when we pulled up the anchor, the mud on it was white! we could get used to that, i'm sure. from the marine stadium anchorage, we turned south, headed for the keys. what an absolutely glorious day! the color of the water was amazing - a clear green you could see down to the bottom although i must admit, biscayne bay is rather shallow. in any case, it was exciting - TADHANA going to the keys! the best part was the space - OPEN water! not a ditch with side walls, not ten million things you had to watch out for, no one in front, no one behind - it was almost like being out in the chesapeake again except that, of course, everything looked different. but the "feel" was the same. no more ICW "hunch" as tom calls it - all the stress was gone. it was a very relaxing cruise down past the overseas highway bridge to key largo. as we passed underneath the bridge, there was a marina and a huge restaurant. lots of what tom calls "the derelict fleet" anchored nearby. we have been seeing a lot of those - either abandoned anchored boats or what mark called "the floating homeless" who give cruisers a bad name. oh well. it is only in florida that we have started locking our doors upon leaving the boat and locking the dinghy either to the dinghy dock or to the boat at night.
we ended up at tarpon basin on the west side of key largo. perhaps not the prettiest anchorage one could find but it wasn't crowded and there was a nice dinghy dock and park for consuelo nearby. the other thing was the weather - there was a front coming and we needed to be in a place that was protected and if we found ourselves unable to move on the next day, we wanted to be somewhere relatively safe and convenient. the next place would have been marathon at boot key but that was going to be a hike for us at our speed. the other thing is timing - marathon is crowded with boats this time of year. there is a waiting list for slips and moorings and they won't even put you on the list until you are actually THERE. a friend of ours posted a photo on facebook of the anchorage - my god, a forest of masts! i am glad that we are not there and that we opted to stay at key largo. if the other boats are waiting out the front in marathon before moving on, there still won't be any room at the inn whether we are there to be put on the waiting list or not. we were perfectly happy with tarpon basin. like i said to tom, all i need is four bars on my aircard (which i had) so that i can work and a convenient place for consuelo to do her business. well, we weren't too far from the publix either in case we needed to go grocery shopping. there weren't that many boats at the anchorage probably because the basin is rather shallow. that night, we heard what sounded like a seal barking and as it turned out, there was a "swim with dolphins and seals" place nearby.
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| a flock of ibis |
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| this manatee has the water hose in its mouth |
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| reminded me of a hippopotamus |
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| ibis |
in any case, tom surprised me by saying that we had to make some decisons about our route back north - about whether we should go back the way we came or do we go around to the west coast of florida for a bit and then cross over to the east side via the okeechobee canal. he said, "we don't have to be anywhere specific, do we?" and then it hit me - we truly are free. no schedule whatsoever! we can go anywhere we want, leave at any time, stay as long as we want. i mean, this is it - all those years of living aboard in the chesapeake in the winter, running to annapolis for the boat shows, running to hampton for the snowbird rendezvous, waiting for the SAIL rally to begin and the grueling pace of the last two months.... it's OVER and we are truly beginning the life we have been dreaming about! we are only limited by weather and by funding. wow....
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