Paradise found - so why are we leaving ????

Paradise found - so why are we leaving ????

This got to be the most beautiful island we’ve seen in our lives.
“ Quixotic “ is tucked in behind Sand Cay and Double Breasted Rock , and one of the many pleasures here is to watch the white, white sandbar come out of the water with the tides. The colors of the water as the sun rises is totally out of a magazine , a heavenly array of whites, greens , turquoise , just pure heaven….
Another high-point is exploring the underwater world .We met Steve of “Floridaze” yesterday who happily jumped at the opportunity to have dive -buddies and play tour guide . He had been here many times, and knew exactly where to go. We explored a sunken plane wreck that was ruled by a good size lionfish. He had run into a biologist who’d showed him how to prepare those spiny creatures for dinner and supposedly they have very nice white meat - and no wonder since they are eating all the beautiful fish on the reefs. His gem though was a set of seven good size rocks covered with coral and fish of all colors , we just hung there as if we ‘d landed in an aquarium, nice !!! That turned into our favorite spot , especially since it was surrounded by all the conch we ever needed. We could’ve stayed there forever if it wouldn’t have been for the bouncer the other day who in no uncertain terms made us aware it was time to get out of the water . It must’ve been the biggest shark I’ve ever had the pleasure to share the same spot with , he came out of nowhere directly at us ,and all the foolish notions of carrying a spear with you to defend yourself seemed utterly ridiculous .The time it takes your heart to skip a beat is how long it takes him to make the decision to snack you or pass - and as soon as he turned I looked for Cindy behind me and I guess there must ‘ve been an urgency in my voice as I said the single word “ shark ‘ for she immediately followed me back to the dink , trying to swim the fine line between calm restraint and panic. You bet we were done swimming for the day ..We had some good-size conch in the dinghy which we prepared into a delicious Conch-salad the other night and we’d invited our neighbors Scotty and Peggy of “Black Gold “ and Steve over for Sundowners .
Yesterday we just drifted with the tide down the northern sleugh and enjoyed all the exotic fish and corals , it was pure bliss and we forgot time and got ourselves pretty good sunburns . But it was so worth it , what a life .We caught ( ?!?! Yeah right , they were moving fast ???)more conch and sat down on the sandbar cleaning them up, keeping some of the guts of the conch for fish bait ,,but law-abiding folks as we are we stayed away from the summer crabs ,since they’re out of season , and instead bought 7 tails from the locals that drove by in the evening. Now tell me what those babies look any different in our cooler than if we’d gotten them ourselves ? A little disturbing thought , so we gonna cook and take care of them today . Most folks look at our paranoia and excuse us with the fact we’ve stayed in the Keys far to long.Hmm, I wonder what that means , I thought we live in paradise…
All the power boaters around us are complaining about the wind , which is stilled blowing somewhere between 15 and 20 knots , but here in the anchorage it feels wonderful. I haven’t broken into a sweat ever and the bugs can’t make it to our boat , so we are happy…