We made the short trip from Marathon down to our slip in Key West today (Wednesday, December 30th). We went on the ocean side then went around the end of Key West over to the Gulf side, to Stock Island and to Sunset Marina where we will be staying for the month of January.

New years day we thoroughly cleaned the boat from top to bottom, inside out. Our son Skyler will be joining us New Years day for a week and we don’t want to work much while he is here.

We like the marina, lots of friendly people here, a pool and easy access to downtown. Our first night here we were greeted by a couple, Vicki and Dave who live here on their big sailboat with their four children. They brought us a plate full of home-made cookies and one of the warmest welcomes we could have hoped for.

We are looking forward to staying put for a month and seeing what Key West is all about. We had been here by car many years ago but only for a weekend so we only got a taste of it at that time but, we liked what we saw. I think we’ll have a lot of fun. So, stay tuned.

We crossed under the bridge at Marathon mid-day after another great weather day. Calm waters, light breeze and sunny skies. We tied up on a mooring ball in Boot Key and took the dinghy onto shore to get an early dinner at a restaurant where, according to the harbormaster, the locals eat. We had lobster reubens while sitting by the water. After we dinghyed around the harbor until sunset. No bugs tonight. Life is good.

Tomorrow we head to our slip in Key West. Our son Skyler is flying in on Thursday to spend a week with us. Guess we have been cutting it kind of close as far as our trip planning but we have kept our eye on the weather and saw that we did not need to rush to get there. We will be in the Keys for the month of January.

Night One - Russell Pass Anchorage

We took the inside route through Marco Island today to Russell Pass in the Everglades National Park. We have always wanted to do this route to the Keys, so this is new territory for us. Our first Loop took us through Lake Ockeechobee  to get to Fort Lauderdale so that we could cross over to the Abacos. We just did not have time to do the Abacos and the Keys in 2006. This time we will do both. One month in Key West and six to eight weeks in the Abacos.

It was a beautiful anchorage tonight, quiet and serene except for the few fishing boats nearby. What they say about the bugs here is really true and even though it was hot and muggy we had to not only close the doors, which we usually leave open till it cools off later in the evening, but had to close all the windows as the no-see-ums could climb right through the screens. If you are familiar with these pesky bugs you will know that they can be a real bother as they pack a stinging bite. So we could not go outside much to look at the stars, just quick little darts out and back in and we could not even leave our stateroom windows open so that we could hear the noises of the wildlife outside our boat while we slept. So, that was a little disappointing for us.

Night Two - Little Shark River

As we follow the Everglades down the coast we come to the much talked about Little Shark River. After anchoring we got the dinghy out and toured the surrounding area. There are a few fishing boats here. We saw one haul out a huge grouper.

We have been in southwest Florida since the beginning of December and have been dying to see an alligator. It certainly has not been for the lack of trying but we still have not seen one, not even in the Everglades.

Back at the boat we decided to put chairs on the back deck and stay outside while we could until “bug time” to watch for whatever flew or swam by. Just watching the tide come in and out can be entertaining. Our big sighting tonight was a HUGE turtle which went back and forth around our anchorage. Maybe he was as curious about us as we were about him. The birds were plentiful. We saw lots of Ibis and one beautiful Great Blue Heron. We wised up today and had a really early happy hour, 3 PM knowing that the bugs would chase us inside at dusk.

Jim entertained us later on by getting the spotlight out so that we could at least see the red beady lights of the Alligator’s eyes. No luck, we think they all are on vacation or something.

One more night with Bart as part of our crew. We cruised outside to get to Naples and the weather and water could not have been better. We are sure that our anchorage tonight is one of those “Million Dollar Views” but for us it was free.

We too the dinghy into the small town and found that they were having an art fair. We walked around the fair then found a hardware store with the idea of procuring a fishing pole and all the paraphernalia to go with it. Of course we stopped at the market and were loaded with goods as we made the long walk back to the dinghy.

Early Sunday morning we dropped Bart off in Naples as we headed to our first stop in the Everglades National Park.

We started the day with beignets and coffee as we headed for our dock at Fort Myers Beach. It’s a little hard getting used to the idea of it being Christmas when the temperature is in the eighties but we managed. So today we just relaxed, tried to stay cool, went to the beach, cooked a big Christmas dinner, watched the sun set and walked around the little beach town after we ate.

Friday we did some work in the morning and then went for a little dinghy ride with the thought in mind of acquiring some fresh shrimp from one of the fishing docks. As we were headed over towards where the fishing boats were we scanned the marina close by for Looper boats and found, to our surprise, the boat Skinwalker sitting at dock. If you are an AGLCA member you would be familiar with the name of this boat and it’s owners, Wayne and Lynne Flatt. Wayne is an amazing writer who can paint a picture, with words so real, you can almost touch it and feel it’s temperature with your mind and once you have read one of his pieces you will be hungry for more. We have been fans a long while, so to meet them, visit and go over charts with them was a real treat for us.

As we were about to leave after our visit with the Flatt’s they took us to a boat which they had heard had the best deal on shrimp. So after securing the shrimp we were on our way, back to the boat for a yummy shrimp cocktail.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

We wish you all a warm and fun holiday with family and friends. 

Jim & Lisa Favors 

-Kismet-

Christmas Eve finds us anchored in Pelican Bay just across from Useppa Island.

After lunch on Cabbage Key we checked on the boat and then dinghied over to the Cayo Costa State Park to walk across the island to the beach. Bart went swimming and we tried to take a nap on the beach but the flies wouldn’t leave us alone.

It was amazing how many boats were anchored out here for the night. We saw lots of Christmas lights. We had Bloody Mary’s and snacks, listened to Christmas music and played games.