Day Trip

Yesterday we untied from our rented mooring for a couple of errands and a short cruise out in the ocean.

First we went to the Marathon City Marina to take on 100 gallons of fresh water. Drinking water in the Keys is all piped in from the Everglades and is expensive (Castine residents can relate) so dockside water is not free but instead costs $.05/gal. Not too big a deal as our fill-up cost $5 and lasts us for 2 weeks here on the mooring. I hear that fresh water in the Bahamas runs around $.50/gal.

Next we left Boot Key Harbor and stopped at Burdines fuel dock and bought 90 gallons of diesel @ $4.40/gal which is probably the most expensive fuel we'll buy on the whole trip. Still beats rowing.

Then we headed out in a SW direction to Bahia Honda State Park, about 10 miles down the Keys. Here's the SPOT record of our route :

Notice that our route there was fairly direct while on our return trip we 'tacked' to avoid rolling in beam seas. After 2 hours of cruising, mostly parallel to the famous 7 mile bridge, we arrived at Bahia Honda and passed through a break in the old Flagler railroad bridge. The old Flagler Railway was the first connection of the keys from the Florida mainland to Key West and this particular bridge was quite a construction challenge.

 

We dropped anchor between the old RR bridge to the south and route 1 (also a bridge) to the north. We then dinghied into the park's lagoon and enjoyed 3 aspects of the park :

 

1) Most importantly we bought ice cream at the park concession. They have great ice cream at surprisingly good prices.

 

2) We walked through the butterfly garden :

3) We walked up the old RR bridge for a view of the park and the adjacent Keys. Hey, there is Spray at anchor!

We couldn't stay too long if we wanted to return to our Marathon mooring before dark, so back to Spray, haul the dinghy up on the davits, pull anchor and another 2 hour cruise which included a nice sunset behind us and clipping back onto our mooring just as it got dark.

 

All in all a nice trip even if it was bouncier out there than we expected. Plus with Spray's fuel tanks now full we are ready for the next leg of our trip when we leave Marathon in a couple weeks.

 

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