March 15-20, 2012 . . . To Miami

Departing Key West in the early morning was uneventful and remained so for several hours. The winds returned, East 15-20 kts., and the seas built to 4-6'. It was great to finally pass under the 7 Mile Bridge and leave the Gulf, the Hawk Channel, and go inside to the Florida Bay and the ICW.

Passing through the channel a west bound SeaRay was coming dead on for SONATA and a port-to-port passage was proposed, no response . . . the SeaRay continued dead on; five whistles . . . no response . . . finally swerved to port to miss the speeding boat and observed the "captain" at the held watching TV or playing with his cell phone . . . or just standing there asleep . . . an auto-pilot in the hands of a fool can be deadly!!!

Sunset at Shell Key. The sunset occurred three days after a full moon, and, 57 minutes later the water around SONATA was brightened by the presence of ODONTOSYLLIS ENOPLA (Bermuda Fire Worms). At this precise time the female worm comes to the surface of the water, emits a bioluminescent lime green color, a sexual attraction, the male worm sees this action, swims up from the bottom, mates with the female, the lights go out and in some 10 minutes all the lights, reflections, are gone . . . what a surprise.

Still another pass on the North side of the keys to allow us into Anchorage Resort Marina at Jewfish Creek, Key Largo.

When we arrived at the Marina the pool was full of kids so we stayed away. The next day . . . no kids around . . . so when Bonnie returned from her walk into Key Largo we took over and enjoyed the pool for the day.

Miami came into view the next day and we arrived at the Pelican Harbor City Marina, Miami Parks and Recreation, on 79th Street . . . Bonnie was then off to meet with her Virginia Beach tennis friends for the week end.

March 1-15, 2012 . . . Key West

Dee Dee and David Macdonald joined us in Key West.

First night on the town . . . did we eat seafood . . . no, no, no, everyone enjoyed Thai.

After dinner we were all off to Mallory Square for the local shows and sunset, a tradition.

Then the walk back to SONATA past Sloppy Joe's Bar and a stop for some basketball TV viewing and sudds.

The next day we had very strong winds so we stayed put. We gathered on the bridge during the wind and rain and listened to channels 16 and 22A for the nearby boats in "distress." Problems of loosing control of their vessels, draging anchor, and being unable to remain properly tied to their docks. Winds were up to 45+ knots with higher gusts.

Touring Key West, the beginning and ending of Highway 1, the lighthouse, cruise ships in port, and Dee Dee and David at the bikeshop for transportation.

Hemmingway House

An eyebrow house

Jimmy Buffett was not here . . . food was great!

Chickens are every where . . . brought here for cock-fights, and when the fights became illegal, the chickens were set free . . . and run loose in Key West.

A kaypoc tree . . . remember the old life jacket stuffings.

A banyan tree.

A tourist must . . . must have your picture taken here . . . a waiting line to have your picture taken . . . are we all crazy?

Then a visit with Harry Truman's Little White House; a terrific tour.

The evening was ended with Dee Dee's birthday dinner at Michael's . . . where the fire-works went off..................

Our neighbors at Key West Bight were Bill and Marty Valters from Fort Lauderdale. They kindly invited us to stop by their home on our way through Fort Lauderdale so we could have Anchor Petroleum fill our fuel tanks.

When arriving at Micahel's for Dee Dee's birthday dinner, Bonnie was seen by Barbara, a Virginia Beach tennis buddy. We all got together, toured Key West, went to dinner, lunch, and here are at Louie's Backyard for dinner; Ed, Barbara, Bonnie and Charlie.


Some of the many places we visited:

While we are waiting for a table at the Blue Heaven, Bonnie picks up a conversation with the fellow next to her in the wait line. Turns out he is from Virginia Beach, and works with Leslie at the port. What a small world. He comes down with friends for four days or so . . . and he was waiting for a table . . . joined later by his friend John who lives down the street from where Rhonda and Leslie used to live. They all know eachother.