Day 174

Steve had been dreading the south Florida ICW because it runs through such highly-populated areas, there are many, many bridges spanning the ICW with heights of less than 21 feet, which is the very least amount of height Legacy needs to pass safely underneath, without damaging her mast or any of the equipment mounted atop it.  Steve had studied, we had learned at the AGLCA Rendezvous, and we had been told by many Loopers who had prior experience with this section of the ICW, that it would take quite a bit of time and patience if we opted to travel in the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway, remember?), rather than just “go outside” and travel northward up the coast in the Atlantic Ocean.  One of the things I prefer about traveling the ICW over cruising in the ocean is that our ride is almost always smoother, and there’s a lot more close-up for us to see, since the ICW has been dredged-out to a standard depth of 12-feet to accommodate commercial traffic and, thusly, most recreational boat traffic, as well.  I’ve already found that (at least in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean off of Florida) when we cruise out in the ocean, in order to find consistent depths of 5.5 feet or deeper (Legacy’s keel is 5-feet) we have to travel far out from land, so that we are unable to see much of the coastal scenery we’re passing.  Because the ICW is purposely deep enough, it is often fairly narrow across, which means most times we have front-row seats to all of the sights along our journey.  Most boaters we’ve met who have experience with the south Florida ICW have recommended that (even though the section is slow and tedious because of the no wake zones and all the many low bridges with scheduled draw-bridge openings) we should travel it at least once, just for the experience and to see everything along it there is to see.  So, for example, many of the drawbridges across the ICW are scheduled to open either on the half-hour or on the quarter-hour.  For instance, there were bridges opening at 8:00 and then again at 8:30, while other bridges opened at 8:15 and again at 8:45.  Steve tried to plan our departure time to coincide with these schedules, in hopes we’d have Legacy either at or close to the base of each bridge for its scheduled opening time.  We left Vice City Marina at 7:10 AM on Wednesday morning, 03/03/21.  Our very slow speed of between 5 and 6 knots (mandated on this part of the ICW, even though we often found we seemed to be the only ones obeying that mandate…) would hopefully keep us going slow enough to make the drawbridge openings along the channel, without us having to wait very long at each bridge.  Well, in a perfect world, maybe… Steve had thought the distance between Vice City Marina and the first bridge lower than 21-feet would take us about 40 minutes to travel, but it turned out we arrived at that bridge well before its scheduled opening at 8:00 am, so we did have to slow the engines to idle and drift around in the channel while we waited.  Protocol is for the captain of each vessel to hail the bridge operator on the designated radio channel (usually channel 9 in that area), to announce the name of his vessel and his intentions.  Steve got very good at saying, “______ Bridge, this is the motor vessel Legacy traveling north on the ICW.  We are standing by for your ____ opening.”  Steve consulted the charts to know which bridge operator to hail each time.  (Once it was the Venetian Way bridge, another time it was the East 79^th Street bridge, etc.)  Every single bridge operator we hailed was patient, friendly and informative, so dealing with them was actually a pleasure, just monotonous, since there were SO MANY bridges.  We passed underneath all bridges higher than 21 feet with no delays, and several of the bridges were 60 to 100 feet above the waterway, so they were not a concern for us.  We have a routine, for those bridges 21 to 25-feet above the water, where we don our trusty headsets and I go back into the cockpit of the boat to watch the tippy-top of our mast as Steve motors Legacy slowly under the bridge.  If, as the mast nears the bridge, I think we don’t have the room we need, I can advise Steve to put the engines into reverse and we’ll just wait for the next opening for that bridge.  Better to be safe than sorry.  Fortunately, I can say the least amount of clearance we appeared to have encountered on that day was 1.5 feet, from what I could estimate from my view point, at least.

Our traveling weather was beautiful, even though we had a humid 87-degree high forecast for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, so we unzipped all of the flybridge windows that will open.  We motored through miles of tall, beautiful buildings and I took a zillion pictures.  On our Miami Double-Decker Bus tour, we learned that Miami is “the 3^rd tallest city in the US”, and we could certainly see why!  I have always been a fan of an artfully-designed skyscraper, so I was enthralled for most of the morning, as they surrounded us.

As we cruised slowly northward, we passed through Miami’s Design District, Miami’s Upper East Side, and Biscayne Park.  This portion of the ICW was still considered to be Biscayne Bay.  As we moved out of the commercial district a bit, we began to encounter some spectacular waterfront condos and homes that made our eyes pop.  We knew there was some major money in this part of the US, but holy crap!  As we cruised along, ogling the many luxurious residences between Miami and Fort Lauderdale and beyond, I ran all over the boat taking pictures.  I eventually realized I’d taken way more pictures than I would ever use in this blog, but I could not seem to help myself.

We passed through Oleta River State Park, Eastern Shores, Bal Harbour, Sunny Isles Beach, Golden Beach, North Miami Beach, and Hollywood, until we entered Fort Lauderdale.  The further north we got, the number of lower bridges seemed to lessen, which was a good thing.  The low bridges might have been lessening, but the number of unfathomably gigantic homes and yachts was increasing!  And here we were, cruising right through all of them like we belonged there – LOL!  Several times I’d spot a For Sale sign at a house and then promptly look it up online to find it was $5 million or more.  GULP!  (Guess we won’t be moving to this area after we’re done with our traveling…)

As we got north of Fort Lauderdale, we began to notice the houses and condos were interspersed with natural areas filled with mangrove beds.  There were several nicely-maintained parks along the ICW that contrasted greatly with their surrounding urban construction.  We cruised past Hallendale Beach, Port Everglades, Harbordale, Coral Ridge and Coral Heights, and Imperial Point until we reached Pompano Beach.  The gorgeous homes just kept on coming and went for miles.  I had no idea what this area looked like until we cruised right through it on our boat.  Impressive and overwhelming, actually!

About 2:00 pm that afternoon, we reached our destination of Lighthouse Point Marina, in Lighthouse Point, FL.  We had heard good things about this marina and were not disappointed.  The marina staff was very helpful, showed us to our slip (which was in an excellent location right in the middle of things), and helped us tie-up and plug-up.  Steve did an excellent job of reversing Legacy into our slip “stern-first” as they say in the biz, even though this particular slip was unusually narrow.  The best thing about this slip, that I noticed right off, was how protected it was from both wind and wakes, which meant blessed stability!

Our old Pickwick Lake friends, Anna and Phillip Rochat, have a home very close to Lighthouse Point Marina, which is one of the reasons we selected it for our stay.  I had texted Anna when we got our boat tied-up and she said to let them know when we were settled in, and they would drive over to greet us.  It was great seeing them again, as the last time we’d gathered was at the Miami Boat Show in the spring of 2018.  They were wonderful hosts and carried us anywhere we wanted to go in their vehicle.  I worried about imposing, but they seemed to enjoy acting as our chauffeurs.  They picked us up right at our boat and took us to their favorite Mexican restaurant in the area, Baja Mexican Café, for a yummy dinner and two-for-one margaritas.  We talked and talked, reminiscing about all of our friends and fun times on C-Dock at Aqua Yacht Harbor, on Pickwick Lake, on the Tennessee River.  After dinner, they graciously drove us back to Legacy in her calm, stable slip at Lighthouse Point Marina, where we crashed early after a long travel day, with promises to get together again the following day.

Position: N 26° 16.047, W 80° 05.070

Distance traveled:  36 SM

Total distance traveled: 2603 SM

Total marina nights: 152

Total nights at anchor: 21

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Days 170 – 173

Late on Saturday morning, 02/27/21, we called an Uber to drive us to Miami’s South Beach Area.  We had tickets on the Miami Double Decker Bus for 1:30 pm, but found time before the bus left to enjoy some honest to goodness tequenos across the street at SoBe Munchies Latin Café.  We had heard about tasty tequenos (melted white cheeses wrapped in a lightly-fried pastry from South America) from our friends Diane and Ray Parrish – from their time living in Venezuela – so I jumped at the chance to sample some.  This little café was bustling with South Beach locals and tourists, alike.  Steve and I stood in line for our order, stepping out of the way as lines of people pushed their ways through, and then we took our treats to an outside patio table to enjoy.   I noticed immediately that the obvious style in South Beach is to wear just as little clothing as possible and proudly walk around for others to see you in all your bareness.  We were definitely in the minority on this morning, being pretty much the only older, white people around.  Almost everyone was much younger than us and of foreign – mostly Latino and African – descent.  The women were buxom and curvaceous, and obviously proud of that fact.  They wore variations of teeny-tiny bikini swimsuits beneath see-through mesh or netted gowns and skirts and strode around on tall, wobbly platform shoes.  Each of them sported long, colorful fingernails, long, lush sets of eye-lashes, and lots of flashy jewelry.  There were also young men on the streets, but they were vastly outnumbered by the women.  It is very apparent who rules South Beach!  The streets were almost gleaming with bright, Miami sunshine, countless palm trees swayed in the breezes, and the late February temperatures were delightful.  Our Uber driver had let us off in the Lincoln Road area, where rows and rows of high-end shops and luxurious restaurants sat perfectly in between smaller cafes, and coffee and cigar shops.  Miami Tours was an interesting business establishment that was just busy and disorganized enough to smack of a scam, but we had ordered our tickets online, so knew what the prices should be, regardless of the amount the onsite concierge tried to collect from us.  We did happen to witness other patrons who appeared unhappy with the elevated prices they were being quoted at bus-boarding time.  Finally, we were able to board our bus and climbed to the top of the double-decker.  We lucked-out and found two vacant seats, as everyone wanted to ride up top in that gorgeous weather.  Our tour host was an interesting young man who spoke not only English, but also Spanish.  Although the English he used was markedly geared toward the predominantly younger tourists that surrounded us.  We could understand the majority of what he was saying, so all was good.  In addition to being informative, he was charismatic and entertaining as well.

As we cruised through – and learned about – the different sections of Miami we realized right away that Miami Tours has agreements with various merchants in some of the areas, because the bus would park out front of a particular establishment, where all riders were asked to disembark and follow our guide into the businesses to sample their particular wares. One stop was to sample some complimentary, freshly-made Cuban espresso (and also purchase some of the many souvenirs, perhaps), another was to watch Cuban cigars being made (and purchase some cigars, too, if desired), then we stopped at another place that served burgers and also (according to our host) served “the most authentic Mojitos in Little Havana”, which we were also expected to purchase (along with food, of course, in case we were hungry). 😊 Somehow our tour guide managed to keep up with all of his group and get us back onto his bus at the designated leaving times. It was a fun afternoon that we both enjoyed. One of the best things about that tour was the glorious weather in which we enjoyed it. We were definitely visiting Miami at the perfect time of year!

At the end of our tour, our bus dropped us off in the Bayside section of Miami, which was within walking distance of our boat.  We were hungry by then, so we found Mambo Cafe inside Bayside’s large, open-air mall, for some Cuban food, and to do some people-watching. All different ages and races seemed to parade past our patio table as we waited for our food. Sometimes the lines of tourists so closely walking by would temporarily slow or even stop, which meant we had people basically looming over our table at certain points. One time, to my dismay, but I’m sure to Steve’s delight, one of those scantily-clad bottoms (I’m talking wearing a thong only) was suspended right next to our table for what seemed like ages before the line started moving again and the bottom strutted on past us. Our hike back to the boat from Bayside was lengthier than I would’ve preferred, but we got back to the boat just in time to enjoy the sunset over Key Biscayne Bay.

The next morning, we awoke to lots of rocking in our slip which unfortunately became our norm at Vice City Marina.  We rode with another Uber driver back down to Miami Tours in South Beach, this time to catch an air-boat ride in the Everglades.  I had ridden an air-boat many decades earlier, but this was Steve’s first time on an air-boat.  Check another item off the bucket list!  We climbed aboard another bus for a LONG ride from South Beach out to the far west side of Miami to the Sawgrass Recreation Area to jump on an air-boat.  Our bus driver, Papi-Papi (which is Spanish for Daddy-Daddy), was verbose and animated.  He self-described his English as “broken”, and he was right about that.  In addition, his accent was so thick it was almost impossible to understand what English he was saying correctly, which was a shame since he was full of information.  Not long after arriving, we boarded our designated air-boats for our Everglades tour.  Our boat ride lasted about an hour, through-out which we were all instructed to keep our eyes on the waters, looking for alligators.  Our boat captain tried to prepare us early on that we might not see an alligator, since they are afraid of the loud air-boats and tend to swim rapidly away from them.  But luck was in the cards for us, as we spotted an alligator about halfway into our trip.  It wasn’t very large, but it was VISIBLE, which was what counted. I was able to get several pictures and a video of it before it disappeared into the thicker marsh grasses.  I was surprised that the Sawgrass portion of the Everglades is mainly marshland.  I had expected to see more mangrove beds, but there were none in this area.  After our ride, we walked around the recreation area looking at exhibits of marshland creatures.  We happened across a short presentation being given by one of the recreation area employees about the area’s two, longtime resident alligators, Crystal and Herman.  Herman is 13-feet long and weighs over 800 pounds, while Crystal is smaller, but still impressive.  The speaker was working to convince his audience that alligators are more afraid of humans than we are of them, even standing within 3 feet of each gator to demonstrate their reactions.  As he expected, Crystal moved away from him, but Herman didn’t seem at all bothered by the man’s close proximity, and just stayed still.  😐  I scanned the crowd and saw there were plenty of small children watching that could’ve been scarred for life, had Herman decided to finally just eat that young man for an afternoon snack, right there within 25-feet of the audience!  Fortunately (especially for the young speaker), that did not happen and the demonstration ended.  Soon, we all boarded our big bus for the long ride back to South Beach.  Not far from the tour company office was a highly-touted restaurant called Havana 1957 (I found its name particular significant, since I was born in 1957), so we walked over for a delicious Cuban dinner where we sat outside under twinkling lights and surrounded by swaying palm trees.  Heaven!  It was dark when we finished dinner and stood out on the street awaiting our Uber driver, Marvin, who eventually arrived and chauffeured us back to our marina.  Things were wild and rowdy there in South Beach after dark, and Steve later read online that we probably had no business being in that area after dark like we were, as crime has really increased there over the past few years.  Yikes! 

When we went to Little Havana on our double-decker tour bus, I decided we definitely needed to return to Little Havana on our own, later in our visit.  The morning of Monday, March 1^st, we took an Uber to Little Havana and stopped for lunch at El Pub on Calle Ocho.  More delicious Cuban food!  Steve had an exotic omelet that was made with potatoes, and I had Chicken Frickasee with a spinach Empanada on the side.  Scrumptious!  After lunch, we walked all the way down Calle Ocho (SW 8th Street, the main drag in Little Havana) to the Cuban Memorial Park, where it stretches along SW 13^th Street.  Cuban Memorial Park contains a series of monuments to Cuban and Cuban American icons.  The memorials include the Eternal Torch in Honor of the 2506^th Brigade, for the exiles who died during the Bay of Pigs Invasion; a Jose Marti memorial; and a Madonna statue, supposedly illuminated by a shaft of holy light every afternoon, but sadly we missed the shaft.  While we were in the park, a friendly cigar-smoking man highly recommended we try the Cuban ice cream shop on Calle Ocho, so we did.  Steve had mango and I had café con leche ice cream.  After some more walking, it was back to the bar at El Pub for $5 Monday Mojitos!

On Tuesday, 03/02/21, we hoofed it almost a mile to the Brickell area Walgreen’s and CVS to pick up prescriptions, and then back again.  The skies were so blue and the sun so bright, there was no doubt we were in Miami, FL.  And that evening we walked to Truluck’s to meet our dinner reservations.  There’s a special place in our hearts for Truluck’s, as we’d enjoyed several memorable evenings there during our 2018 visit to that same area for the Miami Boat Show.  After a delicious meal, we came back to the boat for one last evening of rocking and bouncing around in our slip.

While the view from Vice City Marina really can’t be beat, there are no extra amenities and the constant rocking and waves slapping against Legacy’s hull got VERY old.  This marina is pretty exposed and the endless parade of huge yachts that cruise by rarely observe the no wake signs.  We deemed Vice City Marina to be even less comfortable than docking at Aqua Yacht Harbor’s transient wall!

Position: N 25° 45.848, W 80° 11.290

Total marina nights: 151

Total nights at anchor: 21

Day 169

The winds in our anchorage off Tavernier Key picked up during the night, so Legacy did some rocking, but nothing unbearable.  The forecasts for Friday, 02/26/21, were for gradually increasing winds throughout the day, so we wanted to rise early and get underway as soon as possible.  Even though dawn was just breaking, it was too early to leave, because we could not yet see the crab pots in the waters around us.  As we waited for the sun to come on up, we noticed some storms on the radar to our south and hoped they would stay south, rather than traveling northward toward us.  We finally pulled anchor at 6:50 am and headed past the now submerged sandbar back out into the Atlantic.  Winds were already up and waters choppy, so I took a Dramamine, just to be on the safe side.  Gone were the calm serene waters of the day before!  After about an hour, we finally saw our beloved dolphins again.  We’d hoped they would surf our wake along with the boat, but they disappeared as fast as they’d appeared.

Finally, around 9:45 am, we were able to see the Miami skyline WAY off in the distance, far ahead of us.  After bouncing along on those rougher waters for almost three hours, that skyline was a welcome sight, and the closer we got to it, the better I felt.  By this time, we had entered Biscayne Bay and thankfully around 11:30 am, we changed direction so that we were heading more northwesterly, which put the waves more at our stern, making the ride less bumpy than traveling broadside to the waves, which we had done all morning long.  The water all around us was still a spectacular, bright teal color, as the Miami skyline grew larger and larger.

We passed more and more boats, and even cruised through a place called Stiltsville, where there are multiple wooden structures built on stilts about 10-feet above the waters of “the flats” in Biscayne Bay.  None of these places appeared inhabited, but they seemed to be maintained.  History tells us that the first structure on stilts was built in the early 1930s, but some Dade County historians say that there were a dozen shacks as early as 1922.  “Crawfish” Eddie Walker built a shack on stilts above the water in 1933, toward the end of the prohibition era, allegedly to facilitate gambling, which was legal at one mile offshore.  Crawfish Eddie sold bait and beer from his shack and was known for a dish he called chilau, which was a crawfish chowder made with crawfish he caught under his shack.  Two of Eddie’s fishing buddies soon built their own shack in 1937.  Shipwrecking and channel dredging brought many people to the area and more shacks were constructed, some by boating and fishing clubs.  Local newspapers called the area “the shacks” and “shack colony”.  In the late 1930s, shacks on stilts appeared in the area as social clubs, the first one being named the Calvert Club.  In 1940, the Quarterdeck Club was constructed.  When it opened in November, membership cost $150, by invitation only, and became one of the most popular spots in Miami.  Life Magazine even published an article about the area in February of 1941, which noted that Stiltsville was an “extraordinary American community dedicated solely to sunlight, salt water and the well-being of the human spirit”.  In the 1940s and 1950s, Stiltsville may not have looked like much but it was a popular place where lawyers, bankers, politicians, and other moneyed, well-connected Miamians came to drink, relax and kick-back.  At its peak in 1960, Stiltsville consisted of 27 structures, even though some of them were damaged in hurricanes – particularly by Hurricane Donna in 1960 and Hurricane Betsy in 1965.  Today, the seven remaining structures are part of the Biscayne National Park, and in 2003, the Stiltsville Trust was created to spare destruction and insure preservation of these structures, and hopefully utilize them for public service and education in connection with the national park and Miami history.

After Stiltsville, we passed through Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve and then beside Key Biscayne, Crandon Park, and Virginia Key, each of which were beautiful and look like so much fun from the water.  I really wanted to stop there, but we were on schedule to meet our reservations at Vice City Marina, in the Brickell section of Miami.  We hoped to have an opportunity to explore that area, but wound up being pressed for time with all the other things we did and places we went during our stay in Miami.  Maybe next time!

We arrived at tiny Vice City Marina at 1:00 pm that afternoon.  Eddy, the dockmaster who welcomed us and helped us get into our slip and tied-up, thanked us for actually arriving on time, which apparently is not common for boaters making reservations at his marina.  He spoke of many an evening he’s had to stay after hours waiting on boats who were slated to arrive during the early afternoon, but wound up not arriving until as late as 7:00 pm sometimes.  I could barely perform my first mate duties when we arrived, for gawking at all the huge, beautiful buildings of the Miami skyline, that we were slipped right at the base of!  No matter which way we looked, the view was spectacular if not plain stunning.  I took a TON of downtown Miami pictures.  The Brickell area is an upscale, mostly commercial area, and our marina had impressive security measures that kept us feeling safe and comfortable in our downtown location.  Vice City Marina, itself, is very small with fixed, concrete docks (only 24 slips), and has no real amenities other than power, water, security and beautiful views.  It’s proximity to the wide open, heavily-traveled channel between Miami and Biscayne Key kept the waters in our slip churning for the entirety of our stay, with some of the larger yachts that came through (ignoring the No Wake Zone signs, of course) causing as large as 3 to 4 foot waves to slam our marina and send poor Legacy flying around in her slip and pulling against her lines.  We soon learned that this marina was NOT the place to enjoy a calm, peaceful stay.  😐

When we flew to Miami several years earlier for the Miami Boat Show, we happened to stay in this exact same area of town, so were pretty familiar with it.  In fact, we walked to one of our favorites, Cantina La Veinte, for a late lunch/early dinner and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  It was a nice treat after spending most of our day on a roller-coaster.  Cantina La Veinte serves wonderful margaritas and is quite proud of them ($17 a pop!), but we felt they were in order and splurged.

After our meal, we walked back to our marina to enjoy evening cocktails, watch the boat traffic, and ogle the beautiful buildings that began to light up as the sun went down.  Little did we know that the intense rocking we endured that evening was NOT simply because it was a busy, Friday night in Miami with lots of boat traffic…

Position: N 25° 45.848, W 80° 11.290

Distance traveled:  63 SM

Total distance traveled: 2567 SM

Total marina nights: 147

Total nights at anchor: 21

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 168

For the first time in almost a month, Steve rousted me out of bed early for our travel day from Marlin Bay Resort & Marina to our next anchorage at Tavernier Key, which was located just southeast of the city of Tavernier, FL, right where my family and I had lived more than 58 years earlier.

Right off the bat, even though we’d just had it repaired the day before, our port generator started, but would not provide power!  Fortunately, the starboard generator seemed to be operating fine, so we knew we’d at least have it when we anchored out that night, and would call yet another mechanic when we got to the next marina.  The weather that beautiful Thursday could not have been nicer.  Warm temps, plenty of sunshine, and only very slight breezes accompanied us for the entire day.  PERFECT cruising weather!  I decided to rethink my disdain for boating in the Atlantic Ocean, as conditions on this day were absolutely stellar.

As we cruised along, we – surprisingly – saw no dolphins, but did glimpse several different sea turtles paddling along.  On into the morning, we were passed by the 141’ long charter yacht built in the Netherlands (gotta love Google!), named Prediction, traveling much faster than Legacy could go.  In addition to multiple sailing and cruising vessels nearby us, we were also passed by a beautiful 112’ Westport charter yacht named Double Eagle, as it headed westward in Hawks Channel.

The deep, teal waters south of the Keys were breathtaking.  I was disappointed that my iPhone camera just could not do them the justice they deserved.  We cruised smoothly and steadily northeast, past Duck Key, Layton, Islamorada, and Plantation Keys before finally arriving at our haven for the night, just off Tavernier Key, late afternoon.  We noticed that the amount of boat traffic was gradually increasing, the closer we got to the Miami area.  We passed parasailing boats, jet-skis, sport-fishing boats, sailboats and cruisers enjoying this wonderful late February day off the coast of south Florida.  We cruised into the shallower waters between Tavernier Key and Plantation Key, where we dropped anchor for the night.  Not far from our anchorage was a large sand bar, particularly visible that time of day because it was low-tide.  (It completely disappeared the next morning at high tide.) Several small boats were anchored right beside the sandbar and their crew were out walking on that sand, which made me really want to drop the dinghy and motor over to the sandbar to do the same thing.  But Steve talked me out of it, since we don’t have an electric retractable motor on our dinghy like those other boats did, so we decided to enjoy adult beverages up in the flybridge, instead, to watch the beautiful sunset.  Other boats were anchored nearby in our anchorage, but not too close, which is just how we like it.

Position tonight: N 25° 00.145, W 80° 30.127

Distance traveled:  60 SM

Total distance traveled: 2504 SM

Total marina nights: 146

Total nights at anchor: 21

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 143 – 167

On our first full day at Marlin Bay Resort and Marina, on 02/01/21, the weather forecast proved to be 100% accurate when the lower keys got slammed with a powerful cold-front that came through with a vengeance.  Thank goodness we’d done our crossing from Key West to Marathon several days before!  Winds were blasting our marina from the northwest at speeds anywhere from 18 mph to almost 30.  Being located out in MBRM’s less-protected “outer basin”, Legacy spent several days heeling away from her dock finger in all that wind.  Steve had secured the boat with extra lines which was a good thing, because those amazing winds were unrelenting for the next several days and nights.  Even though the sun shined brightly, the winds were biting.  We changed out of shorts and t-shirts and back into long pants and long-sleeves during this period.  Legacy spent most of her time straining against her lines and bucking the winds like a rodeo horse trying to break out of its stall.  Which gets pretty OLD when you’re trying to live and move around inside that rodeo horse…!   As I mentioned before, the docks at Marlin Bay are all fixed and made of heavy concrete.  In the outer basin, the docks extend out over the water for quite some distance with NO handrails on either side of them. 😐  Navigating those docks after dark, after several adult beverages, or in gale-force winds was tricky, to say the least.  At one point on the first day of the “big blow”, I attempted to walk up to the marina restrooms, and felt the wind trying to blow my legs right out from under me, which could’ve resulted in a broken bone when I hit that concrete, or a dunk in the drink when I toppled off the 5-foot high docks right into the water.  Add in the fact that I have NO natural sense of balance, and that was just an accident waiting to happen.  Therefore, I stayed mainly on the boat during the worst days of wind.  (I’ve already had my dunk into the drink, and do not wish to repeat it!  Even though I did have to admit the waters at Marlin Bay looked much prettier, clearer and more inviting than those at C-Quarters in Carrabelle, I still didn’t wish to partake of them in that way.)  In addition to the constant rocking and bucking of the boat, we got to listen to incessant lapping of the wind-driven waves against Legacy’s hull, which proved particularly annoying at night when trying to sleep.  UGH!  We were more than ready when the blow finally calmed down after a few days.

Just like on our very first night at MBRM (aka Marlin Bay Resort & Marina), we enjoyed multiple late lunches/early dinners next door at Keys Fisheries.  Once, instead of walking the three easy blocks over from our slip, we rode Digney over to their dinghy dock where we could tie-up and eat at a table conveniently located right next to where our dinghy was tied, which I enjoyed (being paranoid about theft), but will say the gymnastics required for me to deboard and reboard the dinghy at this particular dock were challenging.  (I can’t actually prove it, but I’m pretty sure Steve secretly enjoys all the gyrations I have to go through with this new lifestyle of ours…)  Keys Fisheries is very popular with locals and tourists alike, and we received many recommendations to eat there.  They also have a fresh fish market that is restocked daily by area fishing boats.  Several of our dock-mates purchased seafood from them and prepared it aboard their boats, or at one of MBRM’s many complementary gas grills around the grounds.  Right next door to – and in conjunction with – Keys Fisheries is Clawsa Blanca, an upstairs, open air restaurant touted as the home of the $3 Stone Crab claw during happy hour.  We enjoyed their services and fun atmosphere several times as well.

Despite the fact that there were so many wonderful eateries within walking distance of our marina, there were other necessities like Publix, Walgreens and Home Depot, that were not nearly so walkable.    Publix and Walgreen’s were a mile’s walk one way, and Home Depot was half a mile one way.  MBRM does not provide any courtesy vehicles or hourly shuttle (like we’d enjoyed at SIMV – man, did I miss that shuttle!), so we had to walk where we were going, ride bicycles (which we do not have), or pay for an Uber ride.  The expense of Uber rides adds up quickly – especially when you’re only traveling a couple of miles per trip.  Our personal shuttle service in the Spykmans’ vehicle was often available, but not always, and besides we didn’t want to take advantage of our wonderful friends.  SO… we made several, long, hot walks down the sidewalks right along super-busy Highway A1A (aka Overseas Highway).   Some of you readers are probably saying, “Oh, BOO HOO” that we had to walk in blazing sun and high humidity, considering the horrendous winter conditions being experienced in much of the US during the month of February, but I can assure you those walks were not the most pleasant part of being on Marathon.  We could’ve rented a car (and maybe we should have), but that gets very expensive, too.  So, we just powered through and got ample exercise during this time.  On one of these trips, I went alone to Walgreen’s and Home Depot.  Steve was okay with me walking alone, as long as I texted him when I arrived at my destination or departed from it.  I purchased more than planned at Walgreen’s, so had a relatively heavy bag to carry back with me, then proceeded to stop at Home Depot and purchase a lot more stuff, some being new boat plants and their respective potting soil and pots.  Since we didn’t have a collapsible rolling cart onboard, like so many of our counterparts, I was then forced to call an Uber to haul me and my purchases the half-mile back to the marina.  D’OH!  Steve finally relented and ordered us a collapsible rolling cart for our boat, so I could have it to use for my next shopping excursion, rather than paying for an Uber ride.  😊  (Hopefully that cart won’t ultimately wind up becoming a white elephant just taking up space down in our forward bilge…)

One of the highlights of being on Marathon was our proximity to the Boot Key Harbor Cruiser’s Net, which is held every single morning at 9:00 am, 365 days a year, on marine radio Channel 68. I had first learned of this net from our friends, Carol and Russ Burchfield on Spirit, who had rented a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor for several weeks late last year on their way over to the Bahamas. Boot Key Harbor is a large mooring field, located on the south side of Marathon Key, and is home to an average of 200 live-aboard transients or full-time boaters who all stay in close contact with each other and help-out whenever needed. It’s like a “floating neighborhood” that benefits its residents and surrounding areas of Marathon. The first morning we tuned in, we discovered a plethora of local entertainment. In fact, Steve quickly became addicted to the morning net, and insisted upon listening to it daily, even though a good part of it was unintelligible to us, because many of the users were either located too far from MBRM or were using handsets with weaker radio signals, so their contributions reached our boat only as loud, annoying static. We did manage to glean quite a bit of information, as well as some chuckles, from this “Mayberry RFD” of marine radio shows. Different, previously assigned boat owners would moderate the Net each day. They used a closely-followed agenda to share Net rules, new arrivals, upcoming departures, announcements of the day, scheduled events, and people needing help. Next came Buy, Sell, Trade, Giveaway, Lost & Found, where neighbors could either obtain needed items, or get rid of anything unnecessarily taking up space on their boat. One boat was selling a barely-used jib sail for $100 OBO, and another one was selling a brand new Johnson outboard motor for $400, etc. If someone needed to borrow a specific tool for working on their boat, they first announced it on the Net, in hopes of locating a neighbor who would loan them said tool. People needing help was often an interesting topic, as we heard one Net listener asking for assistance from several people to come over to his mooring to help him bail water out of his rapidly-sinking dinghy, that was getting swamped in the large waves from the blow. Several people responded they would be there, and the dinghy was rescued by the next day. The people in this community are nothing if not big-hearted and civil-minded. Another one announced she had found a lost kayak paddle floating near her boat. She asked that the owner call her on her cell phone to describe it, so they could get it back. Several people asked for local doctor or dental recommendations and then proceeded to describe their very personal health problems in great detail for all to hear! 😐 Some of the descriptions were WAY too personal, in my opinion, but everyone else seemed to readily accept them. Over the course of our month in Marathon, we began to figure out that some of the participants obviously lived for the daily opportunity to share their voices over the air waves, because you could count on them to speak up at least once every single morning. The rules are for the speaker to announce his/her boat name and then wait to be recognized by the moderator. Once that occurs, the particular boat can finish its message. This process is to avoid people walking all over each other on the radio. Steve and I would take bets on which boats we would hear from each morning. I won’t mention any boat names here, but there were about three that came on the air very frequently with random statements that either would – but often wouldn’t – pertain to the subject at hand. You could hear in the moderator’s responses which boats were known to be frequent callers. It was both amazing and hilarious the things these frequent callers would say just to have their voices heard. The different subjects would always veer off course, topic-wise, so the moderator often had to break in and steer the conversation back to the particular topic at hand. Toward the end of the show each day was Trivia, where callers would try to “stump the harbor” with all different types of questions on absolutely ANY subject. The rule was for someone to come up with the answer, WITHOUT first researching it online, but I’m pretty sure people were doing that anyway. One frequent caller was so anxious to speak, she accidentally gave away the answer to her trivia question before she even asked it! But then, went right ahead and asked it anyway, as if she hadn’t just shared the answer. As you can imagine, such an informal forum can rapidly descend into arguments over the radio – especially politically-based subjects. One day we got to listen to a lively, over-the-air argument about when and where COVID masks should or shouldn’t be worn. Within moments, the participants slid right down that slippery slope into bedlam, causing the moderator to sternly admonish those who were speaking out of turn and disrespectfully. Steve said he couldn’t believe people were seriously and publicly saying what they were saying, when I pointed out that WE were intentionally sitting and listening to it, so what did that make us? 😊 Still, all-in-all, it was obvious that this daily Net is a helpful tool for anyone listening to it, whether a particular item is needed, or simply for comedy relief.

Much to my delight, and something I actually learned about on the Net, were the free yoga sessions offered right across A1A from our marina, in Marathon Park’s amphitheater.  I’d been missing my yoga sessions since we left Grand Rivers, KY, last summer.  Marathon’s sessions are offered by volunteer instructors who either live in Marathon, or come through the area for extended stays on their boats.  There were 1-hour sessions every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 10:30 am.  All one had to do was bring their own yoga mat and a bottle of water to each outdoor session.  (Have I mentioned that I love outdoor yoga?)  Needless to say, Steve wasn’t interested, but many other men did participate in the much-needed opportunities to stretch and strengthen.  I tried to attend every session I could, by either walking the quarter-mile over, or catching a ride with the Spykmans, who almost always drove their car over, which saved me from possibly being run-down by traffic in the middle of the busy Overseas Highway.  Once again, thank goodness for the Spykmans!  Diane and Ray Parrish often joined us as well, and others rode their bicycles from different parts of Marathon or came over in their dinghies from the Boot Key Harbor area.  We had several different instructors, all with different styles and exercise speeds.  We had Sandy, on Coastal Karma, whose routines centered around different breathing techniques, and Nicole, on Lunacy, whose style was a bit slower and very satisfying.  Nicole cracked us up when she referred to our gluteus maximus region as “the abundance”.  When she needed us to be positioned directly on our sit bones, she would instruct us to “move the abundance” by pulling our butt-cheeks out from under us.  😊  From the first time we heard her use that term, we all started referring to our fannies as “the abundance” for the rest of the month.  The sessions were sometimes intimate, with only a handful of participants, and others were really large, with maybe 30 or 40 participants.  Just as back in Grand Rivers, I welcomed the sessions as chances to get off the boat, socialize, and try to be a little bit healthier.

One evening, early in the month, I decided to organize a dinner over on the other side of Marathon, beside Boot Key Harbor, at a popular marina/restaurant called Burdine’s (pronounced burd-eye-ns).  Burdine’s had been highly recommended to me by our buddy, Wayne Gaudet, who’d told me we “could not miss it” while in Marathon.  Dave and Val Mamo, on Sea Major, joined us and the Spykmans one evening and brought their new friends, Diane and Ray Parrish on Radian Journey, another couple with which we instantly clicked and became fast friends during the month of February.  We ate outside on one of the restaurant’s decks overlooking the water and the sunset and had a terrific time.  Rhonda had asked Rick to please order her a rum punch, and I had asked Steve to please get me a margarita.  When the guys returned to our table, they were carrying their two beers and two small, plastic cups of what was obviously just white wine!  Turns out Burdine’s only serves beer and house wine.  Alrighty-then, we’ll take it!

Speaking of rum punches, Steve found a wonderful recipe for those online, and started a tradition of making us each a rum punch every evening to enjoy while watching the beautiful sunsets.  They were colorful and delicious (the drinks, not the sunsets…), and required the tiny counter-tops in our galley to resemble a small bar, but oh well!  On some evenings, when there was a good breeze and not too warm, we carried our drinks out to our cockpit where we could enjoy the sunsets from our back benches and covered awning.  I got some stunning sunset pics from back there, if I do say so myself.

Other times, we poured our rum punches into our Yeti cups (per MBRM rules) and discreetly carried them over to the marina’s community sunset-watching wall, where MBRM provides very nice, sturdy wood chairs and tables for patrons to utilize while ogling the sunsets.  Because Legacy was slipped WAY out in the outer basin, this adventure required us to traipse all the way around the marina, but was always worth it.  The Spykmans and the Parrishes often joined us there.  And an added bonus to this group sunset-watching was witnessing Captain Crusty avidly blow on his conch shell each evening, distinctly marking the moment the entire sun slipped just below the horizon.  Others would try to challenge Crusty with their own conch shells, but he just could not be beat.  Captain Crusty’s real name is Terry, and he and his wife, Dorothy, are living aboard their boat, Magic, which was slipped right there at the sunset viewing wall, so all they had to do was step out of their boat’s cockpit and across the sidewalk to the sunset-viewing chairs.  Nice!  Also slipped in that prime location were Pam and Mike Sammons on their boat, Sea C Rider, which is where we got to meet them, too.

One afternoon, we heard a commotion on the docks outside our boat, so went out to investigate.  A small crowd had gathered on one of the docks and was staring down into the water below.  Much to our delight, there was a HUGE manatee floating below the boats looking for a hand-out of fresh water from a wayward water hose.  It is said that giving the manatees fresh water is illegal, but it appears most people aren’t real worried about that, because the manatees obviously enjoy the fresh water so very much, it’s impossible to resist giving them a drink when they swim by.  Sure enough, one of the men on the dock pulled out a hose and sprayed that glorious fresh water down toward the manatee.  Almost immediately, the manatee rolled its huge body over onto its back, where it floated with its large mouth protruding up from the water’s surface to catch the spray of cascading deliciousness.  Priceless!  That manatee lavished right there in reverie for several long minutes until people began to feel guilty and the man put the hose away.  We’ve heard two different reasons why giving the manatees fresh water while they’re in saltwater is illegal.  One is that giving them their beloved freshwater encourages them to become too comfortable with boats (and their dangerously sharp propellers).  Another reason is that giving them fresh water while in salt water regions discourages them from migrating north to central Florida’s fresh waters for mating season every year.  I’m sure this has been widely researched, but I find it difficult to believe the manatees could so easily shirk their age-old, deeply-engrained, and natural instinct to breed just because they received a few drinks of fresh water while down in the Keys, but perhaps I’m too cynical…

Early in the month, the Spykmans drove their car down to Stock Island (about 45 miles) to pick-up the McKinleys and bring them back to Marlin Bay to spend a day and a night.  (The Spykmans and the McKinleys had actually first met each other a year ago at MBRM, so it was like old home week for them to return.)  That afternoon, we all hung out in Marlin Bay’s gorgeous pool enjoying tropical beverages, and it felt just like being back at SIMV in January.  It was great to see them again!  After the pool, we all showered and walked over to Clawsa Blanca for a fun happy hour.  The temps and breezes were just perfect for an exceptionally fun evening together.  As usual, we shared libations, more boat stories and many laughs.  The original plan had been for the Spykmans to shuttle the McKinleys back to SIMV that same night, but plans changed for the McKinleys to just stay in R&R’s guest quarters for the night and be driven back to SIMV the following morning.  That way, we could all enjoy some of Rick’s homemade Brandy Alexanders up in R&R’s flybridge and watch that night’s sunset, without anyone having to be a designated driver.  We talked and laughed some more, with the conversation turning to scuba-diving, which Steve and I love, Scott McKinley has done, and Rick Spykman had been wanting to try.  To Rick’s good fortune, a friend had actually given him a full set of dive gear (including an air cylinder) to take with him on their boat.  Rick hoped to take lessons while in the Keys and utilize that free dive equipment in the process.  Steve and I cautioned him about having all of his gear checked-over and serviced before trying to use it, as it could be faulty from age and lack of use, so he asked Steve to look over what he had and do a sort of inventory of it for him before he took it in to be serviced.  Evidently, our long conversation about diving sparked a flame in Rick, because the very next day he took his gear to one of the dive operations on Marathon to have it checked, and wound up signing himself up for lessons and diver certification!  Before we knew it, he’d completed his online learning, taken his allotted lessons, and become certified within less than two weeks.  Rhonda says she has no interest in learning to scuba dive as she is not a strong swimmer, and jokes that she “has to hold her nose just to jump into the pool”.  😊

Another evening, the Spykmans again played shuttle service to a bunch of us by carrying us over to Dockside, an open-air restaurant on Boot Key Harbor, for happy hour and live music.  In attendance were the Linns, the Spykmans, the Parrishes, and Pam Sammons, as her husband Mike was away on a job.  Not long after we found ourselves a high table with stools, we were joined by Bob and Sue Keehne, aboard Osimo, who were friends of Pam Sammons, and had their boat slipped within walking distance of Dockside.  It was soon discovered that the Keehnes are from almost the same area in Michigan that the Spykmans are from and that Bob and Rick shared memories of some of the same childhood haunts.  Small world!  The food at Dockside was delicious (they served the BEST “crackers” with their smoked fish dip, that Rhonda and I decided were actually deep-fried naan – YUMMY!)  A fun, local band was playing on stage, the warm evening breezes were blowing, and the sun was setting over Boot Key Harbor.  What more could we have asked for?

In continuation of my onboard charity crocheting projects, I finally completed crocheting a very large winter scarf, using double-yarn, with long white fringing on the ends.  My intent was to make it warm and comforting enough to be used by someone forced to live outside in the cold weather, but instead it finished out to be a scarf that might be best used by Andre the Giant.  D’OH!  I stuffed it into a mailing envelope and addressed it to the charity association recommended on the Warm Up America! Facebook page.  I then proceeded to walk all the way to the USPS in Marathon, carrying that package so I could send it on its way.  Even though it was just a wad of yarn, that package became very cumbersome by the time I walked it all the way down A1A for three quarters of a mile.  A very bright sun and extra high humidity levels only made that journey even more ‘pleasant’…  Still, once I arrived back at our boat afterward, I felt like I’d done a good deed and tried to imagine the looks on the recipients’ faces when they unfolded that humongous scarf… 😊

Some of our old sailing friends from Lake Pickwick, Phillip and Anna Rochat, purchased a new-to-them Offshore 54 live-aboard boat in Sarasota and were cruising it around the southern tip of Florida and back up to their current home north of Fort Lauderdale.  We’ve kept in touch with them through the years and knew they were searching for a new boat on which to live and travel, once Phillip retires.  We’ve been hopeful we would cross paths with them again in this new boating lifestyle of ours.  Anna and I communicated via FB messenger that they would be coming through the Keys soon on their new boat, and hoped to meet up with us while we were at MBRM in Marathon.  Sure enough, on 2/16/21, the Rochats dropped anchor not too far northeast of Marlin Bay to spend the night and dinghy over to see us!  Onboard with them for the trip were their friends, Jeanine and Mike Serrino, so we got to meet them as well.  The four rode their dinghy over to Keys Fisheries/Clawsa Blanca, where we walked over to meet them, as there was no easy way for them to dinghy directly over to our boat and deboard.  We all climbed up top at Clawsa Blanca to enjoy happy hour and each other’s company.  Right before sunset, the staff at Clawsa Blanca always brings around trays of small “sunset shots” for all its guests to enjoy right when the sun goes down.  None of us were sure what was in those shots, but they tasted kind of like some sort of pineapple schnapps to me.  YUM!  One of the bartenders loudly recited a poem about the sunset, and signaled for all of us to simultaneously down our sunset shots, which we dutifully did.  😊  After several hours of fun and stories, the Rochats and the Serrinos boarded their dingy to head back out to their “mother ship”, while we walked back to MBRM, as it was almost dark.  The plan was for them to dinghy back over the next morning to view our boat, and possibly dinghy us back with them to view their boat, but the weather changed and made them decide they’d best pull anchor and continue heading northeast toward home.  We had already planned to see the Rochats again when we stopped at Lighthouse Landing Marina up in Fort Lauderdale in March, thankfully.

On Sunday, February 14^th, Steve and I celebrated our 33^rd wedding anniversary with our new friends, Rhonda and Rick Spykman, at Island Fish Company.  They provided our transportation to and from the restaurant and presented us with a special anniversary card.  We had a fun and memorable anniversary.

A special amenity at Marlin Bay Resort and Marina is their incredibly, luxurious pool.  Blessed with perfect weather almost every day, we spent many a lazy afternoon lounging around that pool with friends, freshly-made Pina Coladas in hand.  I’ve noticed – now that we’re retired Boomers – just how differently our age group behaves in a swimming pool.  Oh, sure – there’s always those one or two zealous health nuts that are swimming laps and making the rest of us look bad, but by in large, we Boomers seem to just stand around in chest-deep water in a circle, talking to each other.  We might move our arms around a little bit, but other than that we just stand there!  😊  Gone are the days of my youth when being in a swimming pool meant constant activity, spent mostly underwater.  Or climbing countless ladders of varying heights up to diving boards, only to dive or cannonball from repeatedly, in an attempt to thoroughly drench our playmates.  Now we just lounge around like beached whales on holiday.  My favorite thing about this particular pool is its beach-like, wade-in entrance on one side.  That little feature makes it possible for us women with balance challenges to gracefully wade in and out without making too much of a scene or undue commotion.  I did try using the pool’s stairs a couple of times and almost drowned myself when I stepped out into water I thought was only 3 feet deep, but was actually 5 feet deep!  D’OH!  As I’ve mentioned before, GRACE is not my middle name.

One evening, the Spykmans had a previous commitment up in Key Largo to attend a fancy Tierra boat show with Dave and Val Mamo, so while the cats were away, us mice (the Linns and Parrishes) walked over to Uppercrust Pizza to play.  The pizza was refreshingly delicious and the company even better.  Ray and Diane once lived down in Venezuela, so Diane was thrilled to learn the manager of this restaurant was Venezuelan.  We learned that, along with her other talents, Diane speaks Spanish.  She was particularly delighted to find that Uppercrust Pizza sells Polar beer from Venezuela, which the Parrishes had learned to love many decades earlier during their time abroad.  She and Ray each ordered a Polar beer with dinner, for old time’s sake.  Steve tried one of them, but Polar is a Pilsner and Steve is a dyed-in-the-wool IPA man, so there you go.  During dinner we learned about the Parrish’s shared boating and sailing proficiency, their past jobs, their children and grandchildren.  They are both from Deland, in east Florida.  Their stories of the St. John’s River have convinced Steve that Legacy needs to cruise along that river later this spring.  After dinner, the Parrishes joined us aboard Legacy for some cocktails and got to see for themselves that, even though their boat and Legacy are both Ocean Alexander 51s, they could not be laid-out more differently.

Besides walking over to enjoy several delicious lunches at Florida Keys Steak & Lobster House, we also experienced a very fun happy hour there one evening with the Spykmans, the Parrishes, and Dave Mamo.  One of the cool things about this restaurant’s happy hour is that it goes from 11:30 am to 6:00 pm, which is my kind of happy hour!  The only downside to that is the best happy hour appetizers get ordered up early in the day so they’re not available for us normal-time happy hour patrons.  One of them being FKS&L’s highly-touted Prime Rib Kabobs, which we had to miss out on that evening.

The evening of 02/20/21, we all made our ways (us being chauffeured by the Spykmans, of course) several blocks down to Banana Bay Marina, where they were holding their annual Banana Bay Sunset Celebration in honor of all AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association) members in the area.  It was an extra-breezy day, but we all managed to power through the wind and have a great time.  Much to our surprise – during COVID – the celebration featured a potluck for food.  Each participant was asked to bring a “COVID-friendly” appetizer to place on the large buffet table.  Everyone was careful and sensible around other people, and it was rejuvenating to see people simply enjoying life, rather than letting fear rule their lives.  Several representatives of Curtis Stokes Yacht Brokerage were on hand to speak with any prospective new boat owners, or those who might wish to trade up, including the broker who’d helped us to purchase our boat, Michael Martin.  It was good to see, talk and laugh with him again.  He told us that 2020 had turned out to be one of Curtis Stokes’ biggest years, as many people have decided that boating is a perfect way to social-distance.  Who would’ve thought?  After the celebration, the gang returned to MBRM and gathered up in R&R’s flybridge again for sunset and “impromptu dessert”, where Diane regaled us with hilarious stories of her east-Florida ancestors.  Lots of laughter!

Later in February, the gang rode over to Castaway on Marathon in the Spykman carriage for a particularly fun happy hour.  Rick and Rhonda had previous experience with Castaway, and assured us all a good time.  In addition to many scrumptious appetizers and dishes, Castaway also offers an impressive sushi menu.  And their happy hour wine pours are substantial, so we women might’ve slightly over-indulged that evening… 😊  I thoroughly enjoyed a dish called Rangoon Roll, that was basically a crab Rangoon deep-fried in Tempura batter.  SO GOOD!  Afterward, we all gathered on the Parrishes boat, Radian Journey, for cocktails and to watch the movie Down Parascope, starring Kelsey Grammar.  Radian Journey boasts a large TV with awesome surround sound system onboard – one the Parrishes told us came with the boat.  SWEET!

For Tuesday evening, 02/23/21, Diane invited us all over to Radian Journey for a scrumptious Italian pot-luck dinner.  The Parrishes provided home-made rolls from scratch, the Spykmans brought an incredible Italian salad, and the Linns contributed an extra-cheesy lasagna.  We had such a great time eating, laughing, telling boat stories, and ended the evening by watching the movie, My Cousin Vinny, on Radian Journey’s “boat theater”.  I should note that boarding and deboarding Radian Journey was a challenge every single time, especially for yours truly.  The prevailing winds seemed to perpetually keep Radian Journey’s hull pushed as far out from the dock finger as possible, so that someone would invariably have to pull hard on the lines to move the boat close enough to safely climb onto or off of.  😐  I somehow always managed to succeed (with lots of help), but don’t mind saying that adventure brought back memories of C-Quarters Marina in Carrabelle every time – LOL!

My skipper had been watching for optimum departure weather for several weeks, and determined that Thursday’s, 02/25/21, weather looked the best for us to cross from Marathon over to our planned anchorage on the south side of the Keys, near Tavernier Key.  I found this way too soon, as I’d hoped to stay at MBRM through 03/01/21, but weather forecasts for that period looked inhospitable for cruising, so we had to leave early.  Whenever I whined too much about having to leave our friends so soon, Steve would look at me and ask me if I wanted a repeat of our Day and Night from Hell (12/30/20), which immediately quieted me down.  I did NOT want that!

On Wednesday morning, 02/24/21, I boarded the Spykmans’ carriage one last time to ride to my last, bittersweet yoga session with Rhonda and the Parrishes.  I said goodbye to my beloved yoga instructor, Nicole, and we both pledged to try to run into each other again, somewhere out on the water.  The Spykmans and the Parrishes had other plans for the night of 02/24/21, so we spent a quiet night alone on Legacy, which was just as well, since I was feeling so melancholy about leaving MBRM, especially since our friends weren’t leaving until the following week.  Both couples did make special trips down to Legacy to wish us fair winds and following seas, with promises to meet back up with us again later on the Loop, and to keep up with each other in the meantime.

Our (almost) month on Marathon had been markedly different from our previous month on Key West.  MBRM is only about 1/16^th the size of SIMV, which has its downsides and its upsides.  With all the hustle and bustle of activities and comings and goings on SIMV, came lots of noise, people, and commotion.  With the small size and more remote location of MBRM, came peace and quiet, relaxation and beauty.  SIMV had the non-stop complimentary shuttle, which I adored, where MBRM did not.  HOWEVER, we were fortunate enough to have our own private shuttle many times, thanks to the Spykmans, so we really lucked-out there.  Even though Marathon is far more laid-back than Stock Island, those of us who’d been to both commented on how overly-regimented the rules at MBRM are, compared to those at SIMV.  The Florida Keys are supposed to be RELAXED, not regimented.  We never knew for sure what the reasoning behind all the rules was, but we got the vague impression that us transient boaters are secondary compared to the land-based, condominium guests, which may stem from the fact that MBRM still has its roots in being MBYC (Marlin Bay Yacht Club) which did not deal with transient boaters – only full-time, permanent yachts who owned their own slips.  Regardless, MBRM is a lovely, luxurious place to spend a month of one’s life!

Position: N 24° 43.015, W 81° 05.438

Distance traveled:  45 SM

Total distance traveled: 2444 SM

Total marina nights: 146

Total nights at anchor: 20

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 142

Early on Sunday morning, 01/31/21, Legacy and her crew left the comfortable slip on Dock B of Stock Island Marina Village, in erroute to Marlin Bay Resort & Marina on Marathon Key, which is about 45 miles east of Key West.  Skipper Steve had checked the weather and even though it was breezier than we’d have liked, the future weather would not be favorable for crossing.  Because of shallow depth concerns on the bay side (gulf side) of the Keys, we opted to travel back in the Atlantic, via Hawks Channel, through which we’d come just over a month earlier on that fateful day we arrived on Key West.  Gilligan was not excited about this prospect, but was even more fearful of running aground AGAIN, so off we went.  Forecasts called for 1-3 foot waves, and from what we understood from fellow travelers that day (with shallow enough drafts to comfortably navigate the bay side), that was indeed the case over in the gulf, but not so much for us out in Hawks Channel.  Just like last time, the winds picked up and the swells became larger the farther east we cruised.  Even though conditions were not as horrendous as they were back on 12/30/20, they were still not ideal.  The waves were smaller, but the swells were significant, which caused our ride up in the flybridge to be very much like that never-ending roller-coaster of just a month earlier.  In fact, during a particularly mountain-like swell, I once again flew off of my precarious perch in the flybridge (there’s only one captain’s chair up in the flybridge, unfortunately), because I wasn’t holding on tightly enough, and hit the back of my head on the corner of the flybridge table.  UGH!  That hit really smarted, but I survived, and made sure I held on tighter from then on.  For our entire run up the Keys (several long hours) on the Atlantic side, we dodged crab-pots and surfed swells until we reached the Seven Mile Bridge, which magically calmed the waters just as soon as we crossed underneath it out of the Atlantic and into the bay side. 

Rick and Rhonda Spykman, on R&R, and Dave and Val Mamo, on Sea Major, also made the crossing from SIMV to Marlin Bay that same day, but because their boats draw less and go faster than Legacy, they took the bay side route and enjoyed much smoother rides.  I envied them!  Even though we traveled different routes, we all arrived at Marlin Bay close to the same times.  Sea Major and R&R had reserved “inner basin” slips (which is more protected with less rocking), while Legacy was assigned to slip 41 in the “outer basin”.  As we approached the marina, Steve hailed them on the radio, where they asked us to switch over to Channel 17.  Even though large pilings are involved, the fixed docks at Marlin Bay are substantial and high.  Miraculously, this time, Gilligan was able to get the bow lines thrown over both pilings without too many undue gymnastics.  Once our bow lines were on, the dock master, Gregg, instructed Steve to ease Legacy the rest of the way back into our slip, where we got her tied and secured.  Steve and I walked up to the marina office to speak with Barb, who gave us the whole scoop about our next month there at Marlin Bay.  On the way up to the office, we passed Marlin Bay’s amazing swimming pool, which we’d already heard about from previous visitors to Marlin Bay.  Gorgeous tropical landscaping surrounds the pool and pretty much all of the resort grounds.  The pool has its own bar right beside it.  There are also multiple 3-story, luxury condos available for rent that surround the pool and the large clubhouse.  Just for kicks, we checked into the rates for one of the 3-bedroom/3-bath condos for a week in December of 2021, in case the kids and grand-kids might want to meet us down here for a visit, and were stunned to learn the per week rate would be $5,600.00!  Unless the kids win the lottery, they probably aren’t going to be interested in these accommodations!  😐 There isn’t a restaurant on the grounds of Marlin Bay, but it is located very close to several delicious eateries, to which we could walk or Uber.  (We are especially fortunate, because Rick and Rhonda brought their car up from Key West to use while they’re in Marathon, and are providing us VIPs with our own private shuttling!  😊)

Our slip, number 41, may be way out in the outer basin (quite a hike to and from the pool and restrooms) where conditions are slightly rockier, but we also have an unobstructed view of the glorious sunset right off the stern of our boat every single evening.  That particular amenity is difficult to top!

We walked next door to Keys Fisheries for our first early dinner in Marathon. During our walk, we again noticed the small and humble abodes positioned near – and in direct contrast to – the luxury resort buildings. There was an undeniable aroma of used crab-pots in the air and we quickly saw the stacks and stacks of crab-pots across the street from Marlin Bay and all around us. I decided that Marathon must be “crab-pot central” for the Keys, and just tried to breath through my mouth until we got past them. Keys Fisheries is laid-back and whimsical, with all kinds of funny signs and sayings posted all around. Plus, the grounds were surrounded by the glorious, emerald green waters of Florida Bay, which enhances the beauty of any establishment!

Position: N 24° 43.015, W 81° 02.438

Distance traveled:  45 SM

Total distance traveled: 2444 SM

Total marina nights: 121

Total nights at anchor: 20

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Days 111 – 141

After recuperating from our Day From Hell, we crawled out of our boat to explore Stock Island Marina Village, a huge marina that includes the upscale Perry Hotel, on the western side of Stock Island, which is just east of Key West.  In fact, Stock Island Marina Village has a physical address in Key West.  The marina itself boasts 288 slips on floating docks, along with very nice amenities such as two beautiful swimming pools, two onsite restaurants, multiple marina restrooms/showers, and laundry facilities.  They have an attentive staff that does their best to please all customers, with ice delivered directly to your slip whenever its requested, along with weekly pump-outs.  My favorite amenity was the complimentary shuttle that provides convenient transportation to and from Key West every hour, on the hour, from 9:00 AM through 9:30 PM, seven days a week, for its marina and hotel guests.

We partook of the Salty Oyster Bar, which was located just down from our slip between the hotel and marina, right next to one of the pools.  Even though they offer friendly service, a full bar, and tasty bar food, they did not offer oysters, despite their name.  We enjoyed enough lunches and/or happy hours there during our month’s stay we felt we knew the staff well enough to razz them about their name.  (Turns out, the Salty Oyster Bar did once serve oysters, but that was discontinued when COVID hit for some reason.  I believe the plan is to eventually provide the restaurant’s namesake as fare again, at some point, when all this craziness ends.)  We lunched at the SOB our very first day, 12/31/20.  I marveled at the beautiful grounds with all the lovely palm trees and well-tended, tropical shrubbery.  The sun was shining, air was dry and clear, and high temps perfect – low to mid-70s.  It truly was paradise!

On New Year’s Day, feeling more fully rested, we explored SIMV (Stock Island Marina Village) and ogled the very large, luxurious yachts tied up along the walls at the marina.  These yachts ranged from 60-feet to 120-feet in length, and were so expensive and noteworthy, they each could easily be Googled online, simply by typing in their names.  Steve learned that most of them are privately-owned, but are chartered out for private cruises when not in use by the owners.  The reality show called Below Decks came to mind every time we ambled by one of these monstrosities, or viewed pictures of their interiors online.

In addition to regularly cleaning Legacy inside and out, along with the never-ending daily chores of laundry, dish-washing, head-cleaning… (Yes, we were in glorious Key West, but the daily drudgery still continued, unfortunately.  Too bad we couldn’t have afforded a full onboard staff to do all that work for us, like those giant yachts tied nearby!)  We always treated ourselves to cocktails up in the flybridge at sunset, which helped to balance out those chores.  Even though we weren’t right on the ocean, we still had a great view of the sunset.  Early on, we both agreed that – since we had an entire month to enjoy the Key West area – we weren’t going to run ourselves ragged trying to cram every attraction into our first week there.

We easily got the hang of catching the shuttles on time and even became friends with one of the shuttle drivers, who said he and his wife had retired to Key West from New Jersey about a year earlier.  He was driving the shuttle to supplement his retirement income.  He played THE BEST Sirius/XM stations on the shuttle, with all of our favorite hits.  He also recommended we try brunching at Two Friends Patio Restaurant after we made our initial shopping runs, which we took him up on and thoroughly enjoyed.  Almost every restaurant in Key West has open-air dining with tropical island decor (everything from elegant to Bohemian), which always helps to enhance any dining experience.

We visited the Shipwreck Treasures Museum and learned all about the history (and one-time profitability of) wreck diving in Key West, during the mid to late 19^th century.  Back in the day, before the invention of modern nautical navigation tools, it was a regular occurrence for large, overseas passenger and cargo vessels to run aground on the jagged reefs south of Key West, especially in hurricanes (which could not be predicted during those times).  Although these ships often sank and their treasure cargo was lost during this period, many others were intercepted after they wrecked, but before they sank, when wreckers would rescue any living passengers and then help themselves to the doomed ship’s treasure.  “Wreck Ashore!” was a common cry heard throughout Old Towne Key West, whenever an unfortunate vessel was spotted in such distress.  During this time, the fortunes recovered from these shipwrecks were Key West’s only way of supporting its early pioneers.  Recovery of the wrecked vessel, Isaac Allerton, which sank in 1856, was finally achieved in 1985.  The Shipwreck Treasures Museum illustrates and documents this wreck and recovery through the use of actors, films and actual artifacts recovered from the wreck.  Cecil B. Demille’s 1942 movie, Reap the Wild Wind, staring John Wayne, is based on the wreck-diving and recoveries of the mid to late 1800s.  Steve and I traveled back in time to learn the ways of the wreck-divers and their adventures.  We climbed to the top of the 65-foot high lookout tower where wreckers once watched for wrecks and alerted the island’s residents to run down to the seashore for possible treasures available for the taking.  Steve wasn’t thrilled with the some 5,487 (maybe not quite that many…) steps we had to climb to reach this vantage-point, but he endured it nonetheless and we were rewarded with a gorgeous, 365-degree view of the island of Key West and waters surrounding it.

On another day, we walked to Arcimoto, located right next door to the Perry Hotel, to rent one of their all-electric FUVs (Fun Utility Vehicles).  The FUV combines a 3-wheeled motorcycle with a small, dune-buggy like contraption that can travel as fast as 45 mph, which means (unlike the rental golf-carts), renters can travel right along with the speed of traffic on the roads.  We drove that little FUV all over the island, running errands, seeing sights, and lunching at The Stoned Crab.  The SIMV shuttle only services designated stops, so when you need to go places other than those, the FUV is perfect for that, as it even has a locking compartment behind the passenger seat for carrying groceries or other finds.  I took a selfie of Steve driving with me sitting behind him, and when I saw that picture, it hit me full in the face that we have actually become those “goofy old people” I’ve always made fun of!

During our stay, we walked over to El Siboney, a Cuban restaurant on Stock Island for several lunches where we discovered we both really like Cuban food.  One of the things I like best about Key West and Stock Island are the wild hens and roosters that run free all over the islands, and crow at will.  Even if you’re standing right next to them!  It is believed that the early immigrants to Key West brought with them Red Jungle Fowl, a common breed of wild chicken, from Cuba and the Caribbean islands.  Originally, they were bred and raised for cock-fighting, but when the US outlawed cock-fighting, the residents simply freed all their chickens from captivity, where the fowl quickly adapted to being free-range and self-sufficient over the years.  Their ancestors have since over-populated Key West to the point they are becoming a nuisance, but most tourists find them delightful, including us!

Early in our stay, Steve contacted Brent Eaton Freece, a recommended boat mechanic in Key West, to come perform some maintenance on Legacy’s engines, repair a leakage problem up in the anchor pulpit, and install a new, larger TV, in the salon!  I now have a new place for my onboard plants (where the original, smaller TV was located) and a brand new, 32” Samsung Smart TV is mounted on a bracket to a cabinet between the galley and the salon, for my easier viewing pleasure.

As no visit to a new marina is complete without, early in the month I made a visit via Uber to the Key West Urgent Care to treat YET ANOTHER sinus infection (my 3^rd one since we moved aboard).  I got my usual shot in the hip of steroids and more antibiotics prescribed.  I think Steve may be exactly right about urgent cares being my new hobby!  😐

Janice and Dean Conley, our friends on Blue Barnacle, arrived in Key West early in the month, where they slipped until the end of January in Key West Bight Marina, which is right down along the harbor walk, where all the action is.  Both of them being athletic, they rode their eBikes all the way over to SIMV to join us for lunch at the Salty Oyster Bar and also to stop at nearby Fishbusters, which is famous for its fresh, low-priced seafood.  Janice is braver than me and boiled stone crab claws onboard their boat that night for their dinner.

We had a nice surprise visit from our daughter, Kinsey, and her teen-aged daughter, Laney, when they joined us on our boat from 01/08 through early morning, 01/11.  We had invited both daughters and their families to feel free to come down and visit while we were in Key West, but weren’t sure anyone would be able to partake, considering the time of year, school, and activities of all their kiddos.  Kinsey saw an opportunity to take a short mother/daughter trip, so they both flew down from Conway on Friday, 01/08/21.  We showed them around SIMV, then hung-out at the pool for a few hours (the weather of course had turned chilly for their visit, after a front came through…), then ate dinner up in our flybridge to watch the sunset.  The girls said they slept fine up in their v-berth accommodations, and Grampa fixed us all a big breakfast with pancakes on Saturday morning.  We then jumped onto the shuttle to do the Key West thing.  Laney is at that age where clothes and shoes are everything, so ample shopping for her was on our agenda.  The four of us ate a late lunch at Conch Republic and then walked to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory, which was one of my favorites from our previous visit to Key West several years ago.  I was afraid Laney might be bored, but when one of the many resident butterflies alighted on her shoulder and then stayed there for many minutes, I could tell she was charmed by that.  We all four walked and walked that day, with Gram stopping to take lots of pictures, so was always behind the rest of the group.  We came back after dark that evening, having had plenty of exercise.  Kinsey and Laney went off on their own to Key West on Sunday morning for girl-time and another shop-o-rama, then took a ride on the glass-bottomed boat to visit the only living reef remaining in the US, near Key West.  The cold front had raised the winds and roughened the water, so they didn’t get to see as much as they’d hoped (water was too murky), but were still glad they went.  While they were off on their own, we enjoyed lunch at Half Shell Raw Bar and visited the Gallery on Greene Street so I could get a dose of artistic inspiration.  (I still need to get out my drawing pad and drawing pencils!)  The weather this day was COLD, by Key West standards, with brisk north winds, not much sun, and high temps in the low-60s.  Even still, we stopped at the White Tarpon on the harborwalk for their world-famous Key Lime Martinis, which were delicious.  Our guests left before sunrise to catch their Uber to the airport, so they could head back north to cold and snowy Arkansas.  We were glad it was them and not us!

Of course, even though chain stores are highly discouraged in Key West (there’s not even a Walmart!), which meant there were no Michael’s or Hobby Lobbies or Joann Crafts, I was still able to find the Seam Shoppe in Old Town where I could purchase sewing supplies and yarn to my heart’s content, and frequented it several times.  😊  My plan is to start sewing myself some blouses and tops, now that I have my beloved portable sewing machine onboard.  I’ve also found Warm Up America, which is an organization for which I can crochet for charity and mail them my creations when finished, which is why I needed the yarn.

One night we met up with Dean and Janice Conley again, this time for happy hour at Alfonzo’s on the Harbor Walk, where we had an entertaining waiter, great drinks and delicious food.  We updated each other with our latest boating stories.  That’s one thing we boaters are never short on – boating stories of our adventures.  On our shuttle ride back to SIMV that evening, we happened to meet Scott and Ruby Stevens, along with their precious little Pomeranian named Bitsy, who were also staying at SIMV on their sailboat called Nautical Dreamer.  They had also sold their home and their belongings and were living aboard like we are.  We ran into the Stevens and Bitsy multiple times on the shuttle throughout our stay.

About mid-month, Rick and Rhonda Spykman on R&R (for Rick and Rhonda 😊), joined SIMV B Dock several slips up from us.  They are a fun couple from Holland, MI, who are also doing the loop.  Rhonda quickly organized a docktails outside their boat, but by the time we were all gathered, it began to rain!  Instead of ditching the gathering, I invited everyone to come up into Legacy’s flybridge and continue the fun.  We managed to get five couples in there comfortably, with room to spare and wound up having a great time.  We met Dave and Val, on Sea Major, Bobbie and Dan, on Serendipity, and Cathy and Scott, on Andante, in addition to the Spykmans.  The whole time I kept thinking both Rick and Rhonda looked familiar to me, but had no idea why.  Eventually I found out that they had attended the same AGLCA Fall Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park that we had, back in 2018.  Being loopers in progress, Rick and Rhonda had gotten up in front of us planners to share their experiences.  THAT’S where I remembered them from!  Small world, indeed.

During our stay, we made multiple walks to Hogfish Bar Grill for lunch, and then to West Marine for supplies.  Even though they were less than a mile’s walk, one way, the walk always seemed longer for some reason.  One thing we’ve noticed while we’ve been in the Keys, there seems to be only two income levels living down here – going by their dwellings, residents appear to be either mega-wealthy, or poor.  There seem to be no middle-class-sized homes like those we’ve always lived in.  The walks to both Hogfish and West Marine are both through a poorer side of Stock Island.  (Although, when we happened to find an old mobile home or shotgun house with a For Sale sign in the yard, we’d look it up online and discover it listed for close to a million dollars!  Location, location, location!)

We enjoyed several FUN happy hours at the Salty Oyster Bar with Rick and Rhonda Spykman and Cathy and Scott McKinley.  One of those happy hours was after we’d all returned from a very fun dinghy ride (three couples on three dinghies) over to Mud Key, which is basically several large mangrove beds situated northeast of Key West.  Scott knew about Mud Key from an acquaintance, and since it was another stellar weather day (and we had finally gotten Digney down and into the water), we decided our little flotilla of three should take an afternoon ride out to Mud Key.  The seas were pleasingly smooth and the sun was shining, so off we went, where we saw lots of crystal-clear and very shallow water.  In fact, in several spots, our dinghy motors accidentally stirred up huge clouds of sand behind us, because the props were so close to the bottom!  Riding around those mangrove beds made me remember WAY back in the day, when as a very young child, my family had lived in the Florida Keys and my dad had taken my 4 and 5-year-old self out in our little red and white boat to explore the area, which did my heart good.  We also felt extremely patriotic as we watched (and HEARD) the low-flying fighter pilots zooming back and forth above us, as they made practice runs from and to the nearby Boca Chica Naval Air Base.  (In fact, because SIMV is located right next to the Key West International Airport, and just a few miles north of the naval air base, we became very accustomed to all the air traffic noise.  It was so close that we would literally be forced to stop our conversation for several seconds to give planes time to pass over, or we wouldn’t be heard by our listeners.  Several people mentioned they wouldn’t return to Stock Island because of that noise, but it really didn’t bother us that much.)  Coming back to SIMV, the sun began to dip in the sky, but it was still early enough for us all to gather for happy hour snacks and drinks, which was Cathy’s idea. 

Another evening, Cathy arranged for the six of us to enjoy a delicious Italian dinner at Mangia, Mangia – one of Cathy and Scott’s favorite restaurants.  The Spykmans still have a car with them, so Rick chauffeured us all over for the evening.  We ate outside in a charming, plant-filled garden area with lots of twinkling lights suspended from pergolas above us.  We had the best time that night!  The temps and atmosphere were just right, the wine was flowing, and our dishes were all perfect.  After sharing a piece of tiramisu and a slice of key lime pie for dessert, we were all stuffed, so Scott decided we needed to walk over a few blocks to the Key West Cemetery in the dark.  The evening was so warm and pleasant and all the homes along our walk were beautiful, with an abundance of tropical landscaping illuminated by up-lighting.  Of course, I took a ton of pictures, and Steve and I decided we needed to come back to the cemetery during the daylight hours, which we did.

Several days later, Steve and I took a daytime tour of The Key West Cemetery and found it very interesting.

On one particularly gorgeous day, we rode the shuttle into Key West for an early lunch at Island Dogs, then took a tour of The Harry S. Truman Little White House, which is the state of Florida’s only presidential site.  The house was originally constructed in 1890 as naval officers housing.  The building was since converted into a single-family dwelling and hosted important visitors such as inventor, Thomas Edison, and scientist, Edward Hayden.  Eventually, it was deemed a presidential haven where past and present US presidents and their families were invited to visit as a retreat from the actual White House to enjoy the beautiful grounds and much warmer climate.  It has been visited by four different acting presidents and their families over the years.  The first was William Howard Taft in 1912, then Harry S. Truman in 1946 through 1952, then Dwight Eisenhower in 1955-56, then John F. Kennedy in 1961 and 1962.  In addition, former president, Jimmy Carter, visited in 1996, and former president, Bill Clinton, visited in 2005.  In May of 2009, The Little White House was restored to Harry S. Truman’s era (as he spent a large part of his presidency working from that location), and lush botanical gardens were added.  Today, the house is available for tours and is actually still open to any current or past president and family to utilize whenever they wish.  (Although, Steve and I both doubt many presidents have banged down the doors to stay there, considering it’s a very humble place, with all furnishings and décor from the 1940s and 1950s, but each to his own!)  After our tour, we walked around the development adjacent to the house, called the Truman Annex, where the homes are all expansive and expensive.  I told Steve that if we ever won the lottery, I’d be fine with us purchasing a home in Truman Annex, Key West.

Later in the month, we rented another Arcimoto FUV and drove it over to Higgs Beach to try out Salute Ristorante, which also came highly recommended, and we agreed with the recommendation. 

We then drove it to the Audubon House in Old Town for another tour.  We learned that the Audubon House is erroneously named, as there is no real evidence that the renowned bird artist, John James Audubon, ever actually visited the house himself, but is rumored to have taken some plant cuttings from the property to use in his famous Birds of the Florida Keys paintings.  The house was actually built by Captain John Huling Geiger in the mid-1800s.  Captain Geiger was Key West’s first harbor pilot and master wrecker.  Amassing great wealth from his wreck-recoveries, Geiger built the home for his wife and many children, planting luxurious tropical gardens on the property, one of which was the Cordia Sebestena, commonly known as the Geiger tree.  This tree is believed to be a native to the Florida Keys.  The house and gardens fell into dilapidation in the early 1900s until Colonel Mitchell Wolfson and his wife purchased and restored it in 1960 to its original American Classic Revival architecture and refurbished the gardens, to what is now known as the Audubon House Museum and Tropical Gardens, which exhibits a large collection of Audubon’s works.

On 01/20/21, another much larger docktails was held on B Dock – this time with perfect weather.  More than 10 couples gathered and we met some newcomers to SIMV.  We met Tom and Patty Olszowy, on Gemini Gypsy, another 27-foot, trailerable Ranger Tug, like we’d seen in Grand Rivers, KY.  Tom and Patty are from Buffalo, NY. We talked and talked with lots of different people and later remarked on how we’re NEVER going to be able to remember all these peoples’ names!  Of course, we passed out our boat card and collected others, but it’s still a whirlwind of boats and folks.

On Tuesday night, 01/26/21, we had a great experience when we joined the Spykmans and the McKinleys in our dinghies to motor over to LL’s Test Kitchen at Stock Island Yacht Club for a wonderful sunset dinner.  We enjoyed a great meal out on a terrace, with great company and a beautiful sunset.  Scott suddenly pointed out that we needed to wrap things up and get back to the dinghies, post-haste, as dark was coming quickly.  (Scott is retired Coast Guard, so he thinks of all these things, thankfully!)  The water was very smooth and the light was just enough to get us all safely back to SIMV.  The views at that time of day over the beautiful waters of the Keys was an experience in itself.  I tried to get pictures of it, but my iPhone camera just could not do it justice.  One thing we noticed, alarmingly, was that our Digney’s navigation lights weren’t working properly!  We were surprised, as they’d worked the last time we’d used the dinghy after dark.  We motored back between the other two dinghies, since their nav lights were working properly.  Fortunately, we did not get run over or receive a ticket for improper boat lighting at night.

One afternoon, Rhonda and Cathy and I rode in Rhonda’s car over to Lady Nails for simultaneous pedicures.  It was a fun and relaxing experience for all.  I highly recommend Lady Nails when you’re in Key West!  😉

On Friday, 01/29/21, Steve and I rode the shuttle into Key West to visit Mel Fisher’s Maritime Museum and learned all about the amazing recovery of the Atocha, which sank all the way back in 1622.  Mel Fisher was a pioneer in the diving industry, as well as a big dreamer, ever since he read Treasure Island as a child.  He studied the many wrecks that occurred over the centuries off the Keys that were never recovered, and eventually dedicated his finances, family, and life to recovering the lost treasure of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a doomed Spanish ship that wrecked and sank with hundreds of millions of dollars in treasure and fortune onboard.  During his 16-year search, Mel’s mantra was always “Today’s the day!” and finally, on July 20, 1985, Mel’s team discovered the motherlode.  After many legal battles, Mel managed to keep the majority of the fortune, but did donate $20 million dollars’ worth of the fortune to create the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum on Key West.  The museum was very interesting, but our experience was lessened because of the museum’s ultra-strict COVID masking rules.  They actually had mask monitors following patrons around the museum, on watch to make sure every guest’s masks were being worn and pulled up over their noses.  It is difficult to relax and enjoy a tour when there are people standing all around you staring you down.  Extreme overkill and completely unnecessary.

On our last full Saturday in Key West, we brunched at Blue Heaven, located inside the Bahama Village portion of Key West, on several strong recommendations, and fully enjoyed the experience.  We had been advised to order their version of eggs benedict, called the Bennie, with key lime hollandaise sauce.  I ordered mine with avocado and Steve had his with tomato.  Afterward we split a scrumptious piece of key lime pie for brunch dessert.

That night, 01/30/21, B Dock put together one last docktails before several of us left the marina for new destinations the following day, of which Legacy was one.  Sandy and Otis Scarborough on Taste & Sea hosted, and there was a large turnout of more than 25 guests.  In addition to Legacy (which was heading to Marlin Bay Resort and Marina on Marathon Key the next day, 01/31/21), Dave and Val on Sea Major, and Rick and Rhonda on R&R were also leaving for Marlin Bay, and Jim Williams on Seeker was heading across the water to Safe Harbor Marina over beside Hogfish.  With that many boats departing from one dock, Sandy felt like a “goodbye docktails” was definitely in order.  It was a fun evening and we met a whole bunch more people whose names we won’t be able to remember!

Position: N 24° 33.912, W 81° 44.297

Marina Nights: 120

Day 110

Since we couldn’t sleep anyway, we got up early to prepare the boat to pull anchor at daybreak.  Even though we were in extremely shallow water (the tide had gone out), Legacy was not sitting on the bottom which we interpreted as a good sign for the day ahead.  Inside the mouth of the Little Shark River, winds were calm and the water was smooth.  As the sun came up (I’ve seen more sunrises on this trip than I think I’d seen in my entire life, beforehand), we pulled the anchor with no issues and pointed the boat out of the river and back into the gulf.  Waters stayed incredibly “skinny” all the way out of the river.  Having to travel so slowly made that little segment (approximately 1 mile’s distance) take almost 45 minutes to complete.  The NOAA forecast was still predicting 15-20 knot winds and 2-3-foot wave heights for today’s crossing.  As we finally reached water with deeper depths out in the gulf, we had left the protection of the Everglades, so we were now feeling the winds and the rougher waters.  We decided our friend Scott Johnson was probably exaggerating about having to double NOAA weather radio’s predicted wind speed and wave heights.  Yes, the winds were around 16 knots at that point, and we were bouncing a bit on the 2-3-foot waves, but we could handle it!  Legacy was indeed a seafaring vessel, and we just did our best to stay seated up in the flybridge and hold on for the ride.

Of course, crab-pots surrounded us (ALWAYS), so we were dodging them again, just as we had the day before and the day before that.  We saw our friends the dolphins and watched the gulls, pelicans, and cormorants bobbing along on the surface of the water – regardless of wave-height.  They didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the roller-coaster ride created by the winds.  I thought to myself – if those birds can handle these rougher seas, then so can I.  So, we wove through crab-pots and bounced along like that for several hours.  Even though it was windy, it was warm and sunny, which boosted our spirits.  We were both thinking, “these waves aren’t sh*t, we can handle this, no sweat!”, and felt confident we’d made the right decision to go ahead with the crossing today.  Steve’s upper-body strength increased considerably with all this manual steering.  Every time he tried to turn on the auto-pilot, a line of crab-pots would suddenly appear right in our path, so he’d have to take the wheel again himself to avoid hitting them.

About 9:30 am, the skies started clouding up and the winds increased to between 18-20 knots, and the wave heights increased subsequently.  Our ride got rougher, and our adrenaline levels rose accordingly.  As the skies got cloudier, the winds turned chillier, so we closed up the flybridge.  But then, maybe 20 minutes later, the sun came back out and turned the flybridge into a steamy greenhouse, so we had to unzip again.  With my lousy sense of balance (even on perfectly flat, stable ground) I was USELESS in these waves.  I tried and failed multiple times to stand and tend to the flybridge windows, stumbling all about and grabbing onto anything I could reach to stay upright.  Watching my fruitless attempts finally convinced Steve to put me at the helm while HE zipped and unzipped isinglass as necessary.  This plan worked much better for everyone. 

We’d been seeing land way over to our east for a while now, as we passed the Florida Keys.  About 11:30 am, we spotted the Seven Mile Bridge up ahead of us, under which we needed to go for deepest access into our marina at Stock Island from the east.  We rocked closer and closer to the bridge until we finally passed underneath it.  The waters turned even more emerald-green and beautiful underneath the bridge.  We were actually cruising in the Florida Keys!  😊 We passed underneath Seven Mile Bridge at about 12:15 pm. Now, as we cruised, the Keys were appearing to our north (which was off the starboard side of the boat), and we began to notice the wave heights growing.  NOAA’s earlier predictions had applied to the Gulf of Mexico, on the western side of the keys.  NOW, we were actually sailing east of the Keys, in the Atlantic Ocean, where conditions changed dramatically.  We started to recall NOAA had predicted stronger winds and bigger seas for Hawks Channel, which is along the east side of the keys, exactly where we were now cruising, and would continue to be for the next three hours to Key West.  The wind gauge was now showing 24-knot winds and we estimated the waves to now be as high as 4-6-feet.  Uh-oh…  We looked at each other and almost simultaneously said, “I think we might be starting to learn what ‘big seas’ are!”

The bouncing had turned to flat-out rocking, as Legacy’s bow rose to the top of one large wave and then dove right down the other side of it, into the watery valley between it and the next wave.  White-caps were very much now the norm, rather than the occasional passing occurrence, and the winds were whipping spray across Legacy’s bow constantly.  We both began to feel a bit nervous, but it was apparent Legacy was handling all of this in stride.  It was just her crew that was harried and wide-eyed.  I began picturing the storm scene in the opening credits of Gilligan’s Island, and realized we were playing our parts perfectly at this moment, even though there was no rain falling.  Yet. 

My eyes stayed riveted on the churning ocean before us, as we were now on high-alert for crab-pots.  That’s right, they were still EVERYWHERE, even despite the ridiculous conditions.  I noticed the skies were getting darker about the time Steve glanced behind us and saw a rain shower approaching.  As that rain caught up to us, it also brought FOG, which eliminated our visibility.  We rarely have to use radar during the day, so it wasn’t turned on.  The only way to turn it on is from below at the salon helm, which Steve climbed down to do, holding on tightly to the rails and wearing his life-jacket, which we had each donned several hours earlier, even though we were stationed up inside the enclosed flybridge.  As Steve rushed to go below, we both forgot to put on our headsets, which is how we communicate when separated from each other on the boat.  Suddenly, there I was!  Gilligan at the helm all by myself dodging the mine-field of crab-pots as they (and large sheets of rain) flew by me on both sides, while at the same time fighting to keep the bow of the boat pointed into the waves, rather than letting them hit us broadside.  Right then, both engines went silent.  Holy crap, it’s happening again, I thought – and at the worst possible moment!  Steve was nowhere in sight, and we couldn’t communicate.  I started fearing he might’ve fallen overboard and I hadn’t seen him, so I took my eyes off of the waves in front of us to scan the waters behind the boat.  In the rain, the waves increased to what were most likely 7-feet.  Radar now operating, Steve bounded back up the steps and into the flybridge, soaking wet.  He said he’d heard me shouting and was frightened something had happened.  Right then, we both realized just how important wearing those headsets truly was.  I’d been hesitant to go below and check on him because I thought I still had control of the boat from the flybridge and had to keep the boat out of the crab-pots, when all the while, Steve had taken control of the boat from below (which is why the engines had seemed to stop and restart) and said HE’D been steering Legacy himself that whole time.  What the ?!  😐 Had we been wearing our headsets, Steve could’ve just told me what he was doing, and neither one of us would’ve gotten worried.  As quickly as it had come up, the rain shower passed us and we could actually see where we were going again.  We both breathed a sigh of relief, but realized we still had two more hours of high winds and 4-7-foot seas to ride.  It was like being stuck on the world’s longest (and wettest) roller-coaster. 

As the afternoon progressed and we got closer to Key West, the winds and waves began to lessen, just as NOAA had predicted, which was just fine with both of us.  The ride was still rough, but now somewhat easier to tolerate and steer through.  Steve had been checking his charts for the location of Stock Island Marina Village and had previously set a course on Navionics.  He followed that course as I spoke with the marina to let them know we were almost there.  But as we entered the channel leading to the marina, the depths suddenly went from 5-feet to less than 1-foot.  And the further in we went, the shallower the water got.  I was still on the radio with the marina and asked them if there was some sort of trick to navigating their channel, as it was suddenly so shallow.  Taylor, the marina manager, asked me if we were in the channel and I said I thought we were, but then he asked me if we could see “the tall red and white striped smoke-stack” ahead of us?  There was NO smoke-stack anywhere in sight, and just when we were thinking we might’ve gone the wrong way, and so needed to quickly turnaround, we felt the ominous “bump-bump” of Legacy’s hull running aground, and our boat was suddenly no longer moving.  Steve wasn’t sure what the bottom consisted of in this channel, and didn’t want to risk damaging the propellers by using the engines to attempt to back-off.  He had been following the route planned by our Navionics charts, but missed that Navionics had been sending us to the wrong place. Instead of taking us to Stock Island Marina Village, it was taking us to a place called Stock Island Docks, which was not at all where we wanted (or needed) to be.  Knowing that dark was approaching, we hailed Boat US on the radio to request a tow.  (Thank goodness we’d purchased that limitless towing policy from Boat US!)  We gave the representative the coordinates of our current location so he could find us, and he indicated he knew exactly where we were.  It sounded to me like this was a common spot where larger boats ran aground.  He told us he would get to us soon in his skiff, but had also called a Boat US tugboat to come and get us, as he feared his little boat couldn’t tow a boat Legacy’s size through such shallow waters.  He arrived after about 30 minutes and tied his boat to our port side while we waited for the tug-boat.  He and Steve talked shop while I went down into the salon.  By this time, the sun was beginning to set.  Of course, this was a busy channel – for the correct-sized boats, anyway – so small rigs kept having to go around the idiots in the larger boat blocking the middle of their channel.  We even had a few boaters passing by make smart remarks about us to their fellow passengers, not realizing (because sound carries over water and they were obviously drunk) we could hear every word they were saying about us and our boat.  Oh, well – we knew we looked like fools, so what could we say?  Our Boat US guy spoke on the radio several times with the tug-boat he had called, but it was still about 20 minutes out from us.  We had previously called Stock Island Marina Village back on the radio to tell them what had happened, but advised we were still coming as soon as our tow arrived.

As darkness began to fall, we realized Legacy was no longer stationery and was actually floating in the channel again, which meant the tide was coming in!  Our Boat US hero told Steve instead of waiting even longer for the tug-boat to arrive, he was going to tie Legacy to his skiff and pull us out himself, since the water level had risen slightly.  He got us all hooked up and turned around in the channel as the sun dropped below the horizon.  I marveled how that very small, open-cockpit boat could so easily tow a 50-foot trawler behind it.  Steve was up in the flybridge at the helm steering Legacy to follow the skiff as closely as possible, to prevent unnecessary drag.  I was so mesmerized by this whole process, I failed to notice what Steve had already noticed.  The wind was picking back up and so were the waves.  As we approached the mouth of the channel, conditions swiftly deteriorated.  Not only was it dark outside, but the winds were now at 30 knots and the waves were closely following suit.  Our poor Boat US hero up ahead of us in his skiff was getting battered by the winds and swamped by the giant waves.  The winds were howling at this point and we could barely hear him talking on the radio to the waiting tug-boat driver.  We watched as waves absolutely swamped the bow of that skiff three separate times, which completely soaked its captain through and through.  We were making slow progress forward, with still extremely shallow depths showing beneath our keel.  Legacy was rocking so badly at this point, I had to stay seated with my arms and legs wrapped around various rails and table legs to keep myself onboard.  About this time, we saw our skiff-driver pull his boat up next to the tug-boat and physically hand the line tied to Legacy over to the tug driver, who then secured us to his boat instead.  That entire process scared me to witness, as both boats ahead were pitching and falling in those horrendous waves, and neither one of our rescuers appeared to be wearing life-jackets!  The whole time, Steve continued fighting Legacy’s wheel to keep her pointed into the waves.

Nine times out of ten, I’m the one who gets the most shook-up in situations such as this one.  But when I realized Steve had gone completely quiet, I knew this was not our normal.  I could see the seriousness of things in Steve’s body-language, which just added another layer to my anxiety, but gave me the presence of mind to just shut my mouth and concentrate.  As the Boat US skiff driver slowly veered away from us (but still stayed nearby), the tug-boat pulled us farther out of the channel where the waters deepened, but the high winds were now sending constant spray so high up it was coming into our flybridge!  At that point, our tug-boat driver got onto the radio to tell us we’d gotten far enough out he could release us, and said he needed us to untie his boat’s tow-line from the forward cleats on Legacy’s bow.  Steve and I looked at each other, and since I’m always the line-handler, he told ME to go out onto the bow to untie.  Knowing myself pretty well, I was incredulous and shouted, “I’M not going out there!  I’ll fall right off this boat!”  At that point it was like Steve snapped out of a trance and quickly agreed that I was the LAST person that needed to be out on the deck in what now seemed to have reached “Deadliest Catch-level” conditions.  I jumped into the helm seat (Gilligan was BACK), while Steve did his best to scramble outside into the elements and untie our boat, without falling overboard himself.  And yes we both had our life jackets on and securely fastened.

Once we were disconnected from the tug, it pulled away from us so that we could start our engines and head toward the correct channel this time.  In almost complete darkness.  He told Steve over the radio that the hull of his tug boat was 12-feet high, and those waves were submarining him!  (Wait – we were out in 12-foot waves…??)  This time, the red and white striped smokestack was illuminated, and appeared before us, as the lights from our marina were also visible in the distance.  Both of the Boat US boats followed us to make sure we were okay and got where we were going.  All the while, the winds remained at 30 knots.  We’d long since realized all bets were off with the crab-pots, since there was no way to spot them in the pitch darkness.  So, we prayed Legacy’s stabilizers, rudder, and props would miraculously remain crab-pot-free as we headed toward our destination.  We had originally told the marina we wanted to fuel-up before we went to our assigned transient slip, but that was long before all of this chaos had ensued.  The marina called us on the radio to say they were closing and to ask if we still needed to fuel-up, which we quickly said NO – we can do that later when there’s not gale-force winds blowing!  I asked Taylor (at the marina) which slip we were assigned to and he advised us it was “B-12”.  He then proceeded to give me directions from the marina entrance to our slip location, so I thanked him and signed off the radio.  In mere moments, we realized he had either given me bogus directions or I had misunderstood him (the latter being the most likely).  Steve got on the radio to the Boat US skiff driver to ask if he was familiar with Stock Island Village Marina, so that he could perhaps lead us to our slip.  He said he thought he could, so we proceeded into the marina, still fighting winds way too high to safely enter into a marina.  😐  It was so dark and windy, all I could focus on was getting our fenders hung up on the starboard side of the boat, as previously advised to do by the marina rep.  The waves inside the marina were smaller, so I felt safer out on Legacy’s deck, but the winds were holding strong.  By this point, we were both wearing our headsets so we could communicate.  Just as I advised Steve I’d hung all the fenders, our headset batteries completely ran down after our LONG day, and we got disconnected.  With her large flybridge, Legacy is top-heavy in high winds.  Not that she could roll-over, but that flybridge acts like a huge sail catching all beam-side winds quite efficiently.  Which is exactly what is not needed when trying to navigate a completely unfamiliar marina with narrow channels in the dark.  As we entered the marina, a gigantic moored sailboat, with a navy-blue hull, was taking up massive space on the starboard side of the entrance.  Steve said he held his breath as we came up next to it, feeling like he was “threading a needle” driving our boat through the narrow opening it created.  (We’ve since learned that big blue sailboat is 120-feet long, with a hull that looms up some 25 feet above the waterline. It is being refurbished, as it currently has no mast.  As we’ve passed it in the daylight, we’ve seen that its starboard hull has already suffered damage from other boats who were not as successful with their needle-threading.  Quite ironically, that boat is also named Legacy!)  Steve followed the Boat US skiff into the fairway where slip number B-12 was located, which meant Legacy had turned sideways into the winds.  Meanwhile, I was running around down in the cockpit holding the boat-hook, hoping to fend-off any boats or docks we might accidentally be blown into.  Just as Legacy turned broadside to the wind, a huge gust of wind hit her port side, which pushed her right into all the slipped boats tied to her starboard.  Steve later said he’d had both thrusters (bow and stern) pushed as far to port as they would go, but they were no match for that wind.  The thruster motors were both revved up high and the wind was howling, and right when I heard a loud crash, I saw the starboard corner of the swim-platform at our stern was mashing up against a ladder mounted on the dock.  I used the boat-hook with all my might in an attempt to push us back off the ladder (which miraculously sustained little to no damage).  All of a sudden what seemed like thirty dock-hands magically swarmed the docks beside us.  Each one of them were simultaneously shouting different instructions at me, and several of them were physically pushing our swim platform off of the dock-ladder.  Meanwhile, Steve was following one of the dock-hands down to slip B-12, which was to be our home for the next month.  As Steve continued on into the fairway as directed, I saw that Legacy was still dangerously close to all the stationery boats slipped on her starboard side.  In addition to the many dock-hands, multiple boat-owners had come out of their boats and were holding protective fenders between their bows and the hull of our boat to help prevent unwanted damage.  By this time, I was so bewildered, I felt my head swivel all the way around on my shoulders.  (Steve later confessed that right about that time is when it occurred to him that HE “WAS THAT GUY” coming into the marina in the total darkness, like a bull in a china shop and damaging all boats around him.)  All at once, I discovered – even against all that wind – Steve had miraculously managed to turn Legacy around in the fairway so he could reverse her into our slip.  Dock-hands again came running at me shouting for me to “throw out a stern line!” and “do you have a spring line?” and then someone else shouted from the front of the boat for me to hurry and pitch them a bow line.  I was thinking to myself, for God’s sake, this boat is 50 feet long and I’m just one person!  There was no physical way I could simultaneously throw them a stern line AND a bow line!  So I spastically pitched a stern line overboard toward someone with a blurry face, and then started for the bow of the boat, trying not to trip and fall down in the process.  By the time I got there, a very spry young man had somehow managed to board our boat by leaping from the dock finger, over the water, in the dark and safely landing on our deck, and was in the process of wrapping our bow line onto the bow cleat, while another dock-hand was securing the other end of that line to the dock finger.  Though I could barely comprehend it, Steve and those dock-hands had managed to get us all the way into our slip and secured without hitting the boat slipped right next to us or the dock finger in the whole wind-driven process.  Steve shouted at me from the flybridge, “Are we all tied-up and secured?  Can I kill the engines?”  Hilariously, even though our headsets had long since died, in Three Stooges-like fashion, I’d continued to wear my headset, still talking away to Steve into the mouth piece like he was even able to hear me.  I’d been giving him a play-by-play throughout the whole thing, which is why I couldn’t understand why he was now shouting at me from the flybridge like I’d not kept him informed all along!  I had completely forgotten he hadn’t heard a single word I’d been saying.  Some of the dock-hands reached over and started high-fiving me for a job well done of getting Legacy safely slipped and secured and I was thinking to myself, I didn’t really DO anything besides run around on the deck like a headless chicken.

Things began to slow down a bit as Steve made sure all dock lines had been tied to his satisfaction and that the fenders were lowered or raised to their correct heights.  We tipped the dock-hands and then our Boat US skiff driver appeared on the dock behind Legacy with official Boat US paperwork for us to complete and sign.  We thanked this young man profusely and tipped him well for his heroic, above-and-beyond efforts.  I told him to go home, get out of those soaked clothes, and take a long hot shower! 

All the commotion having died-down and the dock-hands vanished, Steve connected Legacy’s shore power, which thankfully worked perfectly.  We both then went inside – me for a shower and Steve for a strong cocktail.  Even though I’d originally thought the loud crash I heard was from our swim platform hitting the dock ladder, it turns out that crash had actually been caused when the teak railing on Legacy’s starboard side collided with an adjacent sailboat anchor as that gust of wind hit us.  ☹  We were left with a large scrape and deep gouge in our teak, but the sailboat anchor was unharmed, and thankfully, no one else’s boat had been damaged in this debacle.  One of the dock-hands told Steve our teak should be relatively inexpensive to repair, which made me feel a little better about it.  By this time, it was 6:45 pm.  We had caught our breaths and realized how fortunate we were that nothing worse had happened to our boat, any other boats, or to US.  Neither one of us could believe the day/night we’d just experienced, nor the horrible wind and wave conditions we’d just come through.  Legacy had held up well and completely protected us, even though we didn’t exactly return the favor. 

As we tried to relive the day, we realized our biggest mistake had been being in a rush to get to Key West.  AGLCA’s Looping 101 is to never rush or hold yourself to a schedule.  Always let the weather conditions dictate your plans.  Had we not been on a schedule to get to Key West by 12/30/20, we most likely would have remained at our anchorage in the Little Shark River, awaiting optimal cruising conditions, rather than pushing ourselves.  We learned that we cannot completely trust our instruments to plot the correct routes for us without using our own brains to double-check them.  Had we not accidentally taken the wrong channel when heading for the marina, none of that night’s chaos would’ve occurred.  We would’ve saved the call to Boat US, and arrived at our slip in Stock Island Marina in broad daylight, so we could see exactly what was happening.  In hindsight, we realized we should’ve just tied-up for the night at the marina fuel docks and waited to come into our slip until the next morning, when hopefully the winds would’ve been calmer.  But, as always, we have to learn our lessons the hard way, and this time was no different.  Legacy is named for Steve’s mother, Maxine Linn, who died almost 9 years ago, and I like to think she was watching out for us that night, doing her best to prevent injury and keep the damage to a minimum.

Position: N 24° 33.912, W 81° 44.297

Distance traveled:  90 SM

Total distance traveled: 2399 SM

Total marina nights: 89

Total nights at anchor: 20

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 109

We woke up to another glorious morning, but this time surrounded by millionaires!  😊  Actually, we only saw their homes, but we knew they were inside, probably hoping we’d pull anchor this morning and get the heck out of their backyards!  So, we did just that – pulled anchor at 7:45 am and slowly headed out of our super-swanky anchorage back through Gordon Pass and out into the gulf.  Next stop:  an anchorage in the Florida Everglades!  Naturally, as soon as we left the pass, we encountered even MORE CRAB-POTS.  Mostly manual steering for Steve again today!  In fact, his line for the day was:  “If it’s not f-ing crab-pots, it f-ing BIRDS [floating in the water] pretending to be f-ing crab-pots!”  LOL! 🙂

We wove our way through crab-pots for miles southward that morning, past Keewaydin Island, Marco Island, and Ten Thousand Island.  Winds were picking up a bit, but we still had good cruising conditions and warmer temperatures (upper 60s), which always improves the day.  In fact, the cool breeze, warm sun, and shimmering, emerald-green waters seemed like Nirvana.  As we cruised along, we were passed by the Key West Express running at an average of 34 knots, about a mile to our west.  We looked it up online to learn that it was a 136-ft commercial yacht, one of several that ferries passengers back and forth, daily, from Fort Myers or Marco Island, FL, to Key West – a trip that takes approximately 3 hours, one-way.

Now becoming common-place, but still thrilling, dolphins escorted us further and further south – far past the peninsula of Marco Island, until we were completely out of sight of any land anywhere.  Again, we saw nothing but water, water everywhere from horizon to horizon.  We were not totally alone, as we did see several other boats miles out from us, but only a few came close enough to photograph.  One of them was a beautiful Island Packet sailboat flying a large, burgundy-colored Genoa sail.

So, I’d been wondering for awhile now if anyone ever checks all those crab-pots, and we finally passed a crab-boat doing that very thing, out west of the Everglades.  Well, okay, then!

About 12:30 pm that afternoon, our formerly calm winds began to pick-up to 17-18 knots, which makes for a much rougher ride.  By 1:30 pm, we saw they’d increased to 22 knots.  So instead of shimmering ripples, Legacy was now riding some white-caps.  The weather was still clear and sunny, just blustery now, so we closed up a few windows in the flybridge as a result.  Before we knew it, some of those waves were throwing spray up and over our bow as they hit us, which meant conditions had gone from serene to “EXCITING”, at best.  And all the while, we were STILL dodging crab-pots as we fought the waves!  Did we not check any weather or sea-condition forecasts before we left this morning, you might ask?  Well, the answer is OF COURSE, but forecasts are just that – forecasts and not reality.  Just best-guesses, so cruising conditions are always a gamble.  We bounced along like this for several hours until my nerves were beginning to fray.  I tried to distract myself with the mangrove clumps now appearing to our east, as we approached the Everglades, growing larger and larger, the closer we got. At about 2:30 pm, we finally arrived at our anchorage in the Little Shark River, inside which was wonderful protection from the wind, so the water calmed from waves back to shimmering ripples.  Coming into the mouth of the river, we slowed way down, as our depths were suddenly almost non-existent!  We watched readings of 1-2 feet beneath Legacy’s keel skinny to only .5, .4 or “—” (which means NO depth reading!) as we inched our way in.  Steve had previously read that depth-charts for the Florida Keys are basically best-guesses, as well, as the sandy bottoms are always shifting from day-to-day, which also changes the true depths from day-to-day.  So, if the chart indicates a depth of 5-10 feet in a specific area, in the real world, that could easily become 1-5 feet… or LESS. Inching forward VERY SLOWLY, watching the depth-gauge the entire time, probably sounds a bit stressful.  Which it is!  We took some comfort in the fact that the bottom was mostly sand, so if we did happen to run aground, we should be able to get ourselves back off with the thrusters and/or engines, but we didn’t really want to get to that point.  Finally, we reached a place in the mouth of the river that deepened enough we felt reasonably comfortable dropping anchor and not worrying about waking up the next morning, sitting on the bottom when the tide went completely out.

Even though we were literally in the middle of nowhere (the Everglades!), where there are NO cell towers, it was reassuring to see several other boats anchoring a distance from us in the Little Shark River.  Our cell phones wouldn’t work, but we could at least hail one of these boats on radio channel 16 for assistance, should there be an emergency.  Once we were settled in, we attempted to enjoy beverages up in the flybridge to watch the sunset, but unfortunately we were TOO protected from the winds in that anchorage, which meant the air was still enough to accommodate those dastardly “no-seeums” that love to feast on unsuspecting humans, when breezes are too weak to blow them away.  ☹  Why not just use bug-spray, you might ask?  Well, we could, but the no-seeums have figured out the best feasting can be had on the human scalp, because that’s where they always seem to attack.  Who wants to put bug spray in their hair and on their scalp?  So we grabbed our drinks and ran for the protection of inside the boat.  Later, Steve found an old log entry made by Legacy’s previous owner regarding that exact same anchorage, that stated it was “Good protection from winds, but apparently a haven for insects.”  LOL – no kidding!

Another thing we’d heard about this particular anchorage after dark, was if you shine a spotlight out over the surface of the water, you can see hundreds of sets of tiny, red alligator eyes glowing back at you from all around your boat.  Steve decided to brave the insects, and carried our spotlight outside for a look.  I told him to let me know if he saw anything, as I had no intention of going back out into that insect-haven for no reason!  Sure enough, after only a few minutes, Steve was back inside, attesting to seeing NO glowing red eyes – only bazillions of tiny bugs flying within the beam of his spotlight!  No, thank you! 

Even though we had no internet to watch Netflix or Amazon Prime that night, we did still have our DirecTV Satellite to watch, though we’ve about reached the point where we find little entertainment on network TV.  Steve had thoroughly reviewed all of his weather sites online that morning, before we left cellular/internet coverage, and they all seemed to agree that, while the winds could be between 10-15 knots, and wave heights from 1-3 feet on 12/30/20 (the following day) for our final crossing from the Little Shark River to Stock Island Marina Village in Key West, we could handle those conditions.  But by the time we reached our point in the middle of nowhere later in the day, we only had NOAA weather radio to consult, along with The Weather Channel via satellite TV.  As we listened to NOAA’s cryptic-sounding forecast, we began to get concerned that predicted conditions for the next day were worsening, as NOAA was predicting stronger winds and larger waves than we’d first heard for 12/30/20.  The NOAA weather forecast is a recorded, continuous loop of information broadcast by an electronically-generated robot-like voice, that’s difficult to even understand, let alone follow.  As we listened to the forecast loop play over and over, with the forecast winds increasing to 15-20 knots, and subsequent wave heights of 2-4 feet, we began to second guess our crossing plans.  If we didn’t leave on 12/30, the weather was going downhill fast, which meant we’d be stuck anchoring there in the bug-infested, completely isolated Little Shark River for several more days before the weather cleared.  To make matters more stressful, while we’d advised our families that we would be outside of cell coverage for the night of 12/29, we’d failed to remind them that period could extend if we encountered poor weather and decided to stay put.  The Weather Channel’s forecast does not include wave-heights, but the conditions and winds predicted seemed to agree with what NOAA was saying.  Still, we longed for cellular connectivity so we could access our other weather sites via the internet.  We also kept remembering Scott Johnson, of Mona Gee, saying he felt NOAA was not very reliable, as whenever he’d listened to its forecast, he’d found he should’ve increased the predicted wind speed by at least 5 mph and doubled the predicted wave heights!  😐  We spent most of that evening vacillating back and forth between going or staying, until we finally decided to go for it.  If we got out there and conditions were too bad, we could always just turn around and come back.  Still, neither one of us slept well that night, as we could not stop thinking about the following day.

Position: N 25° 33.19.660, W 81° 08.841

Distance traveled:  73 SM

Total distance traveled: 2309 SM

Total marina nights: 89

Total nights at anchor: 19

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 108

After a calm night at anchor just off the channel in the Florida ICW in Lemon Bay, on Monday morning, 12/28/20, we awoke to more perfect cruising conditions.  The weather was slowly warming back up.  Steve went back to wearing only shorts and a t-shirt up in the flybridge, but I stayed in long pants and a light jacket.  We pulled anchor with no problems (always a plus) at 8:00 am, and were not sitting on the bottom, as I eluded to in the last post.  Another major plus!  Not too far south of our anchorage, we arrived at the Tom Adams bridge on the ICW and thought we would need another drawbridge raise.  Fortunately, there was a bit more clearance underneath this bridge, but we hailed the bridge-master just in case.  With his input, we finally determined that there was 24-feet of clearance available, which was ample for Legacy’s overall height above water, so no drawbridge-raise was required this time.  We continued on down the ICW all the way past Gasparilla State Park, where we went through the pass and back out into the gulf to do some more traveling “outside”.  The skies were perfectly clear, the sun was bright and the winds were so low, we had not quite glasslike water conditions at 10:00 am. 

Out in the gulf, we cruised further southward just off the coast, passing Boca Grande, Cayo Costa, Captiva, and Sanibel Islands.  Then we passed Fort Myers Beach, Estero Island, and Bonita Springs, as we neared Naples, of course dodging our “beloved” crab-pots the entire way.  UGH!

At 2:00 pm, the weather was so perfect we unzipped the flybridge completely, and I went below to change into shorts and t-shirt as well.  😊  Legacy cruised right along, handling the seas perfectly and keeping her crew safe.  Couldn’t have asked for better!

As we came into Naples, we passed inland, back out of the gulf through Gordon’s Pass.  This was one high-traffic and busy pass!  We both exclaimed how – judging by the number of boats darting everywhere inside this pass – it seemed much more like a Saturday or Sunday, rather than a Monday!  As we slowly made our way down the pass, rocking from all of the nearby boat wakes, Steve showed me on the charts where we were headed – which appeared to be right smack dab in the middle of a swanky canal neighborhood in western Naples.  It took several minutes and quite a bit of nerve to finally cross oncoming boat traffic and make our left-hand turn into the “cul de sac” of water, which was to be our home for the night.  Sure enough, we were entering into the posh neighborhood called Port Royal.  This was a known and popular anchorage, according to Active Captain, since it had plenty of depth and wind protection on all sides.  Still, when we dropped anchor, there we were – sitting right in the backyards of all these multi-million-dollar waterfront homes that encircled us.  We were positioned literally no farther away than half a football field’s length from any of the homes, with clear lines of sight into the large back windows of every house.  I kept asking, “Are we sure we’re allowed to anchor here?”, as it seemed we must look to be stalkers, or lurkers, or even creepers!  Steve assured me that the waterways did not belong to the home owners – they were considered public property – so we were well within our rights to anchor there for the night.  Indeed, it seemed that many of the homes were not inhabited that night, which made me feel a little better, but still awkward.  There was also another sailboat anchored a little way from us in our little anchorage, so we weren’t the only voyeurs, at least.  We sat up in the flybridge for cocktails and to watch the sunset over the gorgeous homes and didn’t pull out our binoculars once, which was only respectable.  I missed it, but Steve claims he saw one of the home-owners coming in on his boat to his dock, and he just waved and smiled at our boat anchored right in his backyard, like he was used to it and didn’t mind it.  Sure do hope that’s how all the residents felt about us being there!

Position: N 26° 06.225, W 81° 47.459

Distance traveled:  80 SM

Total distance traveled: 2235 SM

Total marina nights: 89

Total nights at anchor: 18

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27