1/23/21 Saturday

After three weeks on the mooring ball, we took a couple nights break and anchored north of Bahia Honda State Park. On Thursday, we headed out of Marathon Harbor and it felt good to be out on the open water headed west. We turned north at the channel to go under the seven-mile bridge and continued again toward the west across the shallow banks of the bay side of the keys. After a couple of hours, we arrived off of Bahia Honda Key and anchored in eight feet of water off the mangroves all by ourselves.

The breeze was still blowing around eight knots but there was only a mild chop on the water. As the evening came on, we had a beautiful sunset and the wind set down and it was a very calm night. Sharon made a beet pasta for dinner and we relaxed reading and listening music.

On Friday, Sharon made us a picnic lunch and we loaded up the dinghy and while I rowed, she paddled on her paddle board. There was still a breeze from the east and the water had a small chop. The weather was beautiful with wispy clouds here and there and temperatures in the low seventies.

We traveled along the mangrove swamp and a beach with a boater enjoying the beach. We entered an old quarry that had been dug for rock to build route 1 and was left open to the bay, creating a small very deep harbor. We tied the dinghy and board to a guard rail. There were a few camp sites around the quarry and we talk to one family to confirm it was ok to leave our boat; they didn’t know but didn’t see a problem with leaving it there.

We walked to the Bahia Honda State Park entrance and after paying $5 we continued into the park along the beach on the Atlantic side of the island. We found a shaded picnic table to eat our lunch by the small marina. We walked up the old Route 1 that had been built out onto the top of the old railroad bridge in an interesting reuse of the cast iron spans.

Next, we stopped at the beach and waded out into the cool calm water. The beach is narrow and there were other people enjoying the day with several fishing along the ocean edge of the beach.

After ice cream cones at the gift shop, a key lime and a mango, we took the long walk back to the quarry and used the motor back to Monarch where we took a nap. It had been a busy day in the bright sun.

This morning we returned to the mooring ball in Marathon so we could use the marina’s wifi to watch the livestream of our niece’s wedding.