Day 29 – April 28

We wake to clouds and threatening skies.  I fire up the generator to boost the batteries in case we do not get a lot of sun, since the weather forecast is not promising.  After the morning broadcast, we go ashore and walk to Publix.  (Ok, here they go to Publix again; but without a car or bike it is hard to tote any significant amount of groceries the mile back to the harbor, plus it gets us off the boat and provides some exercise.  I made the mistake of gathering too many groceries the other day and it was painful walk back.)  We stop at a couple of shops before reaching Publix.  After returning, the skies are still cloudy, but Beth decides that she will give the beach a try.  We motor off up Sisters Creek and Beth says we never see any wildlife and as soon as she says that we spot a blue heron in the mangroves.  After I drop Beth at the beach, on my return a small ray jumps about 4 feet out of the water.  The ray has a tail that is almost 3 feet long.  Where’s the camera when you need one. 

 Since I do not like sitting on the beach for very long, I come back to the boat to work on some projects.  I had put together some frames for screens to fit in the two windows (I finished the screen insert for the door), but never got to finish them before we left.  I am working on the port side since it is the toughest one.  Even though I measured everything and calculated the angles, there is nothing square on the boat so I am planing the sides down to get it to fit.  I almost finish the fitting when I look up and there is a large set of clouds moving our way.   I pack everything back in the boat and put everything away, which is a mistake, and go get Beth.  On the way back from the beach, the clouds open up and we are soaked by the time we get to the boat.  (Shouldn’t have put everything away.) 

We dry off and shortly the weather clears.  We motor over for showers and then have dinner.  I am reading and Beth is watching a movie when we look out and the sky is lit up with the sunset.  Since it had been so cloudy, we were not expecting any sunset, but the skies cleared enough to let the sun highlight the evening sky. 

Day 28 – April 27

We have been gone 4 weeks now.  I get online and compare prices for replacement dome lights and call West Marine as both Defender and WM are about the same.  They do not have it in stock, but can get them from another store.  We woke to a cloudy day, so Beth is not going to the beach.  We walk to Publix to replenish our fresh fruit and veggies.  We get a little more than what we had on our list and I get a workout toting it back home. 

 One of our neighbor’s, who has been here for a couple of weeks, is working on a replacement jib.  His original blew out on his sail across the gulf.  He ordered a new pre-cut sail from Sail Rite, the same place that you can order the sewing machines and Sunbrella.  He noted that they send you the sail with instructions and all of the pieces labeled and all you do is sew them together.  He noted that it will take about a week for him to sew it together, saving around $800.  He has the time, and he is learning about putting together a sail.  We were talking about sails and I said that I was looking at an asymmetrical spinnaker.  He thought that I should look at a Code 0 and a roller furling as he knew of some issues with the snuffer.  The sails are about the same price, but the furler is about $300 more than the snuffer. 

 When we return, we organize the boat and I work on the uphaul / downhaul for the port rudder.  It had come loose during our trip.  It turned out that the hold down had loosened and after adjusting the lines, and tightening the hold down, it works again.  It is still cloudy so we are limited in our activities this afternoon, but by late afternoon the clouds finally disappear.  Dinner is a combination of left overs and fresh broccoli and a steak that we had in our refrigerator at home, which I cook for Beth. 

Day 27 – April 26

We wake and are ready for the morning cruiser’s net broadcast, one of the interesting aspects of Boot Key Harbor.  The show keeps you abreast of events and happenings around the harbor, as well as people needing help or selling things.   It’s a nice community.  After the broadcast, I take Beth to the beach, while I am on a mission to find a couple of things for the boat and dingy.  I am at West Marine again and they have a couple of the items, but direct me next door for the oar lock for the dingy.  He doesn’t have the exact part, but when I get it back to the dingy, I find that it works.  On the way back to the boat, I stop at the fish market (no luck in catching our own) and get some mahi. 
 
Back at the boat I install the oar lock and redo the throttle extension on the dingy (as the bolt was too short).  I pick up Beth from underneath her palm tree (we have been using them for shade rather than umbrella, as it has usually been too windy).  We note that we should have them planted on the beach in New Smyrna Beach.  We have the mahi with rice and salad.  As Beth is doing dishes, the light over the sink decides to not work.  It has been acting up since we left, but has finally bit the dust.  I install a stick up LED light (which I put in the cabinets and have some extras) until I can find a replacement. 

Day 26 – April 25

The pump out boat shows up early, but we have been up early prepping the boat for the trip, dingy back on the davits, jack lines as we are going in the ocean, etc.  We leave just before 8 and the “Water World” scene that we encountered on the way in has been replaced by a few boats leaving the harbor, most sport fishing and a couple of cruisers like us.  We pass another cruise ship that must have arrived some time that night.  As we pass the entrance to the harbor, we start to encounter the northeast winds, which mean that we will be motoring the entire trip.  There is a 2 to 3 foot wind swell running and occasionally we send some spray aloft.  As the day progresses and the winds increase, the spray is replaced with water on the front deck and the spray hits the winds.  When the spray dries it leaves a crust of salt on the windows which I have to clean so that I can see again. 

As we cruised up the keys, we pass the naval air station and several jets are doing “touch and go’s”, which is where they touch down for a few seconds and then take off again.  We could see them take off and make a circle in formation and as we were in the glide path we watched them pass overhead.   As it was an 8+ hour trip, we put the fishing pole out, hoping for dinner, but all I caught was sea weed and grass. 

Speaking of sea grass, as we approached Marathon, the winds picked up a little more, sending both water and grass over the bow.  By the time we arrived there was sea grass from the bow to the stern.  We are moored one row back from where we were the last time.  I make a salad, and right after sundown I am in bed as I was exhausted from the trip, plus not sleeping real well the night before. 

Day 25 – April 24

Today is our last day in Key West.  We have a window to go north and we have decided to go back to Boot Key harbor as there is another blow coming.  We were thinking of going to Big Pine Key, but the all of the anchorages are not protected on all sides.  KW harbor is protected on all sides but the north, but the mooring field lies in the middle of this bay and winds can whip up chop in all directions, not only from the north.  Beth and I agree that KW is one of our favorite cites to visit.  There is so much to do, and off we go again today, heading to the southernmost point in the continental US.  The southern part of Duval has several art galleries, including Wyland’s, and we see several pieces of art that is amazing.  We walk into the gallery which has works by Pam Hobbs, (we have a couple of her prints in our kitchen), and see some of her new works.  Another gallery has a wave where you are in the tube looking out at the coastline, only $1500, and others that we both liked, equally expensive.   We pass a mother hen with her chicks on the side walk and she moves them into an alley where there is a small garden.  

We walk to a hotel where we stayed a couple of years ago, and then to the southernmost point, where a couple just got engaged.  He proposed at the landmark buoy.  Afterwards we went for pizza, and it was very good, almost as good as NJ’s.  We walk back down to the harbor and find some gifts along the way and come back loaded down.  Another cruise ship has come in overnight and Beth is amazed at the size. (Since we have our own cruise ship, why would we want to go on one of these?)  We are there when the boat departs, watching them toss the lines holding the ship in place into the water, and there are no tugs, just a harbor pilot who monitors the traffic.  Now these ships have serious bow and stern thrusters as the boat literally moves away from the dock at 90 degrees, until it is far enough away to where the bow thrusters turn the boat 180, and they head out to sea.   We walk through Mallory Square and the roosters are everywhere. 

Back at the boat we have soy burgers and get ready for leaving tomorrow.  We are hoping that the pump out boat comes early as they missed us today.  Another beautiful and windy sunset. 

Day 24 – April 23

After a bouncy night, there is hope on the horizon as the winds are expected to calm down a little today; although by nightfall they are expected to pick up again.  We are off to town again, but I stop in the Ace Hardware store, which is one of the largest I have seen, and find the tubing for the generator additional tank.  When I get back and attach it, and voila, no more refueling the generator as the spare tank holds over 5 gallons of gas.  I also pick up some bolts and wing nuts to fix the dingy outboard accelerator extension, which was given to me by one of our neighbors at our dock. 

We wander down to Duval again and stop for ice cream; Kohrs, which I remember from the summers on the Jersey boardwalks.  Beth has a chocolate with chocolate sprinkles, and I have the vanilla and orange sherbet swirl (my favorite from the boardwalk).  The crowds from yesterday are replaced with crowds from a cruise ship.  We make our way to the harbor and then back up Duval.  We turn south and head to the Truman Annex section, and stroll through the “little White House” grounds.  After leaving the annex, we end up by the harbor again, where we find the KW art museum.  There are several sculptures on the outside, and Beth takes several pictures.  We turn on to the boardwalk by the cruise ship and gaze across the harbor at Sunset Key where there are parasails everywhere.  With the winds and waves easing, they are out in force; same with the snorkel tours, which were probably cancelled the last few days.   

After several hours, we return to the dingy dock.  Beth snaps several more photos of the houseboats that are right next to us, as well as the Naval housing which she intends to send to Lauren.  Dinner is a nice spinach salad, and shortly after dinner, if on cue, the winds pick up for the night.  We are getting used to sleeping through the rocking and wave slap. 

Day 23 – April 22

Well, the rain was replaced with 20+ knot winds, although blowing from the other direction.  There were a few stray showers, but mostly it was the wind.  I put the dingy in the water and attached the motor, and after a few minutes of consternation about motoring in the wind and waves, we load up and are off to locate the KW City Marina dock master’s office.  We decided that we both would wear life preservers and we had directions “to go under a bridge, and the office would be on the left”.  Beth located the bridge, but there was only a Jet Ski operation.  We asked the owner where the city marina was located, and he pointed to the next inlet.  Wrong.  We motor through the chop to the next inlet and ask a sailor motoring out where the city marina is located, and he directs us to the dingy dock.  We finally get pointed in the right direction, and locate the dock master’s office.  We end up tying up where they launch trailered boats; fortunately there is not much traffic due to the weather.  We register and get the pass codes for the dingy dock and showers and drop off our garbage. 

 After showers and returning to the boat we decide to go to town.  We motor back through the chop and get a nice salt water shower.  Both of us are pretty soaked by the time we reach the dock, but we dry as we walk to town about a mile away.  We love the architecture of the KW houses, which is on our route to downtown.  We wander down Duval and down to the harbor where they are setting up the “taste of KW” scheduled for tomorrow.  The streets are busy, but it is a Sunday.  We stop in an outdoor restaurant for some conch fritters and a couple of rum drinks.   We motor back and shower the sun lotion and salt water off, and prepare for a bouncy night as the winds are predicted to be 20+ again.  We have determined that there is not any perfect anchorage in KW, short of going in to a marina, but at $100+ per night, we’ll bounce a little.  We are safe on the mooring ball, just a little uncomfortable. 

Day 22 – April 21

We wake at 4:30 am to the flash of lightning and the roll of thunder in the distance.  We knew that we were going to get some weather today, but the yesterday’s forecast called for showers in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon.  Survey says; wrong.  The lightning grew brighter and thunder louder; rain sprinkles to downpours; light winds to 20 – 25 knots.  With the wind coming directly out of the north, the wind waves funnel directly into the anchorage and shortly after daybreak there are 1 to 3 foot waves.  By 8 am I am out draining the dingy with the bilge pump of a gallon or two.  This task would repeat itself several more times this morning, which means I will not need a shower tonight.  I also have to fill the generator and then get it situated as it looks as if we are not going to have any sunlight today, based on my review of the radar. 

With us being confined to the boat, we are trying to determine what to do.  We decide on a movie and I make some microwave popcorn (generator is still running), but between the rain and the generator, we can hardly hear the movie.  We both do some exercises, read, and take naps.  Dinner will be pasta, as we have a cool day, only around low 70’s today.   After dinner and an all-day rain, we are greeted with a partial rainbow and nice sunset, hopefully a precursor of things to come. 

Day 21 – April 20

Well, our departure did not go so smooth this morning.  The freezer ran all night and ran down the batteries.  I fire up the generator and in about 15 minutes, the Honda cranks to life and we are off.  The water is like glass as we cruise out of the harbor, which does not last long.  As soon as we get out in the Hawk Channel, there is a small 1 to 3 foot swell running which is almost on our beam.  This gives us a rolly ride all the way down to Key West.   The winds are not very cooperative for the first couple of way points, but we are finally able to put up the jib and motor sail.  We see some sights that we had only seen previously from land, but they are much more beautiful from the ocean.  Even with the wind it is a warm ride down.  With all of the hatches and ports closed, the salon hits 90 degrees. 

We finally reach KW and the trip through the channel and harbor is crazy, Water World crazy as Beth puts it.  There are boats of all sizes, including a Coast Guard cutter and a pirate ship, and jet skis buzzing around.  The jet skis are the worst, since the riders do not pay attention.  Of course we hit the channel on an outgoing tide, which slows our progress in places to less than 3 knots.  Between the swell, the boat wakes, and the tide, it is amazing that we finally get to the mooring field.  Getting to the mooring field is another adventure as you have to go all the way around the Flemming Key, which took about 45 minutes.   On our way around the key, we pass other boats that are anchored, but we have been told that once the wind switches, they are exposed.  (The mooring field is exposed to the north, but protected on all other sides.)  We finally find a mooring, the dock master told us to take any one, except the ones with an orange tag, which is quite a few.  We secure ourselves and then we both can’t wait to take shower to cool off.  With the heat from today’s travel, we are taking a wait and see attitude as to whether we go to the Marquesas and the Dry Tortugas.  We may have left a little too late this year, as we do not have AC that we can run away from the dock. 

I make a salad and a nice cool rum drink for dinner.  One thing that we note is that the anchorage is very quiet.   

Day 20 – April 19

Today is provisioning day as we are planning to head west, actually west / southwest to Key West tomorrow.  Beth got a nice treat as another woman in the harbor would lead yoga this morning.  I ferried her off to yoga and I did laundry, sheets and my shirts (can wash the surf shorts in the shower, but shirts have to go thru the wash).  I run the laundry and Beth back to the boat and then we are off to Publix again.  We have three bags of fresh veggies, bread, and other items.  Our plan is to get to KW and then go to the Marquesis and Dry Tortugas which is the reason for the extra food.  After loading the fridge and freezer, Beth wants to go to the beach one last time which is fine and since there are no waves, I will run and get some extra gas for the pending trips. 

After gas and the beach, we get back to the boat and get it organized for the trip, stowing beach chairs and umbrella, dingy anchor, etc.  Given that it will probably be a little warmer, I install a fan in the salon (one the projects that I did not get to before we left).  Off to showers and dinner.  I try to sleep, but am a bit edgy on leaving.   I read and finally get to sleep. 

Day 19 – April 18

There were no huge gusts of wind last night that blew off our covers and it was comfortable sleeping.  We awake to a parade of boats leaving the harbor.  We see at least 6 to 7 boats leaving, including two Geminis. I do some laundry before we leave on Friday.  We were told that we may be able to find the tubing for our generator at Advance Auto Parts, which was right before the bridge.  The problem was that we failed to inquire which bridge so we headed towards the seven mile bridge.  Well that was incorrect as it was the small bridge in Marathon, about 3 ½ miles away.  We do stop at a motor cycle shop thinking that they might have the part, but no luck, although they did state that we could find it at another parts place, but not in walking distance.  We come back to the boat and have lunch, and I work on cleaning the starboard hull. 

After showers, we dingy over to some friends from NSB and have cocktails on their boat with some other friends from St Augustine.  They are in a slip for the next couple of weeks before heading north.  They had been in the Bahamas for the last 6 weeks, and it was windy and chilly in the Abacos.  They wished they had delayed their trip a month as it was still chilly there.  Back home we have left overs.  

Day 18 – April 17

Well the winds appear to be calming down as a number of boats have announced that they are leaving the harbor including Beth’s yoga instructor.  They and several others are off to the Chesapeake.  After Beth went to yoga, I wandered off to Home Depot to try and find the gas line for our generator extra tank.  No luck there, and I go to Publix for a gallon of water, broccoli, and a paper.   After Beth’s class we walk across the street to the Key’s Fisheries market again, and buy some grouper for dinner.  Today is a lazy day, after returning we read and lounge around.  We go for a dingy ride to the north end of the harbor and find where our friends from NSB are moored.  We tool around and find that we can get to Home Depot by water, although I am not sure we can leave the dingy. 

Back home I do a little cleaning and after showers I start dinner.  After marinating the grouper for a while, I wrap it in foil and throw it on the grill.  The rice and broccoli are a nice side with the fresh grouper.  The pound that we got provides left over’s for tomorrow.

Day 17 – April 16

We are still waiting for a weather window to get to Key West and other islands west of us.  The forecast is not promising for the next few days so we are hanging out, doing a few projects, like cleaning the bottom and sides of the boat and other items requiring attention.  With the winds continuing to blow between 15 and 20 knots, our friends are hanging in Islamorada until it calms down a bit and then going to Dinner Key or Coconut Grove which heading back north and towards home.  Our excursion today was to West Marine to try and locate a 1/8 inch tube that feeds the external gas tank to the generator.  When we filled it in Titusville, it began leaking by the shutoff valve and we noticed that the tubing had some dry rot.  Well WM and the Yamaha dealer did not have the tubing, so I am going to try and find other places that might carry it.  Our walk took us north and on our way back we noticed some dark clouds coming in off the ocean.  We had left all of the ports open, so I dingy back to the boat and close it up, while Beth continues on to Publix.   I get back to the dingy dock and jog the mile + to Publix, and I then try to find Beth in the store.  I am on the phone and she says "can you hear me"; "of course I can hear you, your on the phone", when actually she was a few feet away from me.  Funny girl!! We get some spinach and other veggies for a salad, and wander back to the harbor.  Our trips today encompassed over 4 miles. 

 Back at the boat, I finish cleaning the outer port hull and the inner portions of the stern.  It is still too windy to get between the hulls, but hopefully later in the week, those will be cleaned also.  Showers feel good and we dingy back to have dinner and watch a movie together on the computer.    

Day 17 – April 15

The tax man cometh, although you have another day since it falls on a weekend.  Today’s mission, find a nut cracker as we are going to have Stone Crab claws for dinner tonight.   (We did not have that in our inventory.)  Beth is off to yoga again and I am off to Kmart in search of the nut cracker.  No luck in Kmart, so I end up in Publix.  I ask one of the assistants, and she says she does not think they carry them, but I ask where the utensils are kept, and voila a nutcracker with two picks.  So with nut cracker and a Sunday paper, I meet Beth for our walk to the seafood market.  We walk in and they have 4 selections of Stone Crab, Jumbo, Large, Select, and Medium.  No Jumbo and the lady at the counter recommends the Select.  A gentlemen says do forget the mustard sauce, and we take that also. 

After putting dinner in the fridge, we motor off to the beach again, even though the winds are still gusting over 20 knots.  We find a palm tree to put our chairs under for shade as no umbrella today, unless I want to chase it down the beach.  The beach is busy, as it is a Sunday, volleyball, music from groups picnicking, jet skis, etc.  We sit and read for a while and go for another walk along the shore.  We return and shower off the beach.

I start cooking rice to go along with the crab claws.  Beth suggests that we have a few claws as an appetizer.  Now I understand why they are called Stone Crab, besides looking like a rock, they do not give up their meat very easily.  The joints were easy to get the meat out, but the claws were a bit tougher.  I tried cracking like a lobster claw, but ended up hitting them with the cracker.  That worked, however, by the time the rice was ready we had eaten all of the crab.  It was good and sauce went well with the crab, but we both agreed that we liked the Maryland crab the best.   

Day 16 – April 14

We get an early morning wake up, around 4, with the sound of rain, so we run around like a chicken without a head to close everything up; 3 hatches and 6 ports, which includes removing screens.  After that escapade, I cannot get back to sleep, so I read until daybreak.  Today is forecast to be stormy, so after listening to the morning Boot Key Harbor report, a great ½ hour report of new and departing boats, things to do, info, things to sell and needed, etc., we dingy in to walk.  We go off to Publix to pick up some water and bananas, but mostly it is about the walk.  We return right before we get four deluges, with lots of wind.  There was so much rain that I am forced to pump the water out of the dingy with the manual bilge pump, and there is still more water to remove underneath the floor.  I am in the process of scrubbing the hulls, as with the warmer water we are getting more growth faster than before.  I have almost completed the entire outer portion of the hulls and will work on the inners when there is a little less wind and waves.  (There is always something to do.)

We dingy in for showers and there are little waves in the harbor, enough that with the wind, it gets us wet coming back and forth from the dock.  Back on the boat, we have dinner and only open one hatch for the evening as we are getting 25 knot gusts.  I put an extra line on the mooring ball just to be sure, although I doubt if it will be needed.  With the wind, all of the boats in the harbor are "sailing" on their moorings.   With this wind, our friends are going to be delayed as they are staying put with the small craft advisory in effect for the next few days. 

Day 15 – April 13

Happy Friday the 13^th.  Nothing on tap today so Beth is doing a few things and I am off for another walk to pick up some things at Publix.  Lacking a vehicle (car, bike, etc.) limits the amount of stuff you can bring back.  Beth asks if there is a way to get to the beach so I stop and ask how we can dingy to the beach.  It turns out that there is creek that leads to the beach is just off our bow, so I pack up the dingy with chairs, umbrella, and beach bag, and off we go.  It is a nice 5 to 10 minute ride, and we find a place to tie the dingy to a big rock.  We walk up through a nice park and set up camp on the beach.  No waves, and there is a ton of sea grass moving on shore.   (When we were going to Sombrero Reef, we encountered several patches offshore.)  We take the short walk up and down the beach, and there are exposed reef / rocks that remind us of the Bahamas.  There are several small fish swimming in and out of the holes in the reef / rocks.  We find rocks with fossils of old ferns.  There are gars and mullet moving in the shallows; even a small crab clinging to the sea grass. 

After the walk, we return back to the boat, which is very warm.  Up goes the hatch wind scoop which helps.  We go for showers and then run the generator to charge everything for the night.  Even with the solar panel, we still need a boost from the generator, plus we need it to heat the water for dishes.  Dinner and another sunset, although this time before the conch horns we hear bagpipes across the harbor. 

Day 14 – April 12

On the harbor announcements yesterday, there was a free yoga class, so at 9:45 I am chauffeuring Beth to the dock, while I am going to do some laundry.   I met a gentleman who had just got in yesterday, after coming across the gulf.  He had just left his job and bought a boat and was going to cruise till the money ran out. 

 We contacted our friends and we were going to meet them at Sombrero Reef around noon, which meant that we had to leave around 11.  Their boat has twin 150’s so they could leave at 11:45!!  We get to the reef and find a mooring ball, but we cannot find them, and it turns out we are at the south end and they are on the north.  There is a mooring ball close to us so they agree to move, but no sooner had they moved, but here comes the “tour bus” with 50 people on it and takes the mooring ball.  We try to raft up but with a sea of 1 to 2 feet, it makes it hard as our boats have different heights.  Finally a mooring ball opens behind us and they grab that one.   Small world story; we see a couple who were in our marina before heading to the Bahamas on one of the boats moored at the reef.  He swims over and we chat and are going to get together for cocktails one night as they are here for another 6 weeks before heading north. 

We get out on the reef, and it is a bit cloudy with the wave action, but there are fish everywhere including a 3 foot barracuda swimming near the bow of the boat.   We get further inside the reef and the water is clearer.  I snap several pictures of the coral and fish.  There are a couple of grouper which would make a fine dinner, but the reef is a catch and release area.  We swim back to the boat and rinse off.  Our friends need a wrench to mount their grill to the rail (we have the same grill), so I lower the dingy and row it over.  (It was easier than trying to put the engine on in 2 foot seas.)  We sit and chat and they offer us some burgers, but we had lunch on the way out.  We say our good byes as they are leaving Saturday, and motor back to our mooring ball.   Showers feel great washing the salt off, and we have a late dinner salad. 

Day 13 – April 11

We are off for a visit to some friends who are spending a week in Marathon and a trip to Publix for fruits and veggies.  We decided to walk from the harbor to their rental house a few miles (3.5) away.   We both have walked and run that far, but trekking down the sidewalk with 85 degree heat will make it seem longer.  We make it to their house and have some water to re-hydrate.  Before we left, we spoke about going out to snorkel on the Sombrero Reef, about 5 miles offshore, but he was having boat problems where water was coming in and one of his bilge pumps was not working.  I have an old bilge pump that I said he could have and we brought that along.  He was able to pump about 5+ gallons out of his starboard bilge.  We had a nice visit including an encounter with a 2 foot iguana. 

We decided that we would go snorkeling tomorrow.   Before they drove us back to the harbor, we stopped by the dive shop to pick up a couple of things and then they drove us to Publix where we got what we needed and more, including sushi for dinner.  We get back to the boat and it is warm with the afternoon sun, although it is breezy.  We try our new toy, which is a wind scoop, and it works great, so good that Beth had to change seats with me.  We watched another great sunset accompanied by conch horns.  One boat coming back to their mooring had two men blowing their horns on their foredeck.

Day 12 – April 10

We’re up early to head for Boot Key Harbor, about 45 miles away.  We motor out and I am on the southwest side of the bay, supposedly in 7 feet of water and the depth sounder starts reading 3.5.  I make a 90 degree turn and head back to the middle of the bay.  Just like in the Bahamas, you do not cut corners in the Keys, and I wasn’t according to the charts and GPS.  The last time we were here, we had a great sail on Florida Bay.  The winds today are about 3 to 6 knots out of northwest, so we are motoring.  We are in turquoise waters, passing small islands to our beam.

We get to the 7 mile bridge and have to motor 3 miles southwest to the opening, and then motor 3 miles back to Boot Key Harbor.  On the way into the harbor there is a motor yacht anchored in the channel, and soon after we see him being towed to the mooring field.  We stop for gas, water, and a pump out, and the place is busy.  The lady running the fuel dock has it under control.  She puts us on one dock, and the other boat which got a little testy with her on another.  She says she will get to us shortly, and I reply, no hurry, we’re on vacation.  We dump our garbage and get fuel and water.  The other boats seem to be in a big hurry, and we tell her, when they’re gone you can help us.  We get a mooring in Boot Key Harbor, although we have a bit of a problem finding it.  Once secured, we register and take showers.  Pasta and spinach is on the menu tonight.