A Week in Islamorada

We pulled up the anchor 8 January and headed to Islamorada. "Islamorada" in Spanish means "Purple Island". Actually, it consists of several islands (keys): Upper Matecumba, Lignumvitae, Windley, Indian, Teatable, Wilson and Plantation keys. Eighteen miles in all. Pulling up the anchor was a little more challenging than normal because the last 30 feet of chain was covered in sea grass and the anchor ⚓ had a huge clump of sand and mud on it. Once the anchor was secured we left Tarpon Basin and went through the very narrow Grouper Creek which was lined with mangrove trees on either side.  The trip was only about 20 NM but took us through some very shallow water. The shallowest being 2' 3" below our keel. We draw four feet. The trip was beautiful (I think) but most of the time my eyes were glued to the depth gauge and navigation apps. Naturally, that was also the time when Sharon decided to start reading to me comments about a post from someone who likes bacon but doesn't like bacon grease on his [boat] stove.

Did we bring a rake?

One of the last legs was Cowpens Cut. Cowpens was named for the pens used to hold manatees, which were once used as food. For whatever reason, the ICW appears to end at marker 78 (miles 1153.7). The 'Magenta line' is still there and beyond (on the charts) but the yellow squares and triangles no longer appear on aids to navigation. From 78 to 84 we didn't have a track/route to follow -- first time since we left Maryland, but simply followed navigation aids although they were spaced VERY far apart at times. Sharon was a huge help in our final leg. 

Sharon called the marina, Coral Bay, for our slip assignment. The Netflix show "Bloodline" was filmed here. She does everything possible to help us figure out where we're going to dock. That means Google Maps, marina website, etc. Here were the directions she received: "Go through PVC poles, go past big Hatteras (Kwiki), past basin, pass motor yacht, make a left, 1st slip, bow in, port side." Naturally, we went right past that "first left" because it wasn't a slip but a canal and the motor yacht was about two feet beyond the canal entrance. So, I had to turn around in a channel about the width of our boat 🚤-- 36 feet. Somehow we did it and got docked. The slip was really nice! Lots of mangrove trees to shade us and well protected from wind and wakes.

The marina was ok. It's a working marina but we got a nice (for the Keys) weekly rate and a fantastic slip! We were instantly greeted by a couple 👫, Tom and Debbie, from Edgewater, MD who came here last February and never left. We got settled in and headed over to Lorelei's for happy hour 🍸. Lorelei's is a favorite stop of ours' when driving from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West. 

Our 'slip'

Thursday we met friends of ours from back 'home' at Lorelei's. Brandon and Karen and Mike and Anne were on their way to Key West and stopped to see us for a late lunch. Turns out, another friend of ours', Mark, lives on his houseboat  in the marina right next to ours! Small world!!! We spent the afternoon with them before they continued their journey south. 

Mark, Mike, Anne, Karen, Brandon, us at Lorelei's

Friday, we did some sightseeing and had dinner at Islamorada Fish 🐟 Company with our friend Rebecca who lives on Islamorada. She's in the process of moving to Marathon. It's always fun seeing Rebecca!

Shops, coffee cafe and Badboys Burritos

This store had some really cool stuff!

Dinner at the Fish Company with Rebecca

Saturday morning we received a text from a couple, Bill and Molly, that had pulled into Coral Bay the same day we did. They are fellow "Loopers" and invited us to have 'docktails' and join them for dinner at Badboys Burritos (right behind our marina). Badboys was good! After dinner Sharon and I headed back to the boat to watch a devastating play-off loss by the Baltimore Ravens 🏈.

Sunday, we walked about a mile to the farmer's 🚜 market -- an event Sharon can never pass up. We stopped at the Hurricane Monument along the way. The farmer's market didn't have much but we bought some cheese, fresh bread 🍞, fruit/vegetables 🍑🍅, chips, salsa and tamales. We met Rebecca there who drove us back to our boat 🚤 to drop off our food. She went grocery shopping with us at Publix. After that, the three of us stopped by her parents' house (absolutely beautiful!) and then went to the Islander Resort for lunch and some pool 🏊 time! Rebecca left around 4 and Sharon and I left around 5. 

Hurricane Monument

Farmer's Market

These iguanas were going at it in the street and
froze when Rebecca's car stopped in front of them.

Lunch and drinks at Tides Beachside Bar and Grill
at the Islander Resort

Sharon and Rebecca

We decided to swing by Lorelei's in case Mike, Anne and Mark were there.  Go figure! There they were. They were just getting ready to leave for a sunset 🌅 cruise on one of Mark's boats. Mark invited us to go along and took us past our marina/boat, another basin and through Bird Island. Bird Island was a trip! We saw hundreds of pelicans, cormorants and frigates (I'm sure there were other species) all jockeying for tree branch space. After the sun set, Mark dropped us off right at our boat. It just doesn't get any better! 

Bird Island

More Bird Island

Mark, Mike and Anne pulling away after dropping us off at our boat.

Monday was another pool day at the Islander Resort. Mark, Mike and Anne joined us for a couple of hours. We headed back to the boat to shower around 4 then headed to Lorelei's for happy hour. It turned out to be quite the happy hour with Mark, Mike, Anne, a couple Anne knew from Key Largo, Rebecca and her parents.

Beautiful beach at the Islander Resort.

Tuesday was like Monday except it was just us and fresh 'Mut' fish from Rebecca for dinner.

Wednesday morning we hit West Marine, said our good-byes to our 'live aboard' friends and went a short one hour to Lignumvitate Key. I did notice the ICW yellow squares and triangles did appear on markers around 91A. There are five mooring balls on the leeward side of the island which is a state park (naturally it was closed Wed). We grabbed a mooring ball and enjoyed beautiful turquoise water, a sunset and even had a sea turtle sighting!

Ft. Lauderdale to the Keys

The alarm [clock] went off at 0530 and we were underway in 30 minutes. Our goal was to be underway at 6 and we did it! That's probably one of five times in the last 8+ months that we have had to get up to an alarm clock. The draw bridges on New River are closed from 0730-0900 during rush hour so we wanted to get an early start. We also wanted to take advantage of a good weather day and make our way to the Keys. We were getting ready to cast off when I saw a boat passing behind us. That boat needed the first of three draw bridges opened on New River. I asked Sharon, "Can we do this!?!" We did! Untied five lines in record time and managed to piggy-back off "Ursala Minor's" bridge openings. It was dark but we left early hoping boat traffic would be to a minimum. Well.... it wasn't. There were TWO seven-figure mega-yachts being towed in the opposite direction. We (Ursala Minor and us) sat as far to the side of the river that we could as the yachts went by. But wait, there was a third yacht getting towed as well. We were headed for Port Everglades channel when all boat traffic stopped for a cruise ship - Independence of the Seas - to enter port. This was our first time leaving the ICW. We headed 'outside' and ran parallel along the coast. Boy was that nice! Two and a half hours bypassing draw bridges and boat traffic! It was just us. It dawned on me that in the last 33 days, today was only the 4th day we've been underway. As the sun was rising, I thought about this time last year, sitting in an office. Yuck

Cruising down New River

Waiting for Independence of the Sea to enter port.

We entered Government Cut on our way back to the ICW and turned south into Biscayne Bay. Once in Biscayne Bay, it was a straight shot and Sharon and I both enjoyed some sun on the bow and beautiful tortoise water thanks to our auto pilot. We went through Card, Barnes and Blackwater Sound and Jewfish Creek and anchored in Tarpon Basin at MM 1139. We're in a nice protected anchorage with mangrove trees lining the shore. We never got off the boat but there are supposed to be mangrove tunnels that you can explore from the comfort of your dinghy. The wind will be picking up tomorrow and getting worse for the next few days. Luckily, we were able to take advantage of a nice weather window and make it to the Keys!

Ships in Government Cut

Miami

Miami

Chilling on the bow in Biscayne Bay

Our anchorage in Tarpon Basin

Fort Lauderdale Part II

Happy New Year to everyone!

We left the boat for 2 weeks and flew ✈ to Maryland to spend time with family and friends over Christmas 🎄 and New Year's.  A special thank you to Florian (brother-in-law) and Brenda (sister) for giving us a place to stay and a vehicle 🚘 to get around. Also a thank you to Lance, Nicole, Giovanni, Rosella, and Gemma for letting us crash at their place.  We were able to attend Christin's 40th birthday party and spend time with our friends.  We also met Mike and Sue for Sunday football 🏈 at Mama Lucia's. On Christmas Eve, Heather (my daughter) spent the day with us, she and I got pedicures, we baked cookies 🍪 and had dinner with David (son) and Chris (Heather's fiance). On Christmas day we drove to Pennsylvania to spend time with Nick (son), Shae (Nick's girlfriend), Mom, Dad, Brad, Dylan, Megan (nephews/niece), and Sam (Megan's boyfriend). We had thought about changing our flight ✈ and getting back home earlier than originally planned, but considering Rob was limited (in a cast) we kept the original flight and stayed through New Year's.  This allowed us to see more of our friends and to attend the North Beach Polar Bear swim 🏊.

Happy 40th Christin

Sharon, Rob, Sue, Mike

Cookie 🍪 time

Heather, Sharon, David

Heather, David, Chris, Sharon

Shae, Nick, Rob, Sharon

Dad, Nick, Rob, Mom

Leading up to New Year's we spent time at some of our favorite restaurants, Old Stein Inn, Chart House, and Yellowfin.  Lance, Nicole, Rob and I went to Annapolis Seafood to purchase our seafood 🍤 for New Year's Eve and then we made a stop at the Boat Yard in Annapolis.

Rob, Lance, Sharon, Nicole

New Year's Eve we had an awesome seafood meal thanks to chef Lance. We played Watch Your Mouth, which ensured we would stay awake until midnight.  New Years's Day we attended Pat and Mary's Pre-plunge Brunch.  They had Omelette Chefs making made to order omelettes.  Regan (their daughter) was making awesome Bloody Mary's.

Shrimp, mussels, scallops, clams, crab legs, prime rib and homemade pasta

Rob playing Watch Your Mouth

Pat, Mary, Rob, Sharon

Delicious cookie

Omelette Chef's

From the pre-plunge, we went to the Polar Bear Plunge ( I would never get in the water).  I had on scarf, gloves, hat, and coat and the weather was pretty nice considering it was January. We moved on to Tim and Tootser's where we always have a good time.  We said our goodbyes and headed back to Severn to spend the night with Brenda and Florian before flying out of BWI on the 2nd.

Crazy people in the water

Eric  shucking oysters at Tim & Tootser's

We enjoyed spending time with so many of our family and friends, to those we did not get to see or spend enough time with, we tried our best.  The hardest part of going home was having to say goodbye again.

Our new year begins with spending a couple additional days in Fort Lauderdale. Our first stop was the hand ✋ specialist. She was very impressed with Rob's progress and even said he was a rock star.  She shortened the cast he was wearing and made him a splint to wear at night.  We took an Uber from the hand specialist to Publix's so we could provision.  We walked back to the boat from Publix (15 mins) which took us over the drawbridge that was of course opening as we were going across.

Rob and his hand specialist

Our provisions and the bridge opening

On Saturday we attempted to take the bus 🚌 to see our friends Alex and Heather, who we met in Key West several years ago.  The bus never happened -- we just couldn't figure it out! So we simply took  an Uber.  We met them at Mamacita's in Hollywood Beach and had a fun afternoon.

Rob, Sharon, Heather, and Alex with giant margaritas

Sunday, January 5th, we went to Sunday Jazz 🎷 Brunch in Esplanade Park, just around the corner from our boat.  We spent time listening to the bands, people watching, and eating.  We were amazed at all the people and partying going on.  We left the Jazz brunch and walked to E Las Olas Blvd (about a 5 min walk) to check out the Art Fair.  There were blocks of tents ⛺ set up displaying various art works in the middle of the street.  It was so crowded with people and dogs 🐾 we didn't last very long.  Back to the boat to watch the end of the Vikings \ Saints game.  Way to go Kirk Cousins!

Sunday Jazz Brunch

Bobby Rodriguez Orchestra

Sausage with peppers and onions

Adorable

Sunday Jazz Brunch

Art Fair

Art Fair

Monday was spent doing boat chores and getting ready for our next leg of our journey.  Rob was able to get a ride 🚗 from our live-aboard neighbor to get our propane tank refilled and go to a hardware store. Next it was pump-out time because the sh*tter 💩 was full.  He had to purchase a special $15! fitting. The marina used to provide the fitting, but the boaters never returned them.  He then had to wheel a pump-out contraption down to our slip to pump out. The pump ties into the city's sewage system somehow and is located on the slip right next to our boat. It was totally disgusting!  I had the easy jobs I spent the day cleaning the boat and doing all of our laundry 👕👖.

Propane refill

Travelling potty pump-out

Rob pumping out

Clean house