It is another beautiful day . The first boat leaves the anchorage under full sail. We untie from Nemo at 8:30 a.m.and head out to deeper water with our head sail up. Nemo pulls the anchor and put up their sails. We sail about a mile offshore all day. The winds are 10 knots with 2 ft. seas. There are more and more sport fishermen out as we get closer to Marathon.
The white foam from our wake intensifies the color of the turquoise water. We enter Boot Key harbor at 12:30. Nemo stopped for diesel first at Marathon Marina. They didnt have room for us, so we decided to go on ahead to look at anchorages. Then we decided to stop at Panchos fuel dock to top off our tank. They gave us 50 pounds of free ice! We then went on through the old bridge and into Boot Key Harbor. The City has 160 moorings here. They are all full as we found out when we called ahead. They will put you on a waiting list once you are here. Boats are leaving all the time. This is the last popular anchorage to wait for a crossing. We are thinking that we will just stay one night, so we want to anchor somewhere, but there is no room. We even check up in a little creek where there is room for only 4 or five boats and it is already full. As we are heading into the creek we are behind a Ketch named Sea Mist. I can't see where the boat is from, but I recognize the dinghy. It is Bill and Bette that we met at John Pennekamp. I call her and tell her we are right behind them. They had planned to anchor and wait for a mooring ball and stay a few weeks. But it is so crowded that Bette says they will anchor outside and probably start heading back north. It seems that there have been so few good weather windows this winter that there are more people hanging out down in the keys. Our friend Dan is still waiting. He missed one because his refrigertor went out and he had to wait for a repair. He is waiting for another window at Loggerhead marina in Ft. Lauderdale. He has friends there, so I'm sure he's having a good time. On our way out of the harbor, a drone flew past us overhead. It backed up and hovered next to us, checking us out and then zoomed away. I could see a man on the sailboat that just passed us had the remote. We then pass a run down , deserted marina. Carl thinks we can anchor in there. There is plenty of room in the fairway. We pull in and radio Don. He thinks it might work too. We tie off on two outside poles. Nemo sets his anchor and then swings over and we tie up together. It is protected and the winds are supposed to shift a little but remain light. We are comfortable and its 3p.m. We missed lunch so we decide to have nibbles and it runs into happy hour. There are no "No Trespassing" signs anywhere. We think that if we are anchored we are not trespassing. With this in mind, Don and Carl set out two more anchors, one from our bow and another from their stern. Don and Judy decide to go eat at the tiki bar and restaurant next door. Carl and I stay behind with the boats. I am just sure that the marine police are coming to tell us we can't stay here!