Scenes from along the way to Dry Tortugas via Key West…..

When we left Tavernier and headed west along the ICW on the inside of the Florida Keys, we spent about a week near the Windley Key Fossil Park in Islamoarada…. See that post here……    https://learntoliveaboard.com/2016/05/a-visit-to-windley-key-fossil-park/

Once we had seen all the sights there, we backtracked slightly because we wanted to see the Indian Key Historic Park.  That park is located on a small island on the ocean side of the Keys near Lower Matecumbe Key.  We moved to the ocean side through Snake Creek and the Bascule Bridge there.

An Unusual house just inside the Snake Creek Bridge…..

an aerial view of Indian Key…..

(Image courtesy of Google Maps)

Indian Key was settled by the Housman family……

In the mid 1800’s Indian Key was settled by Jacob Housman and his family.  They built several houses, a store, a town square and several cisterns for saving fresh water.  The village was later destroyed by an Indian attack and was later recaptured by the U.S. Navy and used as a Naval Base.  Housman had lost everything in the attack and moved to Key West where he operated a salvage vessel. In 1841 he was crushed to death when he fell between the hulls of his salvage ship and a vessel they were in the process of salvaging. His grave on Indian Key is symbolic only, as he is buried near Lignumvitae Key.

A scary looking tree on Indian Key……

After spending the night at Indian Key and having a short tour of the park the next day, we sailed west to the Channel Five entrance at Marathon (aka Boot Key).  We went back to the bay side of the Keys there.  We spent a couple of nights anchored out north of Marathon near Horseshoe Key and later docked at the Sombrero Marina for three nights while awaiting the arrival of my sister, Jo.  We had hoped to spend some time at the Dockside Restaurant which was owned by the “Trop-Rock” musician Eric Stone and his wife. Sadly, they had some issues with their landlord and the bar was permanently closed when we arrived.  We picked up my sister Jo at the Ft. Lauderdale airport and she made the rest of the trip with us to Key West.

Once Jo joined us we left Marathon……

After a night at Looe Key Reef….see that post here …..   https://learntoliveaboard.com/2016/05/spotted-eagle-rays-at-looe-key-reef/

We woke to the calmest water I have seen aside from a lake on the calmest day…..these photos don’t do justice to how flat the water was that day……

We saw two Sea Turtles that day on our way to Key West.  I think my sister might have even shed a tear or two….it was her first time seeing sea turtles in the wild and she has been trying to do that for a long time.  I’m glad I got to be there for that experience.

NEXT TIME…..KEY WEST !!!!!

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