Farewell to the Keys

Yes, we are finally, almost, out of the Florida Keys. Before we go, some parting shots. We ate very well ... the shrimp and lobster grilling below are from Fanci Seafood in Cudjoe Key. The lobster are spiny Caribbean lobster and they split them with a cleaver at the store, making them easy to grill and remove from the shell. The shrimp, also delicious, marinated by Ron. He perfected his technique for grilling these delights during our weekly seafood feasts at Casa Cudjoe.

Here's the best picture of the pool that we have. Since our last day was the warmest day we had, everyone was in the pool, except Keely who took this picture.

Steve and I were the last ones to leave the house, and I couldn't resist a picture of the kitchen ... action central for the past month. We are such good renters, cleaned everything out before we left.

We retraced our route back to Bahia Honda State Park. Here we are entering the park from the Atlantic side through the old Flagler bridge. In the background is the Highway 1 bridge.

After a brief stop to pump out the holding tank, we passed under the Highway 1 bridge, crossing over to Florida Bay. We anchored off Bamboo Key, a tiny island near Fat Deer Key. It was very windy and the holding was not too good, our anchor dragged that night for the first time ever ... there was nothing but water behind us, so no harm was done. Steve threw out a second anchor, but by that time the big anchor had grabbed again. We continued our journey up the Keys, the water on the Florida Bay side is shallow, but the channel is well marked. We began to go through some narrow passes where the land was visible just inches away from the markers. Check out the birds on the sticks.

Boat traffic began to increase as we went through the channel to Tarpon Sound where we anchored for the night.

Our two nights of anchoring had been bouncy and noisy with the water "blipping" around the hull due to the wind and waves. Today was predicted to be even windier, so we decided to take a break at a funky old Florida style resort called Gilbert's. The rooms here are $59/night, at least some of them are advertised that way, but the slips are still $2/foot ... go figure. Transients are parked on a long dock right in front of the 2 story motel and we are completely sheltered from the wind. In front of us is a couple on a big sailboat who've lived aboard since 1971, worked and raised their kids while cruising summers. Tonight he brought over a lengthy list of his favorite anchorages and free docks up the east coast. As always, one of the best things about cruising is the kindness of the people you meet. We actually have a plan to get as close as possible to Titusville by April 5 when the space shuttle, Discovery, is scheduled to be launched. Tomorrow, however, we leave the Keys and enter greater Miami.