Our Southernmost Point - Key West

We have been in Key West at Conch Harbor Marina since February 1st and are having a great time enjoying the weather (a few cool days in the low 60’s but a lot of days in the 70’s), the plethora of shops/restaurants/bars/etc., and, most of all, the people and local characters. When (or IF) we ever leave here, we will head up the east coast with plans to meet Jenn, Joe, Olivia, and Stella at Disney mid March.

At our last posting – well over a month ago – we had arrived at Marco Island. We departed Marco Island on January 26th and reconnected with George and Kathy from “Spey” whom we met in Canada and have traveled with on and off since last summer. On our first night out of Marco, we anchored in Little Shark River in The Everglades, dropped the dingy to do some exploring before joining Kathy and George for appetizers aboard “Spey”. These first 2 pictures were taken at our Everglades anchorage. We anticipated staying in The Everglades for a couple of days but, due to predicted winds and weather, decided to continue our trip to Marathon to find a safe harbor to wait out the winds. We enjoyed the experience of anchoring in the Everglades, we were disappointed, however, that we have yet to see any alligators. Due to the coming winds, the mooring balls and marinas in Marathon were full but we were fortunate to find slips in a marina (actually tied to a brick wall) and stayed for 5 nights. Nothing really exciting in Marathon while we waited for a good weather window – the highlight of our time spent there was on bikes riding to the grocery store down a busy highway (US1), in the dingy to the beach, and visiting Fred (minus Linda) on “Young America”. Some of the Loopers we have met along the way are now in Marathon for the winter.

On February 1st, along with “Spey”, we departed Marathon for Key West, a distance of ~50 miles, in light rain that turned to heavy rain storms by late morning but with minimal winds. We have finally arrived at the most Southern point of our journey – Conch Harbor Marina in Key West – and look forward to our “vacation from our vacation” over the next month. At this marina, we joined Gerry and Joanne aboard “Morningside”, another Looper we have traveled with and Rich and Hildy aboard “Brilliant”. Over the next few weeks, we had good times with all. This is the longest period we have stayed in one spot without returning home and our days have been nothing short of busy. We committed to walking every morning (3+miles) - have met this commitment so far – while most afternoons are spent leisurely walking around Key West to visit many of the recommended sights – Sunset at Mallory Square, Ernest Hemmingway House, Key West Light House, ALL of Duval Street, Truman’s Little White House, Southern Most Point, dingy rides through the mangroves (pictured above), and more bars than I can remember! Jack was very involved with some due maintenance on the boat while Pia took this time to catch up on her paintings.

Pictures below are of a number of sights we have seen in Key West - including our arrival at Mallory Square, lunch at Margaritaville, Hemmingway House, a picture made of a grave marker in the town cemetary, and sunset at Mallory Square.

We are now about 750 miles from crossing our wake in Charleston.  This final leg of our journey will take a little over 4 weeks including the time we will spend in Orlando.