Float my Boat: More Marathon, Islamorada and Key Largo - Loop Trip Days 79

One of my teaser photos was Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortuga’s. This was another place that I really wanted to visit, but this winter has just been cruel. The forecast didn’t have more than two days where seas were less than 4-6 feet or worse so there’s no way we’re going out in that. Guess this means we have to do it again - just not in the winter!! Since I can’t add pictures of the fort, wiki will have to fill you in - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Jefferson_(Florida)

Fort Jefferson - Dry Tortuga's

Marathon has quite a few locations to visit and learn about Keys history. Our first venture was to Pigeon Key. I noticed an island under the old Seven Mile Bridge when we were driving to Key West. There were a bunch of buildings there and a ramp down from the old roadway. After a bit of Googling, I found that it was a historical site from the early 1900’s that housed the workers constructing the bridge. We took a small boat out to do the tour and visit the museum. It was amazing to learn about out Henry Flagler literally developed the east coast of Florida from Jacksonville to Key West. All of the old bridges were built for his railroad which was extended from Biscayne Bay to Key West at a cost of $60-80M. Completed in 1912, it operated until the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 destroyed a portion of it shutting down the railroad. The State of Florida later bought the remaining bridges and ROW for $640,000 to convert them for auto traffic. Henry probably rolled in his grave that day!

Our island ferry

Here we go

The original bridge did not include the top deck, that was added to make it a roadway.

The museum

This would have been a barracks or dining hall buildin

For our last day in Marathon, we did our Publix run to stock up on supplies and then went to the Dolphin Research Center. This place has been around for over 35 years and had the original Flipper as part of the exhibit. Now there are grandchildren of Flipper who are still there. The center also has four sea lions and quite a few very loud, colorful parrots. It was really cool to see how the staff interacts and communicates with the animals. These huge mammals can weigh 600 pounds and jump 15 feet out of the water! One of the wildest facts about dolphin is that the outer surface of their skin completely regenerates every two days!! From there, based on recommendations of my friend and former client, Wayne and his wife Karen, we went to the S. S. Wreck & Galley Grill for appetizers followed by the Island Fish Company for dinner. Both very fun places with great food. When dinner was done, it was time to return our rental car and get a taxi back to the marina.

Had to come all the way to the Keys to find BBQ Fritos!!

These guys are all over the place down here

Sea Lions playing

This is The Wreck

The sign says it all

Marathon Marina

So our stay here has come to an end. The forecast called for maybe 2 foot seas leaving the marina to the point where we would pass under Seven Mile Bridge, but this was probably off by a foot and the first part of the trip was a little rough. After getting back to the Florida Bay/Gulf side, the waves calmed down to the light chop as forecast and, except for the usual sea of crab pots, we had a pleasant ride to an anchorage at Islamorada. We stopped in the bay behind the Lorelei Restaurant & Cabana Bar. This place gets rave reviews for food, daily music, beach area and sunset views. We took our dingy in from the boat - our first time using it since last summer. The place was packed and the band was playing by the time we got there. Everything was just as good as advertised. After dinner, we did our first dingy ride in the dark which turned out to be quite easy. We’re spending two days here just to chill a bit and work the timing to get past the Miami Boat Show. That’s a huge event and marinas are full especially since there are still several in the area that have not reopened since Irma. Got to soak up as much of this warm weather as possible!! Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/956322

First dingy trip of the Loop!

Cheers!!

Look past the singer and you will see the boat in the background

Lorelei sunset

We returned to the Lorelei for late lunch Thursday. It was another beautiful sunny day so we arrived about 3 PM to sit at one of tables in the sand. The music didn’t start until 5, but this place is crazy busy so entertainment was abundant. We took the dingy back to the boat right after sunset so no trip in the dark tonight.

Yes - we're doing a selfie with the boat in the background

Key lime pie in a cup! Yummo

Lorelei deck

Sunset looks like an explosion today

Friday started as a partly cloudy day with showers and a pretty good wind. The showers ended at about 10, but winds are forecast at 18 - 20 mph for the rest of the day. Our plan had been to go about 8 miles to another anchorage so we are just going to stay here before moving to a marina in Key Largo on Saturday. So it was a dingy ride back to Lorelei for dinner and music, windy but the ride in and back was really not bad at all. The rest of the night was a lot of swinging on the anchor as the wind picked up after the sun went down.

Saturday morning arrived as a sunny, warm and still windy day. We left the anchorage at about 10:30 AM with the wind on the starboard side going out to the channel. This made the ride a little rough until we made the turn into the channel and directly into the wind. It was a relatively short trip to the marina and the spray from wind and chop was over the bow and on the windshield all the way. There were a couple of narrow channels until making the turn into the bay outside Mangrove Marina, but that was where the shallow water was waiting. I think the least under the boat was about 9 inches. The swim platform was covered with sand when we got to the fuel dock which was unlike any thing I’ve ever done before. This was a narrow, dead end approach that, once in, backing out was the only option and there were two boats sticking out of slips behind me. All I will say is I got out without hitting anything and I’d rather not do that again! After washing off several days of salt buildup, we went to Marker 88 for dinner. Cool place that has one of the few Keys beaches. Good food and great atmosphere, but a pricey place! Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/956667

Patio at Marker 88

The singer and the sunset

Sunday was a day to do chores so after watching our favorite show - CBS Sunday Morning - I first went to work on sand that was stuck in the cockpit floor coverings. After some experimenting, it was a nylon bristle brush that got it out! Adding lines the fender boards I made with my buddy Tom last summer was next. I have a feeling that we may be using those soon. Then it was laundry time. Even though we have a washer/dryer combo on-board, it takes 3 hours to do one load so a marina laundry is much quicker when available and they usually have several machines. After all this, we cooked on-board and watched the Olympics. Tomorrow we’re moving to an anchorage a bit closer to Biscayne Bay on the south side of Miami.

Monday morning started early as the goal was to get out of this shallow harbor as close to high tide as possible. It was much better than coming in and I got all the way out to the channel before finding the low area and dredging up more sand and mud. The rest of the trip was nice. The morning was sunny and wind wasn’t bad. We were only going about 15 miles to Blackwater Sound anchoring in front of Sundowners restaurant. We stopped in there for a fried olive appetizer before going next door to Jimmy Johnson’s Big Chill. You can’t turn around in Florida without hitting a happy hour and the best part is you can get dinner at great prices! So that’s just what we did! Afterward we went back to Sundowners for desert and hopped back in the dingy to return to the boat. The water looked really clear when we came in today so just for giggles I turned on the underwater lights to see if there were any fish around. Much to my surprise, fish didn’t appear but a bunch of blue crabs started swimming around in the light!! Now that was just crazy. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/958114