Isla Mujeres to Key West, FL

After spending a cold and wintery Christmas in Minneapolis and the new year in Vancouver, we made it back to Isla Mujeres on February 14th. Our friends Denise and Paul were already on the island since late January staying with some friends. They transitioned onto our boat and we spent a week more (we spent 2 weeks here back in November) enjoying Isla Mujeres. We enjoyed the sunrises and sunsets, good restaurants, scouting about on the golf cart, taking the dinghy over to the beach to swim, utilizing the marina pool etc. We had a blast! We left the island at 4 am on February 21st, for our three day journey to Key West (with a stop in between in Dry Tortugas to get some sleep!). 

Sunrise on the eastern most point in Mexico

An old wall near the east side of Isla Mujeres

Boat outing outside Isla Mujeres, Mexico

The boys swimming in the ocean, right off the boat

Cruising through the open ocean with no land in sight is always such an awesome feeling of adventure and independence. It takes a lot of planning to make sure all systems are running smoothly when venturing out to sea. Even with expert weather forecasting, the ocean can be bumpy depending on how the boat hits the waves. We started out with a side to side movement that was a bit unsettling so we needed ear patches and wrist bands to prevent the nausea. It is also important to make sure all glasses, vases, bottles etc are put away as things can go flying! If the weather is perfectly calm we can drive from the fly bridge and lay out on the bow in the sun, but that wasn't in the cards on this trip! Murf doesn't seem as affected by the movement (as she has four legs) but she does put off peeing until the last possible moment. She averaged a once a day pee on her green mat out back! 

Murf's pee mat on the front bow of Curandera

Nights are long on these voyages, I took the 8:30-12:30 with Denise helping me out. Paul took a few hours solo both nights (he is a quick learner). Darryn usually did the long stretch from about 3:00 am -8:00 am. The second night the bumps went up and down, literally elevating us off the beds while we were sleeping! It felt like a amusement park ride! We did manage to sleep some though... thank goodness. Denise and Paul were troopers, no complaints and embracing the adventure!

The sunrise view from Curandera out at sea...

We made it to Dry Tortugas the morning of the 22nd. It is uninhabited, 100 square mile remote national park. It is only accessible by boat or sea plane. It is known for its historic Fort Jefferson, one of the nation's largest 19th century forts. We toured this massive fort, which is surrounded by a moat and open areas where cannons used to reside(there were a few there). We snorkeled on the island and saw some beautiful coral. Earlier, when we first got to the island, we were very anxious to get to shore to stretch our legs and relieve Murf. We took the dinghy to the beach and as we were enjoying the sand and Murf was frolicking in the water, we spot a person running really fast down the beach toward us. As he got closer we could see he was a park ranger, and he was very upset. He was yelling "Get off the beach!! You will harm the birds!". We didn't realize that Dry Tortugas is a world class birding destination. Nearly 300 hundred species of birds have been on the island or the small neighboring islands that make up the park. We saw the rare version of the frigate bird and sooty tern, that are not found in the continental United States, except for these islands. The park ranger told us that the birds migrate from West Africa.

Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas

Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas

 We enjoyed the remainder of the day swimming off the boat, talking to a few other boaters who where anchored, and enjoying the sun. We made an early dinner and Darryn was ready for bed before 8:00 (early morning run to the Keys) when the water tap went dry before finishing the dishes. The water pump was worn out. Good thing Darryn has an extra one on the boat! He had to climb down into the hatch to fix it, in his tired daze after 2 nights of minimal sleep. Sometimes we have to share the boat maintenance stories so it is understood that boating can spring some surprises! 

The next day we had a great sunny and smooth day of cruising into Key West. We arrived at our marina, The Perry, before sundown. We were so excited to have arrived to Florida from Mexico, it was quite the journey! We tied up the boat and cracked some well deserved beers to celebrate our success! 

Beers on the dock at The Perry in Key West. Well deserved after three tough  days & nights!

Key West is a fun and quirky place. It is the perfect temp (80's) and it was sunny the entire week we were there. It is touristy for sure, but everyone is happy. It is flat, but surrounded by beautiful aqua marine water. It is known for the roaming chickens and roosters (although we saw many more of them in the Cayman Islands) and Duval Street, where everyone bar hops and listens to live music. The Hemingway House is also a popular attraction, where Ernest Hemingway wrote 70% of his books from 1931-1939. He had six toed cats and they have continued to breed in this house. There are 57 six toed cats on the premises! The houses in Key West are very cute, old colonial style homes with front porches. The trees and plants are quite amazing as well, with orchids being the stars, growing out of the trees! We ate lots of amazing seafood, including shrimp and grits. Our marina, The Perry, was amazing as well, where we enjoyed the pool and restaurants, dog park, coffee shop and gym. We met many new boating friends, as it was a big marina with lots of similar type boats. One boat was from Excelsior, MN! It isn't often you see other boats with MN as a hailing port. Of course the majority of the hailing ports were from the east coast. Our friends Dave and Toni on Sea Trial (Nordhavn 55) did the trip from Isla Mujeres with us so we enjoyed spending time with them in Key West as well. We met another couple, Scott and Abby, in the marina on their Nordhavn 55. Nordhavn owners get around!

Enjoying Duval St. at Sloppy Joe's

Live music at our marina (Toni, Denise, Murf and me)

A typical colonial house in. Key West, FL

Darryn on the porch at the Hemingway House

A night out eating awesome seafood (Geiger Key) among the mangroves with our new friends Scott and Abby

After a week enjoying Key West, we left to continue our venture up the coast the morning of March 5th. Destination... Marathon, FL,  another section of the keys. We will slowly make our way up with a mixture of marina stays and anchoring. Stay tuned for more Florida fun.