Sunset Boatride

"Let's take the dogs on a sunset boat ride!" I eagerly suggested. Up to this point, we've never ventured out on the boat in the late afternoon or early evening. Usually, we schedule our trips during midday when the sun is high and the water is easy to read. As the saying goes: Blue, blue sail on through, green, green, nice and clean, white, white, you just might, brown, brown, run aground." I still have a fear of hitting bottom, again, and breaking another prop. The sound of the lower unit scraping across the hard, rocky bottom, one that we've heard several times since our boating adventures began around Sugarloaf Key, is anything but pleasant. However, with each passing boat ride, we gain more and more confidence to the point of taking an early evening sunset boat ride.

The breeze was gentle, the temperature was cool and comfortable, and the evening colors in the sky were changing by the second. With Zuzu and Tootie resting in the cuddy, we paused for a minute in the sound to take in the view.

Then we were off for a quick tour of the sound via the channel leading to Tarpon Creek.

The sun had set and the evening sky began taking hold.

Blues changing to black.

The water reflecting the changing hues of the evening sky.

Clouds in the distance still ablaze from the setting sun.

We flipped around at the entrance to the creek and made our way back towards our canal.

Zuzu and Tootie found comfort and security from the darkening skies inside the cuddy cabin. Zuzu still does not like being out after dark. Tootie does her best to comfort her sister.

The moon, a waxing crescent, just a sliver in the southeast sky, was barely visible.

As the sun dips deeper below the horizon, civil twilight diminishes rapidly.

The channel marker posts are still visible while we follow our defined path on the chart plotter.

It was a beautiful evening to be on the water, and Zuzu was a trooper as we kept her out beyond her comfort zone.

Now we'll just have to try sunset at Marvin Key and chase the evening sky back to our dock.

First Day of Autumn at Marvin Key

Summer came to a quiet and uneventful end on Friday, September 23. For us down here at the end of US-1, the first day of autumn resembled the last day of summer, warm and humid. No drastic temperature swings or sweeping cold fronts down here in the tropics. 

Our good friend Edie invited us for a late afternoon boat ride to Marvin Key on Saturday. It has been a couple of weeks since our last visit to the sand bar south of Marvin, and it would be nice to be a passenger not having to worry about the shallows, coral heads, and running out of gas, which actually did happen to us one hot afternoon coming back from Marvin. Edie was a phone call away and rescued us with fuel and a filter wrench!

This afternoon was worry free, just a nice boat ride on Edie's skiff with Kimberly and Ron and their three dogs, Oakley, Hooligan, and Jack, and Edie's dog Bart. Zuzu and Tootie were a bit restless during the twenty minute ride out. They were missing their cushioned cuddy cabin no doubt. But, once arrived, they leapt off the boat and were ready to run, play with the other dogs, and explore the island.

Zuzu seems to be more and more expressive everyday. Here, she's smiling for Edie who took these pictures and graciously shared them with us.

The light level was amazing, completely different from our usual afternoon sunlight. With the sun low in the sky, the mangrove islands popped even more against the blue water of Turkey Basin, and the water left from the receding tide on the sandbar shimmered.

We all took a long walk around the side of the island to look for small horseshoe crabs, which was a bit difficult with six dogs running and chasing each other, kicking up the sand making it very difficult to look for shoe trails on the bottom.

Once back at the skiff, it was time for pictures. With the sun setting behind us casting a warm light and stretching our shadows across the sand, Edie captured some excellent shots of the dogs. 

Zuzu and Tootie posed for the camera as if they were in a photo shoot for a Vizsla magazine. Their expressions are priceless. Zuzu on the right always on alert while Tootie on the left is probably contemplating the setting sun.

There, both looking in the same direction, fixated on some distant object. Is it the heron searching for his dinner in the shallows or the ever sinking orb on the horizon?

With each passing minute our shadows grow longer and the light more magical. Zuzu, however, wanted to remind us that it would soon be dark and she's not fond of the night.

Another sniff around the anchor, the favorite spot for dogs to leave their mark, before heading back to Sugarloaf Shores.

The setting sun was amazing. We had a fantastic sunset boat ride across Turkey Basin.

Absolutely magical as the sun sets on this first day of autumn down here in paradise.

Thank you, Edie, for the ride out to Marvin and for the fantastic pictures!