Recent trip to the Florida Keys
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 5:22 pm
Picking up from a request for information posted in the Old Forum, my wife and I travelled to the Florida Keys for a few days of fun and relaxation. We trailered our 1968 Whaler 13 for the first time and had a most enjoyable time. We ended up staying at the Blackfin Inn in Marathon. The Inn is nice, but nothing fancy. They have a boat ramp and small marina which made launching our little Whaler a simple proposition. However, as others pointed out, a 13 foot Whaler is very small in these waters, so we chose to trailer West to Duck Key and launch from the public ramp there a couple of times. This kept us from having to run across the open water adjacent to the 7 mile bridge. We soon discovered that we preferred to stay on the lee side of the islands and the Duck Key access made the collection of islands down to Bahia Hondo well within our reach. My wife and I spend many hours snorkeling around the islands playing with the tropical fish. Parrot fish, angel fish, many kinds of snapper, grouper, sheepshead, and collection of rainbow minnow were topped off by giant (6') stingray and a school of 100-lbs or larger tarpon drifting by.
Many suggested restaurants and our favorites on Marathon were Lazy Days, Castaways, and Florida Keys Steak and Lobster. All were very good, but Lazy Days remains our favorite.
If you are a hardcore fisherman or diver, you probably want more boat than a 13-footer in this environment. Of course there is no such thing as too much boat, but I think an 18 Outrage would be about a perfect fair weather platform for this environment. But when it comes to trailering, our GMC pickup did not even know the little Whaler was behind us.
We will definitely do this again with the 13. Let us know if we can help you decide if you want to give it a whirl.
Many suggested restaurants and our favorites on Marathon were Lazy Days, Castaways, and Florida Keys Steak and Lobster. All were very good, but Lazy Days remains our favorite.
If you are a hardcore fisherman or diver, you probably want more boat than a 13-footer in this environment. Of course there is no such thing as too much boat, but I think an 18 Outrage would be about a perfect fair weather platform for this environment. But when it comes to trailering, our GMC pickup did not even know the little Whaler was behind us.
We will definitely do this again with the 13. Let us know if we can help you decide if you want to give it a whirl.