We left No Name Harbor at 8:45 this morning after taking Daisy in the dinghy to the shore.  She is becoming a real dinghy dog now, quickly running down the aft steps and jumping into the dinghy.

Today was a much easier sail.  The winds were strong and once we got into Hawk Channel, which runs all the way to Key West, the waves were 1-2 feet.  We arrived at Rodriguez Key at 4:30, after sailing at between 5 and 8 kts.  At about 4:30 we anchored in the open water as close to the Key as we could get.  It appears to be mostly mangroves, so we took Daisy in the dinghy to Rock Harbor.  We had a nice walk and then took Daisy back to the boat.  On the way, we saw three dophins diving near us.

Mark had not received his mail order prescriptions before we left and today they were finally delivered to the marina we were at in Ft. Lauderdale.  Our friends Gavin and Alice were watching for them to arrive and this afternoon they called and said they were on their way to Key Largo to deliver them to us.  That was really above and beyond the call of duty for friends, but we certainly appreciated it and it was great to see them one more time.  We took the dinghy back in and they met us at the Mandalay Restaurant in Rock Harbor for dinner.  It was a great little restaurant, with the ambiance of “Florida fisherman.”  The seafood was fresh and very tasty.

It took Alice and Gavin two hours to drive from Ft. Lauderdale to where we are anchored in Key Largo.  It seems strange that it took us almost 16 hours to travel by boat.  I bet they didn’t get bounced around by waves on the way here either.

The photos above show the shoreline of Key Largo from where we were anchored.  The second photo is a rainbow we saw as we were leaving Rodriguez Key this next morning.

Tomorrow, we are headed for Marathon and then on to Key West.