Monday Dec. 30 – Sunday Jan. 5

0 miles

Life in the Keys (during winter) is awesome! No ice to slide on. No snow to shovel. It’s hard to believe snow even exists when you’re down here.

Every morning in the marina they have a Cruisers Net on channel 68 at 9am. They cover new arrivals, departures, local announcements, questions, help, and if any one has any thing to sell/trade/buy/or giveaway. It’s a great resource to not only find out what’s going on in the harbor or the area near by, but if you are in need of help with something there is usually someone here that can either assist you or know someone that can. The marina has a large tiki hut with picnic tables. The main building has a large area with books and DVD’s to borrow, an area to sit with free WIFI, and a large poster were you can post any service you need or would offer to others.

 

 dinghy docks

 

 

 

 

This past week we have taken our bikes out every day (it’s nice to have FLAT bike paths) to do some shopping or sightseeing. We have also taken the dinghy out and cruised thru the mangrove channels, checked out some gorgeous homes and boats and found several large Iguanas sunning them selves.

 

For New Years Eve we took the dinghy to a near by restaurant for dinner and music with another couple from MI that also has there boat here. On New Years day Randy joined about 20 others for a “polar plunge”. This was really quite funny. The water here was 76 degrees, but listening to the locals you would have thought it was freezing.

The gentleman on the trumpet is 96 years old had has played with Tommy Dorsey & Frank Sinatra.

 

 Randy & Terry getting ready for the "polar plunge".

 

On Friday we went to the Crane Point nature center. This is a 63 acre ecological and cultural treasure that is the true “natural” Florida. They have 1.5 miles of nature trails that take you past the “Adderley house (the oldest house in Monroe county), a wild bird center (used to rescue, rehabilitate and release injured birds), and the Crane house (for the couple that purchased the land and preserved it till the center took over and named it after them).

 

 Found this "little" guy along the way.

 

Just when you get nice and comfortable and feel save in your new environment… you get awakened at 4:30 in the morning by a very strong wind during low tide with a bump that jars the boat and a not so nice noise that there is something hitting the bottom of the boat. We had to wait till 8:00 am for the office to open to let them know there was something down under us. The staff was very helpful and moved us to another mooring ball and told us they would send a diver to check out the old mooring site. Randy will be diving later to check out our boat. Hopefully no damage was done.