Marathon, FL to Key West, FL

Total Miles Traveled 1808.9

Well, what can I say, we’re in Key West and I haven’t stopped long enough to update our blog.  Today is our first day of measurable rain since arriving, so it’s a great opportunity to sit down a few hours and bring you up to date.

We left Marathon January 29^th after waiting 12 days for the wind to stop blowing and churning up the Atlantic.  We met several friends during our stay, and had a great time visiting with them again. 

Looper docktails at Marathon....we met the couple in the foreground in 2013 when we were wanna be loopers, again in 2015, again in the Bahamas 2017, at Marathon in 2018 and again this year. Everyone else we met in 2015-16 on the loop, except two couples we met at Everglades City this year.

Getting ready to enjoy deep fried Key Lime Pie for dessert at Berdines with our friends Randy, Sherri, Mike and Elaine.

It was well worth the wait as we had calm waters on the 45 mile cruise to Stock Island, just a 5 mile shuttle ride to downtown Key West. 

7 mile bridge

If you look close, you can see the crab pot markers floating in front of us.

Stock Island Marina Village

 We are the 3rd boat on the far side of this pier.

This is "Red Head"  formally owned by Billy Joel but currently owned by the creators of the boating app called Active Captain.  They sold the app to Garmin last year, but for the last 4 or 5 years the app was the most used boating information resource of the cruising community.  I had the opportunity to thank them for their creation and I continue to write reviews on our anchorages and marina stops.

The "only" downside of Stock Island and Key West is the size of the islands and the location of two very popular airfields.  One is the Key West Airport and the other is the Naval Air Station on Boca Chica Key.  The upside is there are usually no flights before 7 a.,m. or after 7 p.m.

Two of our long time friends Judy and Pearl, currently Florida residents but formally from Indiana, came down for a visit last week.  We had a great time seeing the sites and reminiscing about the good ole days.

We took a tour through the Butterfly House

And downtown Key West

Someone is not happy with their purchase

Just after Judy and Pearl left, our friends Darin and Linda came down for a vacation at Key West,  they are also from Indiana and avid boaters.  We had a great time with them during their visit.  Darin and I took a tour through the USCGC Ingham while the girls went shopping.

The Ingham was built in 1936 and served for 52 years.  In WWII, she performed 31 convoys across the Atlantic, sinking German Nazi U-Boat 626.  In 1944, she was reassigned to the Pacific and served as Command Ship in the 7th Fleet.  She was the Flagship for Gen. McArthur's return to Corregidor.  She also served as Flagship for the amphibious landings at Leyte Gulf and later as Flagship for the South China Naval Forces in China, Formosa and Viet-Nam. In 1985 she became the oldest Naval ship serving our nation and the most decorated.  When retired in 1988, everything was left onboard as time capsule.  USCGC Ingham is 327' long, 41' beam and 15' draft powered by two 6000 hp steam engines with a top speed of 20 knots, about 23 mph.

Back at the marina, this local manatee stopped by for a visit.  You would think it would find a safer place to hang out other than a marina full of propellers.  As you can see its sporting a few battle scars.

While in Key West one of the charter fishing boats came in cleaning their catch of the day, if you look close you can see a few pretty big tarpon waiting for any scraps.

Moni and I are trying to decide if this guy on the sailboat in front of us is Donald Trump's brother?

We will be here until March 1st and are still undecided where our adventure will take us northbound.