Our friends Allen and Sharon from Nashville joined us for the next leg of our journey – crossing to the Florida Keys.  Upon arrival, they offloaded copious amounts of supplies (wine, food and drink).  Later that evening, Sharon and Karen explored in the dinghy while Allen did some fishing.

        

We had dinner on the veranda at the Rod and Gun Club and later shared a box of Norman Love chocolate confections. – an early Valentines gift from Allen and Sharon.

    

For the past 48 years, Everglade City has been host to an annual Seafood Festival.  Although the population of Everglade City is only 411, over 50,000 people attend the Seafood Festival over the weekend.  There was live music and dancing and a bit of shopping to be done.  We were overwhelmed at the massive quantities of fresh seafood booths and how many different ways it was prepared.

    

Interesting to us was, even with all of the featured fresh seafood, one of the
most popular items (and the longest line) was for the Indian Burgers, 
prepared by a local Everglades Indian Tribe.  Ground beef is stuffed into a
specially seasoned raw dough and deep-fried.  The results were remarkably
delicious.
  
After a bit of shopping and dancing on the midway, we retired to the boat
with our seafood platters of lobster, coconut shrimp, fried oysters, crab cakes, 
paella, some kind of fish fillets (?), corn, boiled potatoes
        ...............and as always - french fries!

Our last day in Everglade City was spent grocery shopping, visiting the 
seafood festival again, sampling more seafood, and docktails and visiting
around the porch with our other looper boat friends.  Carter was kind enough
to be our designated photographer!
    
    

We left the Everglades early excited that we were finally headed to Key West!  The waters changed from beautiful green to a gorgeous blue.  Allen and Ron enjoyed seeing how well Kara Mia handled in the Gulf in 3-4 foot waves while dodging “minefields” of crab pots.

    

    

For the next few days in Key West we morphed into typical tourists…..

We walked for miles and miles up and down the famous Duval Street and the surrounding historical area.  Duval Street is home to a vibrant collection of hole-in-the-wall bars (we tried to hit them all), historic haunts, funky shops, art galleries, outdoor cafes (we tried to hit them all as well), and plenty of places to people watch.  We reached the southernmost point in the Continental United States – only 90 miles from Cuba.

    

    

Key West was busy preparing for the upcoming Valentines Day…….

    

Traditionally, live poultry has free reign of the streets of Key West………..

    

Some of the more prominent tourist stops are of course the home of Ernest Hemingway, the famous Key West Lighthouse, the Kapok trees, and art galleries and museums.

        

    

Key West is quiet the artsy-craftsy community!

In our effort hit all the spots, nourishment and libation were required.  We were able to patronize at least some of them – Turtle Kralls, The Salty Anglers,  Half Shell Raw Bar, Schooner Wharf Bar, Key West Hard Rock Cafe – to name a few………

       

…..and of course, a toast in Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville…..

….Here is Allen’s new boat……and as he would later say, “That’s when the fight started”…………………………..

    

During our travels we occasionally bundle up trinkets and tourist items to send back home to the kids and grandkids……

This was a funny little floating Tiki bar and you can see live mussels attached to the crab pots……

    

Our most beautiful sunset yet was in Key West.  Watching the sun set is a Key West “thing” – there is something magical and mellow about the boats cruising through the harbor towards the setting sun…………Sunset Pier is located at the end of Duval Street on West Harbor and is a place to see it all.  Tourist and locals alike gather each evening to celebrate and see nature’s colorful phenomenon from one of the best seats in town.

    

At dinner that night, we overlooked our marina (Key West Bight) and their dinghy dock.  The first photo shows all the dinghies from boats anchored out in the harbor and in port for dinner.

    

 ……………tomorrow is off to Marathon Key!

Left Key West in what we thought would be manageable two to three foot swells……..and it did start out that way.  The first picture shows the southern most point of the United States at Key West as we entered the Atlantic.

    

After an hour into our trip the wind picked up and the swells grew.  Because of a change in wind direction, we were now being tossed by four and five foot swells.

Hence, we crossed from the Atlantic side of the Keys to the Gulf side to find wind protected waters.  After crossing under the US-1 bridge the waters subsided substantially and we enjoyed the remainder of our trip to Marathon Key.

    

At the Marathon Marina we were greeted by a friendly manatee who enjoyed drinking from our water hose as we (Allen) washed the salt residue off of Kara Mia.

    

We toured the marina with Allen and Sharon enjoying the floating docks, ship store, pool, restaurant, boater’s lounge, fish cleaning stations (which was popular with the birds) and all other amenities Marathon Marina had to offer.

    

We were joined for dinner by our Nashville friends, Joe and Reba, who were wintering at nearby Islamorada.  We all piled into (see Allen’s space) their car,  headed to nearby Burdine’s Waterfront Restaurant.  One of the reasons you dine at Burdine’s is for their famous basket of french fries.  Bonni (second from left) made sure we had plenty of those fries!  The last picture shows some of Hurricane Erma’s damage to a former marina next door to Burdine’s.

        

This sunset is from the Atlantic side of the “Seven Mile Bridge” .  You have to look close to see the small access arch of the bridge on the right.

    

Santa had so much fun in Key West that it ultimately lead to his jumping ship and attempting to head back via the dinghy.  Luckily Allen caught him in the act!

        

Wednesday we had Kara Mia pulled at Marathon Boat Yard for some scheduled routine maintenance on the pod drives.  Sadly this is where we said goodbye to Allen and Sharon as they left to go back to Homosassa.  It had been a really fun five day whirlwind!

    Continue reading →

Marathon Key as a whole was a great stop.  We certainly enjoyed the marina and it’s amenities.  Being near the fuel dock, we watched the large boats coming and going each day – one to Miami, one to the Bahamas and one to Key West.  One even launched a BMW motorcycle from his bridge.  After refueling Kara Mia, we were lamenting the expense – until we saw the fuel bill of the ninety foot Cheoy Lee – over $3,000!  Debbie (the dock master) and Robert (the boss) were most accommodating!

    

    

Although there were several other looper boats at our marina (Dixie Belle, Best Day Ever, True North) we heard there were other loopers on the Gulf side at Faro Blanco Marina.  We got on our little folding bikes and trucked on over with our wine – for docktails.  There we met new loopers and saw others we had encountered along the way.  Being located adjacent to a Hyatt Resort, Faro Blanco was a bit more upscale and had a more tropical atmosphere.

                

Back at Marathon Marina, we were finally ready to launch our dinghy and explore the waters there (Ask us about the shark sighting!). 

    

that evening we joined some local boaters for a marina sponsored bingo game.  Nothing won but fun was had!

    

…….tomorrow we move on to Islamorada on Lower Matecumbe Bay……

We left Marathon early Sunday morning through a pod of dolphins in hopes of smooth travel to Caloosa Cove Resort & Marina in Islamorada, Florida.  Islamorada is situated between the saltwater wilderness of Everglades National Park and the deep blue waters of the Florida Strait and is made up of six islands: Plantation Key, Windley Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Lower Matecumbe Key and the offshore islands of Indian Key and LignumvitaeKey.  Off the Atlantic coast is the “Tennessee Reef”.

            

We were greeted by Joe and Reba on the dock near their winter condo at Caloosa Cove.  After settling in we were treated to a grilled pork chop dinner and fresh veggies.  Reba is always good for a home-cooked meal!

        

We began our mornings with a four mile walk out over the bridges between the Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean.  Some mornings different routes took us through more nature and beautiful homes.  Along the way we were entertained by all aspects of land, air and sea.

            

        

Islamorada was not immune to Hurricane Irma’s damage.  Evidence of the losses were numerous.  Below you see the pool – but the house was gone!  The vegetation that hid many of the homes was destroyed and will take years for regrowth.

        

Time not spent in restaurants, shopping or visiting by the pool was spent doing some maintenance on the boat.  Karen was not happy to see Ron working atop the boat in 25 mph winds!

A big part of the Looper experience is food and drink….and here are some of our favorite dining places around Islamorada…..

The Lobster Crawl Tiki Bar…….in a nearby RV park…..

        

The “No Name Pub”…….in Big Pine Key.  No Name Pub is worth finding, it’s a nice place – if you can find it!  Upon arrival you are greeted with a sign, “You found it!”  No Name dishes up some tasty eclectic pizzas in their historical building.  The decor makes this the king of Funky Florida which includes thousands of dollar bills stapled to the walls and ceiling.  We were joined at No Name by Randy and Cheryl, condo friends from Caloosa Cove.

    

On one of our final evenings in Islamorada, Joe and Reba treated us and Cheryl and Randy to a great grilled steak dinner at their condo…..

We started some days with a sunrise walk on the beach……

        

….. and later each day we enjoyed happy hour together.  Having found abandoned orange patio furniture on our dock, we decided to designate them as our “Orange Chair Lounge”, a place to meet in the evenings for docktails.  Our plans quickly changed when we discovered our lounge decor being absconded with!  With no place to sit, we moved to Kara Mia where we could enjoy the ever constant ocean breeze.

    

………….and so ends our first several days in Islamorada!

Every year for the last nine years loopers have met on the last Sunday in February for a Sunset Celebration hosted at Banana Bay Resort in the Florida Keys, sort of like a family reunion of loopers.  The annual notice is put out over the America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) forum and goes to loopers all over the country.  This year over 160 loopers attended.  For more information go to the AGLCA website.

    

    

Each year loopers are entertained by local Key band, “4 Sheets to the Wind”, – and yes – they play a lot of Jimmy Buffett songs!

    

A rather large Manatee crashed the party as he munched on algae at the dock………we all took time for photos!

    

Several looper boats make it a family affair!  They home school which allows the kids a far greater life experience.  The Wilson family, with three daughters on board, organized a weekly  “Clean Up the Keys” campaign that has been very successful in helping with the hurricane damage.  Here the Wilson kids and Maddie are playing “Cups”.  The Cup Game is a clapping game that involves tapping and hitting a cup using a defined rhythm.  Karen has challenged herself to learn!

    

We all came for the sunset celebration and it seems like Bobbie (on First Forty) is really enjoying it.

    

Special thanks to Joe and Reba for loaning us their vehicle.  This allowed us a ride from Islamorada to Marathon to join in the celebration.

Thanks guys!……………………….

A typical day in Islamorada started with a vigorous four mile morning walk but soon diminished to relaxing by the pool and soaking up some of those Florida rays.  We enjoyed meeting Randy and Cheryl out by the pool.  Later, cousins from Brentwood, Nan and Lewis, arrived to spend a few days with Joe and Reba.  We enjoyed visiting by the pool along with a refreshing dip or two.  Most afternoons after Karen headed to the pool, Ron headed to tan.  This does not mean tanning under the Florida sun – “tan” for Ron means –  “Taking A Nap”.

    

One of Karen’s favorites was sitting in the lounge chairs on the beach – watching and listening to the waves rolling in and the songs of the various birds.  It was an especially peaceful time and place………….

    

On one of our last evenings in Islamorada, we joined Joe and Reba and Lewis and Nan for a trip to Mile Marker #88, and the “Marker 88 Restaurant”.  Marker 88 is located on one of the few natural beaches in the Florida Keys and of course serves fresh Florida seafood.  They offer waterfront dining at “glider tables”.

    

The sunset view from Marker 88 was priceless…..

    

        

Okay, a bit about the guys in the back of Joe’s SUV…..Reba suggested that since Karen was the smallest of the group that she sit in the back of the SUV, for the 15 mile ride to the restaurant.  Plenty of room for a short girl!  Only problem, Reba wasn’t aware of Karen’s bit of claustrophobia!  Stuff me in the back of an SUV with no escape for 15 miles?  I don’t think so!  So our choices were – take two vehicles or call an Uber.  Thinking that was nonsense, Ron and Lewis took turns covering the ride for Karen, and they continue to remind her of her indebtedness!  Thanks guys!

As Ron had vowed to have pizza every day while in Islamorada, his last supper was non other than a family sized seafood pizza from Habanos’ Ocean Front Restaurant – smothered in fresh lobster, shrimp and seafood!  Ron will leave Islamorada a happy camper!  …..or boater should I say………

 …………

The day started with a slight bit of excitement when Karen fell – stepped back while helping to load the dinghy and fell right down into the engine room! Ouch!  After some ice and band-aids, all turned out well.

We had to wait for high tide to leave Islamorada.  What was supposed to be 1 foot waves for our travel today in reality turned out to be 2 to 3 feet so we decided on a leisurely pace for the short 34 mile trip to Key Largo.  Along the way we saw our first large sea turtle.  He was about 2 1/2 feet in diameter and unfortunately Karen was not quick enough with the camera to get that pic!

    

It was a beautiful half mile runway into the marina from the Atlantic.  There we were greeted by Steven, the dock master at The Pilot House Marina.

    

Upon arrival we found another Looper couple that we had met in Alabama at Joe Wheeler during the Looper Rendezvous.  Dennis and Dana, from Missouri, are on “Pharm Life” and will complete their one-year loop trip in about two weeks.  We got together for dinner at The Pilot House Marina Restaurant and caught up on our different ports of call since we saw them last.

    

….we will relax in Key Largo for several days while waiting on the next weather window to travel…….

Our pace has finally slowed down a bit in the Keys….It only took four months for us to begin to learn to relax……The Keys will do that to you!  We will spend the next several days in Key Largo.  Our slip overlooks the Pilot House Restaurant where they have live music most evenings.  Our second night here we sat on the bridge (the top part) of the boat and watched a magnificent full moon rise as we listened to Beatles music, Billy Joel music, and a bit of reggae and steel drums.

    

    

….as the sun went down and the full moon rose even higher we were treated to an amazing light show of the moon reflecting in the water below.

    

As we were enjoying another Key Largo evening sitting on the cockpit (back part) of the boat, we met Dan and Lisa from Massachusetts.  They are “vacationing” on a boat two slips down from us.  New to us is the boat Air B&B concept.  Several boats here at the marina are leased as Air B&B vacation boats.  We enjoyed visiting and learning about their background and families.  Later it became apparent that Santa was interested in Lisa and it doesn’t look like she discouraged him a bit!

    

We learned that with all of the rain back home in Nashville, February was recorded as the wettest month in Nashville since 1890.  And still in the low 30’s at night?  I suppose we will just stay in The Keys where the sun is always shinning and the warm breezes blow.

    

One of our best meals yet – homemade smoked salmon nachos!

    

We are still waiting out the Atlantic wind and waves for our continued trip north……

Our last days in Keys before continuing our journey………

We weren’t really that bored, but while riding our folding bicycles around the island we were entertained by the variety of mailboxes.

        

    

From the Gulf to the Atlantic (first two pictures) the island was interesting.  We encountered hurricane damage, commercial fishing and lobster and crab traps.  The bungalows on the Gulf side were dated but well manicured.

    

        

    

Our time here was not all fun and play.  While Karen worked on income taxes, Ron worked on the boat (cleaned strainers, washed the boat and polished chrome).  Our attempt to patch the dinghy was unsuccessful – maybe we will turn it over to the professionals!  Oh yeah – Karen cooked!

        

And our last dinner here was at The Key Largo Fisheries Backyard – a commercial fish market and popular local hangout that has an order and pickup window –  and the freshest of seafood.  Karen had a tropical shrimp salad and Ron had a chipotle shrimp wrap along with fresh stone crab chowder.

    

    

We have covered the Keys now and are ready to move on……… and with a good weather window we will continue north in the morning……….