Islamorada March 4-11

First an addendum to the last post.  A "small world" update.  As we were walking off the docks at Faro Blanco a couple came up to us and said "aren't you Randy and Stella's friends that we went on a cruise with 10 years ago?".  It was Cassie and Keith from Michigan!  They recently retired and were vacationing at the Hyatt Resort adjacent to the marina.  It was great to see them again.  Small world.
On 3/4 we moved the boat to Plantation Yacht Harbor in Islamorada to get a little closer for our Bahamas departure still planned for the first weather window March 14 or later. 
Leaving Faro Blanco:

Note the depth in the middle of the marked channel...just under 5 feet (sounder is about 1.2 feet below water line). Bumped bottom once later in the trip.  Hopefully only sand.....don't feel any vibration when running.

 Our new tiny lighthouse.  The view from our slip at Plantation Yacht Harbor in Islamorada.

 Our good friends Scott and Nancy joined us on Saturday and we took a 15+ mile round trip dinghy excursion to the Lorelei tiki bar and restaurant for dinner and to listen to the live music. It was a bit rough but the weather forecast for the next few days was very windy so we knew it was now or never as they say.  The band was very good and we stayed for the entire first set which allowed us a beautiful sunset view from the dinghy on the wet ride home. Thanks for taking most of the salt spray Julie!! It was a fun trip and we arrived back at the boat just at dusk. 

 

On Sunday Scott drove us on a tour of the area.  We went to Marathon and checked out our previous "residence" (Faro Blanco) and a few of the local sites including Sombrero Beach, Sunset Grille

 

and Burdines (had to have one more French fry and key lime pie "fix"). It was a beautiful day and a great way to catch up with Nancy and Scott.

At Sunset Grille

Sunset at the Plantation Yacht Harbor from our fly bridge.

Monday we went to Key West for the day.  It was nice to travel by car instead of bus!  Thanks for all the driving Scott!  It is a long 87 mile one way trip with all the small towns, speed limit changes, etc.  We made it to most of the tourist stuff except we did not stay for the sunset celebration at Mallory Square....just too long of day for this old retiree!  But the shopping and site seeing was great and the temperature was just perfect.

 

Tuesday was a bit of a lazy day allowing Nancy and Scott (and us!) some relaxation time.  Went out for breakfast and dinner.  Breakfast was at the Made to Order restaurant and we had surprise visitors there too!  Mark and Janice and their daughter Kathleen and son in law Noal were on their way to Key West and stopped by to say hello.  It was great to see them!! 
It was a great sunset for Scott and Nancy's last night before returning north.  The view from Islamorada Fish Company restaurant....

Mark and Janice also stopped at the boat on their way back through the area on Wed.  It was so good to see them and catch up for a couple hours.  Thanks for stopping by!!

 

 

Took a dinghy ride Thursday and found this unique spot about 2 miles north of our marina.  I'll have to do some asking around to find out the genesis of this apparent tradition!

If the zooming in did not work on the photos above, the street sign name is Shit Lane and the poles marking the channel are topped with toilet seats with various notations on them.  Weird tradition, that's for sure.  So later I found out this is called Toilet Seat Pass by the locals.  It has been a tradition for many years.  Someone in the marina here is constructing a plunger tree (like a wine bottle tree) to plant there soon as well....gotta have fun!

Friday I set out to get a haircut.  Hmmm, 6 miles by bicycle one way.  And that means I need to "unstow" a bike from the lazarette. Or....how about a nice dinghy ride to the dinghy dock at Mangrove Marina and a short walk?  Easy decision.  Great chance to see the sights along the way and get a haircut.  So the personal travel vehicle hit the waters and it worked great!

The weather appears to be shaping up for our crossing to Alice Town in Bimini next week.  We hope it holds and we can make our way to the Bahamas for a couple months!
Thank you so much to our family and friends who have visited us.  We have so enjoyed the company this winter!  Our next visitors are scheduled in mid April in the Abacos, Bahamas for a week.  For those of you who are still contemplating a visit but have not planned it, we still have 18 months to go on our trip!  Keep in touch and let us know.  We'll try to share our adventure whenever we can.