Key West Bound
Now that the Receta delivery was complete, I was free to cruise at my own pace, no schedule or deadlines. I could just take it easy, but did I do that? No, of course not, do you know me? I just wanted to get to Key West, I went flat out. Here is how it went.
I was back on Kismet on Monday night; Tuesday I went back to Jensen Beach because of the convenient grocery store and laundromat, and of course to check out another tiki bar; Tako Tiki was not bad but I didn't have time to hang out and listen to the band that was setting up, had to finish my laundry and shopping.
Wednesday, I was up early ready to head south on once more. The first stop would be West Palm Beach, seven hours of motoring, nothing interesting to report on that trip. Lucky for me there is a huge river to anchor in, pretty much anywhere. I guess the word got out. I had to motor a mile and a half south after coming in the inlet from the Atlantic, but I finally found a parking space, right next to the boat in the picture above, what a dream boat, I'm in love! Maybe some day someone will ask me to deliver it, but I hope not, I won't want to give it back.
Sorry, this is a terrible picture of Fort Lauderdale, my next destination. Another boring trip of 90% motoring and dodging fishing boats. The fishing boats are there because it is shallow with reefs and fish; I'm there because the reefs block some of the Gulf Stream current and allow me to go faster than going further out to sea. So after another day of motoring down the coast I pull into the inlet for Fort Lauderdale where I had a short wait for a drawbridge that opens at the top and bottom of the hour. After that I motored through a mile of the most ridiculous display of wealth I have even seen in America! Mansion after waterfront mansion all through canals like it was Venice. Why was I here, where was I going? Lake Sylvia, the only anchorage in the area, and the word got out about that as well. There were twenty boats packed into this small lake that should have had less than ten. After I dropped my anchor I was ten yards from the boat behind me. They were polite about it since we all knew there would be virtually no wind overnight, but it was close! Not too much later, Oshkosh showed up and squeezed in too. I was up every hour all night to check the situation as the wind shifted from south to north, we were all so close!
In the morning, all was good, none of the boats traded paint and I got out of there as early as I could. I wanted to fill up with diesel and water before heading out, there was a convenient marina right by the bridge and I didn't know when the next opportunity would arise as I would be in the Keys by evening.
Sort of The Keys, kind of the The Keys, but really just a warm up. After another day of motoring down the Florida coast I finally passed an island, Virginia Key. Right after that is Biscayne Key, these are the Keys, right? Technically, but not really. Biscayne is a park and really part of Miami. The Real Keys will come soon.
I came into No Name harbor and did a lap, it was full, not as full as Lake Sylvia, but I wanted to sleep, not stand anchor watch all night. I went out and anchored 200 meters from No Name, there was also no wind so this was fine, there were fifty other boats anchored out here as well, including Aloha from Oshkosh. I even buzzed by Aloha before anchoring, but there was no warm reception, I should have been flying my packers flag, I guess. It was a nice evening, I was close enough to shore to hear a live Jazz band playing in the harbor while I had dinner in the cockpit and then finally, sleep. The uninterrupted kind!
Valentines day brought a gift, a nine hour voyage were I got to sail for more than six of them; also sailed by Keys, over shallow reefs as well as raced a ketch (of course I won, Kismet is no slouch). It was a good day and when the work was done I was anchored off of Key Largo, a real Key, I was in The Keys, finally! For the full Florida Keys experience, I was anchored 50 yards from a wreck and slightly in the lee of Rodriguez Key; they name every rock down here apparently. There was no nearby dock or beach, just a place to drop an anchor and have some protection from the wind, the water however, is beautiful in The Keys; the coral and sand bottom make the water an amazing turquoise color when the sun shines into it, nice! I would continue on it the morning.
Planning each stop was an exercise in finding a place to anchor not too far away as I needed daylight to dodge crab pots, but not too close as to not make any progress. Today the destination is Long Key, only 28 miles. It was a fine day and I sailed 90 percent of the way including under the 65 foot bridge connecting Long key to Matecumbe Key, dodged more crab pots and then dropped the anchor 100 yards from an RV park with a Tiki bar on the beach. It was Sunday night, and the bar never opened; another evening on the boat.
Monday I made out for Vaca Key, another 21 miles closer to Key West. Again, no beach, no dock, just a place to drop an anchor. I will give Marathon another try on my way north, there is a large harbor in a lagoon that I would like to see but I didn't go in because I was warned that there would be no room and I didn't feel like wasting my time. I did have company in my wayside anchorage, the Ketch I raced two days before, Vivianite a 48 foot Camper and Nicholson Ketch from NY was also there. I saw the boat name when I passed it and when I looked on Sea People, I realized that was the boat also anchored nearby. We were a little too far apart and the water a little too rough for me to stop by to say hi.
Tuesday, 17 February 2026, I would make my ultimate southerly destination, by a technicality, Key West. I was able to get a mooring ball reservation at the Naval Air Station Key West Marina, which is technically Boca Chica Key, but who's counting, it's a mile from Key West and I've already covered over 1000 nautical miles on Kismet, not to mention the 1300 mile trip on Receta.
It would be a 40 mile day with good wind and within a half hour the motor was turned off and I was sailing for Key West. It was dead down wind, which has it's challenges and I had to get inventive with the sail plan. I don't have a spinnaker, which would have been ideal, that also means I don't have a spinnaker pole to use on the jib, which would have been great to. I decided to rig the jib sheet to the end of the boom to get it to stay filled with wind and it worked well and gave me nearly another knot of boat speed. After nine hours of earning each mile in light winds I sighted the channel markers for Boca Chica, dropped sail, motored into the harbor and tied onto mooring D20. I had arrived!
After completing the necessary paperwork, this is a government facility, there is always paperwork whether it is useful or not, I was a resident of Boca Chica Marina. There are 20 mooring balls and about 100 boat slips here along with an office, laundry room, bathrooms with showers and, most importantly, Navigators Bar and Grill. Every Navy base has a watering hole and this is it. Happy hour from 4-6 with food served and a bar that stays open to the ungodly hour of 8pm! I met Ed, a marina old timer that had been there so long they were kicking him out; I was invited to his going away party the following day at an Irish Pub in Key West. I also me Brian and Melissa, also a retired sailing couple. A place like this has a way of feeling like home on the first day.
Comments
Post a Comment