Day 22 and 23 Sand Key/ Boca Chita

As much as we enjoyed No Name Harbor it was time to move further south. First we rafted up to Dani and Wayne's to unload 5 containers of fuel for them. They departed that evening for the Gulf Stream crossing to go to Bimini.

A quick raft up to deliver fuel

We headed down to Boca Chica key. There's a very small harbor there that does not permit craft over 40 ft. So we anchored off Sand Key which is the next key down the chain. It's a beautiful anchorage with water so crystal clear that we can see the bottom. Florance let out a scream as she dove in the water to check the anchor. It is a little chilly at 78°. We spent three days here enjoying the snorkeling underneath the mangrove. We saw big parrot fish, blue striped snapper, mangrove snappers, small barracudas,Sergeant Majors, two 3' nurse sharks, box fish, stingray nudibranch, and so much young coral formations. Folks on a day trip were snorkeling from 2 sailing ketches, too. One evening Florance saw a manta ray leap 3 times out of the water! We took the dinghy over to Boca Chica Key to climb the lighthouse and walk around the island which once was the Honeywell family's private retreat. It's a very small island and the harbor was completely packed with boaters as it was the weekend. It looked like the Citadel parking lot tail gate party but with boats!

We were very glad to be in our relatively quiet anchorage at Sand's key. We're seriously considering moving a little further south to Elliot's key where there's a ranger station for the Key Biscayne National Park gain national park. This has been a very interesting experience for me even though I've been to the keys many times. We normally drive down and end up coming in mid Key Largo. These upper keys are areas I've never explored before and although a key is a key it's a very interesting part of the island chain.