March

I just returned from another delightful trip to the Keys, where Harvey is in residence in the back yard canal of our friends, Lou & Chase. I spent 6 consecutive days on the water, all day, every day!

My son, Patrick, picked me up at the Miami airport and drove us down to Key Largo with a stop at Alabama Jacks--the ultimate Keys dive bar and grill. The next day we took Harvey out for a daysail with 8 (count em, 8!) persons on board--me, Pat, Lou, Chase, and 4 of their friends. It was a great time, blowing 20+ knots but Harvey handled it well with a reefed main and headsail. We stayed out 2 hours and came back in when one of our passengers started to get sick. The next day was even windier, but Lou was nice enough to take Pat and me out for a snorkeling expedition to Grecian Rocks Reef. It was pretty well protected, but the turbulence reduced the visibility somewhat--still nice, though, and I'm glad we were able to go as Pat had to leave that night.

The next 2 days I sailed down the Keys solo, enjoying the perfect weather and had favorable winds to get me down to Indian Key and then back the next day (that's a first!). My return coincided with my hosts, so the 3 of us went out the next day on Harvey and had the most perfect day imaginable. About 10 knots of breeze, very calm seas, and perfect visibility in the water--you could see forever! We snorkeled off of Pickles Reef, looking at the old wreck there with huge forests of purple fan coral, teeming with brilliantly colored fish. My favorite is one that you often see--a Damselfish--dark electric blue with light electric blue spots.

The following day we took Lou's powerboat, Jubilee, out again to look for lobster. The plan was for Lou & Chase to put on tanks and chase the critters, but I would go over the side first with my snorkel gear to see if there were any there. We went to these giant coral heads that were teeming with fish--I caught myself forgetting my mission, gaping at fish, then saying, "Oh, Yeah--I'm supposed to be looking for lobsters". Actually, I never saw one, but they went in the water anyway at a large, deeper reef and caught only 2. It was the last week of the season and the supply was pretty depleted.

I have 5 photos to post here, if I can. The first is a file photo of the Damselfish, the next is what I'm guessing may be a remora that hung out underneath Harvey all day, then a shot of the Fan Forest at Pickles Reef, a shot of Lou hard at work, and last one of Patrick and myself.