Islamorada
We had a flat cruise and arrived in Islamorada without incident. It was a bit of a culture shock after two weeks in the Everglades. We anchored in Barley Basin, a huge anchorage with room for tons of boats. I’d guesstimate there were abut 35 boats there and still lots of room.
Everyone always asks us if we fish while we are cruising. We have never really been fishermen. However, we decided we were going to make an effort. So while in Islamorada we had our salt water rod and reel respooled with new 20lb test line. More will be revealed on that subject in upcoming post. We also bought a second lighter weight rod.
Crossing A1A is a bit like playing frogger! There was a lot of traffic in both directions. Fortunately most people were kind and stopped to allow us to cross. Once on the other side we walked about 1/4 mile to a Farmer’s Market. Lots of gourmet foods and hippies. Only two produce stands in the whole market! Oh how I miss the markets in Baltimore! We managed to support the local economy anyway - Captain bought bread and pastries, a little produce, delicious coffee from the local coffee shop and we carried in really good Mediterranean food. We cook a lot on board so it’s always nice to eat out, or carry in.
We hunkered down for the next few days with 30k winds coming W/NW. We knew we were in for a ride as there wasn’t much protection from those winds in the basin but we weren’t ready to move on. Another few days of thanking our Rocna anchor for holding us tight! During those days we read, cook, work on boat projects and if we have decent cell service spend way too much time online!
After the winds we dinghyed to shore to walk to the grocery store. The guy on Shana Maidel told us to go ashore at a different spot and that it would be safe to tie Zoom to the mangroves and a shorter walk to the grocery store. So off we went!
Approaching the “dinghy dock”
Tied to the mangroves and waded to shore! You can be sure we used our cable and locked Zoom to the mangroves. This was kind of a sketchy spot!
The next few pics are sites on our walk to Publix. Eddie spent most of the walk reminiscing about how the Keys used to be back in the 70’s! By the way, the temps had dropped and while it was a beautiful sunny day, it was also chilly!
On our walk Eddie realized he could see Seaquel in the anchorage from the road. We walked towards her and tried to get decent pics. Such a pretty site framed by the palm trees in that beautiful blue water!
From the road
Getting closer!
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| Final shot! |
On our way to Publix we stopped for lattes at a local coffee spot. Eddie inquired as to whether there was Uber or Lyft in Islamorada as we knew we’d have a bunch of groceries to carry on the way back. We were told, yes both are on the Island and also something called Freebee. So we downloaded the Freebee app and ordered an electric car for our return to the dinghy. I wish I had thought to take a picture. We were picked up in one of those 6 person open golf carts. There was a woman already along for the ride who appeared to be the Mayor of the anchorage and filled us in on everything. She wanted our phone number so she could call us when our anchor dragged! We declined and let her know we were only passing through the area, not staying for the season. She filled us in on the characters that live in the anchorage. It was a fun and interesting ride and yep, it was FREE! Turns out the village of Islamorada has a contract to pay for the service.
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