If yesterday's sail was the best of the cruise so far, today beat it easily. The wind was from the Northeast at 10 to 15 knots with clear skies and temperature in the 70's. Since we were heading south and west the conditions were about as good as they could get. I don't think we've ever had a better sailing day. Or more beautiful waters to sail.
Before we raised the anchor at pumpkin key, 15 little Bullseye sloops headed past us in preparation for their Saturday morning race. Bullseye class boats' design dates back to the 1940's and I did not know the class was still active. I remember several of them from when I was first starting to sail.
Our route took us through a series of enclosed bodies of water with key largo on the north and east side and mangrove islands on the south and west side. We passed through card sound ,Barnes sound ,tarpon basin, Blackwater sound and Buttonwood sound before emerging into Florida Bay. At that point the water became clear and green, which the keys are famous for. It was hard to believe that the water was deep enough for Carina even when it was 7 to 9 feet deep.
We stopped for the night at a marina at Islamorada on plantation key just beyond the end of the Largo.
Today was a good one for marine wildlife watching. Besides many dolphins I saw a leopard ray jump clear of the water and Sandy saw a manatee right beside our boat after we had docked at the marina. The dock master said "that's our manatee."
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