28 November 2023 Tuesday
Depart: No Name Harbor anchorage near Miami, FL 8:40
Arrive: Barley Basin anchorage near Islamorada, FL 4:15
Distance: ~ 58 nm
We had a 6:15 wakeup call this morning as the local fishermen used the anchorage as an expressway to their favorite fishing holes. To say we rocked repeatedly would be an understatement. It took me a couple of mugs of tea to get going.
It was supposed to get "cold" here last night. I stuck my head out to check to see if I was dressed appropriately. The cold front brought temperatures in the high 60s, which true Floridians think of as cold. It's all relative! I decided that I would need a sweater in the shade and a t-shirt in the sun.
While out examining the weather, I took a couple of pictures of the anchorage before we pulled up anchor.
We had to go east before we turned west, so we traveled past the lighthouse again this morning.
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| Cape Florida Light (This time with the sun shining on it brightly) |
Our path took us through Stiltsville. As shown in the pictures, Stiltsville has quite literally gone to the birds!
Our route took us past Key Largo where we saw the same resorts we have seen in the past.
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| Gilbert's Resort - across the water from Anchorage Resort |
We passed by the same sunken boat that has been near the Anchorage Resort for years. Last year we saw boats rafted to the wreck. This year it looks like a rafted boat may have sunk next to it. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all.
A number of houseboats were lined up at anchor nearby. Most of them looked very similar in design.
The ICW through these parts is somewhat treacherous. The waters are shallow showing about 2 feet below the keel was common. We had current and wind pushing us here and there. Heading west the sun blinded us as it shone in our eyes. Clark had trouble seeing the sparse markers off in the distance. He dropped some way points to help him navigate through here next time.
On top of all that fun, we had traps on either side of us that were well hidden in the bright sunlight. Clark had me on pot duty ... "On the port. Now on the starboard. Some on each side. Straight ahead! Do you see them!?" And that was when we were in the channel!
Clark decided to drop anchor tonight at Barley Basin near Islamorada. Getting to the anchorage was like passing through a mine field. Some traps were in strings, but most were randomly scattered. The red ones in particular liked to play hide-and-seek and pop out at the last minute! Surprise! The owner of those needs to lengthen the lines or something, so they don't disappear below the waves so easily.
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| Blue Dot ... Where we anchored tonight |
We had some wind action going on in the anchorage area as we dropped the anchor. Clark said we should let out extra anchor line as the winds could get up to 20 knots tonight. We don't want to wake up in the mangroves behind us.
Around 5:30, Clark grabbed the phone and went out to capture tonight's sunset picture.
I went out a while after him to see if the sunset had changed / improved. It had not. It looked the same, so I took a picture facing east instead.
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