Although the temperatures have been wonderfully warm compared to up north, we've had our share of weather since arriving in Florida almost one month ago.  An overnight passage from West Palm Beach brought us as far as Marathon Key by Tuesday night, 29 hours later.  We just wanted to anchor for the evening and planned to continue to Cudjoe Key, another 35 miles to the west, on Wednesday.  We anchored in less than 10 feet of water behind a mangrove swamp.  The anchor moved a bit when we backed down on it, running the engines up to 2500 rpms.  When it seemed to reset, we didn't bother re-anchoring.  Of course, that night a huge thunderstorm passed over us, bringing winds up to 45 knots along with it.  It is a rule of cruising that whenever you don't really dig in your anchor well, there is bound to be some weather that makes you wish you had.  We didn't sleep very well that night but thankfully we didn't drag either!

     The next day, we were lucky to arrive at our anchorage in Cudjoe Key just before another system (pictured above) passed overhead.  We had Thanksgiving dinner plans for the next evening with a couple we had met on the EMYR.  Paul and Mardy keep their 50 foot sailboat in the Mediterranean and sail her in the summers, returning to their home in the Keys for the winters.  When we contacted them and told them of our plans to be in the area, they immediately invited us for the holiday meal.  The bay in front of their home is very shallow, but offers great protection from all directions behind a sandbar that spans virtually the entire width of the opening into the Atlantic.  When the rain hit a few hours after we arrived, we decided to stay onboard for the evening and save our reunion for Thursday. 

     Morning dawned.  As the sunlight struggled to find its way through the clouds, Mother Nature painted a spectacular canvas.  What an honor for us to be witness to this beautiful display.  I can think of no better way to start a day designated for giving thanks.

     Our reasons to be thankful continued to accumulate during the day.  Paul and Mardy were wonderful hosts for an all day celebration.  They laid out quite the spread, including appetizers to munch on during the morning and early afternoon, followed by the full turkey meal.  Mardy's prize winning homemade Key Lime pie accompanied the traditional pumpkin for dessert.  What a celebration! 

     With a car at our disposal, a safe, secure anchorage, and friends to share meals with, we saw no reason to move farther along.  We are trying to get our schooling back on track after taking so much time off in October and November (18 days each month).  We have our work cut out for us if we want to finish the year's lessons before the girls start school in Ecuador in April.  We did take most of one day off to drive into Key West and check out the town.  It is a popular and infamous tourist destination full of rowdy vacationers and the restaurants and bars that serve them.  There is also a good deal of history to learn involving Cuban cigar moguls, famous writers and artists, pirates and sunken treasure, and a brief period of independence (The Conch Republic). 

     The Keys is a long string of limestone and coral islands, islets and reefs that were connected from Miami to Key West by a series of bridges and causeways built by Henry Flagler in the early 1900s.  The Keys actually end 70 miles further to the west in the Dry Tortugas, but the highway US1 ends in Key West.  Paul and Mardy took us to Big Pine Key for dinner one night at the infamous No Name Pub. 

Afterwards we went in search of the elusive key deer, a miniature, 3 foot version of the typical animal.  It was our lucky night as we saw several bucks and four or five does munching peacefully on the roadside vegetation.

     We continue to count our blessings as we look ahead to a 300 mile passage to Mexico.  We are looking forward to getting back to cruising in foreign lands, although we will miss having the opportunity to meet up with friends along the way.  Florida has been wonderful to us on that score!

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