Thursday, the 20th! Enough! Let’s go. The small craft warning is gone and we take off for Dinner Key. We are amazed at how calm it is outside Largo Sound. It is hard to believe that there was a storm. What we are boating in is not what the weather report says it should be.  How cool is that?

There are several places where we can cross from the Hawk Channel over into Biscayne Bay. Kelley picks Angelfish Channel.  Sometimes I think that he looks at the charts and checks out all of his options and then chooses the narrowest one! He didn’t disappoint me this time.

I really think that when we go through narrow channels and we need to be attentive to our boating is the best time. We are feeling confident. I would encourage anyone who wants to do this to do so. Watch the weather, the tides and your charts! And remember that Boat US is there to provide you with information to keep you safe. They don’t want to have to come and rescue you if they don’t have to.

The Bay was surprisingly choppy. After a few hours we were ready to pull into Dinner Key Marina. What a great marina. The city marina’s here are fabulous. We have stayed in many and we are always pleased with how nice the people are and how helpful. Ah, a city? That must mean dinner out!

On Friday we jumped on our bikes and rode about 2 miles to Vizcaya.  What a thrill to visit this winter home of James Deering. The architecture, the workmanship, the gardens. Where does one start?

This is the first thing you see upon entering the grounds.

Looking from the front door back to the entrance you can see the long drive. It was longer when the home was first built.

After touring the house, Kelley and I walked the gardens. There are gardens on all four sides of the estate. This is off to one side and looking back at the house. This is a pond that becomes a flows down the hill towards the house.

On the water side was what pleased us both the most:

This looks like a ship! It is the dock for Deering’s yacht. What looks like a moat is where his friends could come by dinghy to his patio.

There are wooden poles that are brightly painted in barber pole stripes of blue and white or red and white. Deering wanted it to feel like Venice.

The workmanship and the details throughout the whole house amaze us. We couldn’t take pictures of the inside of the house. But the outside!

This is one of many grottos. And look at the treat that one finds when looking up inside it:

All made from shells…..how many shelling days would it take to gather those babies?

There were so many side gardens, some protected and others not. Here is one of my favorites:

Lovely! If you ever come to Coconut Grove outside Miami, you miss promise us that you will visit Vizcaya. I would have loved to have brought a book and read in one of the gardens. I easily could have pretended to have been invited by Deering to enjoy his estate. I would have willingly come in costume and accepted tea in the tea room as I tried to plan my afternoon – stroll the grounds? swim? nap in my lovely suite looking over Biscayne Bay? and then there would be the time necessary to dress for dinner!

Saturday morning we crossed back to the Hawk Channel side. There is a light house, although it really looks like the Eiffel Tower, and there are mooring balls there. We tied up to one and Kelley jumped in to check the bottom of the boat, clean it a bit and then do a little snorkeling. He gets in and right next to him is a jelly fish. Wouldn’t you know it! But Kelley got away. This is the first water that we have been able to stop in that has been clear. The bottom looked great, easily brushed, but not a lot to see as far as fish.

We went on down the coast. There are some huge boats here. We are in awe of the 60 footers that are going at least 20 knots and they have no dinghy. It seems here that power boats go from marina to marina. There are so many nooks and crannies that we think it is a shame that they are missing them.

To get into the State Park you wind your way through a very narrow channel.

There is no room for us to meet another boat of our size so we had to call “securite” to make sure the coast was clear.

This place is filled with fast boats (like our Boston Whaler) and in Florida if a captain can go fast he is. Upon entering the lagoon we go over to the mooring field and we are surprised that there is only one other boat there, a 30 foot catamaran called About Time. This is what always surprises us. This is a gorgeous spot and no one is enjoying the quiet.

Dinghy goes into the water and we go everywhere looking for the dockmaster’s office. Finally we head toward the swimming beach and a kind boat rental person pointed us in the right direction. We are here to wait out the storm that is coming.

Sunday we keep waiting for the storm. We take a great walk and have a delicious lunch at the Fish House. As we go back to the boat we talk to the dockmaster and he confirms that the storm is coming. We should have checked the weather because we could have left for Dinner Key and been comfortable there.
Where is this storm?

Monday early morning, the storm hits. The winds are gusting to about 30 mph and the bay is filled with white caps and rough. Getting off the boat is tricky, but we are pleased to do so. We paid to stay for 2 more nights. The north winds have now become east and southeast.

We head off on another walk. This time in the opposite direction. Kelley sees a sign for Publix at the next light. Who knows where the next light could be; this is the overseas highway and signals are few and far between. Having nothing better to, we just keep walking. And there is a shopping center.

A K-Mart and a Publix! A shopping oasis. We bought a fan because the stateroom gets so stuffy at night (sailboats have hatches to catch the wind, our windows slide and we only get a little air) and a few groceries. We stopped at Hobo’s Café that had come highly recommended to us and had a good lunch around 2 (Sounded like an early supper to me).

It now looks like it will be late Wednesday before the winds calm down. We will check the weather tonight and make a decision. Why have an uncomfortable ride if we can wait it out?

Tuesday and Wednesday, came and went. We stayed on the boat reading and playing cards. Of course, I cooked gourmet meals for us to have. We keep checking the weather. I just don’t want to hit the ocean with swells of 5 feet!

Thursday morning we left to go west (back where we had come from) to Moser Channel so that we could cross to the bay side. We headed off for Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park.

There are 5 complimentary mooring balls there. When we arrived there was one other boat there, a larger powerboat. We tied up, put the ding in the water and went for a speed run. There is an effort here to help the eel grass grow back. The areas are well marked and you often see sticks coming up out of the water.

I thought all of these birds were just standing at a attention for us! I guess water birds like to get out of the water! The couple on the other power boat told us that it you get into the eel grass. STOP. Get your towing company to pull you off. The fine is huge. The damage to the eel grass area is based on the square inch of ground disturbed and length of the eel grass cut. One of his friends was fined $40,000 for a mishap.

Friday we went over to the park for a tour. There is a wonderful old home there built by a Miami chemist in 1919, a William Matheson.

His son is the one that seems to have had the most fun there. He brought over a pick-up truck and made walking trails. You can’t go on the trails without the ranger now and then that walk is limited. But the young ranger gave a great talk about the trees there and the wildlife. The state along with the nature conservancy is bringing that island back to what it originally was. This house made it through the largest storm to hit the States which was in 1935. Pretty remarkable. It is made out of coral rock. The inside was darling. It was all tung ‘n groove. There were 3 bedroom and 1 bath. The kitchen was charming. The living room was inviting. It made me wish we could stay there and work on puzzles or play cards. It reminded me of Camp Liberty in Maine ( our friend’s camp).

Well, we are leaving tomorrow to go back to the other side and down to John Pennekamp State Park. There is a storm coming and we will not have any protection here.

On Monday we thought it might be a little bumpy but it was time to leave Key West. Out the channel we went and this time we headed for Hawk’s Channel which is in the Atlantic Ocean. Pretty exciting, our first time driving the boat in the Atlantic. Hawk’s Channel lies between the reef and the coastline so it is still protected. Because the storm had just passed, the swells were 1 to 2 feet. I don’t think they were that much more. I love our stabilizers.

It took about six hours to get to Boot Key (Marathon). We were hoping to pick up a mooring ball but there was no room. Kelley got us a slip at Burdine’s and we were set. We got the bikes off the boat and rode down to the City Marina and put our name on the list to get a mooring.

Tuesday the dockmaster called and had a ball for us. The problem was that it was for a 45 foot boat. We are 46 with a huge swim step, so it is safe to say that we are really closer to 50. Sadness, that means that we need a 60 foot ball and there are only 15 of those and with the weather questionable, no one is leaving.

Questionable? It rained all day! I loved it. I like to putter and so I cleaned and knitted a little, read, did my puzzles and the next thing you know, it is time for dinner. We decided to eat at the little restaurant there because it had been so busy the night before. One does not go to an outdoor restaurant in Florida that is near mangroves without spraying first. The restaurant even has spray for those foolish people who either don’t know any better or can’t believe that the no see’ums could possibly bite them!

Wednesday came and went. There came a call that perhaps someone would be leaving, but alas, they changed their mind. I really was thrilled because we had planned to stay only one more night. I couldn’t think why we would move the boat to a ball for one night. Kelley looks at these events as opportunities; I think more work than fun. Off came the boats and we had a great bike ride.

Marathon is really the fishing capital for the Keys, or was. Kelley and I seem to be missing the thrill of the Keys. We thought that the waters would be clear, the landscaping lush. You can rarely see the bottom (and remember that it is shallow here), it really is pretty arid.

But, we are with our best friend – each other.