottom and a few Dolphins.  What a great day.  Cheers,  I am going to have a glass of wine and then grill some fish!

Key West

Galleon Marina

Wed. Morning we pulled into the Galleon Marina and tied up.  We enjoyed the pool and had a first class dinner at a seafood  place on the water.  Thursday we took the Trolley around town and stopped and toured the Hemingway Mansion.  Friday we road our bikes to the Southern most point in the Continental US. 90 miles from Cuba.  We hope to go there by boat  some day.  We found McConnell's Irish Pub and had a bloody! Yes I bought the tee shirt.

Cheers,

Happy St Patricks Day from Key West!

We cast off our lines in Fort Meyers Beach Sunday Morning  with fellow cruisers Dick and Inga ( A 40 ft Main Ship Trawler) and cruised to Marco Island and stayed at Rose Marina.  I perfectly beautiful morning and cruised in calm seas for about 4 plus hours.  We had planned on going down close to Everglades City and then cross to Key West, but that changed when we could not find an Ancorage where we could get the dogs off the boats.  Monday mornings weather showed favorable cruising conditions so at 7:20 we headed out.  We cruised in 1-2 foot following seas, so we rolled a little as the wind was out on the Northwest.  We initially started cruising at 8 knots but found 9 1/2 to 10 1/2 Knots more comfortable.  The crossing from Marina to the Garrison Bight Mooring Field took 10 hours covering 108 statute miles.  We were out of site of land for about 7 hours and At our farthest point about 50 miles off shore.
This morning we took a dingy ride into the KeyWest Seaport for a celebratory Bloody Marry at the Schooner Wharf Bar.  We plan to take the Dingy down to Mallory Square tonight for the daily sunset festivitys.  We will stay on the Mooring Ball again tonight ands then move to the Galleon Marina for three nights.  It is located a block from Duval Street. Let the good times roll.

Cheers Scott and Brigitte

Update since we arrived in Florida!

We were  in Legacy Marina in downtown Ft Myers until January 15 th.  We loved the Marina here, potluck  every Thursday, Docktails most nights. $ 3 beer and wine at the Tiki Hut Friday and Sat nights.  We went downtown, a 3 block walk most Friday and Saturday nights where they blocked of the streets for bands and art walk.  Very Fun! Great people and made many new friends. We had a Thanksgiving dinner with  about 70 people on the dock. The kids came down for Christmas and we again ha d Chriatmas dinner on the docks with about 45 people.  We sang Christmas Carols in shorts, very weird.  On Christmas night every boat had folks come by caroling! Yes it was super special. We spent New Years Eve with the Matthews and Terri Evans in Naples.


January 15 th we moved to SnookBight Marina on Fort Myers Beach.  This has been the best! 
Publics grocery store in the front of the Marina and the beach across the street. We walked Cody 2-3 miles on the beach most every morning.  We have had great friends join us here and have made multiple Dolphin runs with great results. Fishing off The boat has been great. Brigitte missed a month here waiting in MN for our Granddaughter Soren!  Wow it is was worth the wait. I flew out as soon as labor started and she is the best! We have spent the last two week enjoying friends new and old!  Tomorrow we are off of on the next phase of this years adventure. We are headed to the Keys for about 7 weeks. We will cruise up the Keys to Stuart FL and across Lake Okachobee  to East of Ft Myers Around May 6 th,  where will store the boat till next Fall.  Log on and follow our adventure!