More of the Keys

A family vault at the Key West Cemetery. On the right side of the door, Charlie took a close up photo of the second plaque down. See two photos down.



These are three more photos of the cemetery we visited in Key West. The object on the top of this second photo is a toy airplane! These photos are taken by Charlie with his cell phone. He now has an cell phone adapter that he can use to load his phone photos to the computer!



We had a laugh over this one!



Charlie and I left Key West on January 9 after a fun, four night stay. Our marina was in a wonderful location; right on the harbor walk. Wonderful but pricey. (We somehow justified the uniqueness of the location when we reserved our slip!)

The weather looked like it might bring in gusty winds later in the week so after the four day stay, we left around 8 a.m. and traveled on the outside in Hawk Channel for 30 miles before reaching our night’s anchorage in Newfound Harbor at Big Pine Key around 2 PM.

Vessels can follow either of two routes while in the Keys. They can go on the Gulf side (north side, also known as the inside route) of the Keys via the Intracoastal Waterway. There are more anchorages on this side but it is primarily recommended for vessels not requiring more than 4 ½ feet of water. Or, vessels can go on the Atlantic side (south or known as the outside route) via the Hawk Channel. We choose Hawk Channel because of the deeper water as our boat draws 4 feet. Also, it was the best way to enter our final destination in the Key of Key Largo’s Marina Del Mar which is where we are now and will remain until February 12.


Leaving Key West we traveled about three miles off shore in the Hawk Channel for three days on our way to Key Largo. We got a decent look at the shorelines along the way, noting the different ports, villages, clusters of homes and businesses and all the bridges that connect the islands. It was a unique view from our perspective.

From Miami to Key West, there are 42 bridges that link all the Keys scattered along the 126-mile, historic U.S 1 highway including the 7-mile bridge that links Vaca Key with Little Duck Key,about in the middle of the string of keys.


Having such a wide open stretch of water ahead of us and to our starboard, the waves built as the days progressed and Charlie said it was like traveling in the Great Lakes again with the wide open water. The weather forecast predicted winds out of the north northeast at 10-15 knots for the first day and what we got were east winds building to 15 knots instantly it seemed. We managed fine, feeling challenged and exhilarated at the same time.
We read about the long and expansive coral reefs that run four miles off shore along most of Hawk Channel which does break up the big water some.

From reading literature about this area, I learned that these coral reefs are America’s only living reefs and are a part of one of the world’s most elaborate ecosystems in the world. These reefs, and the waters surrounding them, are also one of the most highly regulated natural areas in the world.

Strict protection is necessary since life focuses on the water here; many people look to the water in the Keys for their livelihood. Combine scientific research and the huge tourism industry on an international scale, and you get the need for formal codes of preservation.

The National Marine Sanctuary for the Keys was formed in 1990 and began offering a complex and elaborate protection system surrounding all of the Florida Keys. The sanctuary has strict guidelines that preserve and protect specific zones and covers the 2,900 square nautical miles of waters from Miami to the Dry Tortugas on the far west. Specific types of zones define every natural area in the Keys. One type of zone, quoted from the National Marine Sanctuary pamphlet, is the Ecological Reserve Zone, “which is designed to encompass large, contiguous diverse habitats for preservation and genetic protection of all natural plant and animal species.” There are also areas named Special Use Areas for scientific research. We passed by such an area of water marked by four yellow balls about four feet in diameter each placed in a corner making about a ¼ mile square. There happened to be boats with divers there.

There are Wild Life Zones, used to designate highly sensitive areas and the Sanctuary Preservation Area zones to focus on among many things, the coral reefs. We saw many different looking markers in the waters and on our charts indicating these different zones.

According to one of my tourist pamphlets, the Keys are home to some of the world’s sought after game fish from sailfish to dolphin to tarpon and marlin. Commercial boats bring in the most prized shrimp: the Key West pinks as well as grouper, mahi-mahi and snapper. Since arriving in the Keys, we have eaten the Key West shrimp, grouper, Yellow tail snapper, clams, and stone crab.

We can see the appeal for travelers to come to the Keys from all over the world.

There is the unique geography and marine life, the seafood industry, the diving and snorkeling opportunities, the complete line up of water sports, the sport fishing, the subtropical weather, beautiful scenery, and the laid back feeling of the people.

To add to the uniqueness of the area for me, while in Key West I was interested in reading posters advertising Key West Community College. The college specializes in diving technologies, environmental science, and marine science. A perfect place to study those things, I thought!


Back to our first day away from Key West.





The day was extra breezy but filled with bright sunshine. Going into our anchorage known as Newfound Harbor, it was fun for me to photograph an exclusive resort on Little Munson Island where the rich and famous supposedly go. It is called Little Palm Resort and is very expensive (Lodging $500-700/night, dinner $150 per person) and very private. The boat you see in the photo was letting people off as we passed it. It is a transport boat taking people out to the island from Key West. We recognized the boat as we passed it because it was tied up behind us at our marina in Key West! It was a 50 ft. Trumphy with lots of exterior teak. Just beautiful. (We like to think that someone rich and famous was right behind us to add to the ambiance)

Our anchorage for that night had been recommended as the best protected anchorage between Key West and Marathon by several sources. To our dismay, there was not as much depth, 4 ft., as the charts indicated, 9 ft. It was going to be iffy staying here. But after enough wind and seas for the day, we found a spot with enough water even though it did not offer a lot of protection from the prevailing winds. The bay was bigger and more open than we were told and the winds made it a choppy night with waves pounding on our hull into the wee hours of daylight.

I could not sleep so I stayed up for most of the night, plugging the computer into our portable battery inverter and blogged away. Luckily, the Captain Charlie got a good night’s sleep. He has a talent for doing that.

Usually when we anchor, the boat faces the direction of the wind, changing our view as the wind changes. This time, the tides were having their way and our boat faced in the direction of the tides coming and going despite the 15-20 mph winds. But our anchor held steady on the sandy bottom and we were relieved to see we had not moved the next morning. (We used the crab pots that were close by as our markers!)

It is always pertinent to study the tide charts on our computer software as we travel these days. However, it is a science to know about the different tides in regards to many other things like the full moons, etc. Tides are the greatest during full moons and the least during the “dark of the moon”. Most of the time there are two high tides and two low tides each day. In some geographical areas there may only be one of each. Tides on the Gulf side of Florida are typically 1-3 feet; on the east side 2-4 feet. They may get as high as 8 feet in some parts of Georgia.





The photo above is a view of our chart plotter with software showing a typical readout on a selected page about the tidal changes at our anchorage. The blue lines depict actual time, sunrise, sunset, daylight and dusk. The red line indicates the tides raising and lowering. We study these tidal changes on our software chips specific to the place we are traveling through.

The next morning we got back in Hawk Channel for the second windy day. Again the winds were coming out of the east.

Thirty five miles later, we cruised into Marathon which is the biggest city on Vaca Key. It was January 10. One mile out, we called our same boater friends Gene and Kathy whom we saw in Key West. They are wintering in Marathon with Gene’s brother Pedro and his wife Ore. Gene's and Pedro's mother Eloina or "Mema," as she is affectionally called by all who know her, lives with them as well. She is a beautiful lady from Cuba with a beautiful personality as well.





Gene and Kathy guided us into a channel where we were given a place to stay on the fish receiving dock of Ore’s Seafood (Wholesale and Retail Fish House for the keys)

Gene and Kathy greeted us as we approached. They were cleaning the dock for us!

We were honored to receive a free and friendly place to tie up there for a few days. Gene’s family even set out some plants on the dock to make us feel extra welcome.

This wholesale business is owned and operated by Gene’s brother, Pedro and sister-in-law, Ore, who have been in both the restaurant and fish and seafood business in Florida for a combined 28 years. They serve more restaurants and stores than any other seafood supply house in all of the Keys. We had a fine tour of their operation and got a good look at the inside of the wholesale fish business. If you are ever in Marathon, we suggest you look this place up.

Currently, they are excited about their new and expanding retail store. Kathy is helping design this store and with some of the marketing for the business and Gene is doing all kinds of maintenance jobs to help.

We saw the pride on the faces of our friends and the staff of Ore Seafood of Marathon as we learned of their fine reputation of first quality products, and their pride in the hard work they have done to achieve the highest of standards in their industry. The high consumer demand in the Keys for all kinds of fish and seafood takes their staff of 19 to working six days a week all day to receive local fish and seafood, as well as have the fish and seafood sent in from all over the world. We were told that no less than 6-7 local fishermen come to their dock every day, each bringing on the average of 600 lbs. The business handles 30,000 to 50,000 lbs of product each month! All the fish are caught by line and hook. Netting is illegal in this area.

Gene and Kathy made us welcome in many ways by taking us to many places in Marathon. One was Sombrero Beach. See the largest photo at the top taken in late afternoon of Gene and Charlie walking on the beach. We are hoping come back here to see our boater friends from C-Life, Bella Luna and Wanderin’ L & M when they come and stay at the marina here for a one month stay here Feb 1.

We went past an exclusive area called Key Colony West. We saw a couple of lots for sale for our future dream home right on the ocean. The only problem was the asking price of $1,700.00 just for the lot.

This photo is of nearby Tranquility Bay condos. They were still out of our price range! It was fun to stroll through the grounds and see all the beauty here. We could get used to this.

San Pablo Catholic Church

Another interesting place we went was Boot Key Harbor where the city runs a massive mooring ball harbor for boaters passing through or for liveaboards. It is sought out and many times has a waiting list. There are more than 280 mooring balls there where you can pay a nominal fee ($10-20/night) and tie to ball or you can anchor. The price you pay lets you tie up at their dinghy dock to use their facilities and once a week a pump out boat comes to your boat (recently required).

Pedro and Ore and their family have a rich Cuban history, and their staff made us feel like we were very welcome for the entire visit. We were treated to lunch at the International House of Pancakes on our second day.

The Seven Mile Bridge, in the Florida Keys, runs over a channel between the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Strait, connecting Knights’s Key (part of the city of Marathon, Florida) in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. Among the longest bridges in existence when it was built, it is one of the many bridges on US 1 in the Keys, where the road is called the Overseas Highway.

We took this photo standing at the east end of of the original Seven Mile bridge in Marathon. (on the right) The vast majority of this original bridge still exists, used as fishing piers and for pedestrians and bikers. The bridge on the left (kind of hard to see) is the present road bridge which was constructed from 1979 to 1982.

The older bridge, originally known as the Knights Key-Pigeon Key-Moser Channel-Pacet Channel Bridge, was constructed from 1909-1912 under direction of Henry Flagler of the Florida East Coast Railway’s Extension, and was used as a railroad bridge. This bridge was badly damaged by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and subsequently refurbished by the United States Government as an automobile bridge. Hurricane Donna in 1960 caused further damage.


The night of our second tour day with Gene and Kathy, Charlie and I were invited to join Gene's family again for dinner at a beautiful resort restaurant. Among many types of delicious seafood ordered for us, (all from Ore seafood of Marathon!) we had conch fritters which I love, and most of us even ordered desserts!

When we said good-by the next day to leave for Key Largo, we were also given a gift of fresh fish to take with us (grouper, Yellow tail snapper, Key West Pink shrimp and a delicious seafood dip).

We will never forget the family's generosity and kindness to us.

I almost forgot about the shrimp scampi. Just before going to dinner, Gene and Kathy drove Charlie and I out to see the family home on Grassy Key where we met Mema and had an appetizer made by Pedro.

Earlier in their seafood careers, Pedro and Ore owned and operated restaurants in Florida and Pedro was the chef there. He told me he loves cooking for people. I preceeded to take notes and observe him as he made all of us the most divine shrimp scampi (after my probing questions on how to make it earlier in our visit!) you could ever imagine with the Key West Pink shrimp from their store.

My goal is to make a good shrimp scampi now but I know I will never have the Pedro touch.

At the end of the evening, Mema talked to her pet parrot for us and the parrot gave her kisses!

And from Ore, we learned many fish tips like when buying fresh fish, it will taste better and last longer if the head is left on until you are ready to cook it!

Earlier that same day, we also met up for a beer with some of our boater friends, Mark and Raquel from our Duncan Bay Boat Club in Cheboygan, Michigan. They have the sailboat ‘Marquel.” They were staying at the Boot Key Harbor Mooring Field waiting for a good day to cross over to the Bahamas!

We left on January 12 for our next destination: Key Largo. But the generosity and kindness we were shown by our friends and the folks at our fish dock home in Marathon, still lingers in our thoughts.

Gene's brother and wife, Pedro and Ore, owners of Ore Seafood of Marathon


One can see beautiful scenery, learn and grow in many ways, partake in many fun things, but in the end, it is the opportunity to be with people that remains closest to the heart.

Sincerely,
Linda and Charlie