To Boot Key

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sun 6 May 2012 22:31
To Boot Key, The Keys, Florida
 
 
 
 
 
 
BB To Indian and Boot Key 014
 
Off the mooring ball at 07:45 to continue on down the Keys. Once again the sails were up and the engine was silenced in quick order. The sea is flat calm and we are falling easily into the “sailors life”. Todays journey is twenty eight miles, depth below us never more than five metres, in steady wind and trotting along at a good speed.
 
 
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So perfect I put out the Bird
 
 
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Watched by a welcome stranger – the Magnificent Frigate bird.
 
 
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 This road bridge was 2.07 miles long connecting Long Key to Conch Key.
 
 
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 As we entered the channel this bridge to Bahia key measures some 5.7 miles.
 
 
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We followed the Boot Key Channel and found a spot to anchor just inside the now defunct bridge. It used to lift on request and during the night at notice of one hour. It now looks a bit ‘One Careful Owner’ as either it wore out from going up and down like a fiddler’s elbow or the bridge master lost the will to live. Beyond us is a mooring ball field two hundred and twenty six strong, administered by the Boot Key City Marina. Boot Key Harbor or Marathon is a hurricane hole. Our next door neighbour – home to a young fisherman – well on the way to becoming a ‘One Careful Owner’.
 
 
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The massive mooring field and our neighbour to the left
 
 
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BB To Key West 007
 
A closer look raised the question as to when ‘Steel Dream’ last went to sea. Some of the local girls.
 
 
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The Ship’s Stores was also ‘One Careful Owner’.
 
 
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We sat in the cockpit, enjoyed playing games until I felt one or two ‘nips’. A day later my back looked like a pin cushion with dozens of sand fly bites. Big moon
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ALL IN ALL A GREAT ANCHORAGE EXCEPT FOR THE BITERS