SHARK RIVER TO KEY WEST

Feb 16- We were up early and left Shark River at 6:45 am as we have another 8 hours to run today. We headed out of Shark River with a slight chop and a very threatening sky. We were out about one hour when the rain from a very dark sky hit us but the waves were not that bad (not like the day before). The black sky passed over us quite quickly thank God and then the sky began to get brighter over us and we continued our trip with sunshine and calm waves to Key West. We arrived at the marina at about 4 pm, we are on E dock and Sonata is on A dock. There is a lot of walking being done between the two boats. There is very little green space for Koby so we have to walk him down the side streets to get him some grass to pee on. I got the hose out and started washing the salt from the boat and by the time we had finished it was almost dark. It was an early night for us.

We are almost to Key West

We can see Key West off in the distance

A cruise ship in at the port

Sonata heading into Key West Bight Marina

View from front deck looking out of marina

Sonata three docks over 

Looking into shore

Big guy on the other side of dock

Feb 17- We are up early as we want to see all the area we can while we are here. We walked down to the downtown area and checked out a lot of the little shops then had lunch at the pier. At times there's just a few people and then the cruise ships come in the place is over run with people. We have been fortunate the sun has been shining every day and it is warm until we get a north wind. We have some interesting characters in sail boats on either side of us. They are friendly enough but they always seem to be here so I not sure if they work or not. The one lady just sits in the cockpit of her boat all day every day ( I would go absolutely stark raving mad). Their dog likes to bark at us when we go by with Koby. We are eating aboard tonight as we are tired from our hours of walking we have done today.

No big crowds as yet

This is a Hard Rock Cafe

Feb 18- We have decided to take the Conch Train tour today and get the lowdown on some of the history of the island.We got on the train at about 1:00 pm and it was a 90 minute tour. Our tour guide was quite entertaining and enlightening but unfortunately we had four chatty people behind us that kept us from hearing all the tour guide had to say. When we returned to the depot Charlie told them that they had been rude by talking through the tour. We had passed the Hemingway and Truman homes and went down past the 0 mile marker and the beaches. We were hungry after the tour so Bonnie and Charlie talked us into trying some Thai food for lunch. We tried Pad Tai noodles (mild) and they were quite good and we had tried something new. We had to take our time heading back towards our boats as the streets were swollen with people from the two cruise boats in the harbour.
We had dinner and Bonnie and Charlie came over around 7:00 pm and we played cards. We have introduced them to euchre and some times Charlie has trouble grasping the workings of the game. Bonnie has gotten onto it quite well and helps Charlie where she can.

Dave and I with Bonnie and Charlie trying Thai food

A beautiful home on the island

End of Highway 1 (mile 0 ) 

A couple of large homes on the island

I just love the homes here

Cute shutters on this home

Feb 19- We are getting our bikes out and doing our own little tour around some of the streets. We are heading down to the 0 mile marker first to take some pictures next to it. When we arrived there was an actual line waiting to go up and take pictures. We left there and peddled around some of the back neighborhoods for awhile. We saw the lighthouse but you have to walk up 86 steps to the top and none of us are willing to do that right now. Dave and Charlie need something at West Marine so we are now headed in that direction. While the guys are in West Marine, Bonnie and I are planning to bike to the Publix that is 2 miles away to get a few things. It turned out to be a very windy ride for us there but wasn't that bad coming back although one loaf of bread went bouncing out of the carrier on Bonnie's bike. It survived the fall and because our carriers were both full I ended up carrying the bread on my handlebars of my bike. We got back without any other incidents and made a plan to go out tonight at a good restaurant, but it turned out that the one we chose was a disappointment I'm afraid - expensive but the food was not that good. It was a cool walk back to our boat where we played Sequence again - the bad guys won!

Down by the beaches

This hotel was built by Rockerfeller

At point zero southernmost point of North America