Starring in our own late late show

This morning found us anchored off Key Largo, in the lee of Rodriguez Key (map). It's a great anchorage, and we had it all to ourselves at 3:30 when we dropped the hook, in water so clear we could see the anchor and all its chain. By sunset a half dozen sailboats had joined us, including one we had passed several hours earlier. Most, however, were headed north.


Sunset over Key Largo.

The rest of our cruise from Key Biscayne was very pleasant, and we enjoyed cocktails and dinner on our aft deck, opting not to splash the tender for a one-night stay. We would have spent a second night, and gone ashore at the Tiki Bar at Mandalay, of not for the fact that the nice weather on this side of the archipelago will not hold through tomorrow.

This morning all the sailboats were gone by the time we had our first coffee. We weighed anchor around 8:30 and I am typing now east of Channel Five, between Matecumbe and Long Keys. We have about another three hours to Boot Key in Marathon.

Enough boats have started the northbound migration that the mooring field at Boot Key has some vacancies. We'll anchor tonight somewhere outside the harbor, and pick up a ball tomorrow so we can stay and enjoy Marathon for a few days before cutting across and heading north. The charge for a ball is the same as the charge to use the dinghy dock, so we might as well be inside the harbor for our stay.