Tommy and Jackie came down to visit us!  They wanted to get away from the cold in Leesburg, FL. There has been a cold weather blast across the USA. The Keys were in the low 60’s. Looking at how the locals dress you would think we were in Alaska!

We took the shuttle downtown and then walked Duval Street.  It was the weekend, so every bar seemed to have some kind of live entertainment. We stopped in a few places to listen and get a drink.

Of course, we had to watch the sunset at Mallory Square! Hey no green flash! Urban legion. Not sure but it looks alot like the same sun over Big Bone.

Next day we took Tommy’s car to see the Atlantic side of Key West.  The shuttle only takes you to the old harbor area.  Our first stop was the Fort East Martello Museum.  This was one of two forts that were in Key West to protect the Gulf Of Mexico. The fort had a couple canons and local artwork mainly.  The main artist was a welder and tag all kinds of junk yard stuff together. Gary, you would have been all over it! The view from the top of the fort was nice.

We went to the southern most point.  They had repainted it since Irma. We then had lunch at the southern most restaurant.  Can’t get any further south by land than this!

We walked Duval Street from this end.  Looks just like the other end near the historic seaport.  Chris found us a drag queen bar to stop into for a beer so Tommy could get the full experience.

 

There is always something to watch or do at Stock Island marina village. Our boat’s bridge faces the hotel and outside bar, so we can hear the live music from the boat if we did not want to sit at the bar.  With my new ship board skills of frozen drink preparations, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper! A[[ the boats in the front row are rentals and charters so there is always boating action to watch. They also have 3 propane fire pits. (Been taking welding notes for Gary. ) So we have been getting our fire fix even on the water.

We watched a man filet a few groupers. It was the last day of grouper season. The second fish was a monster. He made the extra effort to cut out the cheeks and clean and save the fish body for fish head soup. We’re still on the hunt to make fish head curry!

We checked out the rest of the property. They have two dog park areas and a community garden including guinea hens. There is also Lunas Cuban food truck that has great food and cheap! We’ll do a separate post on Lunas.

Shrimp boats are across from the fuel dock at the marina. They are really pretty to see at night lighted up. We hear you can not purchase the shrimp right from the boats you have to use an outlet store. When we checked into pricing at the retail store it was too high. 14 -20 $ per pound! Small to large. I’ll go to Kroger. (when we bought off the boat in (Fairhope, Al. we paid $5/ib whole med.)

We are about 4 miles from downtown Key West, so it is not a walk we want to take, but the hotel has a shuttle that runs every hour. We tested this out one night and found that this could be a habit. We checked out the marinas downtown and tried out a few happy hours. Our quest is to fine the best one. More to come on that subject we’re sure.

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.

When we hang out at the dock we fill out time fishing a little off the boat, watching what the commercial guys bring in, and checking out things that go on at the marina. ALL right what a catch on 10 pound crappy test line!

We attended a seminar about sea life and the Florida reef that was given by a biologist. We saw his pet conch and also watched a starfish flip over when it was laid on it’s back. Yea we did it three times, didn’t get old (didn’t ask the starfish). Garret also provide information about the reel and shells found in the area.

The boat next to us went out with their two girls and they caught two good size yellow fin tunas.  The father asked if we wanted any and of course we said “Sure!”  They gave us a huge bag because they were going to be in a hotel and could not keep it.  They kept a small bag for their cats!  We did not tell Boner that because we are going to eat this tuna!

MEOuch! how come those birds get some tuna!

We took the boat out of the slip for fuel and to clean the bottom off.  It was a beautiful day with light wind. Our slip is a very tight corner spot with a tricky port maneuver to get in and out. We picked today so the winds would not interfere with the days fun!  We decided to head over to the Atlantic to Hawk’s Channel to get an idea of how our trip will go to when we leave for Key West. The chart plotter laid down some moose track on the electronic map so we could repeat the same path later. We noticed the Florida bay was shallower than when we arrived last week. Chris checked the older moose tracks and found we cut a corner to the north  accounting for skinny water! So we’ll follow the old moose tracks next time.

Seven Mile bridge was hard is impossible to get into one photo.  The old bridge runs beside it and is no longer used.  This was originally the railroad system that lead to Key West.  It was replaced by a highway and now the new Route 1 is used, and the old highway and bridges are not used unless a local community turns it into a fishing pier.

There are also lots of crab and lobster traps out here.  They seem to be more organized that the ones in Florida Bay.  You do not want to get the lines wrapped up in your props.   Sometimes they use 40ft of line when the trap is only 15 feet down, so you must be careful you do not run over the lines.

 

Larry helped us move our car over to the marina our next marina.   He also met us at the St. Lucie lock to see us go through. That’s Larry, just under the American flag!

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Our next stop is Harborage Yacht Club and Marina.  It used to be a Loggerhead Marina and was a place we have stayed before.  It was damaged by a tornado during Hurricane Matthew and they experienced a 4-foot tidal surge where all the electric went under water on their fixed docks.  They are still rebuilding the fixed docks and had hoped to have them ready in January, but it looks like March before they will be completed. We were able to get a slip on their floating docks.  It is a longer walk but hey we need the exercise. 

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We got settled in on Sunday Dec 23 into our slip.  We checked out a local Tiki Bar across the road to see what hours and happy hour specials they might have. This could be our stop over the next couple weeks. They had a marina on site but when we check the slip that was available we saw this sunk boat across from us that we would have to look at.

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We made Christmas Dinner on the boat and just hung out!

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We decided to try out our crab trap.  Pork chops were on the dinner menu so we used the bones from them as bait.  In two days we had three good sized crabs.  Which we cooked up and got enough meat out of them for some crab dip.

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We have tried several places for happy hour and to view the sunset.

This place was called the No Name Bar on Big Pine Key. It sits right before the bridge to No Name Key. They let people sign a dollar bill and place it on the walls or ceiling.  The place was covered.  We estimated that there is at least $30,000.00 on the ceiling.  Chris actually counted a test area then factored in the ceiling surface area. Hey when you’re tiki baring you time for that stuff! We did drive on No Name Key and it is a one road key that is a natural habitat for wild life. Even way back here, there is hurricane trash everywhere.

Key Fishery is a good place for happy hour based upon the view.  They have fresh fish and crabs on the bar menu. You can sit at the bar and look out into Florida Bay.  We got to see someone get pulled over by the Coast Guard. We hear that they randomly check boats. It’s a lot more common down here in the keys / Florida.

The best for happy hour is a place called Porky’s – They have 30 cent shrimp and $2.50 bottles of beer.  You can not beat it. Best sunset place on Marathon is on the Atlantic side Sunset Grill or Lazy Days II.  You can still get some good photos with the trees or light house in view.

Today it was very windy and rainy. We could hardly see the lighthouse. We had a safety drill and Boner had to put on is life jacket. We reviewed all fire extinguishers dates and checked over all life jackets.  One final note. Some KIDDE Mariner 10 fire extinguishers are on recall. Mariner 10s are the most common on boats. Check your boats! They will replace them for free.

Boner was glad when it was over!

 

We took a trip to Stock Island to check out our next marina and to see the boat parade that they had.  On our way we stopped at Boondocks at mile marker 27.  They had good food there and mini golf.  This is the place that Brian got the idea to name our local place “Boonedocks”.

We found the marina at Stock Island to be very large.  There are a couple of restaurants on site and a hotel with pool and pool bar. We check in at the office and confirmed our reservations and then hung out at the pool bar.  There was a “Taste of Stock Island” tour beginning at the bar we were at.  They made a special drink and a lobster ceviche appetizer for the group.  They had some left over, so we were able to have a taste also! The group then headed out on a trolley to five other places to taste what they had to offer.

As the sun was going down we decided to watch the boats prepare for the parade.  We happen to meet the organizer of the event and he advised that this was the first time they were having the parade and that fifteen boats would be participating.  We also discussed weather because we noticed some rain coming our way.  He assured us that it would most likely stay south of us. The parade was to begin at 7:00PM.  We watched them line up in the canal and then took a seat, so we could see them come into the marina, turn around and head out again. They were just beginning to make there way and the wind suddenly picked up and then sheets of rain drenched us and the crowd.  We ran for the car!  It was 7:25PM – if they had just started on time they would have had most of the show completed. Oh Well!  Try it again next year!

 

About 1/4 of small business are closed. Every major chain store is open. There are a few places to visit within walking distance such as a West Marine, a Laundromat, and a few restaurants.  However, we are not close to a grocery. We decided to rent a car for a week, so we could stock up the boat and explore the area.

We drove around a lot. You can still see piles of trash along side US1.  The side streets are even worse. As we talk to locals we understand the initial 90 days the removal plan is winding down, side street clean up is now left to the state and local governments.  The state is arguing with the counties and the counties are arguing with the cities about who will pay to get the last of the piles cleaned up. FEMA is paying about 75% the cost. The good news, it is very organized and being well executed according to a plan.

Meanwhile there are locals who continue to  take advantage if the situation and clean out or dump years of trash from their yards and houses.  It’s amazing how not a single large tube TV survived IRMA. I bet we have seen 100 tubes. The trash you see below is only 25% of what was there 6 weeks ago. Citizens are no longer allow to dump trash on the state hwy. Tourist should start to see improvements.  It will take a while.

Janis read that there are three beaches near Marathon.  We went to check them out, but they were all on the Atlantic side and they were all closed.  One was at a State Park, so we walked round to check it out. Lots of sand was removed by IRMA and sea grass put in its place.

We took a trip to Big Pine Key which took a direct hit.  We were very encouraged when we saw a local group of women jumping in and doing their own clean up after the piles of trash were gone..  They have a flea market every weekend, so we stopped by.  Only a few places were open, but we found a few things that we could purchase.  (Got to keep the economy going).

One thing for sure Big bone bob can make a fortune down here. There are mountains of appliances stacked on the road side. The numbers of wrecked refrigerators, washers and freezer are crazy. If this were KY, every scraper would be having a field day.