So we arrived in key west on February 10 and found a place to anchor next to the mooring field. No mooring balls available and 4000 a month to go into marina. So we anchored out hoping a ball would become available. Andrea and Barry went into Boca Chica military base marina. Much cheaper there. We stayed in for the night and planned our trip into town for tom Feb 11.

Feb11 Friday we got ready and dropped the dinghy and headed in to town. I had already scoped out the fabric store in Key West when I was in marathon.Hehehe😁 We ate at the boat house at the turtle kraal right beside the dinghy dock. Briggs and Tess were walking past us on the dock with their gorgeous Rottie , Nymeria! After we spoke for a while they continued on their Key West exploration. I left Steve to hang out while I walked the 15-20 minutes down the street past the beautiful orchids, quaint gorgeous houses and past the cemetery to Truman street. Talk about a beautimous fabric store…..I fell in love. They have everything from outdoor fabric, phifertex, knitting crocheting, and all kinds of notions. Beautiful fabrics of all kinds! Check out the pics,oh and a place (waiting area)with drinks and snacks for waiting husbands! I spent an hour or two there then headed back down the quaint streets the lovely island houses picked up Steve and headed back to boat with my backpack FULL of treasures! Aargh.😂

We visited Boca Grande Key for 4 days of exploring sandbars and a little cut through on the island. Steve and I went back in the cut heard what sounded like baby gators then we heard this really close really menacing growl close by and found out it was a saltwater crocodile! The next week (Mar 22 I think).We left for Marquesas key from our mooring ball in key west while we have a good weather window. Enjoy the pictures. We spent 4 days there enjoying the sand sun and snorkeling! Oh those sunsets and moonrises were awesome too!

Alright I have more pics for you guys! These pictures are from our trip going from Johnson Key to Tarpon Belly Key.

We have been in key west for a while now. We came from Marathon to Johnson Key to Tarpon Belly Key to Key west. I am staying so busy this trip I haven’t had time to write or the internet to keep a written daily post. Most of my posts will be pics. Enjoy and Fair winds my friends! If you have any questions feel free to leave a message. I will try to check for them daily.

Jan 29

Today i spent working on a pattern for my windless cover and Barry has requested one too so i am going to make a couple for our boats. I took apart an old winch cover and copied it, added pieces and measured the one on Barrys boat for his cover. They are two totally different covers. I really am so glad Steve bought me this Sailrite sewing machine it has been a great addition to the boat.

Jan 30

I continued my sewing projects and completed the windless cover for our boat today. We went to the Steak and Lobster restaurant tonight. And it was fantastic, i recommend this restaurant if you go to Marathon.

Jan 31

Today i worked on the cover for Barry’s windless. I did not have any elastic for it, so i picked some up at the west marine on the 28th and it worked great for the bottom of the cover creating a pull cord to tighten it and will add snaps and a cloth tab to secure it to the windless around the chain.

Woke up to another beautiful day in paradise and enjoyed the quiet and peacefulness in our little cubby hole in the mangroves. Sewed and cut out patterns for the Summit Sling bag. That took most of the day. I love my table where i can set my sewing machine cut material and use my hot knife to cut sailrite material. My own little “floating sewing shop”. After sewing on the boat our boat gang decided to hit the restaurant at Fat Deer Key under the two bridges and by the hotel there. They have a place to actually tie up so you can eat. They have so many outdoor spaces to eat and the inside is actually open to the outside so you can see the bay and the boats moored nearby. Sailboats trawlers all waiting on a chance to hit the bahamas or head on up north around the great loop! We sat outside on a bar type table with just stools looking out into the water, great seats. We had a good meal met some fellow boaters from up north and headed back to the boat in the darkness of the night.

Today we get to all go to the MARATHON TURTLE HOSPITAL, one of my favorite places to visit. So we got up dinghied in and called the 8 dollar cab into Marathon. Arrived at the turtle hospital and got to see all the turtles rescued that can go back and the ones that have to stay there and cant be released. The turtle hospital used to be a1950s hotel and club that was bought and renovated in the 1980s by Richie Moretti and turned into a turtle hospital and rehab center. After we toured the Turtle Hospital we traveled down the street checked out the little shops and found a place to eat lunch by the Marathon Boot Key Harbor where everyone is anchored or on mooring balls waiting to launch to Bimini Bahamas, and some live there on their boats. That is a nice marina it has a huge activity area with washer and dryer area that is being renovated this year. Very nice place to be.But it is so crowded you have to be on a waiting list for weeks or months to get a spot. The restaurant is cool and used to be the bomb 10 years ago. but i wouldn’t recommend it today. Went to several places around town and the town seems to be going down. Just a sign of the times i reckon.

Ok and back to the boat after our excursion into dirty marathon.

Sunday lazy day on the boat, nothing exciting to write about Sunday. But Monday we set off to Cocoa Plum in Marathon to anchor out. Well the water started out bouncy bouncy roller roller 3-5 feet but it calmed down as we got toward the inlet and onto the anchorage. On the way over i sat on the edge of the sailboat as it bobbed up and down in the waves. The sun was out and warm and the wind blowing through my hair was so wonderful. Caretta was sailing along beside us and it was a great day! Then as we entered the inlet to our anchorage we saw a big catamaran coming out that we hailed and they told us it was a great anchorage. As we pulled in there was a nice big house on the corner with a nice dock with a very nice boat. We navigated on into the small canal to the anchorage viewing all the neat houses and a boat marina on one side of a canal with little tiki huts in front of each one. We had to stay in a narrow canal due to t he shallow shallow water on each side of it. We came into a neat little hole that both of our boats fit in and anchored out. The anchor got a great bite and we settled in for the night. The next day we dinghied in to go get breakfast at the fish house, finding a place to tie up our dinghies is a job. One guy on the dock said NO NO dinghies here and he didnt even own the property. We went into the small store there and they gave us permission to tie up at the dock there but did it begrudgingly. No one wants boaters anchoring out anymore. The Yankees have integrated into the keys and made it SUCK! The mentality is only clean houses with big boats and NO transients passing through. People abandoning sailboats and boats on the anchor on mooring balls and in marinas have ruined it for the rest of us. Plust the Froo Froo PooPOO mentality of the very rich elite few buying and developing land on every inch of florida soil and ruining it. SO we tied up and walked to the restaurant The Fish House and it was a great breakfast. We walked back to the docks and went into the little coco plum store to see what they had to eat. They have some great Cuban sandwiches and other great sandwiches also. We met a girl and her husband there who own a big motor trawler and live in that one row marina we saw on the way in. It is really cool each boat owns that slip and each one builds a tiki hut at the end for storage or something akin to a patio. We found one for sale but we decided against it because we don’t want to have to stay in one spot and maintain it. They invited us onboard alter that evening and we (our boat gang) dinghied over there tied up and enjoyed a nice evening on their trawler trading boat stories. Then back to the boat checking out the other IP anchored out with a nice young couple that stated they were just hanging out for a few days them on to wherever… the joy of being on a boat!

The next day we took the dinghies the long way over to the Fish House restaurant. We had to go under a really low bridge and have to get under it at the right tide. Well the ride took us out under the highway and into the rough waves and right into the dock at the Fish House. We pulled into the dock area and tied up asking a fisherman if we could dock there. He said it would be fine but the pelican on the dock did not want to move off of his spot on the dock so we walked around him.and went in the back door to the restaurant. THe fish house was cool because it had a helicopter landing pad out front and windows that could be opened to the outside all the way down the wall.And another entrance for the helicopter guests.

Back to the boats and and another great day to add to the list!

Sunshine streaming through my hatch today waking us up to a wonderful day to leave Tarpon Belly and headed to Alligator Lighthouse to snorkel and hang out in the sunshine. So we headed back down the trail to the bridge marina gas station to get some gas with Barry and Andrea. The lady at the store was wonderful helping us to tie up and introduced us to her Healer that retrieves a small boat fender as his toy. Beautiful little guy with a tremendous personality. After our visit to the store we headed out to alligator key to snorkel. The rollers were rolling us back and forth on the way and didn’t get any better after we got there but we had a ball snorkeling! We just left the boat to roll while we jumped in and swam to the lighthouse to see the creatures. Putting my head under the water i saw so many different types of fish. Having to pay attention to the coral and metal legs of the lighthouse i manipulated the maze to see the big barracudas, angel fish, parrot fish, and all kinds of other brightly colored silver shining fish swimming around me. I looked down and saw two nurse sharks which made me a little nervous because they are not violent but one saw me and started toward me. I swam away and she followed for a few feet then turned and swam away. She was just curious and i realized i had my silver earrings in shining brightly in the suns water rays. Took them off and put them away so the barracuda wouldn’t be interested in my shiny ears lol. Spent several hours in the water and got back on the rolly polly boat and headed to Layton Florida. We anchored out by the bridge near the city and a small canal we can navigate with the dinghys.The next day we took off into them went through many boat canals and homes until we found a place to tie up and walk into town. Found a cool place to eat sit and enjoy the beautiful scenery. After eating we walked around town and into the small neighborhoods looking at the neat houses on and near the water. We walked back to the dinghy’s through an empty lot and untied them from the branches and the questionable rope and motored around to see the houses we missed on the small canals. Got to a really shallow part and enjoyed seeing all the starfish on the bottom as well as the fish swimming around us. You could see the bottom with all the jellyfish and coral as well as the plant growth spreading out between them. Getting back to the boat we relaxed and enjoyed another beautiful sunset in the keys. MUCH LOVE and fair winds to all our readers no matter how small a group lol.

Woke up to a beautiful day in Tarpon Belly Key and enjoyed a calm lazy day watching the pretty clear water when the wind does not blow. Andrea and Barry are next door to us and we can wave back and forth during the day. Later on after cleaning up we decided to go into Key Largo and eat at the Fish House we had heard it was very good! Walking in to the restaurant it felt like walking into an old comfortable house with several rooms. We sat in a room with a cool scene on the walls and in a booth against the wall. There was one more booth in the room on the other side. Three couples came in and sat on the other side and were very nice. Boaters from upstate near the great lakes. We ordered and the food was great, so i recommend the Fish House if you go to Key Largo. We always get to play “chicken when crossing the street here”, Andrea Barry Steve and I get on our marks! Get Ready and GOOOO! hahahaha we made it again and didn’t die! lol Enjoyed our walk through the town with iguanas just hanging out in the sunshine chillin! We are so glad that the hotel allows us to tie our dinghy up next to the wall at the back of the hotel. Hoping to leave soon. Our tests came back for the bahamas and our weather window is gone to cross the stream so we will just hang in the keys this year and hope the restrictions are gone by next year.

Fair winds my friends and stay strong in these insane times.