Day 35 - May 4

We wake early to the alarms we set; this is only the second time we have set alarms on this trip.  The winds were supposed to calm down overnight, so we are hoping for only a slightly bumpy ride up to Pennekamp state park.  We go out Sisters creek, which is our route to the beach and pass our beach, with a full tide.  There is enough water for even a monohull to get out.  The shallowest part is at the last marker before entering the ocean.  Once we are in the ocean, well, it is not pretty.  There is still a 3 to 4 foot swell running and the wind (15+) and swell are directly on our nose. We are making about 3 to 4 knots through the wind and waves; at this rate it will take us 12 hours to cover the route we have planned.   At this point I turn the boat around and say we are going inside and will go up to Channel 5 and moor for the night.  As soon as we turn around and with the wind and waves on our beam, we are doing over 6 knots.  We enter Florida Bay and it is much smoother, although the wind is on our nose again, so we motor the entire way.  (As a side note, as we are mototing up the inside, we hear that a 21 foot motor boat had overturned about 1 1/2 miles off the coast and three people were in the water.  They were rescued and Sea Tow was attempting to right the boat.) 

We are motoring along and I miss the place where we were going to stay for the night by a good 8 miles.  After we go through Steamboat pass, I realize we are back in Islamorada, so we anchor here tonight.  If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  We are anchored near a motor cat that looks like a RV on the water.

We decide to go out to dinner at Lorilei's.  The dinner menu is not large so we opt for some drinks and appetizers.  It is a nice night with the winds still blowing and keeping it cool.  When we arrived, there was a band setting up, and we always like to talk during dinner.  Fortunately, they were only setting up and we were able to have dinner.  We did stay afterwards and listen to the band, who were very good. 

We walk out and take our pictures by the Lorelei's sign, and a gentleman approaches and asks if we would want him to take our picture.  We have a lot of pictures of us individually, not too many together.  (Lauren and Richard say we have to just hold the camera out and snap a picture.)  Back at the boat we are treated to a beautiful sunset and moon rise.