We have been remiss on updating the blog. Guess we are having too much fun!
After leaving Boca Chita Key, we continued our trip south. We anchored out next to a very small island called Pumpkin Key because some folks we know, who also have a Defever 44 like ours, were there. They came over for dinner and we had a great time.
Our next stop was in Key Largo at what Rick called a funky marina (I called it ratty). The dockmaster seemed to have only two teeth in his mouth and was, let’s just say, not overly friendly. However, we went to the Tiki bar for a hamburger and an adult beverage and it turned out to be a great burger and we had a fun time talking with the locals. We weren’t able to go into Key Largo proper because A-1A is the main highway from Key Biscayne to Key West and is dangerous to walk on or ride bikes. So, we did fun stuff like laundry and washed the boat.
We left Key Largo and made our way to Islamorada, the next island south. Our boat draws 4’7” and we bumped the bottom 2 or 3 times. We knew it was shallow water and just went slow. Luckily, what we bumped was just sand so no damage was done to the boat. We anchored out in a beautiful anchorage for 4 nights. It was a wonderful anchorage and we got to go swimming for the first time. We took the dingy ashore and ate dinner at the Lor-E-Lei Restaurant and Cabana, famous for their conch chowder. It was good!
In fact, it was so good we decided to go back for Sunday breakfast. We both got home cooked breakfasts, and two glasses of orange juice. Since it was prior to 11:00AM, and certainly 5-o’clock somewhere, we added some vodka to each glass, making Screwdrivers … their Sunday morning special. We then tooled around in the dingy, and explored a little mangrove basin which had another dingy dock with shopping. Then back to the boat for a nap …! Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.
Tomorrow, Monday, it’s on to Marathon at Boot Key Harbor. For this leg we’ll be crossing over from the Florida Bay (northwest of the key chain) to the Atlantic side, as the water from Islamorada further west is even shallower than we found earlier. We’ll run thru the Channel Five cut into the Hawk Channel, which will take us down to Marathon and Key West, with water in the 20 – 30 ft range … much less stressful.
In Key Largo we watched a guy providing fresh water to a manatee under the dock. The manatee drank from the hose for about 30 minutes.
The color of the water is just amazing.
This is actually a dingy that has been made to look like a pink cadillac. Only in the Keys!
We finally were able to go snorkling. It wasn't that clear but we had to give it a try.
