Week 9; Dec 29 –Jan 4 No, we didn’t last a full week on the mooring balls in Boot Key Harbor. By Monday we were headed out to Bahia Honda State Park, about 10 miles down the keys. We anchored out there for 2 nights and enjoyed the warm shallow water on the beach and some beautiful sunsets. We also got our first chance to snorkel right off the beach in a couple of feet of water. There weren’t many vibrant tropical colors, but it was still awesome to see all the plant and animal life.

Jim saw his first big lobster while snorkeling here but without a net, he decided to try grabbing it with his hands. He grabbed each of the feelers and had it for a while but it started squealing and retreated back under its ledge. One of the feelers came off in his hand so he decided to let it go. Oh well, there will definitely be more lobster opportunities.

We snorkeled again at Sombrero Reef near Marathon. We picked up a mooring ball right over the reef. The fish and coral were more colorful there, but I’m told this is nothing compared to what’s ahead in the Bahamas. Jim took advantage of the clear water there to clean the hull.

We returned to Boot Key Harbor on New Year’s Eve for the rest of our week. Jennifer ran into one of the girls she met there and they spent the better part of 2 days playing together. They took a field trip to Big Pine Key by car and saw some key deer and alligators. They also had a sleepover on her friend Miranda’s boat and the following day they hung out on Opus and went into the playground.

Since we were with walking distance to a lot of stores, Jim and Linda got many errands run while the girls were on their field trip. They even got their first McDonalds’s meal in about 2 months – probably the only McDonalds around with a tiki hut inside.

Saturday we said a final good bye to Marathon and headed back up the keys toward Islamarada, FL, This time on the outside. We anchored in Long Key Bight for two nights and enjoyed a day of down time. Jim went ashore in the dinghy and explored the town of Layton. Jennifer took Jim ashore in the dinghy and the following morning and they had a father-daughter breakfast at the restaurant in town while Linda slept in.

This was a good week for fishing. Jim caught one amberjack and quite a few Spanish Mackeral with a hand line off the back of the boat. Some were about 5-6 pounds. We’ve been eating a lot of fish this week. Jennifer hasn’t learned to enjoy it yet, but she’ll get there.

Week 8: Dec 22–28We spent several days in Islamarada, FL, anchored off the Boy Scout camp where Carl works in the summer. Carl took us shopping by car on Tuesday. What a treat! Jim got things for the boat, Linda got last minute Christmas gifts and food. We got so much stuff that it took Jim 2 dinghy trips to get all the goods and us back to the boat.

We had a nice Christmas on the boat with a fraction of the gifts that are usually under our tree, but no one was in want of anything. I think we enjoyed the holiday and time together much more without all the excess.

On Christmas Day we pulled up our anchor and headed for Marathon, FL. We anchored for the night on the bay side of Marathon. One other boat joined us and it turned out it was someone we had met at the docks in Beaufort, NC, last summer. Rolondo recognized us and came over to visit. He’d been to the Chesepeake Bay and back since we saw him last. It’s a small world.

We splurged and spent the next night at a marina in Marathon, FL, with showers, power, water, fuel and internet access. Everyone got their share of computer time to get caught up on email and web access.

Saturday we moved into Boot Key Harbor in Marathon and tied up at one of the mooring balls maintained by the Boot Key City Marina. It’s crazy – 250 boats all lined up on a grid of mooring balls. It’s like a boat city out here and a very social place. We ran into 3 other boats we knew and even found a playdate for Jennifer. From the dinghy dock we can walk to a grocery store and hardware store and just about anything else we need. Jim thinks we’ll stay here a week, but Linda doesn’t think he’ll last that long in crowded, structured setting.

Week 7: Dec 15–21Monday we made our way through 8 more bridges and Miami before Jim finally turned off the motor and put up the sails in Biscayne Bay. It felt like we’d finally entered the land of sunshine and clear blue water. We stayed in No Name Harbor in a state park on Key Biscayne for a couple of days. This seems to be a big stopping point for folks who are waiting for just the right weather window to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.

We were invited to our first “cruisers picnic” where we met a lot of folks who were taking time off from regular careers to cruise for awhile. Everyone brought their own food and drink and we used a charcoal grill at the park to cook our hamburgers. Fresh meat and vegetables are really becoming a luxury since grocery stores are few and when we are near one it's usually a mile or so walk to get to it. Some, like us, were just starting their first cruise. Others had been doing it for years. Jennifer was happy to meet other boat kids who were being homeschooled, including a family from Perth, Australia, with a 10 year old and a 12 year old. Linda was happy to swap stories with other boat moms and get some tips on homeschooling on boats! Jim enjoyed visiting with the seasoned cruisers to learn more about the places they’d been, the problems they encountered and how they were overcome. It was quite an interesting group of people. We were of course on the smallest boat, but nobody seemed to hold that against us. You never know who you’ll meet on the water. The boat next to us in the anchorage was from Oriental!

Key Biscayne was our first experience with real clear water. We all climbed the lighthouse and were amazed at the view of the ocean bottom from the top. We are told that the water only gets clearer the further south one goes. Jim went over the side to scrub the bottom and attracted quite a school of fish hungry to eat the North Carolina scum that was being removed. Fortunately, we are not growing barnacles yet, just collecting scum.

Our friend Captain Carl, who used to be the dockmaster at Ocracoke, NC, came up from Islamarada, FL, and met us in No Name Harbor. He shared a lot of knowledge about cruising and fishing in the Florida Keys as we sat on the bridge of his trawler, “Red Red Wine”. Then he spent the rest of the week taking us to some of his favorite anchorages between No Name Harbor and Islamarada. Boca Chita Key and Shell Key were especially nice. We got insight into the plants, animals, history and geography of the keys that we wouldn’t have gotten any other way. Jennifer spent a day on Carl's boat as first mate and discovered that heavy trawlers don't quite act like sailboats when you want to change course. Not only is the direction of movement of the wheel opposite that of a tiller, the trawler takes quite a while to respond to the wheel. They both had a wonderful time.

Boca Chita Key is a beautiful National Park with a small harbor on a very small island. We walked completely around the place in about 30 minutes. There island was full of coconut palms and had a small lighthouse.

We picked up our first mooring ball at Shell Key. The state of Florida provides these at quite a few places to protect the relatively fragile bottom environment. The balls are attached to about 30 feet of 1 inch floating line with an eye at the end so they are really easy to deal with. The water was so clear here we could count the blades of grass on the bottom.

Jim says it’s kind of unnerving to sail in 5-6 (at least that’s what the depth sounder says) feet of water all day and be able to see the bottom. With water this clear, it looks like it’s about 2 feet deep and you just don’t know if you can trust your depth sounder. He thinks he’ll be able to get used to it though! The weather and the overall beauty down here overcome the anxiety of the shallow water.

Week 6: Dec 8–14 This week we went from Fort Pierce to Fort Lauderdale and went through 31 bridge openings, 18 of them today!

We saw a lot of changes in the animal life and vegetation. Just out of Fort Piece we saw our first manatees – very big, very slow, but very interesting to watch as they surface to breath. By the time we got to Fort Lauderdale we were seeing lots of large iguanas in the yards and on the seawalls along the ICW. The natural vegetation along the waterway changed to mostly mangrove trees – a low bushy tree that puts skinny shoots down into the water as roots. Unlike the cypress trees that have big trunks in the water, mangroves have a tangled mass of skinny roots in the water that looks like spaghetti. The manmade view along the waterway consists of magnificent homes with beautifully landscaped yards with lots of palm trees. Jim really likes the rows of Royal palms.

The weather was in the 80’s for a few days. Linda even pulled out her shorts and t-shirts again and cleaned the cock pit. Jim thought it was warm enough to get in the water and clean off the bottom of the boat. He changed his mind after half of it was done and came back out to warm up.

We spend several days in the Palm Beach area visiting Jim’s great Aunt Luella. We had a lot of good meals and good conversation. We showed her out humble boat home – at 95 she’s still nimble enough to climb aboard! She showed us some very beautiful neighborhoods around Palm Beach and Singer Island.

After leaving Palm Beach we ran in to Fran on a boat named Phoenix, who tipped us off to a great anchorage in a little cove near her home. That turned into a 2 night stay. The first night we watched the Boynton Beach boat parade from our anchorage and the next day we biked to the beach and hiked through a nature preserve. Jim chopped open a coconut and from Fran’s yard and we enjoyed the milk and coconut meat.

Jennifer has learned to spot manatees by the wake they make on the water before surfacing. She is really enjoying the different wildlife and vegetation down here.

Week 5: Dec 1–7 Monday we made a trip to the St. Augustine library to use their computers. Without a library card you get 30 minutes of computer time and the automatic timer assures that you don’t get a second more. By Wednesday we were ready to leave with or without the computer.

After 2 long, but good, days on the ICW we reached Titusville, FL. It’s close enough to Cape Canaveral to see 2 of the launch structures, used by NASA, through the binoculars. Lenovo shipped the computer to us in Titusville, the weather warmed up to the 70’s and Linda’s cousin Marlys drove over from Orlando to visit with us – 3 good reasons to like Titusville. Marlys made sure we had a chance to taste the local seafood specialty here – rock shrimp. They say it tastes like lobster and it does. We’re really enjoying this chance get to know our relatives along the SE coast of the US. Marlin, we’re sorry you moved away before we finally got here. Aunt Luella, we’re on our way.