Key West

Good friend Bev Bishop flew back to her winter home of St. Louis today, after 8 days aboard Spray, with Riggs and myself. At last report we were anchored in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon (ICW mile 1195). We stayed there only one night (last Thursday), enjoying a fun Friday morning with hot showers, a neat dinghy tour of the local canal-based neighborhood, and a great lunch at Burdine's Chiki-Tiki Bar & Grille.

We left after lunch and cruised only 10 miles to an anchorage off of Bahia Honda State Park (mile 1205), between a Rte 1 bridge to the north and a defunct railway bridge to the south. Exploring the park was fun: Bev and I had great ice cream and Riggs rolled on stinky dead fish on the beach. The anchorage was challenging due to the tidal currents and the small wind-driven rollers coming through. We deployed a stern anchor to point Spray into the rollers, thus changing obnoxious rolling into tolerable pitching.

On Saturday we had a short but quite rolly cruise westwards to Newfound Channel Harbor (mile 1215), a well-protected anchorage between Big Pine and Little Torch Keys. Not much shore exploring options, but enough to drain the dog. It was nice & warm & calm so hanging out on Spray there was real nice.

Sunday we started early and headed west for the 30 mile run to Key West (ICW mile 1243). Winds were from the north so the islands blocked the waves and it was a nice run. After passing south of Key West we turned north and passed the cruise ship docks and Mallory Square, and continued up and around Fleming Key and at 1 pm, tied to a ball in the Key West City Marina's large mooring field in Garrison Bight. This might be the farthest extent of Spray's 09/10 cruise!

It was a mile or so dinghy ride (kinda bouncy) to the actual marina where we could register and take showers. We then left Riggs aboard Spray and dinghied to the Key West Bight dinghy dock, and walked a bit of the old town area, watched the jugglers, etc. at Mallory Square, and had dinner at the Turtle Kraals waterfront restaurant.

Monday started rainy, so we hung out on Spray, reading and doing crosswords, until after lunch. Then we took Riggs for a 3 hour walk around Old Town, which was great fun for all 3 of us. Jeff Siegel had emailed an unqualified recommendation for a restaurant named Seven Fish, and we had 6 pm reservations, so we dressed up (ie: wore shoes) and went ashore for a fabulous dinner (see below).

Bev's taxi picked her up today at 11 am, and Riggs and I were then preparing to depart when the phone rang. It was the Marathon City Marina, saying that we were next on the waiting list for a mooring there. Unfortunately we were 60 miles away and had to give up our place in line. After cruising east for 30 miles, we are once again anchored at Newfound Channel Harbor. Tomorrow we'll reach Marathon, where we'll have to squeeze in for anchoring, and get to the end of the line waiting for a mooring ball. On Saturday brother Steve and his bride Connie arrive in Marathon for 5 days of sun & fun, so stay tuned.