January 2: Long Key Bight - at anchor

We arrived at Treasure Harbor two weeks ago and it was finally time to move on.

It's been a nice time but too far away from just about everything to be really enjoyable. Marathon has just about anything you want within an easy bike/walk distance.

There are 8 manatee that live in this harbor and for the last few days three of them have just been hanging around the dock - sometimes just floating next to the boat. It's easy to hear them breathe :-)

It was pretty much the windless day forecast as we left at mid-high tide shortly after 9 am. The winds were out of the SE and very low so it was a perfect time to try fishing as we headed on toward Marathon.

Julian (one of the boat owners here) said just go out to about 80 feet of water and then zig-zag from 80 to 120 ft and then back. He assured us we would catch SOMETHING!

Steve was well prepared with new lures (we were trolling) and some new line on his poles.

Trolling is easy - I just drive our usual speed of 8 mph and eventually (hopefully!) a fish will start tugging on the line.

Success!!! Steve ended up with 5 fish - 3 keepers. Or so we thought. This one was too little though. Part of the problem with fishing here is we don't know what kind of fish we have caught!

This was probably a small blue runner - not a great eating fish but way fun to catch!

Biggest catch was a 'tunny' tuna fish. Also great fun to catch but not at all very good to eat.

Still the fun factor made it a great day overall. Just being out beyond the reefs (about 7 miles) in relatively deep water was really fun for a change. The blue of the water is so wonderful - we forget how nice it is.

 Even though there was not a great deal of wind, there are always waves. And our boat always rolls - unless traveling directly into the waves - which is almost never when zig-zagging around looking for fish! Sort of like an exercise machine :-)

The rule continues to be: one hand gripping a handhold on the boat at all times. This has served us well in the past so .....

Besides a great fishing day, it was also a great turtle sighting day. When driving the boat I am constantly looking at the view ahead as there continue to be lots of crab pots and buoys out in the middle of what should be nowhere.

As such, it's very easy to spot the turtles as they surface to breath. Spotted today: a record 5 turtles!! One was so close I put the engine in neutral as I was afraid I was going to run it over - fortunately it dived just at the front of the boat.

We arrived here at Long Key Bight about 3 this afternoon. It's a really nice night and a great place to anchor. There is another trawler and a sailboat in for the night with us.

This bay a place we anchored a number of times with Paul and Miriam when we chartered boats out of Treasure Harbor. One of the nights, we were surrounded by bioluminescence glowing green in the water. Sadly none tonight but the stars are crazy.

Again getting close to Lake Powell ....but not surpassing.

The plan is for a kayak ride to the southern shore in the morning and then off to Banana Bay and civilization.

Of course, for us, that means a choice of breakfast places within easy biking distance!

What a wonderful start to what we expect to be a great new year :-)