Only in the Florida Keys

 

Sunshine Key Rv Resort and Marina, Ohio Key, Florida (high 79, low 70)

It looks like we could get some rain today, as an an approaching cold front comes through Florida.  You know the cold front is strong, when it makes it all the way down here.   Our predicted highs are supposed to be in the low 70’s, which is 10 degrees lower than the norm.

We’re not complaining though.  (well maybe a little, because our boat should be back today, and the front is bringing some wind)

 

So, here is the story on the boat motor.  If you haven’t read the blog lately, we bought a brand new motor for our little Keys boat.  We picked it up last Friday, took it for a water test with them, and it ran fine.  We brought it home, took it out the next day ourselves, and the engine wouldn’t start.  They offered to pick the boat up, and bring it back to their shop, but we decided we would prefer to take it back ourselves. We wanted to see what the problem was with our own eyes, and we wanted to make sure they worked on it right away.  We figured it we were right there with the boat, it would get top priority.   I don’t think that would have been a problem though, as it turned out.

Yesterday morning, at the crack of daylight, we headed towards Key Largo, which is a drive of a little over 60 miles.

It was a pretty drive watching the sun come up as we drove the Overseas Highway.

We pulled into the parking lot at Markey’s Marine, and the owner David, immediately walked right up to greet us.  Before we knew it, another guy was unhooking the boat trailer from the car, and in minutes the cowling was removed and they were looking at the motor.  The mechanic tried to start the motor and don’t you know, it started on the VERY FIRST crank!!! 

Oh crap, that’s not good, they will think we’re crazy and we’ll never find out the problem.  Fortunately, shortly afterwards, the engine died and they couldn’t get it started again.

They hooked it up to the computer, which told them nothing, but after a few minutes of fiddling around, the mechanic discovered the problem.  Evidently a bolt that attaches the stator,  wasn’t tightened properly.  It came loose, and damaged/destroyed the stator and the flywheel.  

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the parts that were needed and neither did their supplier in Fort Lauderdale.  The parts are being over-nighted from up north somewhere.  Hopefully the winter storm won’t cause any delays.

We were glad they found the problem.  I hope the person who built that part of the motor wasn’t the same one who built the rest of it.  

Since it was still early in the morning, and since we were all the way up in the Upper Keys, we decided to leave the Keys for some supplies we haven’t been able to find down here.  There is no Wal-Mart in the Keys, believe it or not!   We found a Whole Foods, as well as a Wal-Mart, so we got some needed supplies and headed back south.

You can see we where we started at Sunshine Key and the long drive of a little over 100 miles.

 

We considered seeing some sites while we were on the mainland, but decided we had better sites in the Keys, so headed home. There were too many crazy drivers there anyway,  and it appeared no one in the entire area spoke English, or at least not very well.

Once we got back into the Keys, and onto the Overseas Highway, we realized what a great boating day we had missed. 

The water was flat calm and looked like glass.

We should have had the kayaks out.  The picture doesn’t quite capture the beautiful turquoise blue color of the water.

It’s hard to tell where the blue sky ends and the blue water begins.

Those darn power lines messed up my picture but I liked the reflection in the water.

 

 

 

The Florida Keys is the home to some strange characters, especially in Key West.   You just never know what you’ll see, so you’d better have your camera ready.

How about the passenger on this motorcycle?

 

Last Saturday, they had a relay run through they Keys starting near Miami at Key Biscayne. There were 550 teams with up to 12 members to a team. Each team had a rented van, so there was a lot of extra activity throughout the entire Keys. 

 

Some of the runners dressed in crazy costumes.  One guy was dressed as Spiderman, but I didn’t get his picture.

 

This guy was my favorite though.

His pants weren’t really down, as you can see in the next photo, but it sure got our attention.  We started laughing and he turned around to smile at us, as I took his picture.  What a “ham”  he was.

 

 

The runners started in the morning, but there were many stragglers all day.  I’ll bet the party in Key West was a good one!

 

 

Here are some pictures I took from our one of our fishing bridges.

Pretty, huh?   If you look to the left, you’ll see Sunshine Key, which over looks the Bay side.  If you look to the right, you’ll see the Atlantic Ocean.

The next pictures are taken from another campground nearby, called Venture Out.  We stayed there in a small trailer many, many years ago when we came down for a dive trip.

This is the salt water swimming area.  Isn't that beautiful.

This is the view from the boat ramp, with the Atlantic in the background.

 

We may stay there next winter, but like all the RV parks in the Keys, it’s not exactly cheap, and I don’t know if we can work out any deals.