Back in Marathon

It was a beautiful morning so Kinvara left the dock at 7AM and proceeded out of Key West Bight Harbor. It was too early for boat traffic so we had the seas to ourselves for a while.  We went past a large Carnival cruise ship docking for the day. There is at least one cruise ship in this port every day.  Once Kinvara turned east toward Marathon, the sun was rising, the winds were blowing a balmy 12knots and the seas were choppy...apx. 1' waves.  As we got further east the wind picked up to 13-14k from the east and the waves increased 2-4' every time we came out from behind the reefs.  Our total trip today was 6.5 hours. We paid for a month in Marathon, which finishes tomorrow so we had the mooring ball to return to.  As we motored slowly to the mooring a dolphin came swimming alongside and rode in our bow wave before dipping underneath and moving on. It was an exciting return! We await the weather tomorrow to see if we leave to head back north again.

Last Day in Key West

After 2 very long busy days in Key West we decided to rent an electric car for the morning to see the parts of Key West we could not walk to. We found a French restaurant at the end of Duval St. for breakfast then moved on to the southern most point in the US, marked by a large land buoy. In this little corner there were dozens of man o war jellyfish washed ashore. We drove by the Key West lighthouse then through some neighborhoods to see the houses. The morning ended with a stop to reprovision at a grocery store. Once the food was put away we took Pretzel in her backpack, again, returned the car, and browsed around the cruise ship docks, stores, an art fair, and the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum. When the day was done we returned to Kinvara to watch the sunset and commercial tour boats come back into dock. Tomorrow we return to Marathon to prepare to head north and home again.

Our little car

Man o war

We have now travelled the entire East coast of the US!!

St Augustine Lighthouse

Every person is a statue..except the one in front of the dancers!

Pirate Heaven!

Out & About in Key West

Today we put Pretzel into the backpack and hit Duval Street.  Shops & bars & shops & bars & dogs!!  This is the most dog friendly town we have ever been in!  The streets were mobbed since we were sharing the space with 3 cruise ships.  One was exclusively for Ohio State alumni. Talk about a sea of red!!

Duval Street

Shopping

Bars

Chickens on the street

Dogs!

This dog takes money out of your hand.

Then he puts it into a bucket.

Pirate dog

Pretty storefronts



Today's lunch



Mile 0....Key West!!!

Easy sail to key West!

Relaxed Admiral

On Wednesday morning we decided to drop the mooring ball and travel a short way to the Boot Key Harbor entrance to Burdines fuel dock.  We breathed a sigh of relief to find our engine and propeller worked after getting caught onto an old crab pot rigging when we arrived 3.5 weeks ago!!  After filling with fuel and water we went back to our mooring.  Well, since we had come this far along the Florida coast we decided it would be a shame not to go all the way to Key West. Jane made a quick phone call to Key West Bight marina and got a slip for 3-4 nights right in the heart of the old city. So first thing yesterday we dropped the ball at 6:45 and had a terrific sail into Key West by 2PM.  This is definitely quite a place. There are boats everywhere, resorts, shops, restaurants, etc. We wish we had been here a month!  After checking in we put Pretzel into her bag and started to explore the Harbor walk. We ended up at the cruise ship area where there is a sundowner festival every night. There are street performers, local craftsman stalls, and bars!! There must be more bars per square foot than Ireland.  Exhausted and hungry we returned a tired Pretzel to the boat at 7PM and then had a delightful dinner at the end of our dock at the “Raw Bar”. Delicious!!! Today we will get our bikes out to explore further…and tire Pretzel out so we can do the Duval Street Crawl tonight!  Enjoy the pictures!!

Big Fish!

Really Big live fish!!

Might try this tonight.

Notice the sign next to Jane!

Love this bar! rivel the one in Bury St Edmunds, UK!



Should we add Franklin, MA to this sign post?



Turtle Hospital

On Monday morning we set out early to have breakfast at 'The Stuffed Pig'. After breakfast we took a bike ride along route 1 to the seven mile bridge. On the way we passed a sign which brought back a lot of memories from across the sea.

For those of you who are not aware of this my home, Kinvara,  in Ireland was on the south coast of Galway Bay.

At 10 o'clock we had an appointment at the Turtle Hospital. It was a bitter/sweet 90 minutes. Only days before I had swam with a Loggerhead turtle in the wild on the reef and experienced something that so few have the privileged to do. Looking at the effect that humans have on these beautiful creatures is devastating. We were shown items such as fishing line with the hooks attached that have been removed from the intestines of the ones that were lucky to have been rescued. Many more are hit by boats and propellers every day and most die from their injuries. The impact of plastic in the ocean is beyond comprehension. We were reminded of the huge skeleton of the whale we saw at the sea park in the Bahamas who's stomach was full of plastic bottles which eventually killed him. The ironic part of all this is the fact that there is no effort in most places we have been on The Keys that have recycle programs. 

How about their very own ambulance!

Born with a bent spine he has weights
 attached to keep him upright.

Some of the items removed from rescued Turtles.

Turtle X ray room

Turtle surgery



The largest is a Leather Back and the smallest is a Green Turtle.



A Toast to the new Divers!

A champagne toast to Peter and Bill, Key West's newest divers.

Shopping Day

Just a few pictures to show how we have to do grocery shopping!  It goes from the store cart to the bikes to the dingy to the boat!! Jane carried all the cold items in an insulated bag. Peter carried 4 bottles of wine, a case of diet coke, and 2 packs of beer in his back basket plus 2 hanging bags  of general groceries. Then we filled 2 five gallon water jugs and 4 gallon bottles. The dingy was loaded!!  Ahhhh food for 3 days then we do it all over again!!