Catching up from Key Largo.

What a difference a day makes!  We awoke on Friday morning in Boca Chita to some very Tired looking coconut and palm trees.  They blew, and blew, and blew for 36 hours straight.  We could hear a pin drop.  The universe was still, finally.  The Catamaran (Dues Paid) headed off to stage for their crossing to the Bahamas at about 8:30.  They hosted two evenings for the 3 boats tied up alongside the dock, giving us some pleasant company and diversion while riding out the storm.  Another pleasant storm diversion was in the form of a 22 foot "yacht" with 4 friends from cradle to their 28 years aboard.    Ready to have fun in a wholesome, 28 year old male sort of way, weather be damned.  Nice kids, good humor!

We left Boca Chita about an hour after the Cat, headed "on the inside" to see the Keys rather than just their outline.  We passed through open sounds, with skinny water off the channel, but no worries.  We meandered through a few mangrove 'cuts' feeling more like the Tunnel of Love than a major waterway.     We passed some "classic" Keysian getaways (Gilbert's Resort!  He may have seen better days in his youth, just saying')  We took a peek at Pumpkin Key (a private island with no dinghy access) and continued on to our target for tonight's anchorage, Tarpon Basin.  We settled in and dropped the bikes to be greeted at the Government Dock (County Complex) by a Keysie liveaboard who provided a wealth of information on what to do, see and get in Key Largo.  Hardware store.  West Marine.  Publix.  K-Mart.  $2.00 ice!!  40 Cent wings and $1.25 beers during Happy Hour at Hobo's (where you can get the same fish sandwich for $4.25 that sells for $15.00 up the street).

Well,… we did the hardware store, Publix, K-mart and Hobo wings and beer.  Sat at the bar at Hobo's with a nice 85 year old couple from Philly (another Keysie experience).  They were eating dinner before their party this evening….gave us lots of happy vibes about sunsets and happy hours….hmmm, the Keys may be all about moving from one Happy Hour to the next.  

So, we are actually in the Keys.  The Upper Keys, but clearly the Keys.  When construction is completed on Route 1 the land area may be a beautiful place.  But I guess you can say that about anywhere on Route 1….  Key Largo (our current land mass) was originally named Rock Harbor until the 1948 Bogart/Bacall movie named "Key Largo" was such a hit.  Again, thank you US Post Office for allowing the name change and the real estate boom!

The anchorage here in Tarpon Basin is gorgeous, though.  And the moon rise, and the sunset.  And, the happy hour at Hobo's was quite nice, too!

Four boys from the Berkshires

enjoying an overnight at Boca Chita on "The Yat".

A traveling companion we met up with heading South in Biscayne Bay.

Gil Slater's famous pancakes available here.

Could have cut this guy's tow line with our mast;

 luckily the driver had the presence of mind to turn out of the way.

Tarpon Basin: as pretty as Maine, with 71 degree water, no chop, no snow…no lobster thermidor either, but who's complaining?