ssloop: Key West - Islamorada

It was a beautiful, calm morning on Monday so we fueled up and headed out of Key West. We traveled via the Gulf side rather than the Atlantic as it has more options for exploring. Our destination for the evening was again anchoring at Tarpon Belly Key. This time we wound our way around different islands and channels. Once again we had a gorgeous, calm evening on the hook.

Tuesday morning we woke up to dense fog so we delayed our departure a couple hours to see if it would lift. But it didn't. The captain decided it was time to move on, so we left in the fog and relied on our GPS and radar for navigation. About noon the fog lifted and it was another beautiful day for traveling.

We had read about the pizza at the No Name Pub on Big Pine Key, so we dropped the anchor and took the dinghy over to the island for lunch. It was a great stop. Back on board, we crossed under a bridge to the Atlantic side and anchored off of Molasses Key near Marathon.

Wednesday morning, once again we woke up to thick fog. We had wanted to dinghy over to a cute little island named Money Key. (When viewing Money Key from 7 Mile Bridge it looks like Gilligan's Island) The fog did not deter us, so we grabbed our IPad and plotted a course to and from the island.

We soon lost sight of the boat as we headed out into the fog. We found Money Key but the best part was all the sea life we saw in the clear shallow waters. Boy was Sheli happy when the Pura Vida came back in sight! By the time we got back onboard, the fog had still not lifted, so we again had to use our instruments to find our way to and through 7 Mile Bridge taking us back to the Gulf side. We passed by Marathon Key and continued our way up the keys to Islamorada. By noon, the fog lifted again and we had a great cruise with many dolphin sightings. We dropped the hook in Barley Basin for the evening and took the dinghy in for dinner.

Due to the predicted increasing winds, on Thursday we moved to a marina at Islamorada.

Since we are pacing ourselves for a March 16 arrival in Ft Lauderdale, we decided to spend the week here. The weather has turned hot and sunny so it's been perfect for exploring the clear shallow waters via dinghy. An amazing spot we have discovered is through the next pass and an 1/8 of a mile out on the Atlantic. Here there is a sandbar where the water is from zero to a foot deep depending on tide. Many locals take their boats out here to enjoy the shallow clear waters. We have been there a couple times on our dinghy and love it. We have seen horseshoe crabs, man-o-war, fish as well as some great shells.

On Sunday, we attended the local United Methodist Church. In the afternoon we walked to a resort on the oceanside as they were having a pig roast on the beach.

On Friday, Dave and Linda Tuls, dock mates from our home marina stopped to visit and have lunch.

Dave & Linda did the Loop several years ago, so we had many experiences to compare.

Our friends Bob & Camie on the sailboat Eclipse sailed up from Marathon Friday afternoon. We were the welcome wagon on our dinghy as they pulled in to their anchorage. We look forward to spending time with them here as we most likely won't see them again as they plan to live aboard their sailboat and continue on down to the Caribbean.

Another awesome sunset at Tarpon Belly Key.