Elliott Key

The water around Elliott Key was skinny, so we anchored quite a ways out in about 7' water. The afternoon of our arrival we dingied to shore - it was a long, wet ride. We picked around in the tidal pools and found some really cool hermit crabs. Jace, our resident hermit crab expert, proclaimed that the crabs were Caribbean crabs as evidenced by their big, bright purple claw. As the sun was setting, the mosquitoes started getting hungry, sending us into a slapping, yelling and jumping frenzy. Back at the boat, the girls took turns braiding each other's hair. Amber fashioned a really strange thing in my hair that resembled a hairy spider. Park got a Bahamas braid and bead hair-do.

The following day, we loaded in the dingy and headed over to the Atlantic side of the Key. Our guide books said that there were a lot of shells on the other side. We went through the cut between Sand Key and Elliott Key. We beach hopped down the Atlantic side in search of shells and other treasures. The beach was littered with shells of all sizes. It was also (sadly) littered with litter. There was broken glass bottles, plastic bottles, lawn chairs, shoes, fishing floats and nets, and plastic bags. The strangest thing I saw was an IV drip bag. This island is uninhabited. I guess the trash just floats around in the ocean until it washes up onto shore somewhere.

After several hours of beach combing we decided it was time to head back to the boat. One thing we did not factor into our calculations was the tide. When we came through the cut, it was high tide. Chris and I let out a collective "oops" as we realized that the tide was falling fast and the cut was nearly dry. We each grabbed a side of the dink and drug it by hand across the few remaining inches of water. To make matters worse, the tide was in full ebb and we had to fight a swift current in the shallow water that wrapped itself around our ankles and tried to push us in the opposite direction. We made it back into deep water and gratefully started our outboard engine. Back at LaLeLu we donned our snorkel gear to take a closer look at the bottom.

That evening the XM weather forcast was bleak. We were planning to forge on to Key Largo in the morning. The forecast of a potential tropical system brewing in the Yucatan caused us to change plans and run for cover in Miami. Part of our decision was based on the fact that Amber and Jace needed to leave in two days. We needed to be somewhere that we could arrange their departure. Hunkering down and waiting for a storm to pass would not give us an opportunity to orchestrate their get-away. Another monkey wrench - no problem, we were getting good at shifting gears.