KEY LARGO TO MIAMI

Mar 10- We are off the dock by 9:00 am and are heading for Miami to a marina called Pelican Bay. We have 43 miles to travel today, the weather is warm but it is quite breezy. We had a following sea for almost all of the trip which made for a very uncomfortable ride. We arrived at the marina at 2:00 pm. got tied up and washed down Manana. We are 2 docks over from Sonata who have guests arriving tonight. It is Bonnie's sister Judy and her husband Ted from New Smyrna. They are planning to travel with them back to New Smyrna. We went over to visit with Charlie and Bonnie and played some cards after dinner for awhile. We made it an early night as it had been a long day and they had company coming and had to prepare the boat for them.

Finally Miami in the distance

You can probably see how rough it was

Approaching Miami

You can tell how rough it was

Miami downtown

Miami boat yard and a cruise ship in the background

Statue of man blowing conch shell

Saw many of these here

Odd to see this old building amongst glass and steel

We have many, many of these today

PLANTATION KEY TO KEY LARGO

Mar 9- We left the marina at 9:00 am heading for Key Largo which is only a 20 mile trip. The wind is blowing at about 20 miles an hour but luckily it is coming from the east and although its capping in the bay its not too bad. We arrived at the Anchorage Marina at 1:00 pm and proceeded to wash down the boats. It isn't a very big marina and there isn't much here but a hotel with a pool and hot tub and a bar across the water from us. We had lunch and visited with Charlie and Bonnie for awhile then went back to the boat. At about 5 pm we decided to go to the hot tub for awhile (it was great). We went back to the boat had dinner then watched "Survivor". We will be leaving at 8:00 am tomorrow so it will be and early night.

An island made from mangroves

A narrow passage through mangroves

Heading out into the bay 

Passing a sailboat in the bay

The white things in the water are crab pots we have to dodge

Coming up to Key Largo

Anchorage Marina just before the bridge

The Anchorage Marina

A bar just across from us

An old sailing vessel behind our boat

PLANTATION KEY MARINA

Mar 3- It is a muggy, warm day today so we are staying inside in the air conditioning a lot. Dave managed to buff the back of the boat this morning before it got too warm and sticky. Bonnie has been playing tennis every day since we arrived and Charlie has been overseeing the work being done on their boat so we have not seen much of them lately. We sat talking with the couple from the Cruisers for awhile this morning. They keep the boat in Kentucky and live in Indiana and they come down to this marina every year for a couple of months then head back to Kentucky. He owned a heavy equipment business which he has turned over to his sons to run. Erline had a accident at this marina in the laundry room a few years ago where she broke a bone in her right leg and is still recovering from it. I have a Pickle Ball game again at 4 pm with some new people so I am a little nervous, but I am sure it will be fun.

Dave and Erline's Cruiser

This is their car they offered us to get groceries

Sue playing Pickle Ball with some new friends

Looking down our dock towards the beach area

Mar 4- Dave and Erline in the Cruisers next to us have offered us their car to do some groceries if we need something. Bonnie has a tennis match today so we may have to do groceries tomorrow instead. I have started to wax Manana from the decks up to try and protect the boat against the salt. I have finished the port side and I will do the starboard side tomorrow first thing in the morning before the sun gets too strong. We have met some really nice people here since we arrived and I would definitely come back here to this marina in the future.

Another beautiful sunset behind our boat

Mar 5- I am at the waxing early so its not so hard to get the wax off. Dave has been doing some engine tuning this week on Manana. I have now finished waxing the starboard side and am now down on the swim grid waxing the transom and the back of the boat. We haven't seen much of Bonnie as she is busy playing tennis but every once and awhile we will see Charlie going by on his bicycle. This has really been a great opportunity to get some cleaning done and I am also waxing the dingy as well.

Mar 6- We are waiting for Dave and Erline to get back and then we are heading to the grocery store and possibly to get some lunch somewhere while we are out. They got back at 1 pm and we asked if we could take them up on their offer to use their car. We went and had lunch at a riverside restaurant with great food on the way to Key Largo. Charlie needed something at Walgreens then we headed to the Publix. We arrived back at 5 pm but Dave and Erline had gone out with friends so we just parked the car back where it was. When they got back I went over to return their car keys with a bottle of wine from all of us and told them we had also filled the car with gas. He was overwhelmed with the gesture and said we really didn't have to do that. We finished our evening quietly watching television.

Going for groceries today when we get the car

Mar 7- I have decided to clean our folding chairs and our little folding table today. Dave has sanded down the arms on two of the chairs and is giving them a couple of coats of Cetol. I had just finished the chairs when Dave from next door came over and asked us if we wanted to join them tonight for pizza aboard their boat. We were to be there at 6 pm and Dave had just arrived with the pizza, salad and appetizers when we got there. We broke open the bottle of wine we had given them and Dave and I put a little dent in it. We had a wonderful evening with Dave and Erline and we will always remember their kindness and thoughtfulness.

Dave and Erline's boat

Dave and Erline a wonderful couple we'll never forget

Mar 8- We have been in touch with Bill and Bobbie from Mist again and they are in Marathon at Faro Blanco for a month as they have family coming to visit. We told them about Plantation Key Marina and suggested they come over and see the marina for themselves. It would be a great place for their grandchildren as there is so much to do here, but they are committed where they are. They arrived at Manana at 2 pm and we sat talking on our back deck for awhile (playing catch up ). They have bought a place in Bonita Springs which is between Fort Myers Beach and Naples. It looks like a great place and I'm sure they will have many wonderful years there. We walked them over to the beach area first, then the baskeball, baseball, soccer area the Pickle Ball court and weight area then onto the large pool and tennis courts. They were very impressed and said they may stop there on their way through. We said our goodbyes and went back to the boat and started putting away our bikes and the umbrella as we are leaving in the morning for Key Largo.

This is the beach area at this marina

This is the dog park here at the marina

Koby enjoying some freedom

Koby saying goodbye to Plantation Key Marina

MARATHON TO ISLAMORADA

Feb 24- We left at 9:00 am with a bit of a breeze but we are traveling in Florida Bay so it is a more protected area. We are heading for Islamorada to a marina called Plantation Key Marina which is about 40 miles. We were joined by two other boats from Faro Blanco heading to the same marina we are but they passed us of course. We arrived at around 2 pm tied up and took a quick look around. Koby has a very large park right across from our dock to run in. He is a very happy boy here! We are here until March 2 or longer if they will let us. We are liking it here very much and we are trying to slow down a little before heading up the east coast. The weather is so unpredictable this year and the winds have been terrible that we have decided not to go to the Bahamas this year.

Looking down the dock at Plantation Key Marina

The big wonderful field Koby gets to run around in

The pool, tennis courts, basketball, and weight area across from us

Band shell where they have already had a concert

Feb 25- We have met a lot of nice boaters at this marina so far. We have a 52 ft Cruisers on our left side and a 51 ft Hatteras on our right. The gentleman on the Cruisers has told us we can use his Mercedes to go and get groceries if we need it. We didn't want to take advantage of him so we decided to rent a car for 3 days to get groceries and do some sightseeing in this area. We may take him up on it if we need something next week. He is very outgoing and has been over talking to us several times but his wife never leaves the boat only to go out for dinner every night. She has waved to us once since we came. There is a pool, tennis courts, a beach, weight area outside and lots of bike trails to explore. If you can't find something to do here your not trying too hard.

They have this lovely little beach as well

This is the pool area (big pool)

Entrance into the marina from the road

One of the many beautiful sunsets

Feb 26- We are getting the rental car this morning and are going to get some groceries. We did a fairly large shopping as it has been some time since we have been to a grocery store. Both Bonnie and I would like to get our hair cut and we did see a salon on our way back to the boat, so we had Dave stop and we made appointments for tomorrow morning. We needed to clean the salt off the boat and really get her clean, so we washed from top to bottom. After cleaning the hull I started cleaning the glass on the tarps as the salt leaves a kind of film. Dave has decided it is time to scrap the tow rail down on the port side of the boat from front to back and refinish it. When I finished the tarps I went and gave Dave a hand by masking the tow rail for him. He managed to get it sanded and one coat of Cetol on before we were set to go out for dinner. We had asked some of the people in the marina of some of the good eating places and headed to one called Marker 88, but it was jammed with people so we went to another place someone had suggested called Hog Heaven of all things. It had live music and was a sports bar but we were so hungry by this time we didn't mind the noise. The food was so-so and it was hard to talk so we finished and got out of there. We headed back to our boats and said goodnight.

Feb 27- We are heading out sometime this morning towards Key Largo to have lunch somewhere. Dave is putting on another coat of Cetol on the rub rail this morning before we head out. We seem to have better luck at lunch menus than dinner ones. We are really enjoying our stay here and hope we can stay a little longer. Bonnie has introduced me to "Pickle Ball", a cross between tennis and badminton. The court is smaller than a tennis court and the net is low to the court. She explained the rules and the counting and we practiced for an hour or so. It is a lot of fun.

Feb 28- We only have the car for today so we decided to go down to Marathon for lunch. We found a place on the left just before you cross the 7 mile bridge. It was an awesome place beside a pool with a DJ playing music. The food was quite good with a great atmosphere. We headed back as Bonnie and I were supposed to be playing "Pickle Ball" with a couple of ladies, but unfortunately they didn't show, so Bonnie and I played for an hour again to give me more practice.

Shots of Florida Bay as we head to Marathon

This monster was outside a restaurant

A shot from the bridge at Marathon

This is a Dolphin Aquarium between Marathon & Islamorda

Feb 29- Bonnie and I are running to the bank for Charlie this morning and are stopping at a roadside place we saw with some odds and ends that looked interesting. We got the car back at 12:00 pm and left the keys with the dockmaster as the people from Thrifty are picking the car up here. Bonnie and I are playing "Pickle Ball" again at 4 pm (we think if they show up). We were beat the first two games but the last game ended 10-10. I've only played a real game once and practiced twice so I think I'm doing pretty well. Dave and Charlie have just been hanging out at the boats doing odds and sods.

Mar 1- We had a wonderful surprise visit from friends from home in Orillia. Brian and Heather Crate are down vacationing in Marathon with another couple and Dave contacted Brian to let him know we were here. Brian and Heather and their friends arrived at 11:00 am and left around 3 pm. We showed them the boat and our albums of the work done Manana and they were quite surprised by it all. They had lot of questions about our trip so far and Heather kept telling me how pleased she was for us to be doing this trip. We hope to borrow the fellows car next to us and go and visit them at their place before we leave here. Dave and I went and checked with Lisa our dockmaster to see if we could extend out stay until March 9th, and she said that would be fine. We were very pleased as we are enjoying this marina very much. I have another game at 4 pm this afternoon, so wish me luck!

Heather and Brian Crate and friends visiting us

That's me playing "Pickle Ball"

Mar 2- Every morning starts out overcast but eventually warms up quite nicely. The temperatures this whole week have been in the high 70's which is fine with us. We have not made it over to the pool as yet so we are heading there this afternoon for awhile. It is a very large pool and they have some people who come and train here in one half of the pool. If I get my courage up I am going to try to swim the length of the pool and back again. I did not do so well at Pickle Ball today but you can't win them all. Dave and Koby came to see me play but Koby freaked and Dave had to take him back to the boat. We spent a quiet evening watching television.