Leaving Paradise (Key West)

On March 6, after ten wonderful, exciting, relaxing, and educational weeks in Key West, we reluctantly say goodbye to our temporary home and resume our Great Loop Adventure. A fellow Looper boat, with our friends John and Kathy Scott aboard, decided to leave the same day as us, so we "buddy boated" with them as we headed back up the island chain that make up the keys.

ITHAKA headed out into Hawk Channel and the 40 mile run up to Marathon, our first stop after leaving Key West.

SERENITY took this great picture of ITHAKA as we were leaving Key West. This is one of the very few pictures we have of ITHAKA underway because we seldom buddy boat with other Loopers, preferring instead to strike out on our own.

Hawk Channel or the ICW can be very unforgiving to Mariners that stray from the channel or have a moments lapse in judgment when navigating from paper charts or the chart plotter, as evidenced by this sailboat that is hard aground.

Seven Mile Bridge, just west of Marathon. Once we pass under this bridge we will leave Hawk Channel and enter the more protected waters of the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway)

Our first stop after leaving Key West is the brand new marina at Faro Blanco, in Marathon, FL. Having only been open five weeks, the marina was almost completely empty and everything was brand new. A rare thing to find, particularly in the keys during the winter months.

SERENITY preferred to anchor out, so we almost had the entire marina to ourselves.