At Boot Key Harbor

We left Marco Island at 8:20 AM April 18 with a forecast for wind from the NE at 15 kts.-perfect for our 54 nautical mile passage to Little Shark River . Our route took us around Cape Ramano Shoals. View our track at the Spot site. The promised wind held for a few hours, died away, clocked to the southeast and increased to 27! Slow, slow was our final leg into Little Shark River where we anchored at 7:20 PM, eleven long hours after our departure. Richard & Joanne fared well; Sherwood suffered through it getting sick once. Lots of attention was required to avoid the CT mine fields! CT = crab trap.

We left Little Shark River with a forecast for a SE wind at 15; we experienced 20+ all across Florida Bay sailing with the main only reefed once. We kept the genoa furled so that we could keep a good lookout for the crab traps. Joanne proved to an excellent CT spotter dogging and weaving through the many lines of crab traps stretching across the bay.

Out of the vast expanse of blue water, we spied Marathon's bridge in the distance. Marathon is one of the bigger islands in the middle of the chain of the Keys. It is known for its hospitality to boat cruisers and for its great facilities. We went under the huge bridge, headed for port (left) and wound in the channel where we picked up a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor. Boot Key looks like a sea of bobbing sailboats. We figured it took us 9 hours after leaving Little Shark River to go about 44 nm (nm=nautical miles) from the north. We hope everyone is following our SPOT trail (website below). We made contact with our friends, Maureen and Tom, from sailboat "Can't Agree" who decided to come back to the harbor after receiving a bad weather forecast for crossing the Gulf Stream. We are looking forward to spending time with them here in Marathon while we wait for ideal weather for crossing the Gulf Stream.