Pardon delay in posting....

If you are like me you probably have a preconceived idea about Key West. It was as I thought but far more civilized than I anticipated. Lots of characters seen about town – but many cultural and historic attractions as well. This tiny island at the end of the continent teems with color and life around the clock. Some compare it to Bourbon Street however, having lived in New Orleans; I would say it is more relaxed!

We especially enjoyed the food- particularly the fresh fish which was perfectly prepared and reasonably priced. Many establishments were dog-friendly and welcomed Cody. We were return patrons at those places. After riding on the Conch Tour Train twice in one week, the “conductors” knew him by name. It was cool to walk down the streets of Key West and all of a sudden hear the Tour Train“conductor” on his microphone saying “ On my left is Cody, the three legged poodle, everybody wave to Cody! “ He was a trooper traveling every where with us in Pete’s bike basket.

Check out the PHOTO GALLERY – Key West Adventures and Ernest Hemingway House for more of the story.

While in Key West we took a road trip to Fort Lauderdale (Cody’s oncology check up) and on to For Pierce to visit our TMCA friends as they returned from the Bahamas. Along the way we checked out marinas with the thought of leaving our boat on the east coast for the winter. Short story --we did not find a place we liked and decided to take Marco Polo back to Marco Island Marina instead. Gaining extra traveling time we sailed down to the Dry Tortugas (70 miles from Key West). It was quite an experience anchoring out and taking the dingy to shore to visit Fort Jefferson. SEE PHOTO GALLERY- Dry Tortugas.

We had an uneventful 18- hour overnight sail from the Dry Tortugas back to Marco Island Marina. Oh, except for some issues with our navigation equipment which included but was not limited to registering the depth of the water we were in….. Hey, no problem when you are offshore. Besides I prefer not to know I am in water over a hundred feet deep! Nevertheless, thanks to Captain Pete’s expertise we were able to safely navigate the tricky entry into Marco Island Marina. I felt very grateful once s/v Marco Polo was tied up in the familiar marina and we could get some much needed sleep.

We enjoyed our brief cruising adventure, thank God for our safe travels and look forward to more extensive sails in 2016 with friends-old and new!

We are back in Houston now focused on enjoying family, completing our new home and getting settled in. Hopefully, we will see many of you while we are in town.

All the best,

Barbara, Pete and Cody