Cruising the Keys Weekend at Boca Grand Key

Last weekend, gave us the opportunity to try out our new asymetrical spinnaker as four boats from Boca Chica sailed west from the marina to the uninhabited key of Boca Grande, where we anchored for two nights suspended between two seas. On the one side was the Gulf of Mexico, on the other, the Atlantic Ocean. The water is shallow there. We snorkled where two wrecks wallowed on to sandbars in stormy weather. The first day, the snorkling was cut short as four teenagers who had been there also came flying out of the water and into their boat, shouting "Bullshark! Bullshark!" Our snorklers did the same and chose to walk on the beach of the island instead. We were anchored in sight of the Marquesas and could watch the light where divers are still retrieving treasure from the Spanish treasure ship Atocha. We entertained each other at night for dinner and mwt for more snorkling and a walk to the islands hidden lagoon in the morning. All followed by another evening of fellowship and a fast sail home.

The Annual Migration of The Snow Birds

Each spring,a time arrives when our winter in Key West must end. We snowbirds move north, back to our other lives. Pete and Jane, who must cross the Gulf of Mexico and travel upstream against the currents of the Mississippi River to Minnesota, are always the first to leave. I have a special admiration for Jane, who despite being on oxygen and in a wheel chair chooses not to miss out on any of life. All week, friends have been drifting away, some by car, but more often by boat.

As they leave the pier, we gather to blow our conchs, the melancholy song of the snowbird. The boats slip through the mooring field and out into the channel, day by day, one by one, until all the snowbirds have left.

I am reminded of a day in Spain when I watched a festival in the park below our house. Everyone was in costume, music thrilled, sevillanas were danced, horses broke into sudden gallops through the crowds. At once, gunshots were fired, a signal for departure and all the happy people climbed into oxcarts, and horse drawn carriages, and decorated pick-up trucks with blaring Spanish music. They climbed two and three at a time onto magnificent, broad backed Andalusian horses and they all rode away and their music diminished behind them.

Leave-taking has such poignancy. We know that life will never be the same. We will never have this winter with its own particular combination of joy and friendship again. Whatever the future holds, this time has passed into memory and we cling to the moment until the boat rounds the corner, leaving our sight, and the last mournful note of the conch floats away with the breeze.

More Family

Key West continues to mean family visitors. Rick's 85 year old uncle, cousin, and her children sailed with us in the Key West waters. Later we took them to a favorite dinner spot at Geiger Key