Are we in paradise yet?

Blue Heaven Rendezvous #24

We had no problem getting out of John Pennekamp State Park through the mangroves and made it out into Hawk Channel and raised the sails. We had a wonderful beam reach down to Indian Key with about 10 – 15 knots of wind. It is a very small island with a lot of history. The park service provides four mooring balls for cruisers. We picked the closest one in, and decided that 5.5 ft. at high tide was not good for our 4.5 ft. draft when the tidal range was 1 -2 ft. We had to move to one further out which did not give us as much protection from the prevailing winds.

On the 11 acre island, paths have been made where all the roads from the 1800’s small town were. The remains of buildings have placards with information about the building and it‘s owners. We learned that Jacob Housman was the colonizer of the key-a man who salvaged shipwrecks. He grew rich on Indian Key because the ships foundered on the reefs not far off. The Seminole Indians attacked the town in 1840 and burned down the entire town except one house, killing 16 people, but Housman and his family lived through it all and eventually moved to Key West where he died shortly thereafter. His gravesite is on Indian Key, but his skeletal remains and gravestone were stolen. A replica is in place today. It has some beautiful views off the island. For such a small island, it was very interesting. The wind did not ease overnight so we bounced around quite a bit on the mooring ball. We were anxious to leave in the morning, to get rid of the jerking motion of the boat against the mooring ball. We were headed to Marathon in Boot Key. We were correct that the broad reach sail was much more pleasant.

We heard that Pat and Ken Howe from our sailing association were heading south along the east coast of Florida. When I called they were down in Key West so we made plans when they were coming north to meet in two days.

While sailing we had the “dolphin experience” again. There were about 4 or 5 dolphins playing in our bow. I took pictures but mostly caught them when they were just below the surface as you can see. It is soooooo… much fun to watch them. Late morning Al called the city marina and found out that all 250 moorings were filled but there was still some room to anchor. We got in around 1pm following another sailboat in. They of course took the easiest and most obvious anchoring spot. We tried to go in back of them and were going aground on the sandy bottom. So we motored out and were looking for another spot when the captain of the boat who just anchored hailed us on us on the VHF radio. He told us where to go to get past the high point we hit and end up in seven foot of water near the bridge. We placed two anchors out again since it was blowing 18-20 knots.

We prepared the dinghy to go ashore to get on the waiting list for a mooring. As you can see there are "mucho" dinghies! We were told it could take one or two days. We were number five on the list. Back to the boat for a fairly quiet afternoon and evening. And another beautiful sunset but with a bridge in it this time!

After breakfast we finally took our bikes out of the back cabin and took them ashore in the dinghy to the bike racks with the other 300 bikes that were already there. We needed fresh fruits and vegetables so headed to the Publix grocery about 1.25 miles away. You can tell you are in the Keys with the higher prices and the lower quality and quantity of items.

After lunch we biked to West Marine to get a new light and bulb for the damaged one. He had to order it, but will be in a week. We plan to stay anywhere from 2 ½ weeks to a month here so it works. The two bike trips helped us to get our bearings of where things are such as the Kmart, Home Depot, CVS, and local restaurants and marinas.

We had thought to bring our showering gear with us, so before returning to the boat we showered. We luckily did not have to wait long. There are only three, yes, I said three showers for all 250 boats! And there are only three washers and three dryers. They have a lovely new shower facility built with probably 16 showers but there is some problem with the local municipality allowing them to hook up. Bureaucracy!


We learned that there is a cruiser’s net for Boot Key Harbor on channel 68 at 9am. They welcome new boats in the harbor, have announcements and people can ask questions or ask for help from computers to boat repair. We found out that we had missed the “Meet and Greet” on Wed. evenings which would have been under the cabana, so we will have to wait for next week.

We decided to go into the marina office to wait for the call from Pat and Ken. We eventually connected and walked across busy Rt.1 (a feat in itself because it is 4 lanes with no island) to a restaurant called the “Stuffed Pig.” Only in the Keys do you get a name like that! They had a lovely outdoor patio where we had brunch and caught up with each other’s news. It was great seeing some familiar faces after so many months of new places and people.

Our boat got assigned a mooring ball today and so we spent time pulling up the anchor and relocating. We decided to explore, so got gasoline for the dinghy and headed out to see what Sombrero Beach was all about. It was lovely, with lots of sand and nice park facilities behind it. I know I will plan to visit here as frequent as possible.
We then motored to the dinghy dock, got our bikes and rode to Home Depot and K Mart for a few necessities. We then went back to the boat to relax, have dinner and spend a peaceful night knowing we won’t drag anchor. Are we in paradise yet? Only time will tell!