It's that time of year when the skiff leaves the dock several afternoons each week and we head out to Newfound Harbor for a swim.
To the north we have Big Pine Key and numbers of anchored boats.
Our destination was Picnic Island, a lump of sand thrown up in the middle of the bay where boaters like to congregate mostly on weekends and play music and drink and splash around. My wife and I prefer the quieter corners of the bay where others don't care to anchor and we thus find peace and quiet to enjoy the 80 degree waters of our backyard "swimming pool with a view."
Some people build elaborate houseboats to hang out on the water like this one that lives here permanently it seems:
It is a great source of irony to me that we have a house on a canal and a boat and we use the boat quite frequently in the summer but we don't like to chase fish. We just like to swim and enjoy the water without putting ourselves in the food chain.
Our work schedules tend to overlap so if my wife can get home in time we can go out for an hour...
...swim and watch the sun go down...
...and if it's a work night for me I can be on my way to work by 5pm on the Bonneville; or, if it's a blessed night off we can get close to dark out on the water before skimming home.
Our 14-foot Dusky skiff is simple by our choice- what electronics we don't have won't break, so we have no lights on the boat which means we have to be home before dark or we turn into pumpkins.
It's a five minute ride up the canal at walking (NO Wake) speed, and very serene it is too. Even when we came across other canal users! 
To me the pleasure of Keys living is in the suburbs, the homes away from the city which with any luck have access to the water.
Sunset across the salt ponds behind my house. And so to bed.
To the north we have Big Pine Key and numbers of anchored boats.Our destination was Picnic Island, a lump of sand thrown up in the middle of the bay where boaters like to congregate mostly on weekends and play music and drink and splash around. My wife and I prefer the quieter corners of the bay where others don't care to anchor and we thus find peace and quiet to enjoy the 80 degree waters of our backyard "swimming pool with a view."Some people build elaborate houseboats to hang out on the water like this one that lives here permanently it seems:
It is a great source of irony to me that we have a house on a canal and a boat and we use the boat quite frequently in the summer but we don't like to chase fish. We just like to swim and enjoy the water without putting ourselves in the food chain.Our work schedules tend to overlap so if my wife can get home in time we can go out for an hour...
...swim and watch the sun go down......and if it's a work night for me I can be on my way to work by 5pm on the Bonneville; or, if it's a blessed night off we can get close to dark out on the water before skimming home.
Our 14-foot Dusky skiff is simple by our choice- what electronics we don't have won't break, so we have no lights on the boat which means we have to be home before dark or we turn into pumpkins.It's a five minute ride up the canal at walking (NO Wake) speed, and very serene it is too. Even when we came across other canal users! To me the pleasure of Keys living is in the suburbs, the homes away from the city which with any luck have access to the water.
Sunset across the salt ponds behind my house. And so to bed.
3 comments:
Looks like this small island in the Caribbean that a guy built out of conch shells. Apparently he collected them every day and dropped them in the same place. Eventually he had a small island where he serves drinks and such. I think it's called 'happy island.' though I can't remember. Simple, and effective.
I haven't heard you complain about the weather in quite a while either. Must finally be done with 'winter' down there.
Brady
Behind Bars - Motorcycles and Life
http://www.behindbarsmotorcycle.com/
The weather is utterly perfect, cool breezes sunny and temps between 85 and 95. It hasn't rained in forever so there ar eno mosquitoes but plants everywhere are parched. deny climate change if you like, even as the midwest floods...
ps happy island is about right. no bar on ours which is known locally as picnic island but my wife and I run out from time to time with cuban coffee and cuban sandiwches and read the paper in the early morning with cheyenne in attendance. happy family island.
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