It’s been a year since we snuck out of Key West just before the Florida Keys were locked down for the Covid-19 pandemic.
Even so, this “diver” isn’t aware that masks and social distancing are still required. 😊
We are still enjoying the warm weather and numerous outdoor restaurants to sample in Islamorada!
Food Reviews: We had no trouble finding a variety of food sources in Islamorada. I’m not surprised that Guy Fieri has brought Diners, Drive-ins and Dives to Islamorada several times.
Shrimp Shack: We did not try the Shrimp Fritters or Senator-Style Hook and Cook, which were featured on the show, but we highly recommend the BBQ Bacon-wrapped Shrimp. If it’s too pricey for you, consider the time overlapping lunch (til 4) and happy hour (beginning at 3).
Green Turtle Inn: We also did not try the Fieri-famed Turtle Chowder, but we enjoyed the breakfast -- enough for Ray and me to share and still bring home leftover potatoes! We also enjoyed dinner in the bar, The Nest.
M.E.A.T. Eatery and Tap Room: Again, we did not sample Fieri’s recommended Pork Rinds, but we liked the gluten-free Chicken Wings, house smoked for 4 hours then grilled and topped with a honey chipotle barbecue sauce and crumbles of blue cheese. And while M.E.A.T. only had a few beers on tap, they had a large selection of can and bottle craft beer.
NOTE: While researching DDD shows, I realized we have also eaten at several other highlighted restaurants in our travels:
· Metro Diner, Jacksonville FL
· Pilot House, Key Largo
· Garbo’s Grill, Key West (Food Truck at Hank’s Hair of the Dog Saloon). We highly recommend the Korean BBQ Tacos and the live music at Hank’s!
· The Beacon Drive-In, Spartanburg, SC
· Pinky's Westside Grill, Charlotte, NC
· Mert's Heart & Soul, Charlotte, NC
· The Improper Pig, Charlotte, NC (We went to the Fort Mill, SC location.)
· Fork N Cork, Wilmington, NC (Note to Ray’s Mom: not The Forks, Wake Forest. 😊)
Back to Islamorada restaurants…
Best Gluten Free (GF):
GF Cauliflower Pizza at Bayside Gourmet. A lush little garden patio with 80’s music on the speakers.
Breakfast at Mangrove Mike’s, where GF pancakes are a regular menu item. The day we were there, GF Coconut or Banana Bread French Toast was on special. The coconut French toast was awesome!
Best Burger: Morada Bay Beachside Café; also offers nice sandy beach dining. (Featured in our last blog.)
Best Fish Tacos: Island Grill; also offers a nice low-key waterfront location. (Featured in our last blog.)
Best Coffee and Breakfast: Midway Café. The breakfast bowl was awesome – and enough to split (photo is half).
Best Sunset/Happy Hour/Entertainment: Lorelei Restaurant & Cabana Bar, on the Bay, features live music nightly. Enjoy your food and drink on the sand (or one of the patios).
Best Local Brewery: It’s a tie!
Islamorada Brewery & Distillery: Great beer garden and live music on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons (Ray Jaworski)! Great beer (and cocktail) selection. Great tuna nachos (food truck Spanky’s Kitchen). Across the street from Seafoam Laundry.
Florida Keys Brewing: Great beer garden and live music variety! Great beer (and wine) selection. Great tacos (food truck Taco Jalisco). Unbeatable evening ambience. Short walk across the highway from Bayside Marina.
Best Fresh Catch: We indulged in a pricey dinner at Square Grouper. The Almond Encrusted Grouper (with warm Caribbean Pineapple Relish) was delicious!
I had to get photos of some of the unique sea life décor – jellyfish lamp and octopus sink.
Honorable Mention - Charter fisherman “scraps”: Eddie was our dock neighbor. While his charter business, CANA, is currently in transition, he works some of the other charters here in the marina. He brings home the parts of the catch that the charter guests don’t take home.
We watched him patiently remove “filets” from the head of a mutton snapper. (I’ll spare you the “gory” pictures.) In this photo, he’s holding 1 side of the mutton jaw that he offered us.
Usually, Eddie keeps a little fish for himself and cuts the rest for the workers at the restaurant on site, as they are having a tough time these days. In the photo is one of the mullet filets he later brought to the workers.
On one of our future trips, we may book a trip with Eddie (CANA) or one of the many charters for offshore or back- country Everglades fishing. Islamorada is known as the "Sportfishing Capital of the World".
Ray made some fish stew (Google recipe) with the fish head meat. It was delicious! Below is the cooked snapper meat, before going into the stew.
Honorable Mention - Convenience: Instacart makes deliveries from Publix (2 miles from Bayside Marina). We either scootered or walked (for exercise) to Publix with a cooler backpack and a regular large backpack (for a few dry goods) to purchase cold items and items we want to select (meat, produce, etc.). For heavy or bulky dry goods, we ordered from Publix via Instacart – one of a cruiser’s best “tools”.
Honorable Mention – Local Vendors: Islamorada Farmers Market, currently held midday on Sundays, features crafts, breads, produce, salsas, sangria, and probably lots of other things I forgot. This was conveniently just across the highway from our marina.
Honorable Mention - Artwork: The picture below shows the mural outside Mangrove Mike’s. That was just the beginning. Inside, and on the patio, there were several others. (I didn’t get photos because all the tables in front of the murals were full; I didn’t want to infringe on privacy.)
Interesting Plants: The azaleas were blooming in Key Largo a couple of months ago. They are still blooming here in Islamorada. I discovered from an internet search that Florida azaleas bloom from February through April.
Banyans: I think it’s been a year since I posted pictures of banyan trees (from Key West). I’m not sure why I love these trees. Maybe I relate to the tree’s reliance on its roots to keep it grounded during the roughest of storms. Maybe I’m in awe of the protection it provides to surrounding foundations or structures.
This “small” banyan stands guard between the Florida Bay waters and Bass Pro Shop.
This huge banyan dwarfs the not-so-little house it seems to be protecting.
This banyan seems more like a sculpture. I see a tower of giraffes.
Mangroves: I think this is a red mangrove at the marina. Look at the long branch roots during low tide.
Flowers in the Beer Garden: We enjoyed the “gardens” of Florida Keys Brewing’s beer garden.
Lignum Vitae Tree, or Tree of Life.
Starburst Chlerodendrum Tree.
Many tree-grafted orchids.
Fun, Excursions, Exercise, and Sightseeing:
Movie Night on the Bow: We took advantage of perfect weather for a movie on the bow (low winds and cool temps). Our dock neighbors, from Bluewater Adventures The Keys, joined us for Captain Ron. Yes, again! We never tire of Kurt Russell! (I mean Captain Ron. 😉)
Bluewater Adventures The Keys: We went for a Craig Cat tour of 2 of the Islamorada keys. We have limited access in our trawler with a 3-foot draft and limited range from both the kayaks and the dinghy with an electric motor. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing things we would not have seen without chartering several different tours from other providers. Ray loved speeding along, 8 inches above the water!
Click the link below for a video summary.
During the tour, we saw a Frigate bird for the first time, at one of the little keys outside our basin. (A few days later, we saw a Frigate in flight, while eating dinner at Shuck ‘n Dive.)
Yoga: A neighbor yogi and I discovered a local instructor with donation-based outdoor classes at different venues – the beer garden and a private marina tiki bar.
Following a session at the private marina, we saw sharks and a French Angelfish in the clear water. Click the link below to see a short video.
Repairs: Ray took a break from fun and food for a major and a minor boat repair.
Replace leaky water heater: The 2-year-old (really?!?) water heater was leaking at the engine coolant loop.
We like having hot showers, so Ray opted to go ahead with replace the water heater – this time with a smaller unit (11 vs 20 gal) that can run on our batteries/inverter using any excess solar energy (110 V vs 240 V). We ordered from West (within scooter distance). Ray’s retro-fitted bike trailer came in handy again!
Looks like we’ll need some touch-up paint now that the new, smaller, water heater has been installed.
Dinghy Registration Placards: The registration numbers were beginning to peel away from our plastic dinghy, so Ray crafted placards.
NOTE: Our mail service has received a nice new registration sticker for us to either pick up or mail at our convenience.
Never-ending maintenance/improvements: Despite spending nearly a year on boat projects to make SCOUT “perfect” for our full-time cruising, below are some of the projects we’ve done during that last 2 years.
Routine Maintenance
Change engine oil two times (times 2 engines)
Change generator oil
Change engine water impeller (times 2 engines)
Replace generator fuel pump
Replace generator fuel filters
Repairs
Replace motor and battery in hatch vent
Source and replace forward lifelines
Source and replace control panel for generator
Replace generator start battery
Source and replace starboard water tank level sensor
Replace generator raw water intake hose
Replace leaking air conditioner through hull
Replace rusting wiper blade arms
Replace leaking water heater (2 years old!!)
Preventive Maintenance
Replace all door hinges
Remove and reseal four portlights
Rebuild anchor windlass gearbox
Strip and paint hull bottom and replace zincs
Re-packed rudder shaft logs (times two rudders)
Projects/Enhancements
Install diesel heater
Install cabinet motion lights
Install head motion-activated night light
Convert dinghy to electric outboard
Re-engineered/rebuilt sea strainer setup
Engineered and installed emergency steering system
Install new LED forward deck lights
Added strainer to engine raw water system (times 2 engines)
Added engine temperature alarm system (times 2 engines)
Repaint shower basin floor
A couple of funny quotes about boat life and cruising:
Cruising is defined as, “fixing your boat in exotic locations”
“Even as the boat is out there safely tied to the dock, and we are at the tiki bar having a drink…….something is breaking.”
General Maintenance: After about a week of strong winds, the weather finally calmed down long enough to do some outdoor boat cleaning.
Boat Wash: Ray washed the boat, then used the kayak to wash/wax the painted hull, and lightly scrub the green growth from the bottom. This is Ray’s form of yoga. 😊
Wash windows: I cleaned a few black marks off of the deck paint and washed and RainX’ed the windows.
NOTE: That beautiful blue sky is the reflection in my beautifully-cleaned windows!
Hair Maintenance: I haven’t had a professional haircut since we were in St. Augustine 6 months ago. I’ve been wearing visors (like I did in the beginning of the Covid lockdowns) to keep my bangs out of my eyes, but I finally decided it’s time for a haircut selfie (literally). Ahh! FEELS better, anyway!
Provisioning to cruise north: In preparation for our cruise north, we ordered groceries from Publix Instacart.
I froze fruits for protein shakes that are great for lunch on the move.And I made an “Instapot” of chili and froze individual servings; we enjoy these simple warm & hearty dinners at anchor after a long day of cruising.
What’s next? Our general plan is to begin America's Great Loop in the spring – excluding Canada, as the border is still closed.
Our near-term plan is to cruise out of Islamorada, through the Everglades (on the gulf side of the keys) up to Fort Myers, then cross the Okeechobee to continue cruising north on the Atlantic side.