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Key West/ Boca Chica First Days(Days 238-243)

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We finally arrived in Key West and will be here for a month.  We are expecting quite a few visitors while we are here. The entrance to the harbor was straight and deep Thanks to the Navy carving out the coral for building the runway. These Tarpon were in our slip to greet us.  They are around 4-5 feet long and continued as regular visitors. We headed over to the beach side bar to check it out. And enjoyed our first spectacular sunset. We walked back to the boat and the sky remained beautiful.  Looks as if our daily decision will be sunset from the beach or the boat? We rode our bicycles into Key West on our first full day here. We went to Divers Direct to learn about the Brownie Air system for diving then we went to lunch at the Wharf.  This is where we saw our first Manatee since being in Florida. The Tarpon were also numerous and quite active feeding on the fishermen’s cleaning remains. We were thrilled and honored to greet our friends Jerry and Denice on Nevadatude at the dock where
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Marathon Key Days (Days 234-237)

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This is a long awaited day.  We are crossing the straights of florida to get to the Florida Keys. We needed a weather window with calm seas. And we got them.  We also got fog! It was a bit scary. I sat out on the bow with headphones. As the fog lifted we began to see a “fog-bow” As the sun came up it was shining through the fog water droplets to form a bow similar to a rain bow. This was some of the calmest waters we have been on on the entire loop and we’re in wide open water. Even our cell phones didn’t work out here. This was the view from our slip at Marlin Bay in Marathon. We saw our first iguanas. The birds were quite at home in the pool area. A highlight of theirs stop was meeting up with our friends from our first year on the loop; Dan and Deb from “Razor’s Edge.” They are Gold Loopers now and came back down to Florida. It was so much fun to see them! They even showed us the ropes for playing daily pickle ball at the community courts there. Mike was able to kite board from an i
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Shark River (Day 233)

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Today we went to Shark’s River Anchorage in the Everglades.  We were the only boat there when we arrived. These two alligator beers are the only two gators we saw. We decided to motor around in the dinghy.  The water was really peaceful. There are lots of trails and turns to explore.  Having a chart plotter in the dinghy was truly a life saver on this exploration.  One could easily get lost and not find your way back to the boat. This video clip shows a little bit of our experience. Mike did a terrific job of navigating. And we found our way back to our anchorage. We had dinner on the bow and watched porpoises swim around the boat as the sun set. Our Journey ”I will wait at the fords in the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”“ ‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭15‬:‭28‬ ‭NIV‬‬  
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Fort Meyers Beach to Marco Island (230-232)

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We had a lovely day to travel from Burnt Store to Fort Meyers Beach. We passed the lighthouse on Sanibel Island that I remember from trips here with my parents years ago. This was our first attempt at grabbing a mooring ball. I’m proud to say I was able to get it on the first try which was no easy feat from the bow of our boat.  I had to lay down on my stomach and grab the leader line from the ball with a boat hook…then get back on my feet! The new knees don’t like that too much. Our stern was really close to this sign which made us a little nervous as the boat swings on the ball with the changing tides. Per our usual routine we went exploring by dinghy.  The Pink Shell Resort is behind us.  We were going to stay there but they had no room when I needed to change the reservation due to weather delays. There are still many signs of Hurricane Ian here.  We ate dinner at the restaurant to the right of this poor cruiser that ended up on shore This place is all fixed up and has live music.
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