Key West to Marathon to Key largo to Key Biscayne and seeing old friends and meeting new ones!

On Sunday, March 1, we left the Perry Hotel on Stock Island and headed to Safe Harbor Marina in Marathon. On the way there our friend from back home, Nik, met us on his boat and took our photo! He and Lisa moved to the keys several years ago from Wisconsin and reside in Sugarloaf Key.  Once at Safe Harbor, we settled in and spent a couple days doing administrative tasks. We briefly saw our friends from Southwind, Bob and Wanda, who stay at this marina all winter and take their Carver back to Nashville in the summer. Since they have a vehicle, Bob graciously took us on a grocery store run while we were there. We took  some great sunset photos in Marathon, and also one photo of  the Tuesday morning  "blood moon" eclipse. Tuesday, evening,  we walked to Castaway for dinner. While there we saw a manatee sipping water from a drain spout. Castaway has great sushi and has been there since 1951. They had photos of when the "castaway" cast from the Gilligan's Island tv show from the 1960s visited there. And they also have a "Wilson" replica at the entrance paying homage to the "Castaway' movie from the year 2000. On Wednesday, we spent some time at the wonderful pool at Safe Harbor and then we went with new boat neighbors and loopers, Kathleen and Brian (boat K-Plan), by dinghy to Burdine's restaurant. After this we took a dinghy ride with them through the rest of Boot Key Harbor and got caught in a brief rain shower, but were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow and then sunset! 

We would have liked to stay in Marathon longer but strong winds were predicted and we were working our way to Ft. Lauderdale for an upcoming flight home, so we left Safe Harbor on Thursday, March 5, as the winds seemed favorable on the Intracoastal side of the keys. The winds were not bad on this side as we headed to Key Largo to Anchorage Resort and Marina. There were  some shallow (or skinny as they are called) waters on the way, but we made it through with at least 3 feet of water under us. There were still a lot of crab pots to watch out for as has been the case throughout the Keys.  Once we arrived we were greeted by gold loopers Todd and Mary (boat Liming). They were headed to the restaurant by dinghy just across the water called Gilbert's Resort. We joined them for dinner and listened to a great band called Dos Cowboys.  On Friday, we cleaned the boat and then explored the area  by dinghy. There were a lot of nice homes and many mangroves. Later we went to the pool with resort guests we met earlier in the day. Linda and Jeff saw that our boat was from Davenport and introduced themselves as they were at the resort from Clinton, Iowa! Clinton is just up river from Davenport in Iowa. Later we met at the pool and then had snacks and drinks with them and other new friends, Artie and Dana from New York and Florida, Berry and Jennifer (loopers from boat Huguenot), and Mitch and Sylvie from Seattle.  Mitch gave us a mini-concert with his guitar and we did our best to sing along! Saturday morning Artie, Linda and Jeff convinced us and Jennifer to learn pickleball! They were great teachers and we all did better than we thought, and we didn't break any bones! Both Artie and Jeff took photos of our boat in the harbor from their rooms in the resort (see below). Later, Tim and I rented a car so we could visit Nik and Lisa in Sugarloaf Key on Sunday. Since we had the car,  Saturday night we drove to the Caribbean Club which existed when the 1948 movie Key Largo was made and they claim parts were filmed there. We also visited the Big Chill, Hall of Fame football coach Jimmy Johnson's restaurant. After that, we found Armory Speakeasy located in the back of the VFW, complete with a password entrance. On Sunday after church,  we finally connected with Nik and Lisa and visited them at their wonderful home in Sugarloaf Key. We spent the afternoon "poolside" and they provided us a wonderful lunch of brats and shrimp salad and Lisa made key lime pie! Nik gave Tim a tour of favorite spots on his pontoon, while Lisa and I caught up, and stayed home with their 17-year old dog Marley. On the way back to Key Largo we stopped at Islamarada Brewery and Distillery and picked up some beers and Hibiscus gin. 

Monday, March 9, we left Key Largo for Key Biscayne. This will  be our last stop before heading through Miami to get to Ft. Lauderdale to fly home for a week. Key Biscayne is just south of Miami and has stunning views of the city as well as  Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic.  Key Biscayne has an anchorage called "No Name Harbor". It is located in Bill Boggs Cape Florida State Park. I'm unsure why no one ever bothered to name the harbor but "No Name" it is known as! The state park has  a lighthouse from 1825 , many walking trails, a beautiful beach on the Atlantic, and a few restaurants. There were several loopers anchored there and/or just outside of the harbor. We immediately saw Angie and Gregg (boat Summer Breeze) and went by dinghy out to Kim and Brad's boat Weezer for cocktails along with Sharon and Frank (boat Happy Hour). Tim and Brad were both Marine Corps helicopter pilots and we had met them before in Fort Myers Beach. Later we saw Berry and Jennifer (Huguenot) again and their dog, Denver, and walked to the lighthouse with them at sunset. Our only complaint about this anchorage was it was unseasonably hot for March and our boat doesn't cool well when the temp is in the 80s and it does not have much ventilation. But enough of "first world" problems.  On Tuesday, March 10th,  we took a walk to the beach and lighthouse and had lunch at the Lighthouse Cafe. That evening we took the dinghy over to Cleat Mia and Boater's Grill located right there in No Name Harbor.  We had dinner at  Boater's Grill  with Kim and Brad, Sharon and Frank, Angie and Gregg, and Mike and Jan (boat Doda  II).  We leave Wednesday for Ft. Lauderdale and will travel with Weezer, Summer Breeze, and Happy Hour which will be nice to get through the bridges that need to be raised together. More on that in the next blog later this month as we will head home for a visit until March 20!