We are on our way to new waters

We were finally able to leave Marathon by March 1, 2012 and we began our trip into new waters for us.  We went into the Atlantic Ocean up the Hawk Channel and into Key Largo.  The trip forecast was for 2ft seas, well let's just say the weatherman could have done a better job at his prediction.  We had a lumpy ride, nothing threatening, but not very comfortable and the seas were at least 3-5 ft.  We arrived safely at Key Largo and got a mooring in a very small mooring field of about 12 mooring balls.  It was very peaceful and there was only two other boats there with us.  We went up to the office and checked in and inquired about the glass bottom boat.  The boat was leaving in less than 5 minutes and it was already around 3 pm.  Well with no camera or phone to take pictures, we made a snap decision to go on the boat ride.  It proved to be a great decision as we had late afternoon sun on the reef and a great captain.

Marilyn sat as close to the glass bottom as possible.  There was seating around the windows and you dangled your feet then the folks seated above you could see also.  Anyway Marilyn was glued to the reef and ocean floor.  We saw an amazing number of fish and corral  They were so beautiful and some were very colorful.  It was such fun to share Erwin's diving hobby by looking at what he sees when he is diving.  It was a wonderful afternoon even though we did not get any pictures.  If you get to Key Largo, go to John Pennekamp State Park and take the tour on the glass bottom boats, you will not regret it.  We even got to see a green sea turtle swim by a couple of times.

This was the channel to get to the mooring field at Pennekamp State Park.  It was long and winding through the mangroves.  The next picture tells part of the story.....

Yes, we did not understand that several of the dive boats and the glass bottom boat exit the park and enter the waterway at this bend.  It turns at least 90 degrees and you are blind to see what is coming.  The captains blow the horn as a signal they are approaching the blind corner.  Lucky for us when we took our boat in and out of the channel we did not encounter any other boats.

The second day out in the Atlantic was much nicer travel.  This was sunrise on day 2 while we were heading to Miami.


This is a picture of the lighthouse as we approached Biscayne Bay which was interesting as we do not see lighthouses like we have on the great lakes.

Well you can see that Miami is larger than life from the water just like it is on the land side.  It is a thriving metropolis area.

As we traveled closer the the intercoastal waterway we came across these strange buildings built out in the water,  we were not sure if they were homes or cottages but they were interesting looking.



This is a quiet little spot just off the intercoastal waterway in Miami.  We could see several beautiful homes and a least two cruise ships parked behind the homes.  When we were eating our dinner we watched as the crew cleaned this yacht (note:  the small boat is a runabout that is probably about 21 feet long.  They took it out the back of the large yacht which also had room for 2 jet skis.  Hard to imagine!

Even though we were in the heart of Miami, the sunset was just a breathtaking as it is on a peaceful anchorage.

So we were glad that we had decided not to spend extra time in Key Largo and now we have completed the ocean part of the trip until we get all the way up to New Jersey.  We will be traveling the intercoastal waterway up the east coast.  It is fully protected water and a wonderful way to travel by boat.  We had ducked in just in time as the winds starting howling at 30 knots and kicked up the ocean swells considerably.

As we traveled toward Vero Beach and north up the coast we saw some very interesting sites between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.  We went past an inlet from the Atlantic Ocean called the Port Everglades inlet.  Here are some of the ocean container ships that were there either loading or unloading.

There were also several cruise ships at this inlet loading and unloading passengers going to Bahamas and to other islands.

Here are some pictures of the mega yachts, and I do mean mega yachts that we saw between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.  Some of them were over 40 feet wide and 200 feet long and there were literally hundreds of them.

Here is a typical picture of the waterway and one of the many bridges which connect the mainland to the islands all along the ocean side.  By the way, since we are not as tall as most of the boats (including the sailing boats) we did not have to have many of them raised for us to pass under them.  In one day we went under 19 bridges, but it was only about 6 or so that we had to have raised for us.  Interesting, these bridges have schedules that they open on either the hour and half hour or the quarter to and quarter after the hour.  This is so the traffic can also keep moving.



Well after a couple of long travel days we made it Vero