Great Loop

January 29, 2024 The Keys Jumping into the Keys is like jumping into another world.  Everything South of Key Largo revolves around Highway Rt 1 ... literally.  In most areas, East to West is less than a half mile wide.  The businesses line the road and the hospitality services area tucked into nooks and crannies of the Gulf or Ocean side.  We had bought a pair of Segway Ninebot F35 scooters from Costco for the trip.  They are perfect for this environment giving us a 12 - 15 mile range per day allowing us to hit restaurants, markets and tiki bars all over the islands.  Aren't we cool? The keys lifestyle is one of relaxation, social interaction and casual consideration for rules.  The locals appreciate that their economy is visitor centered with the hospitality industry offering value discounts at every opportunity.  Hey, if the day ends in a 'Y', it's a good day for happy hour! Key Largo Leaving the Everglades we had a 3 day window before our marina reservation in Marath

 January 11 The Everglades Having grown up watching Gentle Ben, I was always awestruck by the very concept of the Everglades.  I couldn't wait to actually see it.  The idea of boating through it on my own craft was never really a childhood thought.  It was too far fetched to consider.   I have talked a bunch about the Shorebilly and it's versatility on the trip.  Big Ben introduced the world to the airboat and made the shallows of the region notorious.  One of the giant advantages of the Shorebilly her draft, which is only ~2 feet.   Our first stop was Goodland.  Here are two views of the navigation into the area.  Dark red means less than one foot.  Light red means 1 - 4 feet.  These are essentially the same view just one is zoomed way in.  Red is bad .... Click to enlarge But the Shorebilly went through without any problems.  In the shallow areas I simply tilted up the engines and glided over everything.   This from a boat that was able to also tame a 180 miles open water cro