Bahia Honda State Park

Little Shark River to Big Pine Key was filled with Loop lessons;

~ We reached out to Rendezvous friends to confirm our heading to the keys! All the books just tell you to head for the Keys without any specifics, we wanted a landfall at Marathon, which had a few different outside markers.  One Looper said “just auto-route it on Navionics” as a general rule,  but we chart our own courses.  Leaving it up to the GPS can get you in trouble.  Another long timer gave us the old school marker to marker coordinates which was all we needed.  

~ We met several non-looper friends who gave us Keys recommendations and guided us out of Shark in the fog.

~ Harbor tours, dock tails and just about any random encounter on the street leads to recommendations and local knowledge!

~ when you need something, think outside the box, there are many ways to get what you need.

~ and most of all you can’t fight the weather so don’t try, Mother Nature always wins.

We planned on a couple of days here but have extended our stay four times (this is more common than you would think). We love this place, especially the waffle cones at the snack shop at “ice cream o’clock”.  We got settled into this beautiful protected marina with a gulf and bay beach with clear shallow water and a grassy area to try out our snorkel gear. We saw our first Manatee – At Our Boat!! 

Sunsets over the Flagler Railroad bridge are amazing (seen from the bridge or our flybridge), and the bike ride to the showers reminds me of the Cape!

We took the bikes south on the Key West shuttle – the bus ride experience could be an entire blog in itself.

Key West didn’t disappoint and we were happy to do it in a day.  We loved the Truman annex and little white house, loved the houses and of course the vibe in and around Key West.

   

We spent hours the next day creating a great four night anchorage plan which involved figuring out which side (bay or gulf) would be most favorable in the 25 to 35 knot winds, anchorage or marina, where to fuel, laundry, and provision — pretty involved even for someone who lives to organize and plan!  We changed the plan multiple times, then rechecked the weather and extended our time at Bahia, lolol.

We cannot get enough of the ibis that just walk around this marina. We also have a footbridge leading to the boat, great for watching fish.

  

We went North to Marathon on Valentines day on the bus with all the looper boats staying here.  Stopped for lunch at the Keys Fisheries Market for conch chowder and fritters (#5), Brian had fish and chips.  Watched the boats and piles of crab pots (I think we saw more than these in the water over the last few weeks.  Best Valentines Day ever,  checked Marathon off the bucket list.

Will leave here at the end of the week, the winds are still predicted to be high but from a better direction allowing us to stay on the Gulf side and start working our way north. (ha, ha, weather permitting)