Well, it’s been a long day anchored off Islamorada (I-La-Muh-Ra-Duh, which is Spanish for Purple Island).  We have had a steady 25 knots most of the day, and now a steady 30 with higher gusts, along with a long fetch bouncing us around in a 2 foot chop.  The anchor has held fine, but the seas have made for a very uncomfortable day.  We are settling in for a long night as it is not predicted to lay down most of the night. I’ve got first anchor watch, thus, a good opportunity to update the blog 🙂

To back track, we arrived in Biscayne Bay about a week ago, and spent our first night anchored off Biscayne Key.  The next day we spent sailing on Biscayne Bay, and then went into Crandon Park Marina on Biscayne Key for fuel.  We ended up picking up a mooring there as well instead of going back out to the anchorage.

Crandon Park is a municipal marina within the state park system. In walking the docks, we happened upon the sport fishers coming in with their catch. Luckily, they were selling some of the fresh fish as well.  So, we ended up with some nice King Mackerel fillets which we grilled up for dinner while enjoying a beautiful sunset.  Delicious!!

These crazy pelicans got their share of fresh fish as well.

We left Biscayne Bay, along with the Miami skyline in our rear view, and headed further south into the Florida Keys.

Our next stop was an anchorage off of the northern stretch of Key Largo, tucked in behind Pumpkin Key.  We wanted to anchor further north off of Elliott Key but we could not get the anchor set, and it was too exposed of an anchorage given a strong northern wind predicted that night.  We were glad to have the protection of Pumpkin Key that night!

Pumpkin is a seemingly perfectly round 26 acre island that is privately owned so unfortunately, we could not land  there.  It’s for sale if anyone is interested though … For a mere $110 million, complete with a three bedroom house, beach and private marina.

Very pretty spot though, and a fleet of day sailors held a race just off the island.

Great spot for some kayaking.

Some of the most beautiful sunsets we’ve seen.

We have now moved further south past Key Largo to Islamorada. The land is predominantly made up of mangroves.

So far, the remote beauty of the keys is also its drawback. While you can have peaceful anchorages with clear blue water, shore accessibility is very limited, and unlike the small towns of the Carolina’s and Georgia, it is mostly about the enjoyment and solitude of the water. Until we get to the Boot Key/Marathon area, and then further to Key West, marinas with good depth for our boats 4 ft draft are few and far between.

The view from our current anchorage looks northwest out over the crystal blue water of the Florida Bay and it’s many remote keys.

We stayed in a slip at Plantation Yacht Harbor a few days ago in order to reprovision with water and do laundry, and while it was a nice marina it was far removed from any other shore-based amenities, and nothing much in the way of exploring. The marina itself was part of a community park that was nice, complete with Olympic size pool, mega tennis facility, soccer and baseball fields, dog park, beach, and an outdoor amphitheater. Great marina stop, especially if you have kids.

We had our first up close encounter with a manatee here!

Bringing us back to today and Islamorada … We are definitely feeling we are on “Keys” time as the lifestyle is laid back and casual.

We can tell there are a few year-round live aboards in the anchorage here. Not much to the “town” though, short of a few tiki bars/restaurants, and the Bass Pro Shop.

We are hoping to be able to explore some of the smaller keys around here tomorrow if the weather lays down, want to get out and snorkel the reefs offshore.  Then, the plan is to go offshore from here down to Key West where we will stay until some time in early to mid-March.

With slightly less than 88 miles to go, we are looking forward to some fun in Key West!

Postscript … Did not get this published last night, even though we basically pulled an all nighter due to the weather conditions.  It blew steady 25 all night with gusts up to 30+.  The wind is just starting to lay down, and we are considering our options given we only have this afternoon before it kicks back up again and is predicted to stay that way for several days.