Tuesday March 19: A Two Hour Cruise with Joysea

Mon: Steve was watching the weather again - looking for an opportunity to get back out on the water. And it looked great for the next several days with almost no winds. We are still trying to make it to Looe Key - a reef about 5 miles off-shore but almost 30 miles from Banana Bay. Not that this is far but it's best to be cautious when planning a trip on the ocean side.

The plan: go to Bahia Honda State Park (about 15 miles) Monday then today go to Looe Key for some diving/snorkeling.

The best part was that Dave and Joyce (Joysea) were interested in joining us for the day Monday but wanted to be back to Marathon before dark. But how to get them back? The $1.50 Lower Keys bus!! What a perfect solution!

The bus stop was just a 1/2 mile walk from the marina at Bahia Honda. An excellent plan.

Except that Dave and Joyce (who had never been here to the park) hopped off the boat, walked around about 5 minutes and decided they would just stay the night - it was just too great of a place to not just stay.  How perfect ... we had tried to talk them into that plan in the first place anyway :-) I love folks that are flexible and no plan is set in stone.

So off we went to the top of the old railroad bridge. It was a gorgeous day. Sunny and windy (which kept us on the bay side) but no problem as we were able to again quickly lay the mast back and scoot under the 19 foot bridge to get to the ocean side and into the marina.


Being the very capable boat people that they are, Joyce and Dave took care of getting the boat hooked up to shore power. The power pedestal was very low and Dave ended up having to lay on the dock in order to see how to correctly insert the chord (it only fits one way - three prongs).

Maybe this is why they were prompted to sell their boat after completing the Great Loop and move to motor-homing :-)








Next was lunch under the shade of a nearby tree. Dave and Joyce brought already grilled hot dogs (read tofu) and veggi -burgers that were great. We're definitely going to have to try that ourselves!



After lunch, Dave and Steve went out in the dinghy to try fishing under the bridge here.

It wasn't very good fishing until I showed up in my kayak and suddenly the fish started biting. I think it's because the kayak looked like a giant shark to the fish under the water and they went for the hook as a way to get out of the water  :-)

Anyway, no fish appetizers tonight. Instead it was Steve's spinach and mushroom lasagna. Always a hit with me!

Tues: It poured overnight with a thunderstorm off in the distance. First rain we've had here since I can't remember when but close to an inch fell.

The leftover storm clouds were rolling around south and west of us in the morning but it was a picture perfect day otherwise.

Joyce and Dave made it to the bus stop for their 9:25 bus (only 20 minutes back to Marathon and a 10 minute walk to their condo). We were really glad they decided to stay - it was a fun day/night.

After waiting until about 1:30 for the tide to rise enough that we could make it out of the marina (very shallow entrance!), we headed out onto a very bumpy ocean ride for 10 miles to Newfound Harbor. It's just a nice place to anchor that positions us well for the trip to Looe Key tomorrow morning (assuming the winds do indeed die - you know how the weatherpeople lie :-)).

In the meantime some fun birds were spotted yesterday and today.



First the resident heron that sure looks like the same one we saw last year with Dave and Sue Puffer.


And then the ibis that was walking past the boat.

Both of these were at Bahia Honda State Park.

The best: Pete the Pelican who stopped by after we had anchored for the night.

I think he was looking for a handout :-)

Well, Steve is getting the fishing pole out. The sun is shining brightly, the wind is now a breeze and life is good .....