CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO LINK —>> November an exciting month
It started with Hurricane Sandy even we felt the effects as far away as we were, it was that large.
I finally finished my sewing challenges: dingy chaps and made shades covers for the cockpit. What a relief! All of the important projects were finished, the boat registered in Bermuda and our storm sail arrived we waited for a weather window to start south from Fort Myers Beach to Marathon.
We had a fabulous evening out with Sue and Al on the 7th. We went with them 
for crab and then on to see their favorite performers at the Roadhouse.
It was a quartet of jazz musicians who were just amazing. Piano player was 28 and the leader, the bass player plays for the philharmonic, the drummer was very talented and the saxophone and clarinet player was 82, they played just excellent music and It was a lovely evening.
The 8th was my birthday.
It was spent riding to the shops for the last ride in the area, stowing everything, cleaning and then out for a pizza with Peter. On the 9th we were up at 6:00am and away from the dock at 7:15am. Alex and Peter were up 
to bid us farewell. I’m sure we will all meet again.
The sail to Kice Island/Cape Romano was just excellent.
It
was a beam reach at between 5 to 6 knots almost as if we were floating in space, as the ride was so smooth. The temperature had been 53 degrees when we left in the morning, my idea of freezing, but as the day 
continued the temperature climbed and it was perfect.
Kice Island, Cape Romano
Dolphins came to play and race the boat as we sailed. Arriving at Kice Island, Cape Romano, our anchorage 
we dropped the dinghy and set off along the coast.
It is quite a fascinating area very wild but with beehive-dome structures that were built ages ago and are now being reclaimed by the sea. Back at the boat we had an early dinner and enjoyed the scenery.
The following day we set off before 8 in the dinghy to explore the area. Our 1st stop was Kice Island where we landed on a sandbar just off the beach. The tide 
was just starting to rise, there wasn’t a person or boat in site and it was just beautiful. There were shells of every type cast all over the sandbar and beach. I was in heaven collecting shells and exploring, eventually having walked a good length of the beach I had to take off my fleece to create a bag to carry all the shells. There were birds everywhere and paw prints from the different wild animals, the day was stunning. 
After a few hours we continued by dinghy from the bay and up the waterway dividing the islands of Kice and Big Morgan, following the waterway around the neighboring island of Cape Romano. Eventually we reach the outside where we stopped to again walk 
along the beach exploring. By this time there were small groups of fishermen fly-fishing along the shore. At the end of this island there are the strange dome like structures that were built in 1981 as a type of retreat. They are being reclaimed by the sea and look very alien sitting in the water.
Big Morgan Island
After lunch we set out again for the shore of Big Morgan Island, walking the beaches, paddling through the waterways and had a wonderful time exploring. John nearly sank in the mud at one inlet and no he couldn’t convince me to try it. We saw a flock of 
spoonbills that had pale green heads and necks with beautiful pink bodies feeding in one of the inland ponds. Ospreys were everywhere, Turkey Vultures watching for food from the trees. Sea birds of all types walked the shore or fished in the shallow waters. Such a wild and beautiful place. It was just a wonderful gift of a day we were given.
The following morning we set out for Indian Key pass in the Ten Thousand Islands area of Everglades National Park
leaving at 8am. This was a pleasant sail of 4 hours. There we anchored in the huge lake areas 
between islands, had lunch and later in the afternoon went ashore on Indian Key. Neither of us expected what we found. From the water it looked like quite a boring little key. In fact when we were there previously with Rhianna she convinced me to swim/wade in the water there and I found it most unpleasant. This time the tide was way down, a rise and fall of 6 feet due to 
the new moon. Due to this we were able to walk around the island and found that it is an interesting key full of wild life with a pond in the interior. There were animal prints everywhere and I’m sure they were watching us. Again it was 
a lovely late afternoon and evening.
Everglades City
The next morning we set off in the dinghy to visit and check out Everglades City. Well it is anything but a city. In fact it is a piece of America that time has forgotten about.
The cafe where we tied the boat up was selling gator meat, frog’s 
legs and other such delicacies and the raw/fresh meat was on display. We 
walked all about the “city” and had an early lunch at The Rod and Gun club. Wow!! this place was a real trip back in time. It actually resembled a museum but was just an Inn/hotel.
They cooked us an amazing lunch. We originally asked for a fresh fish sandwich and we ended up with the fish, with yellow rice, salad and a hushpuppy, which is a round ball of?? It tasted great. By this time the weather looked to be changing and so we headed back to the boat. Aeeshah was moored 6 miles away and the trip through the waterways is remarkable. The area is just huge, vast and wild. If we were to leave the channel I believe we could have been very lost.
In the early morning we set off for Cape Sable. Again we were fortunate with the
weather, it was another perfect broad reach sailing day. Again the dolphins visited, there were flocks of birds feasting on huge schools of fish, and the water was alive. Just before we arrived John caught a nice fish. I thought it was a Sea Trout but Charles tells us it was a Spanish mackerel.
We departed Cape Sable reasonably early and had hoped for another good days sailing but the wind died and so on went the engine. This area is just rammed full of crab pot buoys so it was necessary to keep a really close watch 
out as it was I managed to snag one, luckily not with the prop but on the rudder.
Arriving at the entrance to Marathon we spotted a familiar boat…….Sue and Al’s boat with the tow boat along side. Unfortunately they had gone aground, as the channel was not as deep as supposed. They had set off the day before and travelled over night and day.
Then on entering the Boot Key Harbour I had just caught our mooring buoy when up came Charles in his dinghy. It was quite surprising to meet up with 2 of our old neighbors straight away.
The days following our arrival involved the usual laundry, biking to the grocery 
store and boat chores. We did go for a delicious crab leg dinner and we have met a score of people all here to wait for a weather window to open so travel to the Bahamas can begin.
Pigeon Berry Key
One bike ride we took early on a Sunday was to the 
old bridge at Pigeon Berry Key. It was the original bridge before 7mile Bridge. 
You are able to ride 2 miles down it. A very enjoyable ride which was about 14 miles total.
Another morning we were invited to Al and Sue’s for a brunch. There were 8 of us and again we met some other cruisers, Jack and Tatiana who are headed in the same direction as we are as soon as the weather breaks.
For Thanks Giving John and I spent a day biking and exploring in the dingy and then had a roasted chicken for dinner. Sue sent us an excellent video link to watch which we both think is very thought provoking, please watch it:
Boot Key has filled up
considerably since we arrived. The harbour holds 226 mooring buoys and a good many are holding boats 
ready to leave as soon as the weather presents a good opportunity. The next few days looked promising but now we find out there is another front with 50k winds moving into the area early next week.
We will continue to explore the area and get all the boat work completed. My intention is to update my blog/news when the opportunity presents itself as when we leave this will be only when we are in harbors with wifi. As 
who knows we could leave any day weather willing. 
What have we enjoyed reading this month? The Round House by Louise Erdrich, The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin, San Miguel by TC Boyle.
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have” Eckhart Tolle
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