After staying in Key Largo for about a week due to strong winds, we decided it was time to head south.

It was pretty cool to watch manatees near the dinghy docks in Tarpon Basin and dolphins at the Dolphin Encounter on Key Largo. While sailing, we saw baby dolphins near Ramshorn Cut and a sea turtle near Cotton Key! (sorry, no pics of the manatees, dolphins, or sea turtle)

On Saturday, we sailed from Key Largo to Islamorada and had a great sail thru several sounds in northeast 10 to 20 kt winds, at times sailing over 7 kts! Love it when we can just sail!!

The winds were blowing pretty good, so we tucked into a protected harbor at the north end of Islamorada to anchor for the night. That evening we dinghied to Lorelei's, where we enjoyed happy hour while listening to good music and watched a beautiful sunset. What a great day!!

It was still a bit breezy on Sunday morning, so we decided to spend another day in our protected anchorage among the mangroves in Islamorada. We did a few boat projects while Bud and Jen went fishing. Several times during the day, a float plane landed near our anchorage. It was interesting to watch power boats and jet skis motor over to the plane. Rumor has it that the plane was owned by Jimmy Buffett. Very interesting since we saw it land and fly several times both days!

In the afternoon when it appeared the quick rain showers were over, we dinghied across the harbor to walk around Islamorada and visit Lorelei's again. Another great day in the Florida Keys!

On Monday morning, we decided it was time to get to Marathon to be sure we could get two mooring balls close together. Mooring fields and anchorages have been unusually full this year.

After the early morning rain shower, we pulled up our anchor and saw a double rainbow. Very pretty! We enjoyed a very pleasant sail along Florida Bay. The water is such a beautiful color! We stayed in Florida Bay and motor sailed thru Moser Channel rather than going out in the ocean along Hawk Channel.

We arrived in Boot Key Harbor and saw several available mooring balls in both the west and east fields. We're planning to stay for at least a month, so we chose mooring balls in the east field.

Last evening we watched a beautiful sunset across the harbor, we did all our laundry this morning, and this evening we'll dinghy to Marathon Marina to visit with friends and hopefully take a dip in their pool. Life is good!!