The Intracoastal Waterway (Monday, March 26)

This morning, on Fiesta Key, we took our time getting up. It had been really windy all through the night and the breeze was still up this morning. We decided to leave late morning so we had breakfast. I had two key lime pie bars (which is a key lime pie slice that is frozen on a stick and then dipped into chocolate) and Scott had one. I knew I was feeling much better than I had the previous few days; I had taken a 3 day sabbatical from the chocolate on the boat, which is not very like me.

This morning as we were getting the boat ready to leave I noticed that Scott is quite partial to bossing me around. You might think that I’m being sensitive because I’m not used to being crew (mind you, I’ve been crew many times), but I’m not. For instance, Scott will be up on the bow with a line in his hand and call me up from the cockpit. I come up to the bow and he asks me to uncleat the line from the deck. We’re talking about the same line that’s in his hand. I can’t make this stuff up! I’m sure he does it because I’m compliant. When I brought it up to him this morning, he laughed because he knew it was true. Anyway, we left Fiesta Key around 1100 and made our way up the Intracoastal waterway (ICW).

We began sailing for a bit as the breeze was up. As it began to die we ended up motor sailing. The ICW through Florida Bay is beautiful! There are all different shades of colors in the water as far as your eyes can see. There was a brief time when the water was so glassy you could see everything that was on the bottom clearly. While Scott drove, I sat in the hammock nets and followed the lines underwater that connected crab pots. We’ve gotten pretty close to mangrove islands, as the channel runs between them. This is what we imagined cruising to be like. It was so relaxing! There was a light breeze and the water was pretty flat. Every now and then we would wave to another boat passing us by. At one point during our motor through a mangrove channel, I lost my bucket hat! We doubled back and I was able to retrieve it before it sank (it’s my mom’s).

Through all of the mangrove cuts, we’ve made it to Anchorage Resort and Marina on Key Largo. We got the boat tied up and put away and then we hit the pool! By the time we were cleaned up and ready for dinner, a pod of dolphins had come into Blackwater Sound (where the marina is off of). We had dinner at my parent’s favorite place in Key Largo, Gus’ Grille. It’s a restaurant at the Key Largo Marriott Resort. Their food is delicious. My mom even treated us (thanks again!). Back at the marina before bed, we ran into a guy trying to catch tarpon from the Sound, just under the bridge. He was going to net shrimp as they swam by! We wished him luck and headed to bed.

Tired and happy,

Lauren & Scott