April Fools

It’s April 1^st and we have now been cruising nearly 6 months.  Our plans and destinations have change nearly as frequently as the direction of the wind.  However there seems to be a particular joy in having the freedom to alter course at any minute or drive resolutely onto a preordained destination. 

This morning we are sitting in Boot Key Harbor enjoying our 4^th week of 70-85 degree weather with breezes that range from gentle to gale force.  This harbor is created by the structures of Marathon Key and Boot Key.  Marathon is a cruisers delight as evidenced by the fact that we are sharing this harbor with at least 250 boats, 80% sailors. Many have been here since January seeking refuge from the northern winters, and some call this their year round home as they live a lifestyle that they feel is less encumbered than the average.  This assemblage has managed to create a “community” despite the comings and goings.  Every morning there is a cruisers net radio broadcast on VHF 68 where the community discuss who is coming and going, who needs help with anything boat or non-boat related, and activities going on in the area (i.e. there is a community theater, a community garden, etc).  There are many families with small children (less than 10 years old, maybe home schooling gets harder after age 10).  Additionally the local community supports this floating community by the facilities they provide at the city marina such as tennis courts, an activity room complete with TVs and WiFi, and a large work room where you can work on your mechanical or non-mechanical projects.  The project room is full of “McIver’s”, if you remember that TV show from the late 70’s where the hero always got out of trouble by jerry rigging solutions from whatever he happened to have with him.

But, we want to bring you up to date on our recent activities:

We left Tavernier, Key Largo, on Easter Monday and sailed what is called the “inside”, north of the keys in the Florida Bay.  Here the waters are shallow but calmer then out in the ocean and you are surrounded by random islands of mangroves.  Eventually we crossed under the “Channel 5” bridge and entered Hawks Channel, which is formed by a long coral reef that runs along the edge of the keys and the coast of the islands in the near Atlantic Ocean.  This was our first entry ever to sailing in the ocean.  We found it choppy (1 to 2 foot seas) but really no worse than a choppy day in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.  This glorious day was marred only by the fact that we ran aground trying to enter a little cove called Curry Hammock State Park (a hammock is a particular arrangement of hardwood trees as the canopy with smaller tropical brush and then mangroves at the water’s edge).  We could not back   Second Wind off the shoal, so we called our tow boat insurance company who dispatched a rescue boat.  But before the rescue arrived, a friendly fisherman with a boat full of children (about 6) gave us a tow and pulled us free.  So we continued on into the cove very cautiously, no longer trusting our charts or our instruments, but believing only what we saw with our own eyes.  Our perseverance was rewarded as we entered the cove you would dream about if you thought about what the Caribbean could offer.  It was totally surrounded by Mangroves with a little white beach and an old deserted resort the only interruption to the wall of green.  The water was clean and still, yet there was a gentle breeze that was sufficient to cool.  We snorkeled, swam and paddleboarded till dusk and again in the morning.  In the morning we woke to yet another stunning day, weather wise, and we found the ocean even calmer then the day before.  So we made our way into Boot Key Harbor to temporarily join this cruising community.  We arrived into the harbor through Sisters Creek Inlet, past a beautiful beach, through the mangroves, and into a large cove with hundreds of boats moored and at anchor.  The size and number of moored boats being greater than anything we’ve seen so far on the water.  We’ll call this home for a week.