Bobthebuilder

While we have had a great summer in Canada so far, I have been missing Team PREDATOR and my Florida buddies so thought I would take a few days and do a mini adventure of sorts with them. On Monday I flew down to Marco Island with the intention of heading 120 miles SW into the Gulf to the Dry Tortugas. It has been a few years since I last visited there so thought it would be nice to check out again. Marco Island / Naples friends Jay, Hans, Marc and Marc's son Michael would accompany me. Nor Tech had the boat all prepped and ready to go and we left Marco Island at 10 AM after a short delay waiting for coastal thunderstorms to pass. A few miles offshore, the skies cleared and we had sunny skies for the rest of the trip. We arrived at the Dry Tortugas a little over 2 hrs later. After our picnic lunch some of us put on mask and snorkel and got wet while Jay toured Fort Jefferson taking amazing pics with his camera. I was anxious to try out a new lens on my Canon and my pictures are posted below with more to follow over the next day or so. After spending the afternoon there, we then headed 70 miles east to Key West for the night. Again, water conditions were perfect. We spent a bit of time at the Conch Republic and then later enjoyed a great dinner at the Commodore. This morning it was our traditional breakfast at Pepe's and then 100 miles off to Marco with again, flat seas and lots of sun. I dropped the guy's off at Marco then took Team PREDATOR another 60 miles up to Cape Coral where Nor Tech met me to load on the trailer and put away till next time. Our 2 day, 350 mile expedition was over. Tomorrow afternoon I get on a plane and will be back in Canada by dinner time. While it was a bit exhausting, it was so worth it. Enjoy the pics and be sure to check out Jay's photo thread here: http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...h-o-t-o-s.html


1) Screenshot of "SPOT" tracker showing triangular route - Marco - Dry Tortugas - Key West - Marco then up to Cape Coral.

2) Heading out onto the Gulf from Marco

3) Arriving at Ft Jefferson, Dry Tortugas

4) Key West air shuttle

5) West side of FJ.

Bobthebuilder

1) Brick arches within the fort

2)Moat on NE side of FJ.

3) Interior within FJ walls

4) Seascape looking north from within the fort

5) Looking south from the roof of FJ.

Bobthebuilder

1)Seascape

2)Lighthouse

3)Looking east toward Key west

4)Restored canon

5)Deep blue sea

sprink58

Now THIS is what boating is all about!!

I am lucky enough to live about as far east as you can live in Florida...near Port of Palm Beach/Lake Worth inlet. We are about 65 miles from Freeport/Lucaya in the Bahamas and on these flat water summer days it's a comfortable 2 hour run. Those of us on the East Coast of Florida should do an OSO trip over there sometimes.

BBB725

Bob you live a really boring life

Just kidding, keep me posted I still want to do a Bahamas run with you this fall/winter with that crazy camera guy. Hopefully we can drag Alec and Bill along also

Bobthebuilder

Thanks. We had talked about running out to the Bahamas but my time was a bit short so we elected to stay in the Gulf. And you are right, it's a perfect time of the year for a Bahamas trip.

Bob

Bobthebuilder

I have not forgotten about our conversation at Boyne about that Brooks and am looking forward to putting something together. See you before too long now I hope.

Bob

wstultz

For some reason the word Envy pops into my head.Awesome trip and great pictures. Thank you for sharing.

skate

Arrrgh! I see a bigger Skater in my future to make these trips. Great photos and what a run!

AppSysCons

Bob,

Looking at your pictures, I am guessing you are a whole lot
more satasified with your camere/lens setup, that when we
spoke last week.

Glad the weather and seas worked out for you.