No Name Harbor

Our final stop before heading outside and up the coast to Ft Lauderdale was the southern tip of Key Biscayne in a little harbor without a name.  Well, technically the name is No Name Harbor.  The harbor is well protected from just about any wind direction and has water 10-12 feet deep right up to the shore.  The deep water makes for a bit of an anchoring challenge when you consider the number of boats that often anchor here.

We normally try to use a formula to determine how much anchor chain to put out.  This takes into account the depth of the water, the wind conditions, the type of material on the seabed (sand, mud, etc.), and the fact that we have chain instead of rope on the first 100 feet of our anchoring tackle.  In 12 feet of water, we would usually put out around 60 feet of chain, more if the wind was blowing and if we had room.  Some would say that is generous.  My feeling is that I like a good night's sleep and don't want to worry about a dragging anchor.  However, with boats all around us, that much chain would have put us on top of the boat behind us.  And, if the other boats have less chain/rope out and the wind direction changed, we might swing sideways into one of them.  Many of the boats in this harbor had fenders out on the sides of their boats, apparently anticipating that this might happen.  Since the wind was not so much a factor with protection from the trees on shore, and it was forecast to stay east for the next several days (and not change direction), we felt fairly comfortable with considerably less than 60 feet.

One of the bike trails

View of the beach as we were leaving.  Key Biscayne on the right. Miami in the background

After setting the anchor, we took our bikes to shore and rode into town for a few supplies.  The harbor is surrounded by Bill Baggs State Park where there are miles of really nice biking trails along lush natural areas.  There is a nice beach on the Atlantic side with a functioning lighthouse.  There are fishing piers and camping sites, all within a mile or so of the town of Key Biscayne.  We stayed one night here two years ago as we waited to make the crossing to Bimini.  It's a convenient harbor for those looking for a weather window to cross.

Boats came and went throughout the evening.  It is a short ride to Miami.  As far as I could tell, there were no anchors that dragged during the night.

Boca Chita Key

 Monday on our way back to Ft Lauderdale, we stopped at Boca Chita (not to be confused with Boca Chica near Key West.)  This island is located between Sands Key and the Ragged Keys on Biscayne Bay's eastern shores.  We had thought about stopping there earlier in our trip but never got to it.  Wish we had!

Docking basin

Wall built with coral "stones"

This key was purchased and developed in the 30's as a private residence of Mark Honeywell of Honeywell Computers.  It was later sold to the U.S. government in 1985 and made into a park.  There is a well protected basin with wooden docks all along the walls where boats are permitted to stay overnight for a $20 fee.  Bathrooms are the only amenity besides the dock spaces and you must pack out all your trash. But in spite of that, on the Monday afternoon we were there, the place seemed quite popular.  We were told it is packed on the weekends with people coming over from Miami.

One of the buildings still standing on the key

The island is really pleasant with the ocean to the east, deep channels on the northern and southern ends, coconut palms, walking trails throughout, and nice stone work that was part of the original compound.  And there is a beautiful lighthouse that was unfortunately never permitted to be lighted.

Lighthouse at the entrance to the basin

Hermit crab

We had a fun time walking around the island, picking up shells along the beach, some of which contained little hermit crabs inside.  (Callie thought they were very interesting.)  We could have stayed another day or so if we'd had time.  It was just that kind of a place.

Callie the boat cat

We've had our cat on board Kentris since we began this trip.  Initially doubtful about her ability to adjust, we have found she is much happier on board with us than staying at home with someone coming over to feed and occasionally pet her, even if this is on a daily basis.  She has always seemed very stressed out when we have returned from a trip of any length of time.

She has gotten more and more brave as time passes.  She would not come out of the salon when we first started out.  Now she regularly ventures out on deck, even if the boat is moving (as long as it is not too bouncy).  She especially likes cruising the deck at night after everything quiets down.  I like to think she watches for pirates while we sleep!

At the check-up she had at the vet's office before we left, she was told she was getting a little chubby and needed to watch her weight.  So she has been on a diet (when I can keep Tom from sneaking her little treats when I'm not looking).  This has probably been the hardest thing she has had to deal with.  She really is food oriented.

So this blog entry is dedicated to Callie, our great little boat kittie.  She has been much fun to have on board.  If you are considering whether your cat could be a reasonable pet to have on a boat, go ahead and try it.  A kitten might adjust more easily, but Callie is 13 or so and she has done really well.

Sailing is so exhausting

Pirate watch again?

Can't a girl take a bath around here with a little privacy?

Will this rolling ever stop? (This is not a trick photo.
She really does brace herself like this sometime when the seas are rough.)

If I lay here long enough they are bound to put some food in that bowl. This diet is killing me!

You have to catch a nap wherever you can around here.

Exploring Marathon

Boot Key Harbor City Marina is a really well-organized facility. There are an incredible number of boats in the harbor and yet things run quite smoothly here. For the price of your mooring ball, you have the use of two large dinghy docks, with separate sides for soft and hard dinghies, a large number of private shower rooms (although they could use some maintenance), TVs, internet, cruisers library, laundry, outside tiki bar area, and once a week pumpout from your mooring. They have a pumpout boat and you are scheduled for a particular day when you sign up for a week of mooring. There is also a cruisers' net on the VHF at 9:00 every morning where, if you are so inclined, you can get all the latest on what's happening in the harbor. The weather has been rowdy most of the week we have been here so there has not been much socializing going on. We're thinking that will change this weekend when it's supposed to be calmer and there is a seafood festival happening right next to the marina.

There are lots of things to see and do around here. We visited Sombrero Beach recently.   It's a nice sandy stretch of beach with one end bordering on Sister Creek.  There are some palms for shade, bathrooms, picnic tables, etc.  We were able to ride our bikes over there and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon.  If we had some chairs, a picnic lunch, and maybe a little less wind, it would have been just about perfect.

Atlantic side of the park

Overlooking the park

A look down the old bridge

Tom's son Aaron and his wife Lauren are visiting us for a few days.  Since they have a car, we drove over to Bahia Honda State Park for an adventure.  The wind was howling so we had to find something else interesting to do besides sailing.  This park has a tiny harbor where smaller sailboats can dock.  There are campsites and cabins to rent, a concession stand, and some trails, one of which leads up to the old bridge that was part of Henry Flagler's railroad.

The tiki bar at Salty's

After exploring the park's trails for a couple hours, we thought a little lunch and a cold beer were in order, so we stopped at a place on the way home called Salty's.  Slow service, but the food was good and the ambiance was "keysie."

Marathon Revisited

Friday we decided it was time to leave Key West and head north (or more accurately, east at this point in the Keys).  The anchorage where we had been for almost a week was quite rolly from passing wakes and wide open to winds from the north.  It was already uncomfortable from time to time and 30k north wind was predicted for this weekend.  I didn't want to stick around to see what that would feel like. 

You can't always trust the wind forecasts, although we have found  http://windfinder.com to be the most accurate of the sites we routinely check.  On Friday they were calling for light to moderate wind from the southeast which would make for a reasonable sail for us up the Keys.  As we turned around the west end of Key West we were met with rough seas and 20-25k winds on our nose.  Kentris was bucking the waves and taking water over the bows.  Callie and I were not very happy campers.  As Tom raced around closing the hatches we had left open thinking things would be fairly tame, I tried to keep the boat on course.  Finally around the island and heading east, things calmed down just a bit and we got the sails up with a reef in the main.  At least the wind was in the forecasted direction so we were able to sail.

Eventually the wind moderated and the sea became less rowdy but we managed to average 7 knots even with the reefed main, and never had to turn the engines on until we were ready to come in the channel to Boot Key Harbor.  An unusual sailing day for us.  We did, however, hook another of the thousands of crabpots we had to negotiate along the way. Tom had cut the pot loose when we first caught it but there was still line wrapped around the prop, so we stopped briefly when we got to the channel so that Tom could cut that line off and we could use that engine.  Now we are happily hanging on a mooring ball and ready to do some exploring around Marathon.

Fort Taylor State Park

The fort and moat

We decided to ride our bikes over to Fort Zachary Taylor today which is located on the southwestern end of Key West.  For a small fee you can enjoy a very nice park with a fort to explore, bike paths, beach access and even a concession stand with decent food and beer.  It was a rather warm day in town but out there a nice breeze was blowing off the water to cool things down considerably.

The fort was constructed during the mid-1850s.  At the onset of the Civil War it was held by Union forces.  It was also used extensively during the Spanish-American war in 1898. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in the 1970s due to the large collection of Civil War canons, etc. which were found buried there. Originally surrounded on all sides by water, with only a bridge to the mainland, the land has been filled in so that there is only a moat around the buildings now.

Beach and pines

 It is apparently also popular as a beach destination.  There were quite a few more people than we expected to see on a Thursday morning when no cruise ships were in town.  People had brought picnics and beach chairs and were enjoying the sun and waves. Tom and I set ourselves up in the shade of the trees that surround the beach.  The sound of the wind whistling through the pines above us was very relaxing.

After reading for a while and getting a bite to eat, we rode around the bike trail to view the fort from the opposite side.  We had explored the building on a previous trip, so this time we didn't go inside.  We have been finding our fold-up bikes very useful in getting around town.  We only had one until we got to Marathon, but bought another on sale at West Marine while we were there and have put it to good use.

View from the beach

Driftwood?

Our rides

Scenes from Key West

I don't know how it happened but somehow the format of the blog got changed and I couldn't get it back the way it was.  It's probably easier to read this way anyhow so now we have a whole new look.

Here are some pictures that capture a little of Key West.

Rooster #1

Great little bar and restaurant

Still life

The marvelous Catman

Catman and Hanibal

Key West Bight

Sunset on Mallory Square

Rooster #2

Where is the Catman?

One of the things that most people who come to Key West enjoy is the sunset celebration at Mallory Square.  Every night crowds gather to watch the sun disappear into the water off the west end of town.  There are several sailing ships that tack back and forth offshore, adding to the beauty of the scene while giving their passengers a different perspective. Cameras are everywhere and people watching is entertaining in itself.

But before the sun does down, there is a whole smorgasbord of things to see.  There are small booths set up along one side where you can find some unique items for sale.  Everything from recycled aluminum can art to palm frond hats to original paintings are available.  The selection varies somewhat from day to day and there always seems to be new things displayed, keeping shoppers interested.

Tarot card reader

Unicyclist high in the air

The street performers, though, really keep things moving.  You can see mimes, jugglers, escape artists, sword and fire swallowers, dog tricks, singers, and acrobats.  They are all performing for tips from the audience so the more unique and/or outrageous they can be, the better the pay off.  Some have been around for years, maybe varying their acts some to keep people interested.  Others come and go with only brief notoriety.

My personal favorite among these performers is Dominique, the Catman.  We saw him last time we were in Key West and I went back day after day to see his kitties do their thing.  The show is always different because the cats don't always do exactly what he asks them to.  They are cats after all, right?  Who would ever expect  a cat to do anything you asked it to do?  However Dominique gets them to walk tightropes, jump through a ring of fire, catch the "sushi" treats he throws to them, and generally charm the crowd with the obvious love they have for him.  When they don't do what he asks them to do, the Catman makes up for it by being the entertainment himself.  There is no fence around the act.  The cats are free to come and go as they please.  But they remain in the show area, sometimes walking around a bit randomly, but never making any effort to leave.

I don't have a picture of my favorite guy and his kitties though because he wasn't there this weekend.  Both days we went there looking for him only to be disappointed.  I'm hoping he'll be back before the week is over so I can get my Catman fix and some pictures.  Until then you'll have to settle for this guy's picture. The pelicans here are quite tame as they have learned to expect handouts from all the fish being cleaned.

Key West

We finally made it to Key West yesterday and tied up to the end of a dock.  It's an unusual arrangement for us.  There is not really a face dock here so we have our stern tied to the outer most piling of the first slip on the main dock and our bow tied to a piling at the end of the main dock.  It works, sort of, but we have to step over the lifeline at the bow in order to exit the boat.  At low tide it is a exercise in gymnastics.

On the way here we anchored in Newfound Harbor, about half way between Marathon and Key West.  There we met a fellow cruiser who lives in that area when she's on land.  We had first met her last fall when we were bringing the boat down from NC.  We were both anchored in a remote creek somewhere in SC and enjoyed sundowners together.  One of the really positive things about cruising on a boat is that you meet the nicest people.  The cruising community spreads out all over the world and you never know when you will run into again some people you met at another time and in another place.  Even if you didn't meet the people on a particular boat, when you see the boat again in a different place, it is a little like seeing an old friend.

Tom had his fishing lines out on the way to Key West and caught this nice Spanish mackerel which we promptly cooked for dinner that night.  He's been reading everything he can find and talking to different people about fishing and it must have paid off.

Heading south

Boot Key Harbor

Our friends left early Monday morning and we cast off from our mooring ball on Key Biscayne shortly after that to turn south again. After stopping to anchor at a couple of places along the way, we have made it as far as Marathon where we have picked up another mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor.  There are 226 mooring balls here, most of which appear to be occupied and mostly by sailboats.  It is an impressive sight.  We've heard that this harbor used to be very polluted and full of derelict boats.  They hauled out 100 boats when the city took over and started cleaning up the place. Now the water seems to be quite pristine even though many boats have people living permanently on them.  There is a vessel that comes around weekly to pump out holding tanks as part of your mooring fee, so there is no excuse for dumping sewage overboard.  The availability of pump out stations in the Keys is quite good.  North Carolina should take note of how it can be done.  No discharge zones are obviously important, but there need to be options that don't require you to travel three miles offshore to dump.

Not a good wind speed for sailing

The wind has not been our friend lately.  In spite of forecasts for favorable speed and direction, we have been motoring instead of sailing.  Yesterday the wind was supposed to be from the south but instead it was due west most of the day, the direction we were traveling.   And the 10-15k predicted did not materialize.  The picture says it all.  This weekend when we are planning to anchor in Key West, 25-30k wind is predicted.  Such is the life of a sailor!

FISH ON!

We made it back to Islamorada Thursday and anchored off the Lorelei Marina again.  Took our friends to the World Wide Sportsman and also found a place for them to purchase t-shirts.  We then had a few pina coladas at the waterside bar and listened to a little music.

We left the Lorelei Friday around 9:00 and headed out Snake Creek to the ocean.   Tom and Peggy had new fishing gear they were hot to try out, so as soon as we cleared the channel, out went the lines.  We were able to sail for a few hours but the wind eventually died.  This was just as well since the boat had to stop moving (or at least slow way down) as soon as a strike was felt on the hook.

Out past the shallow water we went.  Across the reef we went.  About three or four miles out, we finally hit the deep water.  The guy at the bait store had told us that between 100 and 150 feet deep was where we would find the fish.  We saw the flying fish jumping.  We saw the grass lines.  We saw the birds diving on fish at the water surface.  All supposed to be indicators of good fishing.  And then, zing!, there was a fish on Peggy's line.  That one got away.  And the next one got away.  But finally, she caught a black fin tuna that was a keeper.  And another.  And then Tom caught a couple, and then another.  Five all together.  OK.  So they weren't the huge tuna or mahi that we had been dreaming of, but they were dinner all the same.  And fun.  Since we had been trying and trying to catch a fish, this was a gold star day.  The only disappointment was that no one got a good picture of the catch.

Pilot House Marina - Key Largo

We are currently docked at a marina for the first time in a while.  We have had showers and drinks and are feeling pretty good about the day.

Back in Key Largo

We finally have internet access back after over a week without.  Our friends Pam and Peggy joined us on Monday in Key Biscayne for a week of sailing and we have moved south again to Key Largo.  The weather has returned to sunny, warm, and dry which is much appreciated.

One of the things I  have noticed about the Upper Keys is that there are no central shopping districts, at least none that we have found.  Stores, post offices, restaurants, etc. are scattered up and down the islands.  There may be small enclaves of shopping, for example, a super market, laundry, and pizza shop together in one place, but to find a location (from the water) where one can go in and "browse" a variety of stores - not so much. 

We have been trying to locate a gift shop our friends found in a guidebook intended for car drivers.  It sounded very cool, like something we might enjoy visiting.  But it has been daunting to 1) determine the location of the store relative to the water, 2) find a reasonable anchorage which is close to the location of the store, and 3) find a place to which we could take the dinghy and tie up that is within walking distance of said store. Being a tourist is a lot easier from land than from water unless you are in towns such as Key West.  Maybe further along the chain of keys we will find something different.  Or maybe if we were driving we would find something different. 

I remember the first time I drove down the Keys from mainland Florida.  I had a somewhat romantic image in my head of what the islands would be like.  It goes something like: tiki bars every mile or so with Buffett tunes playing continuously, lots of cute little, funky stores with wonderfully different items to purchase that no one at home had ever seen, beautiful beaches spread out for miles, and great food and rum drinks.  I was much younger than and I was greatly disappointed.  My tastes and expectations are different now but the reality is about the same.  So we head to quiet anchorages much of the time (of which there are many) and usually only venture into "town" for specific needs.  I'm not totally immune to the lure of the touristy places, however.  I am looking forward to eventually getting to Key West again and revisiting the uniqueness of all that that town has to offer.

Rain (delayed posting)

Campground

Tom bailing out the dinghy

It has been raining off and on, mostly on, all week since we have been at Virginia Key Grassroots Festival. Clothes, towels, shoes – all wet. I don't have a dry pair of shoes left. It's kind of depressing, especially since this is the first time they have had this festival here, there are a lot of people camping, most of them are wet, and some are thinking about going home early.

There have been two separate occasions when we have had 3 – 4 inches of rain come down in one storm. Fortunately, the ground is sandy so it is soaking in fairly quickly, but there are still large “ponds” in some areas. It is supposed to turn cold tonight and only be in the 60's tomorrow. All because of some strange tropical disturbance in Central America. Or at least that's what we've been told.

I guess we cannot complain too much. We have had almost perfect weather for the whole month previous to this, and it looks to be turning nice again next week. It's just unfortunate for the festival people. Many of these folks came all the way from New York to attend. The same organizers put on Shakori Hills in NC and another festival in Trumansburg, NY. They have “followers” that travel around to many different venues. It's pretty interesting to talk to these people about their lifestyles, which aren't too dissimilar to our present lifestyle, only theirs is on land. Following the music.

Jimbo's

Down the road from the park grounds is a place called Jimbo's. It's a little collection of shacks, painted buses, and liveaboard boats which advertises on its road sign “beer, smoked fish dip, cigarettes, gatorade, and energy drinks.” Interesting assortment of wares. There are many cyclists that ride in the park so I guess the gatorade and energy drinks are for them. Jimbo's apparently attracts an eclectic mix of patrons though from Harley riders to families with kids who come to the park to go to the beach here. Sometimes they have a band playing on a little stage. Haven't been here except during the day but I bet it gets even more interesting at night.

Sunday is the last day of the festival and we are heading south again after that, hoping the rain is over for a while. And also hoping for a better internet connection which has been missing for the last week.

Virginia Key

Miami Skyline

We left Elliott Key Sunday morning and sailed up Biscayne Bay, hoping to pick up a mooring ball at Coconut Grove.  They were all taken, however, so we continued on to the Marine Stadium on Virginia Key where we will probably be for close to a week.  The picture above is what we see currently off our stern.  It's quite impressive, especially at night.

Marine Stadium

This basin used to be the site of boat races several years ago and there is actually a stadium, now covered in an incredible array of graffiti.  You may not be able to tell from the picture, but the roof is a series of hills and valleys and we are told the local kids actually skateboard on it.  I'm glad I'm not their mother!

When we got here, there was a group of young couples with their children on the shore, picnicking, playing very loud music and racing around on waverunners.  Planes taking off from Miami flew directly over us and a seaplane buzzed the area several times.  It was a bit much.  Things did eventually quiet down fortunately.

There are maybe three boats here with people on them and another 20 left to their own (or their anchors) devices.  Most look like they are at least used periodically.  The shoreline is not dinghy friendly, but we had Jim on a neighboring boat suggest a way to get ashore without too much difficulty.  The park where the music festival is to be held is just a short walk away if his method works.  So this is our home for a while.  Quite different from where we have been the last few weeks. 

Elliott Key

Moving closer to Miami for the music festival.  Anchored off Elliott Key.  National Park here.  We walked over to the ocean.  Poor internet so longer post later.

Market day

Some of the bounty we brought home today

Going to the grocery store at home is a simple matter of relative ease.  You hop in the car, drive to the store, shop, carry your food back to the car, and drive home where you store everything in your large refrigerator and/or pantry.  Some of us don't particularly like to shop but, in the scheme of life on land, it isn't all that difficult.  Not so on a boat.

First you have to determine where the closest grocery store is located and whether or not the distance involved to get there is reasonable.  Since we had been here before, we knew the store was about two miles away, a distance we could walk without too much trouble.  You also have to locate a dock where you can leave your dinghy for a period of time without worrying about 1) being arrested for trespassing on private property, 2) having the dinghy stolen, or 3) having the dinghy damaged by sharp objects on the dock or in the water if the wind or current bang it around while you're gone.  We had that one covered too because of a previous visit, but it can be very difficult at times to find a dock to use.  Then you have to pack in the dinghy whatever you have for carrying home your purchased items and take the dinghy to a dock.  This morning we packed our rolling cart, a milk crate, and a backpack because we had some serious shopping to accomplish.

At the dock you unpack your "luggage" and haul it with you on your trek.  You do your shopping, pack the items in your cart, and head back to the dock, usually accompanied by some strange looks from fellow shoppers.  Today we came across the perfect size of cooler that we needed for our dinghy (more about this later), so we had it strapped to the rolling cart and loaded all our groceries into it at the store.  Talk about stares!  Anyway, there is also a great vegetable stand along the way back to the boat at which we stopped to add to our purchases.  All this is then carefully transferred to the dinghy for the trip back to the boat where it is all laboriously unloaded.  But wait!  You aren't finished yet because now you have to find places to store all this stuff in a dorm-sized refrigerator and a pantry about the volume of two bread boxes.  Let's just say we were pretty tired by the time we were finished the grocery shopping for today.  Hopefully these purchases will last us a few weeks with only a couple of additions of fresh things along the way.

Happily, the new fuel pump Tom installed in the dinghy motor yesterday seems to have solved our problems with fuel getting into the crankcase and causing the motor to run badly or not at all.  At least we didn't have that to worry about today while transferring groceries from shore to boat.  What would I do without his great MacGyver talents!

Island time

We've been tucked into a cozy marina for the past 2 nights because the wind has been gusting into the upper 20s to 30.  The holding in some of the anchorages here is not the greatest, being grassy and/or coral based.  Hard to get the anchor to bite well, especially with the gusty wind, so we have opted to spend a little money for a good night's sleep.  Having unlimited power and water and pump out available is really nice as well.  We've gotten the inside of the boat cleaned, at least temporarily.  It never seems to stay that way for long.

Tom has ordered some boat parts delivered here (general delivery, Islamorada), but we're still waiting on one for the dinghy motor.  It was supposed to be shipped several days ago but only just left the warehouse yesterday.  Can't go too far from here until that gets in.  Meanwhile we are just getting more and more "keysie," functioning on island time.  If we get one project accomplished each day we're satisfied that we've been productive enough.  We are trying to walk a few miles every day though to get some exercise.  And we will soon have to start moving back to Biscayne Bay to work at the music festival on Virginia Key in early February.

Does anybody know what this plant is?  It is growing at the marina where we are staying, apparently planted, not native because this is the only place we have seen it.  Very peculiar.  The whole thing starts out looking like the base of the fruit stalk, but as the berries mature, the stalk opens up from the top and the berries fall off a few at a time.

Windley Key

One of the fallen trees at the Fossil Reef State Park

We have found another anchorage that may prove to be one of our favorites. It's a little cove on the bay side of Windley Key. Came in here Friday after sailing offshore through Channel Five to a marina in order to take on some diesel and water. Our plan was to pick up a mooring at Indian Key a few miles from the marina and explore the state park there, however the moorings were half a mile offshore from the key and there was considerable swell, so this was obviously not a good option for night time comfort. So Plan B went into effect and we turned in at Snake Creek to look for some protection from the wind on the bay side. We had a little encounter with the ground just before getting to the channel into Snake Creek, but we don't need to talk about that. It was just another one of Tom's shortcuts that didn't turn out so well.

Ocean View Grill

Anyway, the anchor bit on the first try in this cove, which always makes me happy. The wind died to pretty much nothing by nightfall, so after dinner we took the dinghy into what appeared to be a small dock with a restaurant on shore. There were a few other dinghies there. We tied up and walked down a very tidy, narrow boardwalk through the mangroves to a place called Ocean View. They said there used to be a view of the ocean but a hurricane moved that restaurant to the present location and they never went back. It has an indoor and an outdoor space with a fire pit, swimming pool, playground, and happy lights twinkling all around. Friendly bartenders too.  Just a great little local spot that was hopping on Friday night. This key is said to be the highest elevation in the Keys with one report of 12' and another of 18' above sea level.

Gumbo limbo tree

Today we had lunch at Ocean View and later walked down the road to the Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park. Quite a mouthful. This is the site of a quarry that was used until the early 60's. You can see the fossilized remains of a variety of ancient coral that are visible because of the cuts made into the limestone by the quarry activity.  There are also some trails that wind through the hammocks.  A nice little self-guided tour book is provided at the visitor's center so you can identify special areas of interest and some of the 40 different trees that are growing there.

Tomorrow the wind is predicted to get a little rowdy so we will probably go into a marina for a night or two.  Need to restock the larder as well, so hopefully we will be closer to a grocery store.