We use several weather websites to determine when to head out to our next destination. We decided to leave a day early to get to Key West (Stock Island) because the winds were going to pick up. Which means the waves will also get higher.
We had a sunny day, the wind was up a bit in the morning but by mid-day they calmed down. We had great following seas. A nice push to the south. There was a slight throttle cable problem as we headed out of port. Couple of new zip ties and we were on our way! Maintenance note, fix cable in March. We followed Hawk’s channel which is deeper water between the key islands and the Florida Reef. We kept about 1.5 miles off shore and had to keep our eyes out for crab and lobster pots. Eventually, About half way down was a fish haven zone, which means NO CRAB POTS! YEA!
We saw a barge that had damaged boats on it. The FEMA teams and Coast Guard are still trying to clean up the canals in the keys. Overall, 1,879 boats had been taken out of Florida waters since the storm. And counting!
Forty- three miles later we reached our new home at Stock Island Marina Village. The facility is nice. There are three restaurants on site and a hotel. We met up with two other looper boats who were also at the marina we were at in Marathon. The beauty of flying the looper flag is people have a reason to stop by for introduction. As always we are in a narrow slip way in the back of the marina. Really developing our parking skills!
Great floating docks and the staffing is also great. A nice “Keyeasie” marina.
goparaiso.com 