Key Largo and Bahamas

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Key Largo is a fishing community and was a nice place to be for a couple weeks. Marina Del Mar had good ratings and it was ok but not as nice as Marlin Bay in Marathon. Eric and Kristen Penington flew a rented plane into Homestead, FL for a weekend visit. This is Eric’s third visit on the loop and he now holds the record. We all went on a deep sea fishing charter on a slightly rough day and did fairly well. The next day we took our boat out to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park for a day trip and had a grounding disaster on the way back. I ended up on the rocks off the channel and had to call Tow Boat US to pull me out. After replacing all 4 props on Thursday and a trial run, reluctantly, Val and I set off for a 177 mile run to Chub Cay, Bahamas on Friday the 14th. Happy Valentines day. We contracted with weatherman Chris Parker to make sure that our travels across the 55 mile wide Gulf Stream would be uneventful, and it was a perfect day for our 7.5 hour crossing. Chub Cay is a world renowned fishing port and even though our boat was one of the nicest in Key Largo, our boat is merely a pilot sized boat to the 70′ Viking fishing boats and 150′ mega yachts that are in this harbor. Our plans are to stay here for one month and either look for a weather window to head back to Florida or continue on to Spanish Wells on Eleuthera, so many decisions. Believe it or not, I am getting tired of eating fresh fish every day and sometimes all day. Some fisherman are giving us lobsters, Mahi Mahi, and Wahoo and we have been catching our fair share of fish out of the dinghy when we are not at the very nice pool. That is actually the only things to do here, fish and the pool.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in you your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” -Mark Twain 1835-1910

Tip of the day: My new favorite way to grill fish is in tin foil with butter and soy sauce.

We had a great day of fishing and Kristen used her girl power to pull that Amberjack out of the jaws of a shark.
It was a great bountiful dinner the restaurant prepared for us that night.
Pilot Eric took me up for my first ride with him in Homestead FL.
Robertshere.com fruit stand and farm was a great stop from the Homestead airport.
Heading back in from a fun day on the water fishing in Key Largo.
Pennekamp State Park.
Bad Bad Bad. My four props that a diver just removed after drifting out of the channel coming out of Pennekamp in strong winds. Ouch.
The Original African Queen boat from the 1951 movie with Kathrine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart runs out of Key Largo multiple times a day.
Don’t miss it.
The first leg of our Bahama 177 mile cruise at the Northwest Shoal.
The North Passage is called the tongue of the ocean and this where the big boys come to go fishing.
11 miles west of the Northwest Shoal, we found these two in distress asking for a jump. We stayed with them for about 25 minutes and of course we could not give them a jump or a tow them in the opposite direction like they asked. We told them that we would call for help when we got a signal and they asked us not to. We think they were fishing illegally and we did call to send help.
Our new home for a month at Chub Cay Marina.
Is 150′ and a million pounds big enough for you?
The walk to the marina is grand indeed.
Great Sunsets, how can there be so many?
Many wild chickens just like the Florida Keys.
They have peacocks here as well
You don’t want to fall in the water here at the marina and swim with the sharks.
We also walked the two mile beach on the other side of the Cay.
Hey, where does she think she is going? Val, come back.
Infinity pool with a view.
Look what Val caught this big guy with a little Walmart Uglystick.
This is Father and son Dave and Dave from Ft Lauderdale and we nicked named the others ones Dave too. They shared some of their Wahoo and Mahi Mahi with us.
Val knows how to catch reef fish, she had the hot hand this day.
Delish
Hard to see this 3′ turtle we saw while fishing from the dinghy.
The chapel is on the way to the Naughty Rooster local bar.
Chub Cay Resort.
Caught this Chub and sent him back.
Fresh Sashimi Wahoo, I ate the whole plate.
There is always a bigger fish out there, was it another Barracuda or a shark?
Our view today, it’s fun to watch all the big boys come and go.

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