Goodbye Stock Island Marina.  Sorry we have to leave you. This was a great marina to enjoy Key West without being in the heart of Duval Street and the busy waterfront. Stock Island had some of the best restaurants in the area. We would definitely stay here again.

We have finally left the Florida Keys astern, but not without a last hooray!

So, we left Key West (well, actually Stock Island) on Wednesday headed across the Gulf of Mexico towards Cape Sable in the Florida Everglades. It was a beautiful run down the southern shore of Key West and around the western tip, up the Northwest Channel into the Gulf.  It is the closest we will be to Cuba this trip (very tempting).

The weather forcast was N at 5-10 knots with seas of 1-2 feet. But, since the winds had been blowing for days on end, the fetch coming across the Gulf had the seas still at 3-4 feet. Not that bad if we could have gone into them, but our heading to make the Cape Sable or Shark River area had the waves on our beam. There was no wind either, so sailing was not an option. After a bit of side to side rolling, and the dog looking seasick, we made the decision to backtrack around Key West and head up Hawks Channel on the Atlantic.

After a long day of motoring, we dropped anchor in the outside Boot Key anchorage.

Arising early the next morning with plans to make the cut over to the Gulf, we listened to chatter on the VHF radio about conditions for snorkeling the reef being the better than ideal. We looked at each other and decided to head out to the reef for the day and snorkel . . . Oh, the cruising life 😎.

We pulled up the chart for the Sombrero Reef mooring system, and headed on out.  Luckily, there was an available mooring.

And, boy were we glad we made this decision! We learned, not only was the wind calm but the Gulf Stream was inshore which resulted in exceptional visibility. We felt very lucky that day. I only wish we had an underwater camera with us.

My captain had his wetsuit on because he was cold.  I thought the water felt great!

We left Sombrero Reef in the mid afternoon and headed back to the anchorage at Boot Key for the night.

As tempted as we were to stay again and snorkel the reef for another day, we figured we better get moving or we’d never leave the Keys.

So, on to Cape Sable and the Shark River in the Florida Everglades!