From Coconut Grove to Mooring Field in Boot Key Harbor.

Another stage of our journey has begun. We are on our way to San Antonio, Texas.  I know can’t get the boat all the way there so Cool Hand will get a much deserved rest and some maintenance  in a marina somewhere around Galveston/Huston. We have until the last week of July until first week of August to make our way there, or I am sure our daughter will send a search party for us. She is getting married late August and we will definitely get to the church on time.

We have made our first hop and will be staying in Marathon, Florida at Boot Leg City Marina and mooring field. The City mooring field has 226 permanently attached mooring. Right now, there are very few empty sites, and it is quite remarkable to see the array of different boats and people that stop here. Some are permanent residents year around others stay for months or like us this is a great lay over between a “here” and a “there”.

We are planning to rent a car and take a ride up to Key West. There really is not a safe anchorage there and the marinas are a little pricey. Next week we will strike out for the western coast of Florida, heading for our first major stop in the Fort Myers area. That also is proving to be a challenge; however I will save it for another blog.

We hope to have someone come out and recharge our refrigerator compressor while we are here. The new one is waiting for us in Fort Myers but that is at least 3 weeks away.

One our trip over I added a new bird to my siting’s and hope the porpoise come and visit while I have my camera out.

For now, fair winds

leaving Grove Isle Marina

There is a very defined channel to leave  our marina and
enter Biscayne Bay

Many parts of the Barge were damaged during Hurricane Wilma, including one of the sculptures by A.Stirling Calder, shown on the right after restoration.  

For decades, Vizcaya has been a diplomatic seat of Miami-Dade County, having hosted some of the world’s most renowned dignitaries—such as Queen Elizabeth II, Pope John Paul II, President Ronald Reagan, and King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain—and major international events—such as the Summit of the Americas, the signing of the Free Trade Agreement, and activities associated with Art Basel.

The house was intended to appear as an Italian estate that had stood for 400 years and had been occupied and renovated by several generations of a family.  It has 34 decorated rooms with 15th through 19th century antique furnishings and art objects. The house appears to be only two stories high but between the main public rooms and the bedrooms, there is an intervening level with 12 rooms for servants and service. Vizcaya intends to open these rooms to the public in the near future, thereby introducing new stories about those who lived and worked at the house.
The expansive gardens combine elements of Renaissance Italian and French designs. Future programs will place greater emphasis on interpreting and presenting these gardens. Suarez and Chalfin worked for seven years, perfecting the design of the gardens as one vast outdoor room with the elements serving as complementary parts of an integrated area. Key features include the many fountains, a central pool surrounding an elevated island, the elevated Mound with its small house, or “Casino,” statuary, and several themed gardens

low clouds draped the tops of the buildings as
we left. 

We went across the harbor to get fuel. At the entrance was
a mangrove patch with a very strong fish smell. When
I looked closely at the trees you could just make out
dozens and dozens of  Pelicans roosting in them.

One of the major Lights and weather stations
Fowey Rocks Light

Magnificent Frigate bird with fish

sunset over Basin Hill / off Key Largo 2/24

We had a great full moon and just enough cloud cover
to make it interesting

we had a long pull to get to our Mooring in Marathon
over 50 nautical miles. Tom pulled up anchor just at sun rise

we were not sure about the weather, dark clouds
blanketed the horizon, but the morning sun peaked through
As the day wore on the real challenge turned out to be
Crab pots,, again trying to play dodge the float, and stay out of the
shallows, deal with wind and waves ....
Oh the Sailors life for me. 

We were surprised to find that we had been
assigned a mooring ball next to our friends
on Nautical Dreamer