Key We$t to Key Largo

I know the thought of us being "stuck" in Key West didn't get us much sympathy but we ended up being in Galleon Marina for 10 nights or 6 more than we had planned on. The problem was the winds were high for the whole week and we wouldn't have made it out of our slip without blowing into other boats and making a general mess of things. Even if we had gotten out there would have been no place to go since the seas were 7-10 feet out there. We ran into friends Ed & Kyle who happened to be in town at another marina and had lunch with them the first Saturday we were in as they planned on leaving Sunday morning....turns out they ended up at our marina for the whole week too after trying to head north and seeing how bad things had gotten.

Kyle, Ed & Jill at the Green Parrot

Nice thing was we were able to slow down a bit and really enjoy Key West as well as get a fresh coat of wax on the boat. Down side is we about blew the March budget in the first 2 weeks! We got to explore a bunch and found some great new spots as well as spending more time at the Parrot listening to live music almost every evening. Once we did get out of the marina we spent a couple of extra nights in the mooring field so I could get in one last Sunday afternoon jazz show at the Green Parrot. While the main band is the same every week the "horn section" changes with various musicians sitting in. The gentleman on the stool in the picture below was there every time we were and we were told he in 93!! He's still got some great lungs!!!

Key West Mooring

Finally we were able to tear ourselves away from Key West and start heading north. This time we wanted to go up the Florida Bay side of the islands since we had gone down the Atlantic thus completing a "loop" of the lower keys once we got back to the 7 mile bridge. Turns out this was a great plan even though a longer way to go. The strong winds out of the south for the previous week had given the bay a chance to become crystal clear and we could even see the crab pots 20 feet below the surface.

A big highlight of this day was the number of Dolphins we saw along the way. One "family" in particular swam in our bow wave for over 1/2 an hour (over 4 miles) never leaving and matching our speed with ease....I have no clue how they do it or why. In this case they seemed to be showing the younger one how to make the silly people on the boat do tricks like wave and clap and whistle at them...stupid human tricks I guess.

Once back in Marathon we went back to Faro Blanco for a few days to re-stock and give Jill a few days to get over a cold she acquired somewhere in Key West. Thankfully she isn't selfish at all and shared it with me as I was to find out a few days later. We were in Marathon for St. Patricks day and Jill was feeling better so we took the dinghy up to Claws n' Straws for one last round of $1.50 crab claws and the traditional Irish whiskey with a pickle back....with a beer back....don't knock it till you try it!!

After Marathon we had a short run up the inside to a FREE mooring ball in Islamorada which should help the budget recover. The mooring is free for up to 7 nights and is at Shell Key which is a state park. It was an easy dinghy ride into World Wide Sportsman and some nice restaurants. We spent 2 nights here before crossing back into the Atlantic for another short run to John Pennekamp State Park which is a well kept secret of a marina at $52.00 a night.

Shell Key mooring field

 We will be in Key Largo until Thursday when we finally start making our way out of the keys after 3 wonderful months. Our next reservations are in Hollywood Fl. (thanks Bryan) starting Monday so we're not really sure where we'll be along the way, keep an eye on the tracker.

One last note about knowing when you've been somewhere too long...The last Sunday jazz we went to at the Green Parrot I started getting the "locals" drink prices (not a bad thing) and realized I was beginning to look like the "Smirk" guy (definitely a bad thing!!!)

Until next time from somewhere not in the keys.....