Day 128 - February 6, 2013: Key Largo, anchorage in Tarpon Basin, and the African Queen

We continued up the inside where the ICW angles back and forth through the shallow waters and between the small Keys and grassy knolls. The depths in the ICW here average about 6 ft, so larger boats must run outside. In some places, the cuts are narrow and have heavy currents. This is one such example, named Steamboat Channel.

Steamboat Channel

A good place for Alligators

We chose to anchor in Tarpon Basin off Key Largo in order to visit the famous African Queen. Since there was no marina nearby and we needed to go a couple of miles down the highway, we put the bikes in the dinghy and found a launch ramp where we could dock and ride.

Plenty of room for bikes in the dinghy

The movie, African Queen, is a 1951 adventure film directed by John Huston starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. Much of the film was shot in Uganda and the Congo in Africa using a small steam-powered steel-hulled cargo and passenger boat named the African Queen. This famous boat has had a number of owners and restorations since and is now open for tourists to take a ride here in Key Largo.

African Queen tourist excursions

Narrow steel hull

Very cool steam boiler and engine