Monthly Archives: December 2018

Merry Christmas from Key West

12/25/18
Key West, FL
Conch Harbor Marina
Position: 24 33.766N, 081 48.021W
Posted by Bill

The worst thing you can do when cruising is have a schedule, and we broke the number one rule heading to Key West. Our reservation in the Conch Harbor Marina started on the 13, and we didn’t want to miss any days in our one month reservation period, so we headed out in less than desirable passage conditions…to meet a schedule. It ended up being an all day ass kicking…even being behind the reef in the Hawk Channel. The boat was getting thrown all over, rolling back and forth from side to side. Stuff was flying around in the cabin below and it was difficult to keep from getting thrown around in the cockpit. I told Tricia…we said we were going to keep cruising until it wasn’t fun anymore…and if we have to travel in these conditions, we are on our last trip! We pulled in to the marina and got tied up late afternoon and were glad to be done with that trip.

Key West has lots of activities. Our usual daily routine involves hitting a good happy hour somewhere, enjoying the food and drinks, and then walking around in the evening to people watch and catch some good live music. We have been doing that pretty much every day. We also watched the Christmas boat parade in our marina, which was really good as always. We also spent a few days at the pool at Dante’s which is at the entrance to our marina, taken a few bike rides, rented scooters and went to Stock Island to have lunch at Hog Fish, and have taken walks every day. It is nice to be able to just walk off the boat without dealing with the dinghy, and the marina is in the heart of all of the action, which makes it easy to get into the vibe here.

Our good friends Rick and Barb (who have a boat next to us in Southport) came down for Christmas and stayed in an inn just a few blocks away, and we have been having a great time with all of us together again (like at home). We went to dinner at Mangia Mangia, a great Italian restaurant, for Christmas Eve, and then had an early dinner on the dock on Christmas Day. We had some friends on the dock and some we know that live in Key West join us, and we had a group of about 20 people. Everyone cooked/brought something and we pigged out!
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My favorite shirt in the Key West stores says “Key West…where the weird go pro!” It is pretty spot on, and a great example is this guy wandering the streets sporting his Christmas spirit:
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Also these pictures of street vendor food trucks:
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Mass quantities of alcohol are consumed here, to the extent that hang over treatments are a thriving business:
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And there is no lack of creative expression, including vehicles:
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There are some crazy boaters too. This guy pulled in on Christmas Day, when he knew no staff would be working the docks, and filled up his fresh water tanks with the marina’s water, then took off. Interesting that he had a Victorian couch and wing backed chairs on the back deck…lol!
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Hell’s Angels on scooters:
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A few shots of the Christmas boat parade:
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Cool Christmas lights in the palm trees:
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The weather was a little chilly for a few days while a front came through, bringing 40 plus knot winds, but other than that we have had excellent weather…nice and warm, with little rain. Given that we grew up in the north, it doesn’t give you the feel of Christmas like we know it, but I’ll take it any day over the cold!!!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!! I hope you had a good one! The blog will see you in the new year.

Marathon, Boot Key Harbor

12/6/18
Boot Key Harbor, Marathon FL
Position: 24 42.316N, 081 05.585W
Posted by Bill

Well, the wind forecast was calling for winds in the mid to upper 20s for a few days, and 15-25 for as long as the 10 day forecast was projecting…sheesh! We upped anchor and took a bit of a beating in Biscayne Bay on 12/5. Seas were following, so it helped the boat motion a bit, and I got to put up some sails, which is always enjoyed. When we got into the northern sounds of Florida Bay, we had smaller bodies of water and less fetch, so conditions were pretty good. We made it to Tarpon Basin in Key Largo, and anchored in position 25 07.204N, 080 25.649W. Tarpon Basin is fairly well protected from winds in all direction, but we still had a moderate chop at the anchorage. Many parts of the basin are full of sea grass and it is known for poor anchor holding. We have dragged anchor there a few times in the past. All of us found some sand patches and got a great hold. Good thing too, because the wind howled all day and night. We had small craft advisories that day and for the next couple of days, so we debated about staying for another day or leaving. At dawn the next day, we made the final call and decided to venture out, and if it was too bad we could come back. It wasn’t as bad as predicted, so we found our way into Boot Key Harbor late on the 6th. One of the boats had transmission problems and sea grass clogging the engine intake about 5 miles from the Seven Mile Bridge, and we had about a half hour delay sorting that all out, but we made it in. The day after we arrived, we saw some manatees and then watched the lighted boat parade from Steel Away’s top deck. It was fun. Then we all spent a few days doing boat maintenance and resting up a bit. Since Stuart, we have been running long days in high winds, and everyone is exhausted. We have reservations for a month in Key West at Conch Harbor Marina starting on the 13th, and it looks like the 12th is the best day to travel there, with the 13th being pretty good too. So we are planning to head out…not sure which day yet. See you in Key West!

Sunset from Sunset Grille in Marathon:
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The push to Miami

12/4/18
Marine Stadium Anchorage, Miami FL
Position: 25 44.507N, 080 09.972W
Posted by Bill

We had a great time as always in Stuart. We hit all of our usual favorite places to eat and drink, and also did some grocery shopping. We also got to catch up with good cruising friends Hayden and Radeen on Island Spirit. We haven’t seen them in a long time, and it was fun to get together. I wish we could have had more time hanging out with them. We were watching the weather because we knew that we needed to run offshore (which cruisers call “outside”) to get from Ft Lauderdale to Miami. There is a bridge on the ICW in Miami that we cannot get under, so this is our only option, and actually, it is so much nicer than dealing with all of the bridges and crazy ICW boaters in south Florida. We were also considering running outside from Lake Worth to Miami instead of taking the ICW from Lake Worth to Ft Lauderdale, so a good couple day weather window was what we needed. We have run offshore in winds over 20 knots but have found that we much prefer a calmer sea state, so we shoot for max of 15 knots in our windows. The weather this year has been a lot worse than usual from a wind perspective. This year we have had 15 plus knot winds for a good 90% of the days we have been traveling…very uncharacteristic this time of year, so we ended up staying in Stuart for a week before we could get a window.

So, we left on 12/2. The winds had not died much at all, so we stayed on the ICW through Lake Worth and anchored in Lantana FL at position 26 34.824N, 080 02.861W. On 12/3 we found that one of our preferred anchorage in Ft Lauderdale was empty…amazingly…so all 4 boats got in and we anchored in position 26 08.576N, 080 06.571W. Here is a picture that I took of Island Bound at anchor, from the top of Kurt and Sharon’s boat:
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Every time we run the ICW in south Florida I am amazed at the array of multi-million dollar homes and boats that line the waterway…and it just goes one after another for pretty much all of south Florida. I can’t fathom how that many people can have that much money. Here are some sample pics:
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You do get to see some wildlife at times. Here was an eagle:
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And then this Jurassic Iguana on the bridge:
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On 12/4 we went offshore from Ft Lauderdale to Miami. It was a great day on the ocean and it was really nice to be rid of the damn bridges on the ICW! Steel Away ran offshore with us while Sofia Jeanne and At Ease took the ICW. We floated into Marine Stadium and dropped anchor. This anchorage was an old marine stadium where all sorts of water based competition took place decades ago. Now it is a great anchorage with an amazing view of the Miami skyline:
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Here is a shot from offshore looking at Miami Beach and South Beach:
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Here we are coming in the Government Cut Inlet at Miami:
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Kurt shot this view of Island Bound going into Miami:
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The winds are picking back up and we are trying to decide if we stay at Marine Stadium or tough it out on Biscayne Bay and Florida Bay, which are large bodies of water with pretty rough conditions in higher winds. We will check again in the morning and make a final decision.