Sights of Key West (January 31 - February 28)



It feels like home here at Safe Harbour Marina in Stock Island, Key West.  The Hogfish Bar and Grill are just up the dock from the boat.  The sea grapes, chimes, awnings, and nautical collections along the dock made this a great place to enjoy our boat.   

To get to town, we make a 5 minute walk up the road to catch a bus.  We enjoy visiting Old Key West:   Schooner's Wharf, The Green Parrot, Sunset Ceremony, Martello Towers (Key West Garden Club), Flagler Beach, shopping at Local Color, French Kiss, and the Key West Cigar Club, dining at Pepe's, El Siboney's, Blue Heaven, Mangia Mangia, and just strolling the quiet streets with many colorful qauint old homes.  Oh, and of course the roosters! 

  

 

We've had time to work on our tan (about 15 minutes on each side every day), work on the boat, and read books. It's been beautiful here - kinda hard to leave, but we are excited about traveling to the Bahama's too. We'll be on our way shortly - on to other adventures!  

While Larry and Darlene were here, we got to play Password!  And now, the fish under and around the boat keep us entertained.   The big 7 foot Tarpon occasionally drops by to check out the menu.  The Queen Angelfish brightens up the bottom, along with Sargeant-Majors, and schools of Mangrove Snapper.  The Houndfish, with their long needle-nosed shape, are fun to watch as they leap over sea grape leaves floating on the surface.  And every now and then we are treated to a coot (sea duck) swimming underwater, chasing the minnows. 

From Titusville to Key West

Home for Christmas:  (December 10, 2010- January 2, 2011)  We left our boat at the Titusville Municipal Marina, rented a car and drove home to be with our families at Christmastime.  It was good to see and visit with our kids, parents, brothers, sisters, and nephews.  But it was COLD and snowy in Kentucky and West Virginia!  

Back to Alexandra:  We got back to our boat in Titusville on January 4 and spent the next couple of weeks reorganizing, fixing and updating things, (a.k.a "piddling" on our boat), waiting for our friend Larry to join up with us again.  We enjoyed exploring Titusville and the warmer weather.  This gave us time to get our new dinghy put together, paint the name on her, and  finally get the needed registration papers from the County Court Clerk (there's always an adventure when it comes to owning a boat!).  We love our new Seamax inflatable dinghy and the red color makes her easy to spot at the dinghy dock.

We found lots of great places to eat in Titusville, including Dixie Crossroads, El Leoncito, Steve's Diner, and Your Place.  We bought Rock Shrimp and Royal Red Shrimp at the seafood market and both were soooo good - just steam them for 5 minutes in Old Bay seasoned water, peel and eat.  Don't forget the melted butter for the Rock Shrimp!

The Journey Continues:  We picked Larry up at the Orlando airport, and left Titusville on January 18.  We were not able to go offshore from Cape Canaveral because the lock to get to the inlet was closed until April, so ICW here we come.  We stopped at an anchorage in Melbourne, after a day's travel and continued to Fort Pierce on the 19th.  We had a bit of a struggle finding a spot to anchor here with our 7 foot draft, but were glad to get a call from Tow Boat US, who advised us to anchor in the deep water turning basin behind an anchored barge.  Phew! That was a relief! 

By the 22nd, the winds and weather looked good for continuing  from Ft Pierce offshore to Palm Beach.  We raised the anchor at 08:00 and arrived at Palm Beach at 5:30 PM.  We stayed at anchor at Palm Beach until the 27th, then went in to the Riviera Beach Municipal Marina to do laundry, refuel, fill the water tanks, and to pick up Larry's new friend, Darlene.  Darlene brought sunshine and fair breezes with her, and we took off at 3:30PM Friday, the 28th, sailing offshore to Rodriguez Key, arriving  at 1:00 PM on Saturday the 29th.  From here, it was just two short day trips to Safe Harbour Marina, in Stock Island.   Ahhh, it feels like home again!