Key Largo, FL John Waine had asked if we had a map of our travels. The quick answer is, "No, not on one page". But I will try a wordy illustration. We started out in northeast Florida and traveled, SLOWLY, down the coast to the Florida Keys.

To appreaciate the Florida Keys you must know something about the layout of the chain of islands that make up the Keys.

They start out just south of Miami with Key Biscayne. From there they are a string of fairly narrow islands that run south then bend westward toward the Gulf of Mexico, beneath to southern tip of the Florida peninsula. They are connected by a single roadway, US Highway 1. So by car there is only one way in and one way out. Stretching for more than 130 miles, 209 Kilometers for my overseas friends, or 113 nautical miles if you prefer, the Keys are bounded by beautiful emerald green waters.

	Boaters have two choices to access the Keys. They can take the oceanside route, known as Hawks Channel, that runs south of the island chain; or they can bear north and take the bayside route that transits Biscayne Bay, several sounds and Florida Bay before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.
The outside route (oceanside) has deeper water and is more popular with sailboats than the shallow waters of the inside (bayside) passage. The outside route is also lined with an awesome string of live coral reefs that are a haven for scuba divers from all over the world.

On our way into the Keys we took Hawks Channel on the oceanside. The sailing on the outside route was great but there are very limited places to stop and anchor for sailboats. We overnighted at Rodriguez Key, in Hawks Channel, three weeks ago, before contiuning on to Marathon. We spent a full three weeks in Marathon. Marathon is a city made up by five or six Keys in the middle of the island chain. To the west are the lower Keys and Key West. To the east of Marathon are the upper Keys where Key Largo, which means large island, is located.When we left Marathon we took the inside, shallow water, bayside route. A marvelously beautiful area that is frought with propeller eating lobster trap bouys and water so shallow that Shibumi's keel was more than once tickled by the sand of the bottom of Florida Bay. Traveling the inside route, in a boat with a keel five feet deep, from the middle to the upper Keys is not for the faint of heart. The 61 mile trip on the inside was gorgoreous but intense. We followed narrow channels that were lined with red and green markers as they snaked through waters that were heavily peppered with hard to see bouys that identified below the surface lobster traps. Getting the line of one of these traps wrapped around a boat's propeller shaft can ruin your day. On top of that, for a good portion of the trip we were in water so shallow that Shibumi's keel was frequently tickled by the sand on the bottom of Florida Bay. Traveling the inside route, in a boat with a keel five feet deep, from the middle to the upper Keys is not for the faint of heart, but there are glorious anchorages to stop and visit along the way. We are now anchored in five and a half feet of water in Sunset Cove, a wonderful hideaway off of the northwest shore of Key Largo. We have been here two days and will likely stay another day before moving further into the upper Keys. We have been joined by Rick and Kelly aboard their sailboat, KellyTime". We will likely travel north together at least as far as Vero Beach, where Rick has family.