Boating with Sunset Delight: 2024 November: Upper Keys Florida

27 November 2024

Depart: No Name Harbor anchorage near Miami, Florida 9:45

Arrive: Pumpkin Key anchorage near Key Largo, Florida 3:30

Distance: 27 nm

Being in no hurry today, we had a late start to our travels. As we left No Name Harbor we captured pictures of the Cape Florida Lighthouse before we turned and headed through Biscayne Bay's Stiltsville. It's always interesting to see how many houses still remain and what condition they are currently in.

Cape Florida Lighthouse ...

Stiltsville still contains a few houses though now they are quite literally "for the birds"!

Closeup of above house
(brings new meaning to "birdhouse")

Closeup of above house

Views of Miami off in the distance ...

We left Miami on our starboard side as we headed towards the Florida Keys.

Occasionally, like today, Clark surprises me with an unexpected side trip. He decided that we should explore "Boca Chita". (Not to be confused with Boca Chica.) This is a National Park with docks allowing us to tie up our main boat, so we do not need to use the dinghy for park access.

Headed for Boca Chita Key

We arrived at the park around 11:30 and, fortunately, found dock space large enough to accommodate our boat. Lots of boats were there ahead of us; some looked like they had been there a while and planned to stay longer.

One small boat we saw came in with 12 people on board. I did not see any life jackets in use. The boat was so crowded that two girls were lying down on the floor of the tiny upper helm. I would expect a boat this size to be comfortable for at most 6 people!

After securing our boat, we went off to explore. We found the registration booth and checked out the information available there first.

Honeywell's Estate

Biscayne National Park

Wednesday! So, surprise, free docking today!

"Imagine it's 1941 ... social and
educational club for businessmen"

Pavilion on Boca Chita

Map of area

We walked around to the lighthouse.

Lighthouse at entrance to the park

We met a couple from India who was touring the park. They took pictures of us, and we took pictures of them.

Cannon near the lighthouse

We could see Miami way off in the distance.

Miami in the distance

Harbor at the park

Old-time Cleats

Clark suggested we make a picnic lunch and eat at a picnic table. Later, we grabbed our bicycles for a quick tour of the park. Clark used the map of the park (shown above) for reference.

Historic Wishing Bridge - not much remains

Rough terrain for our folding bikes with
tiny wheels

Since we used bicycles, the tour of the park was completed in short order. We had seen about all there was to see there. Clark even checked out the restroom while we were there.

Biking the area was challenging. Although mostly hard-packed sand, the trail had some deeper and soft sand, some stones, and lots of tree roots. When we departed the wooded area shown above, I could no longer pedal my bike as I could not push through the thick grass of the field. It felt like biking with the brakes on. I finally gave up and walked as I watched Clark continue on with no apparent difficulty!

Boca Chita was a novel stop with a chance to see something new and get some exercise at the same time. With nothing more to be seen, we left the park at 1:20 to continue onwards to the anchorage Clark had selected for this evening. We could have stayed there the night had we paid the $35 camping fee.

The view through the next 15 or so miles has not changed much from the other trips we have made through here, so I did not bother with taking pictures. I did, however, get a kick out of the green marker that the birds decided is their private perch.

No more room at this inn

As we have done several times in the past, we anchored for the night at Pumpkin Key near Key Largo. We were pretty exposed to boat traffic last night and got some "good" wakes during the night / early morning as fishermen raced from or to their favorite spots. I hoped for a calmer night at Pumpkin Key.

Clark decided where to drop anchor based on wind direction and protection. He decided that having a cool breeze was important and chose our spot accordingly.

While I worked on the Blog update from the day before, I snuck out and grabbed some sunset pictures.

28 November 2024 --- Thanksgiving Day

Depart: Pumpkin Key anchorage near Key Largo, FL 10:20

Arrive: Barley Basin anchorage near Islamorada, FL 3:00

Distance: ~ 35 nm

We started the day with a cool north wind of about 5 knots. Once again we got a delayed start. Today, however, it was because Clark wanted to run the generator for a while to feed "juice" to the battery bank before getting underway. He ran the "genny" for about an hour and then we headed out.

Chart showing our boat at
Jewfish Creek

Heading into the mangroves

Fisherman Pedaling a Kayak

Another kayak deep in the mangroves

I took some pictures of the mangroves reflected in the water.

Effect of our wake on the reflection

Cloud reflection

Sailboat "anchored" / moored to the mangroves

Sailboat and another tied to the mangroves

Fishermen at the Jewfish Creek Bridge

US Rt 1 Jewfish Creek Bridge

No height issues here for us

Anchorage Resort and Yacht Club

Every time we pass by the wrecked sailboat near the Anchorage Resort and Yacht Club, I see more and more deterioration. In the past other boats tied to this boat like it was a dock. That no longer looks like an option.

Wrecked sailboat

Houseboats moored to the mangroves

Since today was Thanksgiving Day, I was surprised to see so many people and so much action at Gilberts Resort unlike the Anchorage Resort that appeared to be deserted. At Gilberts, I could see lots of folks eating lunch at outdoor dining as well as someone working the fuel dock.

Gilberts Resort Marina

Other than the people we noticed at Gilberts, the waterway was pretty much deserted today. I guess they were all home enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends. One lone jet skier zoomed by us, but otherwise, it was a quiet day for boating.

The waterway as we approached our anchorage for tonight was full of traps. Many of the traps sat in the channel and required an eagle eye to avoid hitting one. Our other concern through here was the very shallow water. At one point we only had one foot of water under the keel.

Finally, as we turned towards Barley Basin to drop anchor, we passed through a mine field of traps. I wondered if we would find a spot big enough to drop anchor. It was that thick with traps! We did manage to find a large enough circle to accommodate us swinging during the day / night. We anchored with about 5 feet of water under the keel, which is four feet below the water's surface.

Once we entered the Keys, we started to be able to see bottom. Clark took a couple of pictures of what the bottom looks like here. The pictures show the reflection of the clouds over the greenish bottom of the water.