Day 8 – Captain Hooks boat rental & Key West

Anna and Olivia had decided to take Grandpa and Nana to Key West today. Grandpa had never been down to keys and thought the Key West was an experience he shouldn’t miss. It is a relatively short ride from Marathon to Key West taking only around 75 minutes, with the surroundings and views make the drive quite pleasant.

The rest of the group decided to rent a boat for the day. I called Captain Hook’s around 7am and rented us a deck boat. We could pick it up at 8am, but had to have it back by 4pm. Tobi drove Darrel and I to Captain Hooks a little before 8am. Went to the counter filled out the paperwork, picked up a few other needed items and then off to see the dock master. He gave us a choice between two of his fleet’s pearls. Needless to say, neither of these were either a pearl or precious gem – more like a rough cut quartz. Darrel was kind enough to take us out and we slowly headed back to our dock. We land at 211 Sombrero a little after 8:50am.

Everyone was up when we got back except for the boys. They had a hard day yesterday – a VERY hard day! Not sure how they had the energy to keep going. They got in late last night after 1am probably didn’t get to sleep until 2 or so. Oh to have youthful energy!!! I woke the boys and asked them to slowly rise and get up. All the others were getting ready to leave for Key West.  We all enjoyed a last cup of coffee or two together while the boys slow woke. Darrel and I packed the boat with all the fishing and scuba gear, while Tobi ran to the Publix and grabbed some subs and chips for the boat ride.

A little after 10am the five of us got in the boat and waved the rest of crew an “Au Revoir”! Anna, Olivia, Mike and Cathy left shortly thereafter to Key West. I started the voyage by leaving the dock, trying to turn our boat around and nearly missing the dock lift on the opposite side of canal. Luckily I punched the gas to avoid a near collision. That was enough excitement for me and asked LT to take over the wheel and captain this ship. We meandered down through the canals for around 20 minutes before popping out at the mouth by Boot Key.

Lane hunting his prey!

Initially we were going to ride out to Coffin’s Patch, a popular dive site, but chose Sombrero Lighthouse Reef. It didn’t take long to get there as it was maybe three miles out. On our way out the clouds were rumbling and the sky looked a bit black, all except for a small patch heading towards the lighthouse. We kept heading towards the reef and as we got there and buoyed up, the storm split and went around us. Due to the storm, about half of the boats decided to move back inland especially two big dive boats. Even though there were boats in our area it didn’t seem like it. Tobi, Darrel, Lane and LT put on their snorkel gear and hopped in the water. Most snorkeled for 30-40 minutes.

Lane with a Lionfish just speared.

Off to the next spot just a little outside the nature preserve area of the reef and we anchored back up so the boys to go spearfishing. They swam around for some time, before Lane finally popped his head up and showed us a lionfish he just nailed. The swimming at the reef must have gotten to Darrel as he was not feeling good. Tobi nursed him back with some coke and a sub. I partook as well in the sub and let me just say it hit the spot. Great job on picking up the subs Tobi!!! They were AWESOME! We hung around a bit more before taking back off and trying another location.

Anchored back up and I got in the water with Lane and Tobi. LT threw out a line and it got hit by something big. It ran the line out on his reel and we believe it was a grouper that went and hid back in one of the million holes around us. Lane tagged another lionfish and I attempt a few times to catch one with a spear before getting a nice size one. Lane and LT continued to find some more before heading back to the boat. Where we were anchored it was a little over 20 feet of depth, so it was laborious to dive, search and come back up. We needed to find a spot that was more like 12 -15 feet.

We hit one last spot with no success before heading back to Captain Hooks and returning the boat. Got to the dock a little after 3pm and emptied all our belongings. I called Tobi an Uber and she went back to the house, grabbed her truck and was kind enough to come back and get us. While we were waiting for Tobi, the boys went under the Bridge by Captain Hook’s and fished. The both got some nice snappers before running out of bait. Darrel took Tobi back to the house and left Lane, LT and I there to fish before coming back to get us about 30 minutes later.

Tobi coming up for a little bit of air at Sombrero Lighthouse Reef .

Anna and Olivia were back at the house when we got there at 4:30pm. They had just arrived back from Key West and had a grand time with the grandparents. Darrel and Tobi cleaned the gear when they got home, so when I got back there was nothing for me to do. Everyone basically chilled until dinner. Anna heated the lasagna that Nana made and brought down from Fort Myers, along with some garlic toast. Add in some salad and we had a full fledge meal. I do not believe there was hardly anything left.

Sat back with full bellies, watched a little TV and called it a night around 11pm.