Key Largo

Just like Bogie and Bacall
Starring in our old late, late show
sailing away to Key Largo

We’ve finally arrived in the Florida Keys!!!  Sailing from Dinner Key in Coral Gables on Saturday, February 20^th , we spent one night at anchor in Thursday Cove off Key Largo before arriving in Community Harbor in Tavernier. 

 

For the last couple of weeks our time onboard has confirmed a few simple truths: 

·        The value of friendships can never be understated;

·        Warmth and sunshine are wonderfully restorative to one’s health;

·        Settling down in one place, for even a little while, can be most comforting.

We’ve been visited by three couples, dear friends all, who have brought their inquisitive spirits, good conversation, and warm friendship onboard.  First Christer and Camilla in West Palm Beach helped bring the boat down the ICW, through Ft Lauderdale, and into Key Biscayne just in time for the Miami Boat Show.  John and Bobbie then joined us in Coral Gables, and after a few days of provisioning and onshore exploration helped bring the boat down past Key Largo to Tavernier on the Florida Bay.  Behind their departure, Tim and Donna joined us for a week of touring by car and boat as we went out to dive the offshore reefs at Grecian Rocks and then took the boat around to Islamorada, Ligum vitae, and Shell Key.  Good company and exploration were the theme of all three visits.  Second Wind proved a great platform for entertaining, with her separate cabin, berth, and private head providing some level of separation for our gusts.

 

Highlights of these three weeks have been numerous, but include:

·        a walk down Collins Avenue in Miami Beach during the Boat Show to see Mega Yachts too numerous to count;

 

 

·        a day trip to Vizcaya in Coconut Grove to see the 38,000 square foot mansion of James Deering (built between 1910 and 1922);

 

 

·        a day trip to Marathon to visit Crane Point Museum and Nature Center. This visit provided a glimpse of an environment, now long gone, showcasing the land as it existed before Flagler’s Railroad opened the Keys to tourism and;

·        a day trip to snorkel off Grecian Rocks in Hawks Channel. 

An adventurous spirit has proven to be the critical ingredient to our time down here, as we have walked, bicycled and mastered the single bus route on the keys.  Without a car, accessing a laundry, grocery store, boat store, or even the beaches requires some resourcefulness.

Warm, sunny weather has also dominated our days since arriving in the Keys.  This, much to Cece’s delight, has encouraged long bike rides, walks, paddle boarding, and kayaking.  The regenerative power of the sun and so much outdoor activity is clearly evident as we now are showing a golden color to our skin and a windblown look to our countenance.  Any residual “stress” left from our previous lives have been driven off by the climate.

 

The keys are very different from the mainland.  They are not islands, but made of coral rock.  So, construction is challenging as also is growing vegetation on the rock.  Stylistically, It looks like the last construction boon occurred here in the 1960’s.  About a third of the houses are trailers and the remaining are either corrugated metal structures or concrete block painted the calming colors of green, blue and yellow.  There are no apparent zoning regulations, with the boat storage yard or auto repair shop right next to million dollar homes (of course anything that is not a trailer is over a million) which are also built adjacent house trailers that have been modified in order to take on all the amenities of a thoughtfully constructed house.  There are very few “subdivisions” and where they exists, they are rarely bigger then 3 or 4 blocks in any direction.  All electricity and fresh water come from the mainland.  Inexplicably there is a paucity of solar cells or windmills for power. 

 

The keys are very narrow and low.  You can walk from the Bay of Florida to the Atlantic Ocean in 10 minutes or less. The population seems to be primarily those younger than 40 or older than 60.  There are many examples of ingenious ways to live on as little income as possible.  One poignant example lives directly off our port (left) stern (rear) as we sit in the slip in the marina.  Imagine anchored in the harbor a 30 foot sailboat that is without a mast, lashed to a 20 foot sailboat that still has its mast.  Tied behind these two boats is what looks to be a floating chicken coop, but we have yet to see any living thing in the cage.  Tied to that is a kayak and a 12 foot motorized dingy, used as their transport back and forth to the shore.  It appears that they live on the biggest boat and use the 20 footer to hold their gas powered generator and other supplies. Then there is the guy who has lashed an old piece of floating dock to the side of his sailboat and uses it as a “front porch”.

 However, with all its quirks, the keys seem to grow on you.  Jimmy Buffet has really captured the laid back life style and the simplicity of the infrastructure, and you really can’t complain about 80 degree temperatures, sleeping with your windows open, and 72 degree water when you fall off the paddle board.

 

Having now traveled about 1,400 miles on Second Wind, we have finally settled into one spot for a little while.  We’ve paid for a month’s lease on a slip in Community Harbor in Tavernier, and plan on staying through Easter.  We write this blog this evening staring across the Harbor to a beautiful setting sun.  A ritual at sun set is for the “ live-aboards” in the harbor to blow their Conch shells with the setting sun.  And so, the sounds of numerous Conchs compete with one another and reverberate across the water accompanied by blazing red explosions of color to our west.