Islamorada
Islamorada has been our home base since we took over the boat. Islamorada is the first big community in the Keys south of Key Largo. The economic driver here is mainly sport fishing, boats, and resorts.
Between numerous shopping trips to provision the boat, and outfit the galley with some essentials, we were kept busy the first few days. The highlight of our time here was the visit of Judy's cousin, Michael Whiteley, the superyacht captain, for the weekend. We made a trip south to check out some of the marinas in our next stop, the Marathon area. And spent a very valuable hour in the engine room getting a "familiarization" tour of various systems.
We haven't been in a hurry to leave the dock though as it has been unusually cool, damp, and windy since we arrived here. We have certainly had breaks of warm and dry, but mostly it has been blustery. The "Arctic vortex" you are hearing so much about is of course pushing a bit of that cool air down this way, and with some rain. Last night, we had prolonged winds of 30+ knots, with gusts well over 40 knots. Certainly good to be at a dock.
So rather than spending the day at the beach, or in the pool here, I have been puttering around on small boat projects, such as taking an inventory of spare parts and reorganizing storage of same, and reading manuals for some of the equipment. Also taking in some of the local flora and fauna. These islands are largely fossilized coral, and is used as a building material for many things, such as the breakwater for this marina, as shown below Also, one of the many pelicans
The forecast is for much lighter winds the next few days, although staying cool, which means highs in the high teens C, but nice enough to start our way south.
Last night we had dinner with the marine surveyor, who surveyed this boat for us, and his wife. Fortunately, there was a very good Mexican place just a short walk from the marina to meet them at. Back at the boat, we had the heat on as it is so cool.
This morning we have awoken to a sunny, light wind, but still cool-ish day, so, we will start our trek south, with a short run down to an interesting Key, part way to Marathon.
Between numerous shopping trips to provision the boat, and outfit the galley with some essentials, we were kept busy the first few days. The highlight of our time here was the visit of Judy's cousin, Michael Whiteley, the superyacht captain, for the weekend. We made a trip south to check out some of the marinas in our next stop, the Marathon area. And spent a very valuable hour in the engine room getting a "familiarization" tour of various systems.
We haven't been in a hurry to leave the dock though as it has been unusually cool, damp, and windy since we arrived here. We have certainly had breaks of warm and dry, but mostly it has been blustery. The "Arctic vortex" you are hearing so much about is of course pushing a bit of that cool air down this way, and with some rain. Last night, we had prolonged winds of 30+ knots, with gusts well over 40 knots. Certainly good to be at a dock.
So rather than spending the day at the beach, or in the pool here, I have been puttering around on small boat projects, such as taking an inventory of spare parts and reorganizing storage of same, and reading manuals for some of the equipment. Also taking in some of the local flora and fauna. These islands are largely fossilized coral, and is used as a building material for many things, such as the breakwater for this marina, as shown below Also, one of the many pelicans
The forecast is for much lighter winds the next few days, although staying cool, which means highs in the high teens C, but nice enough to start our way south.
Last night we had dinner with the marine surveyor, who surveyed this boat for us, and his wife. Fortunately, there was a very good Mexican place just a short walk from the marina to meet them at. Back at the boat, we had the heat on as it is so cool.
This morning we have awoken to a sunny, light wind, but still cool-ish day, so, we will start our trek south, with a short run down to an interesting Key, part way to Marathon.
Great! I will love to follow you.
ReplyDeleteI’m sure you will have those systems deciphered and tweaked to your liking soon. Hope the weather also gets straightened out. Enjoy and stay between those navigational beacons!!
ReplyDelete