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Planned route to Marathon
Island.
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January 5, 2004
2000 thousand miles and still
going.
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Heading South toward the
Florida Keys and another adventure.
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There is some special about a
sunrise at Longbeach anchorage.
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1/06/2004
Palm Island Marina is an
unscheduled stop to find out why our generator was not starting.
Poor grounding of the battery was the problem.
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1/09/2004
We have learned to watch the tides after Crystal River and now
plan our cruising around them.
Having
this bit of knowledge we chose to anchor in a bay outside Fort
Meyers Beach in order to get an early start.
We arose at four AM and were under way by five AM.
Successfully navigating through the bay in the darkness of night
and multitude of crab pots we sat course for Marathon Key.
Approaching Marathon Key we were faced with the hard cold fact
that the markers on the GPS and our map did not agree with what we
physically saw: "nothing".
We proceeded cautiously following the map and the GPS to our nest
waypoint only to find out again that there was nothing there.
As we nervously gazed on what was probably a beautiful sunset we
called the harbor master for directions. Explaining that we
were north of the island he surmised that we were in the Atlantic
rather than the Gulf. Because the locals refer to east as north
and west as south. |
He
then turned us over to John who instructed us to head west and under
the span of the Seven Mile Bridge (which wasn't shown on our map or
GPS) and that we had better get scottering because the sun was
setting. Once inside the harbor we spent thirty five minutes
on the phone on the receiving directions from John. Meanwhile
it had become pitch dark leaving us to search for markers, watch the
ever changing depth gage, dodge crab pots in the center of the
channel, and to watch out for dinghies which were shooting in front
of and beside our boat like ants on a pile of stink.
Having successfully docked Allen stamped his foot and stated,"
By gosh we're going out to eat" !
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1/10/2004
Boot Key Harbor as seen from Marathon City Marina.
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Harbor Master Richard always had a smile and was eager to help make
our stay enjoyable.
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$.05 for a gallon of water and
tokens for a seven minute shower.
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Diver Dave found these crab
pot lines and float wrapped around our props.
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Andrea practicing the art of
weaving line to our anchor chain.
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Riser being rebuilt, we were
leaking one cup of water per hour into our engine room.
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Lynn and Matt take us for a
drive alone route 1 and show us this home with an airplane in the
garage. The area is next to an air stripe and many of the homes
have planes in their garage.
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Skinny-dipping.
Who's going first?
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Lee's pay back time with
a bad back pain.
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Allen is back to washing the
boat.
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Allen seeks revenge and gets
sick with 101 temperature.
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Banyon tree whose branches
grow downward to support the tree are abundant in Key West.
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A typical evening gathering at Mallory Square in Key West.
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What everyone comes to Key West to see.
A beautiful sunset at Mallory Square.
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Southern most Point of the US
and our trip.
We are
now heading home. (North)
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Allen and Lee's motto:
The only good crab trap is one
under foot not under the boat.
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Confusing reigns as five
different navigators try to figure out where their favorite
restaurant is.
Only Allen remains indifferent.
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We are treated to a shopping
trip by Matt and Lynn to the World Wide Sportsman Store on Islamorada.
Locate inside was a full-size replica of Ernst Hemingway's boat.
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Allen puzzling over how long
is the seven mile bridge.
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One of the many home made
boats which brought Cuban refugees to the Keys.
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75 degree weather.
Can we take it?
The headline speaks for itself.
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Miami Boat Show
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$15,000.00 dollars worth of
gold at Allen's finger tips
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Chickens walk freely around
Key West.
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Lee in seventh heaven as he
shops in the Rotary flea market at the Key's.
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Pelicans on Island
or
"Snow in the Keys"
I wander who picks up their droppings?
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