Dinner Key Marina-
Our month long stay is coming to an end here, so are researching our next destination.
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| Saying goodbye to Coconut Grove, Miami |
Always doing little projects and cleaning up the boat, biking and taking the bus for provisions. We continue to meet fellow cruisers. Met a couple from Alabama who cruised for 10 years in the Mediterranean. Seasoned cruisers have great tips and stories.
We toured a homestead built in the 1880's here in Coconut Grove called The Barnacle. It is located bay front in a hammock (small forest here in Florida) and has withstood all the storms and still stands intact today. We learned a lot about the tropical trees on the property. The mangrove trees actually are able to convert salt sea water to fresh water via their own reverse osmosis system. Biscayne Bay used to have fresh water springs all over. However when the Everglades were drained and developed, the fresh water all disappeared.
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| The Barnacle |
We have decided to take a trip south to Marathon, which is about 2/3 of the way down the Florida Keys chain (about 100 miles south).
Jan 9-
We headed down Biscayne Bay and are traveling the "inside"route (Florida Bay side vs Hawk Channel on "outside) to Key Largo. Chilly day, probably only 70 degrees.
We anchored first nite out off Gilberts Marina in Barnes Sound. We just had to dinghy over to the huge tiki bar!
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| Gilberts infamous Tiki bar |
Did have a little excitement as we caught our first fish while trolling! A 10" blue runner- haha, too little to eat.
Jan 10-
The wind has picked up from the north, but its calm onboard since the seas are following us. There is quite a bit of shelter in all the mangrove cuts we go through.
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| Pepromenon passing through a mangrove cut |
No luck trolling today. A huge bright pink bird flew over us. After discussion with Carol's brother, David, a birding expert, it was decided it was a roseate spoonbill. Dolphins around today also. Anchored off Lower Matecumbe Key in a spot protected from the windy conditions. We could see the anchor sitting on the bottom - nice! and had a lovely sunset.
Jan 11-
Beautiful, sunny and warm day! We arrived in south Marathon, just north of the 7 Mile bridge. We are staying at Harbour Cay Club marina. This is a condo marina, as in the slips are privately owned. Its a lovely area and has a tiki hut for boaters to gather nightly, nice grills, and a big indoor area with a TV.
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| Hayden on left blows his conch horn at sunset |
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| Marathon sunset from Harbor Cay Marina |
Most luxurious is the free ice machine. We don't keep ice on board. Our small freezer is strictly for food.
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| An industrial ice machine for 20 boats |
Carol putting the ice to good use….
We promptly got our bikes out and rode around. The Keys have separate paved biking paths, so that gives us a safer ride.
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| local resort |
We biked over to a local dive restaurant we went to several years ago with our friends the Zarrolis and Maguires. Castaways has not changed a bit.
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| They even serve Lion Fish tacos... |
On our way back to the marina we were passed by a guy walking his beagle. This little beagle was proudly carrying a 2 foot long iguana it just caught. Now that is iguana control. Wish I had the camera.
Jan 12-
Friends from our marina on the Chesapeake Bay are also here in this marina. They invited us to go over to Boot Key Harbor to listen to a talk by a NOAA weather meteorologist on marine forecasting. Very interesting, but not as interesting as people watching in this huge marina/mooring field. We put our name on the waiting list to get into Boot Key Harbor for a week or so. Back at the marina we tried our hand at fishing off the dock - after all we can see the fish swimming around. Bought some live shrimp and caught many Mangrove Snappers. All were under just under 10 inches, the legal limit.
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