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MV Wanderlust · 07-05-2017, 14:48

Day One of a two week trip to the Florida Keys. Everything went smoothly. Anchored safely in a little cove with six other boats. Planning to chill here for a day and then head to the Everglades on Tuesday.

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David Hughes · 07-05-2017, 16:32

Have a great trip! Take your dinghy into the manatee cove 1/4 mile south of the state park dock...

landsend · 09-05-2017, 17:04

Keep us posted. I'll making the trip from Key Largo heading up the west coast. Have a safe trip.

**capngeo** · 09-05-2017, 17:09

Don't shortchange that area; there is weeks worth of exploring just in Pine Island Sound alone... of course theres Charlotte Harbor, Matlacha, and your own Cheeseburger in Paradise at Cabbage Key

tuffr2 · 10-05-2017, 04:32

You are having great weather. Enjoy south Florida and the Keys. Do you guys snorkle or scuba at all?

MV Wanderlust · 10-05-2017, 05:12

Tuffr, we both snorkel and scuba. Some of our kids are meeting us in Marathon Key to go snorkeling.

tuffr2 · 10-05-2017, 05:20

Cool, the water temps are starting to get nice to snorkle. The coolest thing that happened to me in the Keys was a large school of neon tetras (I think) swam around me. Wow, the sparkle.

Lots of cuda in the Keys just to keep things interesting. For a real treat get out to one of the coral reefs.

MV Wanderlust · 10-05-2017, 05:21

Day Four. We spent two nights in Cayo Costa and loved it. Tight to get in and out, follow the directions on Active Captain to the letter, but it was wonderful.

Stopped at Moss Marina (the Big M) in Ft Myers Beach for fuel on the third day and then made our way to an anchorage on the east side of Kingston Key in the Everglades. Pretty spot.

That night, we discovered that at low tide we only had three or four feet beneath us. High tide was at 3:00 am so we got up, pulled anchor, and took off. The mosquitoes ripped us apart in just a few minutes. That was our first experience being underway at night. One strainer clogged and the starboard engine overheated. Fixed that and then everything went well. Now 11 miles off the coast from Marathon.

More to come.

capt-couillon · 10-05-2017, 05:25

Welcome to Marathon... Cruisers net on channel 68 every morning at 0900.
Local coconut telegraph. Check in and say hello.

landsend · 10-05-2017, 06:36

Visit key Largo and Pennekamp area reefs, Mollasses, Grecian, Dry Rocks. If the weather holds out we tie to a buoy on the reefs and enjoy spectacular nights.

MV Wanderlust · 10-05-2017, 09:04

Safely moored in Marathon. First time doing that but Mrs handled it well. Water tank refilled. Waste pump out tomorrow. Mrs twisted her ankle when we were topping up fuel tanks so she's resting now. Need to put Baby (dinghy) in the water and head into town.

MV Wanderlust · 10-05-2017, 17:07

When we pulled into the channel this morning, Cruisernet, the local news on VHF 68 came on at 9:00 am. Turns out the guy who runs it is also a member of this forum. Nice welcome to the community.

After we were settled, our neighbors on the next mooring ball dinghied over to introduce themselves. That was nice of them. We chatted a while. I mentioned Debbie had twisted her ankle and that I needed to go to the store to pick up a few things for her. Our neighbors generously offered their car! I love the boating community.

MV Wanderlust · 11-05-2017, 17:34

Today had an interesting twist. We dinghied around for a couple of hours, returned to our boat and tied up. A few minutes later, we left for a new destination and discovered the shifter coupling had broken inside the outboard motor. At the time, we didn't know that was the problem. We just knew we were drifting in the harbor. A guy passing by pulled us back to Yacht-a and we used the VHF to call around in the marina for an outboard mechanic. A guy named John showed up about 15 minutes later and patched the coupling so we could at least go ashore. We found a shop that has the part and will pick it up tomorrow. Need to somehow find John again to install it.