Normally we head home at the beginning of May but we decided to stay. We still do not know when we will leave and head towards home. I guess the final decision will depend on COVID-19 and the weather. With no renters currently allowed into the Keys, the park has emptied out considerably. We are sorry to see our friends leave. Bruce and Joanne were forced to leave the last week in April. They were not allowed to extend their lease. I hated to see them leave, especially since I don’t think they are coming back next year. One thing we have really enjoyed and taken advantage of with no renters, is the shade and delightful breeze under Alan’s house next door. He told us before he left that we could take advantage of the shade under his house. The weather has heated up in April so in addition to relaxing under Alan’s house, we try to keep cool either at some of our favorite anchor spots, such as Tarpon Belly, or we have started going to the pool again. The pool felt really good when it hit 102 degrees. Most of the time there is hardly anyone in the pool so it is easy to maintain distance from others.
With the improved weather we have been able to get out several times to go fishing. We have caught quite a few nice seatrout but we also found a deep hole near Niles Channel with lots of Lady Fish and Jack’s. We were especially grateful that Sandi and Gary took us fishing one day. They showed us a few of their spots and even showed us how to trap Stone Crabs. Randy pulled a few of the traps and pulled the crabs out. I would be afraid to reach into the trap. Those crabs have powerful claws! Fortunately they look like they move a little slower than our Blue Crabs. At the end of our fishing trip, Sandi even made us an appetizer of stone crab legs.
I can’t wait to get our own traps so we can catch some crabs! We are allowed 5 traps each. You must get a license, but it is just added to our saltwater license at no cost. We also may buy some blue crab traps. I have not seen any blue crabs down here yet but i still like blue crabs better than stone crabs so we may have to look for them too. The legal size of blue crabs are smaller here than our crabs at home, so not sure if they would be worth the effort. I will have to investigate their season a little more and see what we can expect. The stone crab season ends May 15 so we will wait and buy traps next fall when the season opens again October 15. If we are still here in October, we will hopefully be able to place our traps before anyone else so we can find some good, productive crabbing spots. We will just have to fish enough to keep the traps full of bait! I have not had any recent episodes of vertigo, so i am hoping i will be able to keep going out on the boat, even when the winds are not totally calm. I am looking forward to lots more great days in the Keys! I am really missing my friends and family, but trying to use video conferencing to at least stay in touch.
