Key Largo to Miami

Our Key Largo departure was delayed a day due to UPS misplacing a package to be delivered on Monday. Still did not come on Tuesday so now it will get delivered to Miami. Tuesday was put to good use doing boat maintenance, changing the oil & anti freeze then finding a place to dispose of the fluids, buying more oil filters (running through the spares faster with more engine use). Passing the pool Steve sees one of the dive instructors giving a lesson in the pool, and he is wearing a mask with ear muffs. Since I have trouble with my ears, he asks about the mask and finds out that it is just for people like me that have trouble equalizing. Later we find him again to get more info on the mask. He was told he could never dive again due to a ruptured ear drum and with this mask he has no trouble diving. We learn the name is pro ear and find the web site then find an outlet store for one on SALE $39.99, so I order one to be delivered to Miami. Will see how it works next time we dive. Better then taking non drowsy Sudafed, which worked great on our third day of diving, but I would prefer not to have to do that every time I dive.

Wednesday 5/26 by 7 AM we are away from the dock and heading out the channel, just in time to see a big rain cloud moving over the marina behind us. We hope that we can stay out of its path, but by 7:45 it catches us & we get a 30 minute shower. The winds pick up then even out so we put the sails out to give them a rinse. We see more rain up ahead, but it is moving in the same north east direction as us so we are hoping it stays ahead of us.

 By 11 most of the rain clouds in our path have dissipated along with the wind, so we roll up the jib. We can also now see the Miami skyline off in the distance. As we travel through 16-20 + feet of water we are still shocked that we can see the bottom! By 12:45 we turn into the channel leading past Key Biscayne into Biscayne Bay, passing some old houses out in the middle up on stilts. Kind of looks like some of the old platforms around Galveston Bay.

There are rain clouds & rain all around us as we are approaching the marina, but somehow we make it in without any rain.

 Of course we did get some 15 knot winds just as we are getting ready to dock. Still manage the docking and are tied up with power by 3 PM.

Have a nice cold drink & a bite to eat then go check in with the marina office. Take a short walk around and the rain finally catches up to us while having a drink at a local restaurant, we wait it out but on our walk back to the boat we get caught in another shower, at least it is cooling things off. We will spend a few days here at Dinner Key Marina in the Coconut Grove area of Miami checking out the sites & planning our next move.

Link to pictures;
http://picasaweb.google.com/103931849054358791487/KeyLargoToMiami?feat=directlink