Jenny & Danny's Great Loop Adventure on "The Other Woman"

John Pennekamp State Park & Key Largo (MM 1130)... February 22, 2023     When we arrived in Key Largo, we got ournbikes down and planned to go sightseeing.  Danny's first goal was to got Jimmy Johnsons's outdoor eatery- The Big Chill.  It was disappointing at best but in the process of going there, I saw a place called the Caribbean Club.  It was on a list of the best 10 best DIVE bars in Florida I had found when we arrived in Florida.  We went there and what a great place!  We sat out on the back porch with everyone else.  No food, just drinks.  You walk up, order what you want, pay (cash only!) and then go out and sit on the docks, picnic table, or chairs and look out at the water.  Danny had a beer and I had a "CAT 5 Hurricane" which was very good.  Danny enjoyed mine so much, he ordered one too.  There was a marker there for the Eastern Railway.  On our way back to the park, we ended at Sundowner's to eat dinner an...

 Anchoring at Jewfish Hole... February 21, 2023 We agreed to leave Marlin Bay a day earlier than planned due to the winds appearing to be a problem if we waited.  Our plan was to go part of the way to Key Largo but it would be an anchorage not a marina.  Annmarie, a friend we met during our stay in Marlin Bay, took this picture as we left.  Danny found several options and we would make the final decision based on where the winds were in the afternoon and later in the evening.  We had to go under the Old Seven Mile Bridge and new Seven Mile Bridge, both with a clearance of 19 feet for the boat.  So prior to leaving, we took down the radar tower and the 2 antennas.  This shows you how close we were to the bridge.  We were very, very close and being there as we went through appeared even closer! During our travel, we saw the Loggerhead turtle above.  I saw it on top of the water and we stayed around as it went down and ultimately came back up ag...

Marathon (MM 1194)...            February 15, 2023        After the Manatee cleared our boat the short trip up to Marathon was less than 2 hours.  We again had shallow water having periods on the depth finder showing .1 foot of water under the boat (which is 4 feet below the water line, so an additional inch!).  Marlin Bay Marina was a good marina and good location as many places were walkable.  Marathon is in the middle of the Florida Keys between Key Largo to Key West and is usually known as MM50 (Mile marker 50 plus/minus in each direction north and south on the road).  By water, Marathon is MM1194 on the intercostal waterway (Norfolk/Portsmouth- where Waterside is MM 0).  My favorite place in Marathon is the Turtle Hospital.  They do great work doing the 3R's and they do it well having grown over the years.  Marathon is also more populated than other keys and many services for Monroe County are prov...

Traveling the Everglades and Gulf to Bahia Honda... February 13, 202 3 Leaving Everglade City at civil twilight, we heard a report of a crash on a boat notification by the Coast Guard out of Marco Island alerted by an apple watch.  The coordinates were given and we were nowhere near it.  We kept hearing the Coast Guard alert.  About an hour later, we heard a boat motor coming up behind us which was odd since we were in open water in the Gulf.  Marco Police had come up to us wanting to know if we had set off the alarm.  Given we didn't have an Apple watch, it wasn't us.  Apparently some guy had accidentally activated his watch which called 911.  Nice to know that it worked. Our trip down from Everglade City was almost uneventful other than the millions of  crab pots.  I was on lookout assignment.  We had a special sighting of a Loggerhead turtle who popped its head up long enough for us to see it, stare at us and go back down.  So sa...