March 2-14,2021MarcoIsland/CayoCosta/Sarasota

 

Our cruise from KW to the Everglades was a bit choppy but we caught the current & averaged about 8 knots. While I was driving, I missed seeing some crab pots but luckily we safely passed right over them. We anchored outside Little Shark for the night because we didn't want to deal with the bugs & to catch a breeze. All was fine till about 2:00 AM when we caught more breeze than we needed. The anchor alarm went off to alert us-we weren't dragging but we had drifted to the outermost margin of our reach. We pulled up anchor @ first light and dealt with the waves on our beam all day. 

On our approach to Marco Island Yacht Club/Marina, we called Richard the Harbormaster to make sure it was OK to use John's dock and he said yes and he would help us in. John's slip is located near the Yacht Club facility on a quiet run. The Kleppers were in town so they came & picked us up and we went to lunch @ the Speakeasy down the road. We sat out on the patio which overlooks the harbor. Doug dealt with a battery issue later that afternoon. 

We only stayed one night @ Marco. Our next stop is always one of our favs: Cayo Costa State Park, anchoring in Pelican Bay. Doug planned our timing perfectly so we could enter on a high tide. There were lots of boats anchored but we were able to find a spot. Our freezer has been slowly warming up since we left KW, today it wouldn't get below 30, so we turned our couch freezer on and moved everything into that and turned that freezer off. We did end up moving our anchor spot twice. First because a sailboat was too close and second because the forecast was calling for high winds.  High winds & storms are usual when we are anchored in CC-never fails. Our second move was to get closer to the trees for protection which worked well. We were able to take the dinghy into the park & walk the beach a few times. We also had good enough weather to dinghy over to Cabbage Key for lunch. We sat on the outdoor patio and enjoyed Stone Crab. 

After 6 nights in Pelican Bay, we left and anchored for the night in Lemon Bay just off the GICW. From there, we decided to stay on a mooring ball @ Marina Jack's for a few nights so we could enjoy downtown Sarasota. We enjoyed going out to dinner at a few of their downtown restaurants: Classico, Westin Rooftop Bar and Bricks Smoked Meats. We had toured Selby Gardens a few years ago & loved it so we revisited that pretty place. We took the dinghy to Lido Beach & cruised around the island-lots of people & beached boats. The water looked great! Our last evening downtown, we walked to Ed & Diane's for a lovely dinner poolside at their new condo. 

Feb 3-March 2, 2021Stock Island, Key West, FL

 After trying unsuccessfully a second time for an appointment to get COVID Vaccines @ 6:00 AM, we left Marathon, with Tricia & David on the dock to see us off. Our cruise to Key West was great, the Atlantic had calmed and it was a beautiful day. When we arrived to our assigned slip, the dock guy had not arrived to help us in but luckily our friends, Cathy & Scott on Andante were docked 2 slips away & were available to grab our lines. We were assigned D-12 dock this season & were happy with our slip. There was a beautiful Grand Banks Europa next to us and when they left, our dear friends Lauryl Anne pulled in which was so nice to have them right next door.  Since the Pandemic, the marina has made some changes. We went to the hotel lobby to sign in and they gave us each a glass of Champagne to welcome us. We sat at the Fire pit outside with our friends Karen & David on Cenyth who were leaving in the morning. Glad we could catch up for a bit. In the evening, we enjoyed a Zoom call with Paul, Jess, Jeri, Jerry, Craig & Cheryl as a followup to Christmas. C&C had our names for Secret Santa but our gifts did not arrive in time for Christmas. They didn't enlist Santa to bring our gifts, instead they trusted the US Post Office which let us down. The gifts arrived mid January in JAX & luckily Lauryl Anne was there & brought them to us in Marathon. So we had fun on Zoom watching all open their SS gifts. 

The month in Key West flew by. We had many friends here in the Marina: Bridget & Mike on Sea Shanty, Ruth & Einer on Tandem, FlipFlop from Ortega and Lauryl Anne arrived mid month. We met a new Krogen couple on Largo. The pandemic was still limiting socializing & dining. We were not eating indoors in Restaurants or going indoors to bars. We still had it much better than most-we could swim, dinghy, kayak, walk & bike. We enjoyed a dinghy cocktail cruise with a few of our Krogen friends including Tuscan Sun who was docked downtown KW but not all attended who were staying at the nearby Ocean Edge Marina. Cathy & Scott joined us for a long bike ride to Bobalu's to listen to the Marshall Melhorn Band & they didn't disappoint. 

Our nephew, John Martin, visited with his lovely wife Christina and her son Zakk for a few days. They stayed in a nearby Hotel. We watched the sunset from Mallory Square with them and toured Fort Zachary State Park. The weather was beautiful so they rented kayaks while we cruised around them on our dinghy. We enjoyed spending time with them-so nice they came to visit. 

We checked out a few new restaurants & bars: Lil's Test Kitchen @ Stock Island Yacht Club on the elevated deck was fun and Stock Rock is an outdoor tiki hut on the water between KW & Stock and they have live music. Doug & I stopped at Casa Marina, the Waldorf for cocktails but we were disappointed in the service, the drinks & the crowd but the beach is nice but was packed. We went back to our fav live music spot in KW: Hanks Hair of the Dog with Tricia, David & their daughter Meryl who was visiting. 

We finally got lucky, once CVS began to distribute vaccines, we were able to get our 1st of 2 COVID vaccines. Downside was that we had to rent a car & drive 4 hours one way to Homestead, Fl to get it. One of our Krogen friends, Ruth joined us on our mission, so the 3 of us were successful in obtaining our first shot-Yahoo! 

Stock Island Marina & Resort is trying to survive through this pandemic madness, their food & service is suffering but they did have a movie night and a concert on the lawn that we attended. 

Our friends, Jim & Elaine were supposed to come by boat to Stock the day before we were to depart but they were delayed by weather but their friend & our acquaintance John Wagner, his girlfriend Tammy and John's sister & husband pulled in on his new Sabre two slips from us. We visited with them at the pool and John offered us, the use of his dock at Marco Island Marina/Yacht Club, for free. That was very nice of him! The next day, we said our Good-byes to Lauryl Anne and headed to the Everglades.