The Campfire Trail: February 4

February 4, 2021

Day 35 - 330 Days To Go

25 Days Until March 1

Base Camp Coffee of the Day: Highlander Grogg (Butterscotch/Rum flavors)

Day two of our "Expedition" began with a sunrise breakfast in Man of War Harbor, Key West, Florida. The agenda today includes Sunken Ships. After that......... Who knows. The Keys has sunken ships everywhere. Adreane has been locating them on charts and Satellite imaging. We knew of one wreck not too far from us and decided to try and locate it. It was partially submerged near Boca Grande Key further to the west. I did not realize the Keys extended beyond Key West. They do but are not connected by any roads or bridges. Locating Boca Grand was easy enough. Locating a spot to anchor was another story. The bottom was rock according to the charts and the anchor confirmed that by refusing to grab anything and simply skidded across the hard surface. We eventually found sand (oddly enough) and it dug in.

A short Dinghy ride later, we took a couple of laps around an old steel framed ship protruding out of the shallow water. It's no telling what caused it's demise. Maybe just shallow water. In any event, it had been there a long time and was well on it's way to being claimed by the salt water.

On the way back to Treasured Times, we spotted a sandy looking beach on Boca Grande and decided to go ashore and do some beach combing. The water is still a little too cool for my comfort. However wading in the surf was not that bad. There were a few other boats moored close by and their passengers were enjoying some Island Exploration as well.

This is one of the BEST parts of private charters. You can get awesome places and destinations almost completely to yourself. We were surprised to find another "shipwreck" of sorts on the beach. It was only about half there and appeared to be a Dinghy, but based on the remains of it, we just weren't sure. Not exactly something that would show up on a navigational chart for sure.

I rummaged a few stray lobster trap buoys that had broken loose and washed ashore. Shelley found an interesting glass jug she plans to put a message inside and throw back out to sea. After that. Back to the "Mother Ship".

The Treasured Times Dinghy is a small Boston Whaler known for their sturdiness and indestructibility. While tough, it's tiny when pulled up along side Treasured Times. As we got back aboard and under way, the next decision was where to go now. We wanted to travel to the Dry Tortugas which is on our National Parks bucket list. That would have turned our trip into a four day run and with nice weather for now, it was forecast to get rainy before we could get home if we made that extended run to the Park. We opted for the closer Marquesas Key instead. After anchoring down a few hundred yards off the beach, I settled in for some fishing while Shelley, Mike and Adreane went ashore for some more beach time.

While there, they discovered yet another partially sunken ship. This one was a newer (by perspective to the last wreck) dive boat that was flipped upside down and washed up on the beach. Once again, they had the island all to themselves and go to see, touch and experience things that would have never been accessible to them otherwise. I managed to catch a few Snapper, nothing worth keeping but who's worried about that! The only important thing was everybody had a great time and got to do what they wanted.

We finished the evening with a tasty Prime Rib steak dinner and did a little more fishing. By dark, all the sharks had come out (I guess) We caught one small one along with other odds and ends fish but let them all go. There were a couple other boats anchored up near us for the night. At sunrise, I was able to get this picture with one of them in the foreground.