Tarpon Basin, Key Largo, Florida, USA

I promised myself after the outburst of childlike enthusiasm regarding the flats and mangroves that I would contain myself. That I would bridle myself, stick to the facts and attempt to paint a verbal primitive stick figure of our explorations.

YEAH, BUT WE SAW THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. NOT ONLY DID WE SEE IT WE WENT A COUPLE OF MILES OFF SHORE IN OUR LITTLE DINGHY. IT WAS WONDERFUL!

I lied to myself. It is pretty hard not to run high with emotive feelings that need some form of escape. We have never been to the Atlantic. The closest I have ever been is driving along Highway 1 on my way to an inspection when we were still working. This is really special to me. But more interesting was the trip there.

We are on the inside of the Keys. So we found a land cut on the chart that connects Florida Bay with the Atlantic, board our dinghy and set off exploring. The land cut is magnificent, hacked out of solid coral reef through the island with pleasant homes* on both sides. The tide runs swift through here and there is plenty of traffic but it does not deter one from the enjoyment of looking at the coral walls of the cut and suddenly realizing the whole of Key Largo is nothing more then an old coral reef overgrown with indigenous trees and plants that have dropped leaves forming a shallow layer of detritus that is the soil.

We traveled waterways that we could see the bottom in most locations. We estimated those areas as up to 30'. There were other clear areas in which we simply could not see the bottom leaving us pondering how deep some of these channels really are. We will be putting a depth finder on the dinghy soon so that, when needed it can lead Skinwalker, the mother ship, through shallows, to the required anchoring depth.

Last night we were honored to be invited along with Judy and Captain Sterling to celebrate Judy's birthday at the Marriot outside bar. There was island music by a good one man band and the festivities were as one expects in the Keys, open, friendly, low keyed, (pun intended) and just plan fun. It is always nice to meet the tourist from Toledo also because the concept of living on a boat is just so strange to them that they always buy you a beer to learn more. It was a very nice evening and we were very happy to be included in one family's celebration of life.

It was a very nice day and we plan on continuing such days.

Real estate prices are challenging here. A small double wide jammed in with a mixed bag of other type trailers on a bayside canal is listed a $ 469,000. Yeah almost ½ of a million! Like other places, some people find it hard to pay even the taxes. The "Old Keys", will be the new keys lined with huge homes and high rise condos. We can never go back in life so Lynn & I will simply be glad we got to experience most of these areas as they are now and cherish the memories.

From the pilothouse near the Atlantic,

Skinwalker & Capt'n Lynnie