We managed to pry ourselves out of Miami, despite threatening weather reports for the next evening. We sailed down the entire length of Biscayne Bay, south of Miami, to the entrance to Florida Bay at Jewfish Creek, a distance of 45 miles. With the threat of a cold front moving through and in need of warm showers, we tied up to a dock at the entrance to the Bay. A very funky and appropriate entrance to the Keys, with loud music, friendly people and pelicans watching us on the dock.
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After a downpour most of the night, which we had no problem with at the dock, the weather unexpectedly cleared by mid-day the next day, so we took off and sailed down Key Largo on the bay side.
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After an hour of sailing we realized that we were going to pass an old favorite motel and breakfast place where we spent about 10 winters with our kids, so using our boat GPS and a car gps that Arnie got for his birthday, we first observed a car driving across Florida Bay with the gps telling us to turn onto land, but when we didn’t, it told us the mileage and direction to Popp’s motel. With that and our binoculars, we found Popp’s and called them for permission to use their dinghy dock. The owner is now the 24 year old who used to play with our son Ben of the same age and he was happy to let us come ashore. The next morning we ate at Harriet’s ( the best breakfast in the Keys) and visited with the people at Popp’s – it hasn’t change much in 20 years – still a neat place. We even think that we saw a very old Great White Heron named "Snowbird" who has lived at Popps since forever.
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From there we sailed on further to the first place where a sailboat can cross to the Atlantic side, since the winds were now clocking so that the boat would be in the lee of the Keys. We anchored just past the Channel 5 bridge, with only 1 other boat in about a 3 mile diameter “bay”. No lights, just stars. The next day we got up early and sailed out into Hawk channel, the Atlantic side, but calm because of the reef a few miles off the shore. It was a nice sail – took us about 4 hours to sail 22 miles or so, and we entered the harbor of Marathon. We knew that it was crowded, but boy is it crowded! The city of Marathon really has cleaned up its act. 10 years ago Marathon was a hole, with derelict boats and sleezy surroundings.
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Three years ago, the city took out the derelict boats, put in a 226 mooring marina with all kinds of facilities, including showers, wi-fi, TV, dingy docks, bike racks ( always full) and more.
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Adjacent is a city park with tennis, basketball, bocci ball, and just a nice friendly setting, where everyone says hi. Amazing transformation.
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Unfortunately, with the weather so crazy this year, and the increased awareness of this great facility, the place is full. We are currently #17 on the waiting list for a mooring ball and nobody seems to be leaving, but are now at anchor in another part of the harbor. The anchorage is full too.
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Met a bunch of good folks, including 2 other Corsair trimarans like ours, who we’ve corresponded with via e-mail but hadn’t met until now.
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Lots of other cool people traveling in all kinds of boats in all kinds of ways. Tonight is the Superbowl, so the lounge will probably be hopping. We plan on going over with some new friends. The weather has improved, but still remains strange, with continuously clocking winds and fronts moving through at lest once per week. Last night was a big thunderstorm that thankfully mostly missed us.
We’ll probably stay here another 10 days or so, and then start sailing back north to where we launched our boat, about 200 miles away. But for now, we are just hanging.