The Island Life

I write this from the shore of Boca Grande about 16 miles due west of Key West and seemingly thousands of miles from reality!  We left Key West mid morning on Friday after fueling up and refilling our tanks with 400 gallons of water.  Fully ready for whatever remote possibility might come, we slipped out of the southwest channel and made a line for the Marquesas.

It was a lovely day even though the wind was minimal.  We made an average of about 4 knots and had a leisurely and relaxing sail enjoying the increasingly clear water as we progressed.   We made it just off the western bank of the Marquesas Keys around 4pm and immediately settled in.  With the boat secure, we hopped in the dinghy to explore the islands.

Justin, the leader of our 20 something gang (the oldest is 23!!) is quite the character.  He’s hard not to like with youthful energy and unlimited creativity.  Our other “team” members were Jackie, his girlfriend from Connecticut, Chris a college roommate from Maine and his live aboard boat mate Will.  This gang had sailed the entire day with the music up and fishing lines trailing behind the boat.  

Yes, those are lobster tails!!!

  We watched the sunset from our decks and then headed to the island to prepare dinner and celebrate a good day.  Justin, a master when it comes to living from the sea, managed to bring in 5 lobsters (no joke!) for our dinner ashore.  We added some snacks, sweet potatoes and onions in foil packs to throw on the fire and I brought the key lime pie I baked underway.  We built a fire with dry wood strewn all over the shore and Justin cooked the tails right on a log using only a stick.  The potatoes were a perfect accompaniment and the pie even better with no utensils!  We stayed until the fire burned down to embers and retired for the night.

We really didn’t intend on spending more than one day on this detour, but when things are so perfect, it’s really easy to find a way to keep the moment alive.  With the next day being even more perfect than that before, we dinghied out with spears for fishing and went wandering again.   We found an abandoned boat that was obviously used by Cuban refugees.  How interesting to imagine what it felt like to embark upon such a feat.   The inside was empty to the hull with nothing but a motor with no transmission, a couple bench seats and lots of miscellaneous floatation material.  The outside had “USCG Okay” spray painted on every side apparently to show the Coast Guard they were somehow “approved”.  The whole thing was quite thought provoking. 

We played around most of the day exploring and the guys (okay, Justin – but the others did try) brought in a grouper, 3 red snapper and 2 grunts as well as 2 conch which we once again took to the shore for an amazing impromptu and inexpensive dinner.  This time I made a grain and bean salad and my famous layer cookies and we all headed home late, smelling like a campfire and happy as “clams”

This morning dawned as gorgeous as ever although with a mounting wind and we pulled up the anchors early and headed back to Key West.  One thing you learn very early on is that counting on any form of weather forecast is pointless.  When we went to bed, we were told we’d have 5-10 from the northeast, perfect for our return, and we woke to find 15 - 20 directly from the east.  As we were heading straight into the winds and tide, a quick decision was made to stop at the first 

possible anchorage and split the journey in two. 

 And that’s how we ended up on Boca Grande.  One can only describe this as the Bahamas of Florida.  The water is perfectly clear and crystal, the island is good protection and loaded with great beach combing.   We did a hermit crab race and played around for hours until returning to the boats to wait for the sun to set.   Evensong wrangled a Spanish Mackerel that will once again go on the fire tonight and I’m bound for the galley to make whatever I can throw together to add to the mix. 

And another day of this crazy new life comes to a close . . .