Boot Key

Tuesday, we continued south from near Everglades City down to Little Shark River, where we anchored and spent a quiet night. We had commented about the apparent lack of cruisers traveling. We hadn't seen many boats......until now. There were several boats anchored in Little Shark. And we weren't the smallest. There were four boats smaller than us. Including the 16' sail boat in this photo. Two people. No motor--only oars for power. This is a long way from anywhere. There was also a Hunter 240, a Rhodes 22, and an 20' Trophy walkaround.
It was wonderfully calm for our crossing today. As we got closer to Marathon, we heard boat after boat going in and taking a mooring. You must be in the harbor before they will assign you a bouy. We finally got through the bridge and called on the VHF. We got bouy #O-2. The last one available today. There is a web cam if you want to try to find us--we're here for at least a week, maybe 2. It's Boot Key Harbor at Marathon City Marina.
There's 226 mooring balls, and everyone travels around the harbor in their dinghy and everyone has bicycles ashore. Both the dinghy dock and bicycle racks are overflowing. There are bathrooms and showers at the marina. You haul water to your boat from the marina. We had one 5 gal jerry can with us, but thought we should have another. So we walked to Home Depot. Then to West Marine to find one. Water is $.05 per gallon.
It's finally warm.