Sunday Summary #60

155 Amazing Miles Down, 5,845 Miles To Go!

Hi ,

Welcome to Scho & Jo’s 60th Sunday Summary. This edition of the Sunday Summary was written aboard PIVOT who is anchored in No Name Harbor in Key Biscayne, FL.

Last Week.

We were in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon for last weekend’s blow. To make the most of our time there, we visited the Turtle Hospital. The Turtle Hospital is a non-profit who focuses on the rescue, rehab, and release of injured sea turtles from boating accidents. Most commonly these turtles get injured from a boat strike, creating a cut in their shell. As their shell heals, it has an air pocket in it causing them to float, making it impossible for them to dive and get food. Many sea turtles become paralyzed in their rear flippers due to the strike. The Marathon Turtle Hospital the largest turtle hospital in the country and we’re got to tour it!

The following day we pulled up our anchor and made our way to our favorite anchorage in the Keys in Islamorada. It was a so nice to be back in an anchorage with excellent holding and access to our favorite spot for Happy Hour in the Keys, Lorelei’s where $1.25 beers and $3.50 margaritas are available during happy hour while you watch the sunset.

The next day we had a unique opportunity with one our viewers, Rainer. As a local in the Miami area, Rainer grew up exploring the area and built a career as an Environmental Consultant who’s actively part of many organizations to conserve, protect, and promote the Everglades and surrounding areas. As a member of Captains for Clean Waters, he explained the environmental challenges this area is faced with. Rainer took us out on his skiff and visited Flamingo at Everglades National Park. Our day was a packed full of wildlife, visiting places we could not get to with PIVOT as we traveled in waters 6”-2’ (0.15-0.6 meters) deep, and learned a TON about the Everglades. We both have lived in Florida for the majority of our lives and we had never been to this national park, but left with a deep appreciation for this unique environment in Florida. It was a fantastic day and we’re so grateful to have had such a wonderful opportunity.

We were sad to leave Islamorada after two days, but had to keep moving. It’s the biggest challenge we constantly find ourselves facing on the Loop. Boat-life and Loop-life are two very different things as we experienced boat-life for the first time this winter as we stayed in locations for extended periods of time and really got to know a place. Loop-life requires to you keep moving and to keep a certain pace while traveling in order to reach all of the sections by their suggested seasons if you’re completing it in a year’s time.

Our next destination was John Pennekamp State Park where we stayed on a mooring ball. We were blown away by the beauty leading up to the park and enjoyed our time there on a walking trail learning about the natural flora and fauna in the area as well as a paddle board and snorkel ride. We enjoyed an incredible sunset, one of the best sunsets we’ve had a in a while.

The next day we went oceanside for our last time for several months. It was not the easiest of cruises given the ocean swell, but we cruised through one of the many channels and made it gulf side which had a lot of protection and less swell. Our final destination was Bill Brags State Park in Key Biscayne. Yesterday we waited out some windy weather in No Name Harbor and used the time to get some work done on our laptops editing videos, writing this email, filming, writing blogs, etc. It’s been a super full week! We’ve stayed up past our boat bedtimes (8/9pm) working until about 11/midnight, but are super happy to be back in the swing of things!

This Week.

After traveling around the Keys, we are happy to be back in the mostly protected waters of the ICW. We’ll be leaving No Name Harbor on Monday and stopping in a few spots as we head north. At the moment of writing this email, we don’t know exactly where we’ll be stopping going north besides being in St. Augustine next Sunday to attend appointments the following week. We could be visiting Delray Beach, Jupiter, Vero Beach, Cape Canaveral, Daytona, and Fort Matanzas, but due to time constraints, we’ll be making our way north with haste.

“Focus on the journey, not the destination.Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.”- Greg Anderson

 Videos. 

We started releasing our Great Loop daily vlogs on YouTube! Incase you missed it, here are all the vlogs we’ve released since our last Sunday Summary:

Starting our Great Loop in Key West(Cruising 6,000 miles around the United States)

The Top Marina in the Florida Keys (Bahia Honda State Park)

Schedules and Boats do NOT go together(and why Marathon is a fantastic cruiser destination)

 Blogs. 

Incase you missed it, here are all the blogs we’ve released since our last Sunday Summary:

• Kicking off our Great Loop 2022 in Key West

 Great Loop Recommendations. 

We are looking for recommendations for destinations and spots along our Great Loop to go see, visit, and enjoy. It's been a real challenge for us to keep track and stay organized with the many wonderful recommendations we've received thus far. So we've created a Google Form to help us stay organized.

 Book & Resource Recommendations. 

We are looking for books, websites, or resource recommendations for the various environments along the waterways on the Great Loop. We want to learn more about the plants and animals in the various ecosystems in the ever changing waterways along the loop. If you know of any great books to help us learn more about the regional environments we travel through, please email us!

 Gratitudes. 

We’re grateful to be back traveling and exploring! We didn’t do a lot of exploring on our southbound trip, so we’re happy to be visiting new and not-new places as we travel northbound. It’s a lot of fun and we’re so excited to visit these places.

Peace and love,Jenn + Elliot