Out of Ft. Lauderdale and into the Barracudas........from HA & MJ

Part 1 by HA:
As we left Ft. Lauderdale on Monday, we motored through the canals lined with million dollar plus homes. We then sailed to No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne. On the way there we saw two Portuguese man o'wars. Once there MJ and I dinghied in. Dad and I had been here before, right before Christmas, so this time I knew what was there. The last time I was there, we didn't have a clue what was on the island because we couldn't read the cruising guide, which they still haven't replaced. The half destroyed guide became a real problem in Ft. Lauderdale when it said "Beware of the . . . " and "This bridge is really low. Its clearance is only . . ." So once again I plead with my mother to PLEASE get a new copy. So back to Key Biscayne. MJ and I walked down to Lighthouse Beach and enjoyed some fruity popsicles from a snack bar there. The packaging said "With Real Fruit Chunks!!!!" and they weren't kidding, they had even included the leaves.

Part 2 by MJ:
Sailing from Key Biscayne to Elliot Key was a beautiful adventure. The waves weren't too rough, the sun was shining, and we had a little bit of breeze to fill out our sails. Once reaching the waters around Elliot Key though, we motored for fear of how shallow the surrounding waters became. We anchored Senara and then took a dinghy ride that was about 3/4 of a mile to Elliot Key. This island in the chain of the Florida Keys is the largest island that is entirely encompassed by the Biscayne National Park. After checking out the local "beach" which was overgrown mostly by mangroves and infused with a sulfurous stench, we decided to take a trail that would lead us on an interpretive nature escapade around part of the island. There were some informative signs along the way but our biggest discovery was if you ever need a free pair of non-matching shoes, this National Park can definitely help you out. Whether everything we saw on our walk along the other side of the island was left by visitors or washed up, we are not sure. But there definitely were many interesting items to be found including toothbrushes, deodorant, buckets, chairs, and Spanish birthday balloons.
After the dinghy ride back to our patiently waiting Senara, we swam and played in the refreshing water until we got cold and hungry. Back on board, we had a few drinks, turned up the Jimmy Buffett and became his next back-up singers on spoons instead of microphones. We had some delicious grilled chicken, a few more drinks, and then swapped old time stories with P & K. HA was very interested to find out that they had once partied at the Playboy Bunny Club in NYC. The moon was also full this night and it was neat to see it rising amongst the clouds while the sun was setting across the other side of the water.
This morning P and K got up really early while HA and I were lazy and slept in. (It is our spring vacation after all.) We sailed into Pennekamp State Park and tied up at a mooring ball to do some snorkeling. The water was gorgeous and we could see the bottom all around us. We paired off and tried to avoid the local tourist boat that was full of other loud snorkelers right near us. It was amazing to swim over the reef and see all the colorful fish! There were big lone fish and schools of smaller fish. They came in all shapes, sizes, and colors. We even saw a lobster hiding inside some coral - he was huge! K and I were careful to avoid the large masses of barracuda while poor HA was dragged along by P for an unwanted closer look. After snorkeling for a bit, we relocated Senara because it was becoming low tide and we needed to look for deeper waters. Now we are anchored off of Rodriguez Key and enjoying the blood-red moon and many constellations while marveling at the glow-in-the-dark jellyfish swimming around the boat.