Diamond Lil's Adventures Back to the Islands

Ready, Set, Go! Jun 13, 2007

After 10 days of preparation the Captain and I were ready to head out on our next adventure. The fridge and freezer were stuffed full after numerous trips on foot to the grocery store. Every nook and cranny and the guest cabin were loaded with supplies to last us for the next several months. We hired 2 divers to clean the bottom of the boat for $100, which we would recover in fuel savings.

We picked up 10 extra 5 gallon gas cans in order to carry an additional 50 gallons of fuel, the reason for which I will explain in a subsequent posting. This required 2 trips to Home Depot. John carried back 4 cans on his first trip and 4 on his second with me on my bike with the 2 extras strapped around my shoulders. I am trying to avoid a lot of walking until my foot heals so we were an odd pair, John walking and me alongside on my bike.

We were flying the only Canadian flag in Boot Key Harbour, a reminder that hurricane season was on it's way. The stores were full of tax exempt items that the locals stock up on as part of their hurricane preparedness.

The harbour was quiet with few boats equipped with generators. There were few outboard motors on the dingys and most of the locals rowed in and out to the dingy dock. It was a very different place than the busy, tourist-filled town that we had seen during our previous winter-time visits. The heat was oppressive and we quickly dove into the shower each time we returned from a trip to shore. The locals, on the other hand referred to "a nice time of year, before it gets too hot". RIGHT!

We followed the Hawk Channel 51 miles to Key West where we were equally surprised at the contrast between late spring and winter. We had made numerous trips by bus but never on Diamond Lil because the marinas are expensive and the anchorages in the winter are unprotected from the wind and very unpleasant. We had seen very few boats anchored off shore in the past so we were shocked to count over 200 boats just from where we anchored, with perhaps an equal number in the mooring field out of sight.

We have always loved Key West but it was even more fun to visit by boat. We wandered around town several times, sore foot and all and visited Mallory Square at sunset both evenings.