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 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.
So perfect I put
out the Bird
Watched by a welcome stranger – the Magnificent Frigate
bird.
This road bridge was 2.07 miles long
connecting Long Key to Conch Key.
As we entered the channel this bridge to Bahia
key measures some 5.7 miles.
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’.
The massive mooring
field and our neighbour to the left
A
closer look raised the question as to when ‘Steel Dream’ last went to sea. Some of the local girls.
The Ship’s
Stores was also ‘One Careful Owner’.
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 |