From the Dry Tortugas we set out for Key West on Saturday, April 20. Janet and Jeff brought bait for some serious fishing, so we took a route that put us along an underwater ridge. By early afternoon the rods were zinging. A barracuda and two king fish. The first king fish was filleted on deck and is still providing food for us. The second (and bigger) was set free. We enjoyed a wonderful fish dinner and then Ken smoked the remainder of the meat overnight on the grill to make fish dip.
Our other excitement during the day was more visiting birds. A blue indigo (we think, please correct us if we are wrong, we are still working on our bird identifying skills) arrived and stayed with us for an hour or so before he flew away for a bit and we saw him in the water - looking like he was trying to fly out. We were all distraught, so after about 5-10 seconds with concurrence from all - including the captain - Jeff jumped overboard and picked up the bird. In daylight and calm seas we practiced our first 'man overboard' drill. No problem.
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This picture is after a fresh water rinse we gave him.
We kept the bird in the box for the rest of the day and let him go when we anchored that evening off Boca Grande Island, about 20 miles west of Key West.
One other bird visited also, a barn swallow (again, we think). The barn swallow was particularly friendly and landed on Ken's finger and then just hung out there for about 10 minutes until Ken finally said, 'someone needs to take this bird!' He was in the middle of driving the boat while Janet was pulling in another fish.
One other bird visited also, a barn swallow (again, we think). The barn swallow was particularly friendly and landed on Ken's finger and then just hung out there for about 10 minutes until Ken finally said, 'someone needs to take this bird!' He was in the middle of driving the boat while Janet was pulling in another fish.
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Sunday, April 21 we finally arrived in Key West to the waves of our friends Monica and Vicki at Mallory Square. We found an anchorage and got Janet and Jeff on their way to the ferry terminal. They took the high speed ferry back to Ft. Myers where they left their car. We enjoyed lunch with Monica and Vicki and then they graciously drove us to the grocery store before getting on their way back to Miami.
Monica and Vicki took this picture of us from Mallory Square as we came up the channel.
