Key Largo

Key Largo

We delayed our departure from Marathon until Monday, leaving the dock at noon & high tide. At low tide you could see the shoals right outside the channel so we wanted to give ourselves room to maneuver. We stop at the fuel dock then out the channel to drop the hook. Pretty funny being able to see the marina we had just stayed at. But we are planning an early departure for Key Largo & it is much quicker pulling up the anchor than getting the dock lines free. Have a beautiful sunset as we have dinner in the cockpit.

 Our pre dawn departure is delayed an hour as first the GPS route did not transfer to the cockpit display from down below, and then we notice that the red/green navigation light is not lit. Steve fires up the computer & re-sends the route info, then finds a replacement bulb to fix the nav. light. We are under way by 6 AM with better visibility. We are motoring at first as there is no wind, later able to put up the main to keep our 7+ knots. Arriving at the entrance at shortly after noon just in time for high tide, the entrance is VERY narrow & at low tide only 5 feet deep. We make it around crash corner with no concerns and are docked by 1.

After checking in to the marina we get the lay of the area and see where all the dive boats are and the three swimming pools we have access to while we are here.


We stop by the dive shop right around the corner from us at the marina and I make an appointment for a refresher course on Wednesday, as I only have 10 dives in & they were over 3 years ago. Wednesday morning I go for my class and we were going to do a couple of dives that afternoon. It gets cloudy & looks like a shower in the afternoon, so we move our dives to Thursday morning hoping for better weather & visibility. Wednesday night we go out to dinner at the Key Largo Conch House, a neat little restaurant nearby with a good selection of unusual dishes to choose from. Steve has the conch & I even taste some & it was pretty good just glad it was not my main meal. Thursday is a beautiful day and we go out and have two great dives. I have trouble equalizing my ears (as usual) but once I finally do & get down I am fine. We see all kinds of fish & marina life. Friday we go out for two afternoon dives, same reef but two different locations.

Saturday we take it easy, and make a trip to the grocery store, & Sunday is clean the boat & laundry day & watch the finale of LOST. Monday Steve has a morning phone appointment and has borrowed a tank to go under the boat and change the zincs on the prop. Monday afternoon two more dives. Tuesday May 25 high tide is at 7:22 so we are leaving for Miami, a good place to celebrate two months of cruising.

More pictures at;
http://picasaweb.google.com/103931849054358791487/KeyLargo?feat=directlink