Florida!

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Our flight to Fort Myers Saturday morning was mostly okay (slight delay taking off, then more delays as the crew dealt with a medical emergency upon landing). We Ubered to our hotel, spent a very quick night, then Ubered again to catch the Key West Express from Fort Myers to Key West.

As we approached the shore, we began to see the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Ian. Our drivers said much has been done towards cleanup but man, it’s still bad in places. We saw a lot more as we headed out to sea. These pictures say it all.

Our ferry cruise was uneventful. Not much scenery – kind of like being on a plane. We had some good conversations with both locals and visitors to the area. Seas were relatively calm, although we heard some people saying it was a little rough. Sure didn’t seem rough to us. I took a Dramamine just in case. I was fine.

After about 4 hours, we pulled into the northern basin, Key West Bight. Drake and Beth were there to meet us. So good to see them. We’d had Drake on our boat last summer but hadn’t seen Beth in years. We made the short walk to their boat at the Bight Marina.

Pelicans everywhere – yay!

We met up with some friends (Joe and Kari) of Drake and Beth, who live in the area, and proceeded to eat and drink away the afternoon and evening. Tons of fun…and so good to be in this wonderful weather and beautiful tropical scenery!

We stayed another day in Key West, taking a city tram tour and visiting a few more restaurants and bars.

Southernmost point in the USA:

This morning we departed Key West and headed east, on the gulf side, to Marathon Key. Joe and Kari have another house there, and we pulled up to their dock after about 4 hours of cruising (16 to 22 knots). The weather was beautiful and the water calm. Lovely day on the water…and so much different than what we’re used to!