Key West, Fl to Carrabelle, FL

Total Miles Traveled 2108

We departed Stock Island Village Marina at daybreak March 14^th with a great forecast for cruising the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico on our journey North.

Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean

We traveled 83 miles to an anchorage at Little Shark River, then 72 miles to an anchorage at Naples, FL on the 15^th.  We had ideal cruising conditions except for dodging a few crab pot floats. 

If the sun is behind us, the floats are not too hard to see, unless they are covered with green algae.  We may travel several miles and not see any, then we are in a minefield.  If we hit one, the float line can wrap around the prop shaft and stall the engine, not a good scenario if several miles from shore.

Key West Express Ferry runs from Ft Myers to Key West.

On Tuesday March 16^th, we cruised 59 miles from Naples, Fl to a private dock near Ft Myers, FL. We stayed here for six weeks while Moni had cataract and corrective stigmatism surgery on each eye.   The surgery was a great success and glasses will only be needed while reading small print.  Thank you, David and Barbara (m/v Miss My Money), for the use of your dock and hospitality during our stay!

We were also able to visit our friends Kevin and Jill (m/v Chasing 80) and Rafe and Annette (m/v Cat Daddy) during our stay.  Kevin and Jill took us on a day trip to Fort Pierce Florida to the Marine Connection Liquidators, this place has everything imaginable for boating supplies. 

We rented a car on April 21^st and visited Moni’s family near Cocoa, FL.  We had a great time visiting with everyone and are thankful that everyone is healthy.

The Space X Falcon 9 launch was scheduled during our stay and I was able to watch it from Moni’s Mom’s the back yard. 

We departed Ft Myers, FL on April 26^th and traveled 62 miles to an anchorage at Cape Haze, FL.  We passed the Gasparilla Island Lighthouse, the oldest structure on the island and it has been a beacon to mariners since 1890.

On Tuesday April 27^th we cruised 47 miles to an anchorage on Sarasota Bay, we briefly had to wait for two ferries to cross the waterway.

 

Luckily, we had light winds for the night at our anchorage and a great forecast for crossing Tampa Bay the next morning.  We weighed anchor at daybreak and traveled 51 miles to an anchorage at Clearwater Beach, FL.  We met our friends Randy and Sherri (m/v Priorities) and Steve and Jan (m/v Forever Young) here. 

On April 29^th we had a weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico to Cedar Keys, so we moved to an anchorage at Anclote Key, near Tarpon Springs.

Boats anchored at Anclote Key barrier island.

Steve hooked what he thought may have been a stingray, he fought it for quite awhile before breaking his line.

 Anclote Key Lighthouse.

 We weighed anchor just before daybreak on April 30^th and cruised 69 miles to and anchorage at Cedar Keys, we enjoyed less than 1-foot waves during most of the way, but seas started building to 2 ft the last 15 miles of so. We have crossed the Gulf of Mexico 11 times and this is the first time we have seen a sponge boat working offshore.  The large nets of sponges on top of the pilothouse indicates they were very successful.

On May 1^st we departed for Dog Island, a 116 mi course across the Big Bend of Florida.  Sunrise leaving Cedar Keys.

We had a few hours of rough seas but as we approached early afternoon the waves calmed down to less than 1 foot.

Sea Turtles are hard to photograph, by the time you see them and zoom in to take a picture, they're gone.  

The extended forecast is calling for scattered thunderstorms through Thursday May 6^th, so we decided to stay at C-Quarters Marina in Carrabelle, FL a few days to top of fuel and visit with our friends. 

Shrimp boat anchored near us at Dog Island at dawn.

Our table at Fathoms Oyster Bar, a great place to meet with friends.  The camera angle doesn't show our 6 foot social distancing though.

Shrimp boat at C-Quarters Marina, we were able to purchase 5 lbs of fresh caught shrimp.

Catch of the day.....

Key West, FL 2021

Total Miles Traveled 1507

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This will be our last update from Key West this winter.  We are leaving at daybreak tomorrow March 14^th and start our journey north.  We plan to stay at Fort Myers for several weeks before continuing up the west coast of Florida to the river system, ending up at our home port at Grand Rivers, Ky around the end of May. 

We’ve had a great two months here, visiting with friends and enjoying the awesome weather in the beautiful Keys.  Although it’s a little different this year with Covid-19, most of the places that we normally visit are open.

Hanging out with our boating friends at the White Tarpon Restaurant.

The marina has been full during most of our stay.

Our friends Doug and Jane were put in a slip that almost needed a shoe horn to get in and out of.

There are some nice boats that pass through here………

Nope, that's not a cruise ship, it has a crew of 22.

We’ve really enjoyed a variety of live music and fresh seafood at the local pubs.

 Cheers from Key West!  

Fort Myers, FL to Key West, FL

Total Miles Traveled 1507

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I’m not making any excuses for how long it’s been since my last update, what can I say, the fun meter is on high and we’re in Key West!

A view from our boat at Stock Island Marina Village and the Perry Hotel at sunset. 

We had a great time visiting our friends at Fort Myers, and a special thanks to David and Barbara for providing a great dock for us to hang out over the holidays.  On January 5^th, we moved about 11 miles to the Fort Myers City Marina, visiting friends and preparing for our adventure to Key West.

We departed the marina January 6^th at daybreak and cruised 59 miles to an anchorage at Marco Island, FL.  This is a well-protected anchorage and short dinghy ride to a Winn Dixie grocery store…..with a dinghy dock.  We held up here for 4 days waiting for a weather window to move to Marathon, FL and to visit our friends Merrill, Jan, and Tim from Indiana.

We had planned to leave Marco Island at daybreak on January 11^th but we had a negative low tide and didn’t leave our anchorage until 9 a.m... During normal conditions there are high and low tides, but the wind and moon phases can affect the normal tidal swing. The approach to the anchorage has a few very shallow sections so leaving before a normal low tide was not worth the risk.

Our cruising conditions heading south from Marco Island were perfect.  We normally cruise about 60 miles from Marco Island to a protected anchorage on Little Shark River, but with the exceptional conditions on the Gulf of Mexico, and with no change in the overnight forecast, we anchored about 3 miles offshore near Big Sable Creek. 

 

On January 12^th we departed our anchorage at daybreak and cruised 47 miles to Boot Key Harbor at Marathon, FL.  Our friends that we have traveled with since the river system are here so we wanted to visit with them before continuing on to Key West.  Randy and Sherri m/v Priorities, Charlie and Robin m/v The Lower Place, Steve and Libby m/v San Souci, and Steve and Jan m/v Forever Young.

Boot Key Harbor has a mooring field that is operated by the city of Marathon.  There are 216 mooring balls that can be rented but they are normally full in January.  They also have a few slips at the marina but they are usually full.  They will not take reservations so you have to be in the harbor and call them before they will assign a mooring ball.  If none are available, you have an option to anchor until something opens up.  Anchoring space in the harbor is very limited and also usually full.  When we arrived, everything was full and there were 8 people on the waiting list.  Randy and Sherri have been here since early December and are on a mooring ball and told us a boat had recently left that was anchored in front of them outside of the mooring field.  We maneuvered our way through the field and dropped the hook giving us plenty of swing room and a hundred feet or so from the closest boat.   The next day we dropped the dinghy and spent the afternoon visiting our friends.  Everything was great until we returned to the boat.

As we arrived at the boat we saw this sticker on the window and according to the city marina we have to be anchored 150 feet from the mooring field boundary, which isn’t marked on the waterway.  If we moved to this distance from our anchorage we would be in less than 5 feet of water, which is the draft of our boat.  It just so happened the city had one open slip available for our size boat at the marina….hmmm?  Since it was getting late, and we were only going to be here 2 more days, we took the slip.

Our favorite “must stop” when visiting Marathon, Berdine’s on the water, with an awesome deep fried key lime pie.

We departed Boot Key Harbor on January 15^th and cruised 44 miles to Stock Island Marina Village; this will be our home until March 15^th.  Our friends Mike and Jan m/v Trust Me, from our home port at Green Turtle Bay are here and arrived in early December. 

We saw this stingray doing the back stroke during a dinghy ride.

Sunken boat on our dinghy ride to the Stoned Crab restaurant. 

Sharks!  These nurse sharks were hanging out near the entrance of the Hurricane Hole restaurant, one of our favorite dinghy rides for lunch.

Fresh Lobster waiting to be ordered from the Stoned Crab restaurant.

Jelly fish behind our boat one morning.

Happy Birthday!  Breakfast at the Blue Heaven Restaurant Key West.

Ahhh, fresh Gulf shrimp at Key West.

These shrimp boats are moored across the waterway from our marina.

I installed this hydro-fin on our dinghy motor, this helps get us on plane faster with more than 2 people in the dinghy.

Full moon at the marina, as you can see, we almost needed a shoehorn to get into our slip.

Moni made a special Valentine's day Breakfast........

Our current plan is to leave here March 15th and work our way back up the west coast of Florida to Fort Myers, where we will spend a few weeks before heading back up the rivers later this spring.