Chicken Pox

Happy 52nd birthday to Ray!  How exciting.  He got to wake up in Little Shark River in the middle of the Everglades Swamp.  Nothing but wildlife.  I did make him French Toast for breakfast.
I thought it would be a better idea to wait until the sun was up before we pulled up anchor.  That way the bugs would not be so bad.  So at 7:00 a.m. we headed out.  We could barely get everything done that needed to be done.  We were being eaten alive by No Seeums.  I mean there were swarms of them.  I'm trying to get all of the electronics on, steer the boat the way Ray is telling me to go as he is lifting the anchor, put a towel over shoulders to try to protect myself some, getting it caught in the steering wheel, all while swatting everywhere.  Head, legs, arms.  As soon as Ray could see the anchor he hollered for me to GO!  The guy in the other boat at anchor was on his dinghy/fishing boat bragging to us that they were not bothering him.  He had a full screened jacket and bee keeper hat/hood on.  It took quite a while for them to dissipate.  The floor beneath my feet was literally polka dotted with them.  We both had bites all over us that looked like Chicken Pox for a couple of hours.  We keep swearing we are not going to go there again, but there are not many choices.  Next time we might try Indian Key.
At least the waves weren't bad.  Maybe about one footers all day.  Dodging the crab traps was the worst part once we got away from the bugs.
We pulled into Boot Key Harbor and stopped at Burdines fuel dock.  We decided to put about 30 gallons of diesel in the starboard side.  We have run the generator all night almost every night we have been at anchor because it has been so warm and humid, even at night.  That depleted the fuel from the starboard tank enough to make us list a little bit.  We also wanted to get the free ice you get when you get fuel.  They are willing to give you about two laundry baskets full.  We couldn't even fit one, but we were glad our beer would be cold once we got to our destination and we could start celebrating Ray's birthday.
We pulled away from Burdines at 2:30 p.m., traveled through Boot Key Harbor and the canals to our friend Karen's dock.  She was so gracious to let us have full accommodations including a pool and transportation when we tied up behind her house at 3:00 p.m. after 52 miles of travel.
Since it is Ray's day, he wanted to go to Sunset Grille for a prime rib dinner.  At about 4:30 p.m. Karen drove us there after picking up Terese.  Mike and Cheri met us there too.  It's great to see winter friends again!  The table we wanted wasn't available.  Mike said that he thought the prime rib was better and cheaper at Florida Steak and Lobster House during the early bird special and you get dessert included.  We all loaded up and backtracked.  Ray said it was not as good, but still enjoyed it.  We continued the night without Mike and Cheri at Dockside for some music.  Jay and Nancy and Chuck and Catherine joined us there.