Cheeseburger in Paradise!

 

This morning, we had a leisurely breakfast of pancakes and sausages before we weighed anchor for Cabbage Key.
It was quite the trip up the GIWW...sometimes the depth sounder was only reading 2.7!  I finally had to move to where I couldn't see it.  There is nothing that makes me more anxious than to have no water under the keel.  Next stop was this place (above).  Cabbage Key is a wee little island on Pine Island Sound....supposedly the inspiration for Jimmy Buffett's Cheeseburger in Paradise!

So, of course, we ordered the cheeseburger in paradise!  It was heavenly :)  That's about $50,000 hanging all around the place.

After lunch, we walked to the top of the water tower, then took the nature trail around the island.  This is looking out to Useppa Island, which is a private island.  Marquesa was anchored for the night just to the right, through those trees.  The sailboat on the left was our neighbor.

My honey stole a kiss on top of the tower ;)

It was a beautiful trail around the island...and a good way to work off some of that burger!

This was like a vine and a cactus what was taking over many of the trees.

Only the standing oaks had Spanish moss hanging from them.

It was very jungle-y. 

Don't know what this is, but it was beautiful against all the green foliage.

This is known as a Florida Strangler Fig.  It begins as an airborne parasite that attaches itself to a host tree...eventually it will choke out and kill the host.  You can see the standing palm tree to the right that is getting strangled.  Nature is strange like that sometimes.

It just looked like a good sitting spot, so I climbed up...broken toes and all.

A day without Cap'n getting hurt is like...I don't know...a day without sunshine?  He is his father's son...here he got hung up on some brambles.  Ouch.

Still, we had fun exploring...it's what we do.  We like to see what we can see :)

As we left the trail and headed back to the dinghy dock, I saw this most unusual type of...hibiscus, maybe?

This double hibiscus was gorgeous, too.  I'm a sucker for pretty flowers, small children, and a Willis.

We headed out in the dink to go exploring by water....there were lots of little keys around us.  We couldn't find deep enough water to get close to Useppa Island, so we headed out across the GIWW to a deserted little beach.  The boat on the left was a crazy looking trawler at anchor.  It had a full mast (most do not) with a jibsail, and these outriggers that just appeared to be weighted for stabilization at anchor.  It also had a very big barking dog on board!  The private yacht to the right was no small one coming through the cut...more like the ones we frequently saw in the Bahamas.

We had a nice long walk on the deserted beach.  And I found...

...a few more seashells to add to my collection :)  Makes me happy, happy, happy!

We grilled Guinness beer brats for dinner with peppers and onions, but there was no sunset.  In fact, it looked like a storm may roll through.  (It did, in the middle of the night...we had to do the hurry-up- and-close-all-the-hatches-scramble!)   The entertainment for the evening was watching Cap'n fish.  We had no bait to speak of, but some leftover breakfast sausages.  A piece of that with a mister twister lure, and he slayed them!  He went 10-11 in a little over an hour...5 ladyfish, 3 catfish, and 2 Spanish mackerel.  Willis was not at all pleased about jumping squirming fish in the cockpit.  He made a beeline for the bed.  Such a brave puss.  G'nite, y'all.