I am paying for it now with some slight balance issues, but we have enjoyed spending the last several days on our boat. The weather has been gorgeous with light winds. Small craft warnings are expected for Tuesday and Wednesday so we need to enjoy it while we can!
Tarpon Belly Key; Saturday 2/16/2019 and Sunday 2/17/2019
The last time we took the boat out we picked up a short rope around the prop. Randy had just thrown it up on the dock where this small green iguana was trying to eat some of the growth on the rope.
We took the kayak to Tarpon Belly on Saturday. Randy was hoping to get to the second canal but it was still too windy so Randy just practiced his kayak skills in the first canal. Larry and Karen joined us for the trip back to Tarpon Belly on Sunday. Surprisingly there were not very many people on Tarpon Belly on Sunday. There were several boats there on Saturday, so we expected more on Sunday. The people that had been camping on Sataurday were gone, but there we others camping on the canal side of the Key. They had a flat bottom skiff that could make it over the concrete barriors at the top of the Key so were tied up in the canal. If I liked to dry camp this would be an awesome spot!
Randy trying out the kayak on the channel on Tarpon Belly Key
Larry, Karen (taking the picture) Randy and Karen enjoying the shade at Tarpon Belly Key
Marvin Key; Monday 2/18/2019
The trip out to Marvin Key was the highlight of our time in the Keys so far. We have been to Marvin several times in the past,, but this was the first time from Venture Out. Previously we departed from the KOA on Sugarloaf where we went under the US-1 bridge out to Bow Channel and then out to Turkey Basin. There were several low spots with the lowest being the sandbar right in front of Marvin Key. Randy normally could pick his way through without too much trouble but we did have to walk the boat across low spots occasionally. However, we could not find any channels on the Gulf side that would cut across from Kemp Channel that is accessed from Venture Out to Bow Channel so we were not sure if we would make it out to Marvin. Fortunately Sam and Bruce let us know they were heading to Marvin on Monday so we could follow them out. Their route took us behind Cudjoe Key into Cudjoe Bay, out past Gopher Key into the cut through Sugarloaf Key. We had been in this cut previously both by boat and by car to the burned out bridge. The cut took us from Cudjoe Bay to Sugarloaf Sound. There were plenty of day markers to keep us in the deeper water and lead us to the fixed bridge on US-1 @sr5 with a narrow opening between Sugarloaf Sound and Upper Sugarloaf Sound. This bridge is marked as 25’ horizontal clearance and 8’ vertical clearance. We got through after we lowered our antenna. We were OK getting under without having to also lower the bimini top. Upper Sugarloaf Sound was shallow but we kept our speed up so we didn’t have any trouble crossing to find the next cut through Dreguez Key. From here it was a straight shot out over skinny water to Turkey Basin and Marvin Key. I had forgotten that Monday was President’s Day which explained all of the boats enjoying the sandbar. There were kids playing on their skim boards and even a game of horseshoes on the bar. The trip took us almost an hour to go the 13.6 nautical miles. We just idled through most of the mangrove cuts on the way out so this took us a lot of time. We also idled over the sandbar in front of Marvin Key because Sam was not sure how easy it would be to cross.
We spent a couple of hours on Marvin Key enjoying the sandbar. We did have to watch the outgoing tide. Randy almost waited too long to move the Mako out to deeper water. Fortunately other boaters helped Randy push the Mako the 2 or 3 feet needed to get it out into deeper water. The trip back to Venture Out only took about 40 minutes because we stayed on top of the water the entire way, except through the tight turns at the Burned Out Bridge.
The trip to Marvin was a lot of fun and I can’t wait util we can do it again. We will need to find another day with calm winds because there was a lot of open , shallow water to get across.
