3 day trip to the Keys

WOW! Our Captain knows how to find great weather for travel.  We said, “Farewell” to Venice and headed out to the Gulf.  At times the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is the safest, quietest place to travel.  This time, the Gulf of Mexico was the way for us.

We left at daybreak

and headed south keeping land always in sight.  Traveling down the coast in such

beautiful weather was awesome.  I got to Captain the boat quite a bit

while my hubby communicated with the dolphins on the bow.

We docked night 1 in Marco Island.  The next day, the seas were glassy!

The sunset was beautiful

as we pulled up to the southern most place to anchor in Florida…Cape Sable.  We tucked in just south of this piece of the Everglades since the winds were out of the north.

I love the peacefulness of a night like this out in the middle of nowhere.  I got the boys up at 5am to enjoy the meteor shower with me, (sorry, no pix) and it was so wonderful to have no light pollution to keep us from seeing shooting star after shooting star!

Our last day of travel began quite foggy…we were traveling in a cloud,

but it didn’t last long and we were soon in the yacht channel, on the bay side of the Keys that felt like home.  This is our second journey down this path and it was nice to see familiar sites and to navigate it better with all we have learned over the year.

We brought our chairs to the bow to enjoy some read aloud time…and some silly time

and to see a family of dolphins come along side us in such clear water.  Looks like a grandad, dad, baby and mommy!

and that little one was having fun!

We said goodbye to them as we turned in to Plantation Yacht Harbor in Islamorada, FL.

The end of another great trip!  We plan to be here until mid to late January.  We are excited that Emily lives across the street and is now a SCUBA dive instructor.  Four out of the 5 of older children are coming down for Christmas and she plans to take all of them on a Discovery Dive.

From morning til night,

sunrise til sunset,

I give thanks to GOD for this amazing opportunity for our family!

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
    the name of the Lord is to be praised.  Psalm 113:3   

And here is a little “love.”  I am always seeing hearts, and here in the Keys I found them on the pavement and on bugs!  🙂