The Keys at last

It’s bye-bye Miami and hello Marathon/Boot Key Harbor, but I’m getting ahead of myself. It finally quieted down at the Star Island anchorage (N25 46.6120 W080 09.2449) and we got some sleep. We were tired of civilization and wanted to get to the Keys so we got up at dawn and started out. Down through Biscayne Bay, a huge expanse of water some 20 miles long and a little less than 8 miles wide with water around 8-10 feet deep punctuated by occasional reefs some exposed and other just under the surface. On occasion one must pass through these reefs, but the passages are well marked and present no serious problem although it could get exciting if the visibility were to be compromised. The marks are rather far apart in some places requiring some dead reckoning work, not hard but in need of paying attention. This first day we got around ½ the distance to Boot Key, our ultimate destination. We were helped by winds first on the beam then from off the stern quarter, which we took advantage of by rolling out the head sail and catching some wind. This got us to Sunset Cove in Buttonwood sound (N25 05.7060 W080 27.0119) where we nosed our way to the shore and anchored in about 5 feet of water. It was somewhat un-nerving to see the bottom so clearly, but this was an advantage since we could pick a spot where there was no sea grass to drop the anchor.

We spent a quite night here and since the weather forecast predicted the wind from the same direction and with the same intensity we got out of bed early again to try to make the other half of the trip. Again we weaved through sounds and over bars in this skinny water, never over 10 feet deep even though shore was at least a mile away. For the last eight miles we were able to cross over from the bay side of the Keys (north) to the ocean side (south) by going under one of the few 65 ft high bridges (channel 5 bridge) and raise both the jib and the mainsail, actually sailing something we have not done since North Carolina. Yes we have done a lot of motor sailing (for the non sailors this is sailing with the motor on—duh), but this time the diesel was silent. We managed to sail to just a mile off the Boot Key Harbor entrance when the wind die. It was a perfect sail for the Tartan, wind off the beam, blowing at 10-15 knots for three quarters of the trip then it came from the stern quarter. We entered Boot Key Harbor via Sister Creek and to our good fortune they had one mooring left out of the 250 they have there. It is a very popular harbor. The mooring fee includes a weekly pump-out, trash removal, dinghy docking and all the showers you can take. The people here are extraordinarily friendly. the one short-coming is that the internet is not free. Every morning at 9:00am there is a harbor net that meets on channel 68 to welcome new arrivals, good bye to departing boats, announcements, trivia questions, buy, sell, trade and any one needing help. At the end of the day as the sun sinks in the west many of the boats blow conch horns to say good bye to the sun. Every Wednesday there is a meet and greet on the shore where people bring a appetizer to share and chew the fat with other cruisers. We will make Boot Key/Marathon our home base for about a month before we turn around and head back north.

20 Feb

We rented a car and drove down to Key West to do the tourist thing and also meet up with some old friends from our days in Hoboken/Jersey City. Jane G and her partner Terry W have a house down there and were to be visited by Gene, the Singing Plumber, who still lives in Hoboken. Terry was a drummer in a band that Terri and I use to dance to in our BK days and Gene was a singer/song writer in another band that we trip the lights to. He wrote such memorable songs as “A Six Pack and You.” Terry was to play a gig at a local spot and we are hoping that Gene would do a sit in and by god he did playing among other things “A Six Pack and You.” It was great fun to get up and dance to this song once again after 20 some odd years.

We did some other tourist things, bought some trinkets and had a beer at the southern most brew pub in the US, Kelley’s. A good trip except for the late night drive back to the boat.

23 Feb

Went for an off shore fishing trip today sailing off the reef into the deep water (150 feet) to hunt for some big fish like Miahi or tuna. It is really impressive to see the water color change from a turquoise on the reef to a deep blue almost instantly as we fell off the reef into the deep water. From a distance you can see a distinct line where the color changes. We saw numerous Portuguese man-o-wars and one very large sea turtle, but no fish deigned to bite at our lures so we went home hungry except for the beauty of nature that we witnessed.

25 Feb

Another day in paradise. Have I told you that a tee shirt and shorts are too much clothes?? Days are in the 80s and the nights cool off to a comfortable 70s. Today we went fishing again with Lenny from the boat Dreamer and Verne from Chicqui. Verne is the experienced fisherperson here. We anchored next to seven mile bridge (which is just short of seven miles) and put a net bag of ground up menhaden over the side. Within minutes there was a swarm (what is it with fish? Herd? Gaggle? Group???) of fish around the chum. Then we tossed in the baited hooks and hauled them in. Well it was not quite as simple as that. They were masters of escape and bait stealing, but we did get enough for a fish fried for 4. We still do not know what kind of fish they were, but they sure tasted good---yumm! All the “experts” though that they were some kind of snapper or croaker for sure. They were fighters as well, one broke my brand new pole.

Along with the herd of fish we got some uninvited visitors as well. Two very large sharks, one at least six feet long and the other slightly smaller. They manager to pluck a few hooked fish off the line (perhaps they were responsible for the broken pole), but they did let us have our share, after all we bought the chum. We also saw a group/herd/gang of Leopard Rays, some as big as a table top.

We brought the fish back and Rose, of Chicqui, oven fried them and we ate them with a salad and cheese grits (so called Georgia ice cream) along with a good Pinot Grigio. It’s a tough life but someone has to do it. Thus ended the great day of fishing, but I need to now buy a new pole.