Ok, maybe not tomorrow, but last Wednesday, we left Key West after a great week and headed east along the Florida Keys, and yes, we are officially traveling north now. For the first time this trip, we will actually be getting closer to home. Don't look for us anytime soon, this will take until mid-June.
Key West has been an eclectic mix of the classy and shall we say the "not-so-classy." On the one hand, we've had delicious food at lots of different restaurants, seen lovely southern-style houses, heard some really good music, and met lots of fun people. On the other hand, we've seen countless tourist-trap stores, attended a drag show, seen some strip clubs and a clothing-optional bar - no we did not attend those, and there are tons of tour boats blasting music running out to catch the sunset. Roosters freely roam through the streets and outdoor restaurants.
We took a recommendation from our Jamestown friends, Bruce and Dorsey Beard, and got a slip at the Galleon Marina which is in the heart of all the action. Even Jimmy Buffett had his, surprisingly, small fishing boat at the Galleon, but no sightings of Mr. Buffett while he was in town for several concerts. Fishing boats and tour boats are coming and going at all hours and the cruise ships dock just a few blocks up the street. The chaos didn't seem to scare away the wildlife as we were joined by manatees, tarpon, and there were reports of bull sharks - fortunately no sightings.
We were joined in Key West by our good friends from Philly, Sandy and George Connelly. For the next five days, we walked the streets of Key West, ate at the Conch Republic Seafood Company restaurant, Blue Heaven (a must if you have never been!), entertained ourselves at the Green Parrot (dancing to a reggae band), Better Than Sex ( a Dessert restaurant), Aqua drag show (yes, the men were dragged there and it cost us some $$$ bills), lunch at Garbos Grill with the Stranges, and many late nightcaps at the Chart Room (where Mr. Buffett had his first gig) with free hotdogs and popcorn. But the highlight of the trip was a full-day, fast boat trip to the Dry Tortugas to explore Fort Jefferson and snorkel the outer walls of the fort. Barracuda and sting ray sightings caused the women to cut their snorkel adventure short.
Due to the strong easterly winds, we were forced to travel on the Gulf side rather than Hawk Channel as we headed east up the Florida Keys. We definitely hit some very shallow water when we transited the Big Spanish Channel - how we did not run aground still amazes us today - the Dinty Moore and Spam were working their magic. Maybe it was the special gift of Spam that our Jamestown neighbors dropped off at Egret the night before we left Key West? We treated ourselves to 2 nights at the Marlin Bay Resort in Marathon and visited with some cruising friends we met along the way. With 100 miles to our destination of Key Biscayne, we traveled on the Gulf side over two days. Our anchorage at Islamorada was beautiful, with dolphins playing in the water, with one exception....we almost dropped our anchor on a sunken boat....fortunately the water was clear enough that we could see the boat as we led out the anchor chain....and we quickly pulled up the anchor and reset!
We are now settled at the Key Biscayne Yacht Club til February 20. Go Birds!
Mary and Andy Strange joined us for a lunch at Garbos Grill.
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