2021: Key Biscayne to Marathon FL

 29 November 2021

Depart: Outside No Name Harbor Anchorage 8:25

Arrive: Islamorda Barley Basin Anchorage 4:15

Distance: 60 nm

Conditions: Sunny, 70s

When we woke, we could see the early morning sun reflecting off the Cape Florida Lighthouse. It was a great way to start the day!

Off in the distance we could see the Miami skyline.

Although many boats left at sunset yesterday, a few stayed to keep us company over night.

As we headed out the channel, we got a clear view of the lighthouse one more time before we turned to the southwest.

Cape Florida Lighthouse

Our route today took us through Stiltsville. Of the original 27 buildings in this "village", only 7 remain. The first was built circa 1922 to provide a place for gambling which was legal only if one mile off shore.

One is clearly beyond repair

Jimmy Ellenburg House
unofficial Mayor of Stiltsville

After Stiltsville, we continued on our way through Biscayne National Park which is 95% water. After one last peak at Miami, our view therefore consisted of only water and clouds until we got into the mangroves of the Florida Keys where the view changed dramatically.

Last look at Miami

Mangrove-lined ICW

Mangroves along ICW

We passed a sunken sailboat that we have seen many times. It seemed to have a new addition in the masts.

Seems this boat truly has a
"crow's nest"!

We saw little boat traffic. Although we did see some folks enjoying a parasail ride.

Fun in the Keys

Clark originally planned to take us to a mooring ball at Lignumvitae Key State Park. However, we were both ready to stop earlier in the day. Clark wanted to make some phone calls before 5:00, so we bailed out and dropped anchor at Barley Basin at Islamorada. It took a full 20 minutes to scout out the basin to find a place to drop anchor that would not have us running over a fish trap. It was worth it though to cut an hour off today's travel time. Hallelujah!

Clark made his phone calls, and I solved some puzzles on my tablet for fun. Then we saw the sun set.

Clark checked for television options and found only two Spanish speaking stations in the area. Since neither of us are fluent in Spanish, we streamed the news on Clark's iPad and then turned to reading as tonight's entertainment.

30 November 2021

Depart: Islamorada Barley Basin anchorage 8:30

Arrive: Marathon anchored outside of Faro Blanco marina 12:35

Distance: 31 nm

Conditions: NE wind, 60s -> 70s

With a short travel day today, we took our time getting underway, i.e. we ate breakfast before pulling up the anchor. We had a cloudy morning, and the NE wind made the air feel a bit nippy.

Just a bit cloudy today!

Other boats at anchor nearby

View of Islamorada from boat

As I piloted the boat out of the anchorage, I had to watch the depth and fish traps carefully to make sure we did not get into any trouble. I was happy when Clark finally came up to the helm and took over. From that point on, I just had to point at the traps to assist in navigation. Some not-so-savvy fisherman put down a bunch of patriotic trap markers with the blue side of the red, white, and blue facing up. They were nearly impossible to see.

Blue on blue - real smart!

Only visible when the white part bobbed in the water

Besides the "invisible" blue ones, we had lots of other colors including red ones and green ones - it looked like Christmas!

When we were not studying the water looking for inconspicuous traps, we could enjoy the colors of the water in the Keys.

Our travels today paralleled Route 1 through the Keys. As we passed the bridge at Channel #5, we still had clouds covering the sky.

On the port side, we had Route 1 and on the starboard side, we had the Everglades National Park. When we were in the park waters, there were no traps as they are not allowed.

We arrived in Marathon just after noon and headed towards Faro Blanco Marina. Our plan was to drop anchor outside the marina and take the dinghy in to visit our boater friends there. As we traveled this way, a number of dolphins decided to come to play along side the boat. I counted at least 5 chasing us. I was not fast enough with the camera to catch the one that liked to jump right out of the water beside the boat. He did it once before I was ready with the camera and then one more time later that I just did not expect.

Best shot I could get of these fast moving guys

It felt strange and made me a bit sad to be drop anchor outside of Faro Blanco instead of heading in for another year in our familiar slip. As planned, we dropped anchor where we had a close up view of the marina instead.

We saw some folks enjoying a parasail ride here too.

We wanted to say hello to the folks on "Latitude Adjustment" and "Morning Star". When we texted the folks on "Latitude Adjustment", we found out that they too were anchored outside Faro Blanco because they were testing repairs to their auto pilot. We heard nothing back from a text to "Morning Star". Given that, we decided to "chill" for a while and go visiting later in the afternoon. 

Around 3:30, we got in the dinghy and went to visit our friends. "Latitude Adjustment" was back at dock and the folks on "Morning Star" had woken up from their afternoon naps. It was nice to reconnect after a summer apart.

We left on the dinghy to head back to "Sunset Delight" just after 5:00 to be on board before sunset. As we left the marina, we got some "looks" from the guardian pelicans at the entrance to the marina.

Guardian Pelican

Turned to get a good look at us as we went by.

We had the dinghy stowed for the night before the sun went down. Then Clark grabbed my camera with the sunset setting and took some pictures.

2021: Lake Worth to Key Biscayne FL

 27 November 2021

Depart: Lake Worth anchorage 7:55

Arrive: Pompano Beach Private Dock 12:45

Distance: 36 nm

Conditions: Cold when heading into wind; Hot sun

When we pulled out of the anchorage this morning, we traveled north to go back out the Lake Worth inlet to enter the ocean for today's travel. I asked Clark if he was tired of Florida and was heading back home. The joke flew over his head, and he explained that we were heading back to the inlet. Duh!

On our way, we passed by the Trumpy we saw yesterday. Today we managed to catch its name - "Mariner III".

Trumpy - "Mariner III" - Biloxi

Hiding behind the view of the Trumpy, we caught sight of a cruise ship at dock.

As we traveled out towards the ocean, two dive boats passed by us. 

"Narcosis"

Diving boat with many colorful tanks on board

Once again Clark managed to pick a superb day to travel on the ocean. The only "real" waves we saw were made by the wakes of passing boats.

Looking back at Lake Worth inlet

Dive flag -
diver climbing back into boat as we passed

I saw something flying in the air I had never seen before and had to do some research to figure out what I was seeing.

Kite with helium balloon?

As I searched on Google for information, I found that "Kite Fishing" has become popular in South Florida. Using the Kites expands a fishing boats ocean coverage. Most often, it seems, the sport is used to fish tuna.

This boat has two kites up
(one of them is the one in the above picture)
plus two lines from the boat..

After more than 30 nautical miles on the ocean, we came to the Hillsboro Inlet.

Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse

The Hillsboro Beach / Pompano Beach Bridge opens every 15 minutes. We arrived with about 10 minutes until the next opening. It was a crazy mess of boats - some coming in, some going out, some work boats, and many at anchor. Very little room existed to maneuver while waiting for the opening.

Small boats that could fit under the very low bridge poured out to head towards the ocean.  The current pushed the incoming boats towards the closed bridge. Clark decided to face away from the bridge while we waited to make station keeping easier. As we waited, a big charter boat, "Starlight", entered the inlet to catch the opening. 

With boats anchored on one side and work boats on the other, the in-bound boats waiting for the bridge had very little room. A sailboat waiting for the bridge had also turned facing away from the bridge. As the bridge opened, a pocket trawler (small trawler) came out of nowhere heading for the bridge. Suddenly that boater found himself playing chicken with the much larger catamaran sailboat. The pocket trawler quickly threw his boat into reverse to back out of the way of the turning sailboat.

While this was happening, "Starlight" called Clark on the radio and told him to go ahead of the sailboat since he was facing the wrong way. (We had turned to face the bridge by now.) Proper protocol would indicate that the sailboat who was ahead of us in line should go before us. The sailboat turned so quickly that it only made sense to have them go in order and avoid the "Starlight" "cut-the-line" directive. 

After getting through the bridge, we spied several boats waiting their turn to travel outbound through the bridge. Suddenly we heard over the radio, "Starlight! Where are you going?" "Starlight" had turned directly into three boats waiting for the bridge.

He forced them to scatter. It turned out that those boats were waiting in front of the dock where Starlight docks. Instead of waiting for them to clear out as they headed for the bridge, he charged them head on and forced them out of the way.  I thought sure a bad accident was about to happen as the boats struggled to clear out of his path.

Another scene I saw after exiting the bridge had potential to be a horror story. With all the chaos and boat traffic, seeing someone sitting with their legs hanging over the bow of their boat made me shudder. Not only is this dangerous, but certainly in New Jersey, this is illegal and will get a boat pulled over in a hurry.

So dangerous in these crazy waters of Pompano Beach.

When we pass by this way, we stop at a fellow boaters private dock and tie up next to his boat. On a Saturday, I wondered if we would find a break in the boat traffic to be able to safely make the turn into our friend's canal. Because of how we dock, we have to back out of the main thoroughfare into the canal. I heard Clark make a security call on the VHF radio to let folks know he would be backing.

Fortunately, we got a break in traffic and had no trouble getting tied up next to our friend's boat. As always when we stop here, we had non-stop talking from the moment we arrived until we finally said goodnight to head back to our boat and bed. 

28 November 2021

Depart: Pompano Beach Private Dock 8:50

Arrive: Key Biscayne anchorage 2:00

Distance: 41 nm

Conditions: Sunny, calm seas

Our friend came out to see us off around 8:00 when we said we would be leaving. Clark had questions for our friend and he had things in his garage to show Clark. We finally pulled away from the dock at 8:50, which is a lot earlier than I would have expected when these two guys get together.

 

Once again, Clark took us out into the ocean. This time to avoid boat traffic and Miami bridges. We made the 9:00 opening of the bridge and headed out to very calm seas.

Exiting Hillsboro Beach Bridge

Work boats in front of Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse

Freighters anchored on the ocean

Container ship "Caribe Navigator" 
full of containers

Tanker at anchor in the ocean

Several Cruise Ships in Fort Lauderdale

We got lots of views of skyscrapers on our way south on the ocean.

Hazy sky

On the calm ocean, we saw many small fishing boats - some smaller than others.

Kayak fishing on the very calm ocean

Lots of little fishing boats scattered around

We also saw a couple of boats out with parasails.

Normally when we travel to the Keys via this route, we head towards the Keys via Government Cut. Today, however, Clark had other plans. He decided to go check out Key Biscayne and the No Name Harbor.

We passed by the Cape Florida Lighthouse to find a place to anchor.

In the distance, we could see Miami.

Miami, FL

As we came around Cape Florida, I was amazed at how many boats sat at anchor. The weather and water conditions made it perfect for weekend warriors to be out in plenty. We searched around for a bit and finally dropped anchor in a place that gave us adequate swing room. 

Once we got ourselves anchored, Clark went to work getting the dinghy ready to go exploring.

Heading towards No Name Harbor

The harbor may have "No Name" but it sure was packed with boats! 

"Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park" is located here.

Bordered by mangroves

"The Cleat" - outdoor bar

Rafted up and ready to party!

After scouting out the tight quarters of the No Name Harbor, we exited there and headed west to the next harbor.

Sign says ... "State Park Boundary"

Next, we visited South Basin with big boats and mansions. 

Big boat in narrow canal

Bridge / walkway in background

Banyan Tree

More boats at anchor

After we left South Basin, we visited Hurricane Harbour next door where we found bigger houses and bigger boats.

68' Sunreef Yacht "Nomis"

Huge Catamaran

Then we saw the other side of the "bridge / walkway" we saw at South Basin.

With our one-hour tour of the three harbors complete, we headed back to "Sunset Delight". We encountered a lot of boat traffic from boaters with no consideration related to the size of their wake. We climbed over some pretty tall waves to get back to our "home". 

Miami in the distance

More anchored boats!

We were out exploring for just over an hour. Getting the dinghy back loaded on "Sunset Delight" proved to be a bit of a challenge with the wakes / waves. We lift the dinghy up with a crane, and with the waves, it wanted to swing wildly. We had to hang on to it to keep it under control.

Some boats had already departed the anchorage when we got back to "Sunset Delight"; others waited to see the sun set and then headed for home. 

Lighthouse at sunset

Sailboat just before sun disappeared

Almost down

After sunset