2 and a half months in Boot Key Harbor Part 1

After realizing from our Keys cruising last year that the Boot Key Harbor mooring field in Marathon was by far the most protected, comfortable place in the Keys that also had the most fun stuff to do, we decided that this year we would just keep Holiday there through the winter and take side trips from time to time. Last year, we left the mooring field and took a tour of the lower Keys and Key West before returning to Boot Key and having to be on the waiting list for a while to get a ball back. It was fun, and I’d do it that way again some time, but this year one of our themes/goals on Holiday is “ultimate comfort.”

Here our some posts from last year in the Keys. here and here and here and here

We had some thoughts of possibly leaving Boot Key (but not giving up our mooring ball) and doing some overnights at different anchorages around the area. Maybe even a trip out to the Dry Tortugas since we’ve never been. But none of that ever materialized as we acclimatized ourselves to the easy life of living on a mooring ball in Marathon.

There is always something to do in Boot Key Harbor. Here is a little sampling of our 2 and a half months in our favorite place in the Keys.

We spent plenty of time paddling around on our new inflatable stand up paddle boards.

The mangrove tunnels around Boot Key are one of my favorites. I always go first to try and deflect spiders 🙂

We ran into our friends from last year in Key West, Ren and Ashley. They did a free dive seminar for the harbor. They are free dive instructors and Ashley has held many world and American free diving records. I held my breath for over 2 minutes for the first time in my life!

We watched the Super Bowl with the other harbor residents in the cruiser’s lounge at the marina. Fun times!

We took quite a few day sails. Sailing for fun, as in: not trying to get somewhere, is a novel thing these days. The water in the Keys is awesome! Day sail video coming soon here.

Oh, and I forgot to put sunscreen on my back during one of these day sails. Ouch!

We had a visit from friends from back in our land life, Lindy’s old coworker Stefone and her husband Andrew. We had a blast!

Their hotel had a fire hula hooper! I think I could do that….Not!

On one of our few land trips we took to Key West, we had a surprise run in on Duval Street with cruiser friends from Marathon last year, Steve and Cindy. They had a ridiculously large flask.

Upon entering a bar (with the flask in a bag), they had asked how much to fill a flask with sangria to which the bartender responded “Five dollars.” After producing the flask, though, the price went up considerably along with a bunch of laughs. Only in Key West! 🙂

We also made some new cruiser friends in the harbor, Andy and Sarah on Radio Waves. We had many a fun evening having dinner either on their boat or ours. Here we are attending one of the few concerts/festivals we went to that occur regularly at the park adjacent to the mooring field marina.

We also did a 5k race right there at Sombrero Beach. My first race in some time, and my first time competing in my new age group of 40-44.

Very surprised to get the win, and Sarah won her age group too! Woohoo!

Interesting to arrive to and depart from a race by dinghy…

Did I mention we paddle boarded a lot?

Sometimes we would spot wild life on our paddling trips, like this manatee and her baby.

Other wild life sightings included plenty of iguanas.

Then there were times when wild life sightings ended up dead, cooked, and in our belly. Yum! Learning how to catch lobster was a highlight of the stay. Check out a video here.

Of course, there were plenty of beautiful sunrises…and every once in a while we would see one.

Lot’s of beautiful sunsets, which by comparison, we were awake for many more.

Including this final sunset the evening before we left. So many wonderful memories. Not sure when we’ll be back, but until then, fair winds Boot Key Harbor!

Stay tuned for Part 2 with all the boat projects we completed.