2/26/14: On Saturday 2/22/14 we left Islamorada, Fl headed for our home port.  In 4 days we have traveled 176 Nautical Miles (NM). Our 1^st day we anchored at Thursday Cove in Barnes Sound. The sunset view was amazing.

Left Marina to R84 then headed north.

Anchor view Thursdays Cove, Barnes Sound

The next day we traveled through Biscayne Bay, Miami, & anchored in Ft. Lauderdale. What a difference! We shared the water with Cruise Ships, sailboats (big & small), fast boats from a poker run,  a sea plane doing touch & goes, as well as slow trawlers like us. Russ said he had never had so many people try to run over him at one time. 

Sea Plane doing touch & go...

We could hear these boats coming before we saw them. 

Poker run that was from Miami to Islamorada on the Gulf side.

This guy has a helicopter on his yacht. WOW!

Ft. Lauderdale is a cruise ship port. We got right up next to these guys.

Miami

It was Sunday so the locals gathered to party. 

Our anchor view in Ft. Lauderdale. Beautiful sunset & million dollar homes view.

After leaving Ft. Lauderdale traffic calmed down making it a good travel day. We anchored at Old Port Cove with a view of mega yachts.

Tuesday 2/25/14 we anchored out near the Ft. Pierce Bridge.  Another night of calm winds and good hold on anchor.  As we drifted off to sleep, God provided us with a spectacular view of stars through the open deck hatch.

Ft. Pierce Bridge Anchor View

Today we push forward. ICW is calm this morning but expected to change by afternoon.  

2/21/14: The weather window is perfect so tomorrow we leave Islamorada, Florida & head north. We will miss our friends Kaye & Al on Knot Home, Marsha & Joe on Morning Star, who have traveled with us since we left Ft. Myers in December 2013. Lots of good memories and we hope our wakes cross in the near future.

We aren’t looking forward to the cold weather we are headed into but excited to get to our home port, restock, and head out on our Great Loop Adventure.

2/16/14:  Everyone that owns a boat is familiar with the ‘it worked when we went to bed but was broke when we woke up” phenomenon. Lucky for us have had only very minor occurrences of this until this last Saturday morning when we woke up to a broken hot water heater. (Darn it…we knew we should have replaced that old thing when we did the retro-fit…ugh!)

The weather window to move north was this coming Tuesday/Wednesday with it closing shut Thursday. No sure when the next window will occur so leaving this week would be our preference. But our plans to leave Islamorada on Tuesday are probably on hold. Of course all of this depends on if the Marina we are at can get our hot water heater fixed in a timely manner so we can be on our way. If they can’t we will have to move north with cold showers in our future.

Okay…okay.. I can hear my snowed in northern friends firing up Facebook to remind me that we are stranded in the FLORIDA KEYS… so if you have to be stranded count your blessings that you are in the warmest part of the US. Believe me we are. While we are enjoying the warm weather here in the Keys we really need to get headed north so we can start the final preparations for our big Loop trip. 

February 5, 2014:  Its hard to believe in just a few days we will have been in Islamorada, Florida for 2 months. We are having such a good time and the weather north is so cold we just don’t want to leave.

Our favorite swimming spot is a sand bar located on the Atlantic side near Wahoo Restaurant.  At low tide the water is ankle deep which provides a great place to beach the dingy and spend some time in the water. 

We have taken in the Key Largo Seafood Festival, found a great Cuban restaurant and continue to have amazing dinner views. As always the Keys serve up breathtaking sunsets. 

A stingray by the dingy

Here we are enjoying the sun, water, and company of good friends.

Nice & relaxing

Ready to jump in!

Clear Atlantic Ocean Water

Cuban Food.. so good...

Super Bowl Sunday - A pig roast on the beach.

Another beautiful dinner view.

The Keys offer up amazing sunsets.

1/19/14 DINGY ADVENTURES- Islamorada, Fla what a way to start the new year.

Our new dingy has proved to be just what we needed here in the Keys. It is big enough and has the power to get us far from the dock. 

Riding the waterways up and down the Gulf side.

Atlantic Side Waterway - Indian Key, Florida

Russ just might take to this fishing thing....

Storm coming in. Good thing our dingy is fast.

What an amazing journey we are on. 

12/27/13

Christmas in the Florida Keys was warm. Shortly after we arrived I (Elaine) came down with strep throat which resulted in two trips to the ER for medication. Finding a DR on the Islands is well impossible. People say they exist but I think its an urban legend. So I  have been somewhat limited on the activities I have been able to do. But we have managed to some some things so all is not lost and it appears as if I am on a good road to recovery.

If all goes well I should be out and able to play later this week!

Lots of people decorate their boats for Christmas. 

 These are a few of the charter boats all decked out.

 A dock party - pizza & beer after all it is the keys. Kaye & Al, Marsha & Joe, 

with Russ and Elaine.

We rented a car and drove down to Key West for the day with Al & Kaye.

The Lorelei Cabana Bar & Restaurant are right next door to us providing us with food, music, & beautiful sunsets.

Sun goes down moon comes up.

We have taken the dingy out & checked out the miles of mangroves. So neat.

On 12/10/13, after 485 NM & 34 Days we arrived at Islamorada, Fla. Hard to believe we are in the Florida Keys but the clear blue waters of the Keys confirms our arrival.

Here we are sitting at an outside restaurant with our toes in the sand. So far this has been an amazing adventure.