Sunrise and Sunsets Over the Water

 

Florida Keys, (high 82, low 72)

 

Now that we made the deal on our new RV lot, we haven’t had to keep running back and forth looking for lots, so we’ve had more time to do fun stuff.   Of course our favorite thing to do is boating, so that’s what we’ve been doing.  The kayaks have been ignored in favor of the little boat.

The water temperature had gotten up to 80 degrees (inshore anyway) before out last little “cold front,”  but it’s dropped a couple degrees now. We’re anxious to do some snorkeling, but unfortunately, between choppy seas and wind, we’ve not had a good day for snorkeling, or going too far offshore….yet.

March is always a little windy, so  We’re waiting for those flat calm days where the seas are like glass, and the water is crystal clear.

As long as we can get the boat in the water, we’re happy.  Al has been doing a little fishing.  The other day, we were in a little spot about 12-13 feet deep and he kept catching small grunts.

They were probably of legal size, but he threw them back in because they were too small to be worth the trouble to clean.

They are pretty little fish though.

They all lived to see another day.

When he was reeling the grunts in, he had a yellowtail snapper following along trying to get the grunt.  A yellowtail is a good eating fish, and he would have liked to have caught one of them.  I guess most fishermen would have used the grunts as bait, but Al doesn’t fish like that.

So far, he is mostly just feeding the fish and not actually catching much, but he’s enjoying fishing.

 

We were out the other day and tried to go back to Money Key, but several other boats are there every time we’ve been back there.  We like our islands deserted, so we just anchored offshore.

This sailboat pulled up behind us and anchored.  Evidently he and his wife wanted to go to Money Key, but since the waters are so shallow he decided to take his dingy.

The dingy is a foldaboat and not something I would have gotten into the Atlantic ocean in, with wind and choppy seas.  

The currents were ripping through the channel under the bridge, and he was paddling right into the wind and current.

They paddled like crazy, but were getting no where. There was NO motor on the foldaboat, and Money Key was pretty far away. We couldn’t figure out why he anchored the sail boat so far from Money Key.

 

They were pretty far from us, and I was watching through my zoom lens of my camera.  I was worried we were going to have to go rescue them and take them back to their boat.

Fortunately, they soon realized the error their ways, and headed back to their sailboat.

I was relieved when they made it back to their sailboat, and I bet they were too.

Soon, they went to “plan B” and motored right over to Money Key.

 

We planned on an early start yesterday, but when we got up, we had a sick kitty.  He has an issue where he occasionally gets constipated and then sick to his stomach.  He’s on medication but sometimes, he still has the problem.  We ended up having to stay home and wait it out for half of the day.   By the time we got the boat in the water, it had clouded up and looked like there could be some rain showers around, so we didn’t go too far away from the marina.

Al fished for a while, but didn’t have any luck.   After a few hours, we cut our losses and headed back in. 

 

After taking care of the boat, we decided to take a sunset walk on the southerly fishing bridge.  It was a pretty night with some big clouds in the sky and a VERY low tide.  That sand bar there is normally underwater.  The channel we use to go in and out of the marina is right behind the sandbar.

 

You can see the marina in this picture.

These people were out there fishing with us earlier in the day, and hadn’t given up yet. 

The area is shallow and the water was a pretty turquoise.

This pigeon and a few of his friends were watching the boaters too.

 

We got up this morning and headed up to the bridge for a walk to watch the sunrise.  It’s not a perfect place to see the sunrise, but it’s the best we can do without driving.

We like to walk on the bridges.  Often, we will see spotted leopard Rays, sharks, tarpon, snook and barracuda.  It’s always a fun place to look for wildlife.   We won’t have such quick access to a bridge in our new lot in Venture Out, and we will miss our beautiful walking bridges.

 

The sun rises on the other side of the highway, so you have to look past the power lines and cars passing by.

 

It was still very pretty though.

It nice to have an early morning walk in such a beautiful area.

 

There were some pretty red sea plants floating in the water.

We saw some rain showers off to our left, and these clouds over Sunshine Key, so we decided to head back home before we got wet.

 

 

Unfortunately, we didn’t make it back before the rains came, and we got pretty wet!   The bottom fell out as soon as we got home, but it only lasted 2-3 minutes and it was gone.

 

We had planned on getting the boat out early today, but it looks like there may be some spotty showers around, so we may have to go with “plan B.”