On the 26th we took the last small bit of Intra-coastal south inside of Marco Island. The next morning the boat was lightly aground at anchor and low tide. We waited for the rising tide and soon were free. We ran aground three more times getting back to open water, once having to take an anchor out in the dinghy to winch the boat back into deeper water – it was a very active morning! We anchored that evening just inside the boundaries of the Everglades National Park then about noon on the 28th went into a marina in Everglades City for the night. We walked the mile to the National Park Visitor's Center (one of the four in the Park) which was unimpressive. It turns out that this is the very top end of the Park and we were disappointed to learn that alligators are not in this area. A Tour Boat from here would only show us more mangroves and swamps, and we'd already seen enough of that from our own boat! But Everglades City is a neat, although very flat, little town with an adequate grocery store for taking on fresh food. Because high tide was coming around midday, we had to leave late; so we anchored for the night in the same area as before. On Thursday we sailed south for 30 miles and anchored off a river which drains the park -- we had plenty of mosquitoes with us that night! The next day was 50 miles of fabulous sailing in clear, green-blue water and we were anchored in the Keys for News Years Eve. It was a windy night and we were the only boat in the area (we had the whole "Horseshoe Key" to ourselves) so we brought in the New Year alone except for Martini & Rossi. On New Years Day we motored back to Marathon and spent two nights at anchor in their large "Boot Key" harbor then four nights at a dock. The area is full of cruising boats of all kinds, people who live aboard year round to people just waiting for the weather to improve for a crossing to the Bahamas. We left Marathon heading toward Key West and spent two nights at anchor: the first just off Bahia Honda State Park between the old and new highway bridges and the second in Newfound Harbor. We dinghied ashore and walked to an Ice Cream shop at Big Pine Key. During this walk we passed a real live Key Deer at the National Key Deer Refuge. This turned out to be the furthest south and west that we would take our boat in the Keys. The weather forecast by the 9th suggested that we should head back to the northeast so we spent five days on the Florida Bay side of the Keys. One of our stops here was to anchor off Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park while we dinghied ashore for the Ranger's regular tour of this tropical forest. We tied to a mooring ball at Shell Island for two nights, spent two nights at Mangrove Marina and anchored out on two other nights before arriving here at Key Largo on the 15th. We will stay here and relax, refresh, do our Income Taxes, tend to boat maintenance and hopefully have a visitor or two before we leave. Drop us an email (see Home page); we'd love your comments. Jim and Bobbie
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