And We’re Off!

Our last post was at the end of 2022, so we will reprise the last few months. New Year’s Day was celebrated aboard Ritual with Jeanne and Sheldon (of Shank’s Mare) as dinner guests, planning our rendezvous for a Bahamas departure in early February. On Jan. 2^nd we left Vero Beach and headed south to the Florida Keys.

Traveling south along the ICW, we stayed again at Peck Lake, south of Stuart, enjoying the solitude of the beach at Jupiter Island. The next day brought the stress of nine drawbridges to get to Lake Worth/West Palm Beach.  Some bridges open “on demand” but many are on a 30-minute schedule, some on the half hour and some on the quarter hour. Timing the openings with boat speed and current can be taxing, because if you miss one, you go in circles or turn around and run backwards in the narrow channel until the next opening, dodging other boats as you go.  And the further south we got, the busier the waterway got. We were really pushing it for one bridge, and thankfully the operator held it open just a bit longer so we could get through. We have seen other bridges close before all boats could get clear.

“Lake” Worth (quotes are ours) stretches 18 miles north to south and is mostly a ½ mile wide, from North Palm Beach to Boynton Beach.  It is a busy, crazy mix of recreational boats of all sizes, commercial shipping, jet skis, marinas, anchorage areas, big homes, and high-rise condos.  It took us three tries setting the anchor at West Palm Beach – the first two times we, or a neighboring boat, ended up swinging too close for comfort.  Tide and current made for unusual and unpredictable turning on the anchor. 

The next section of ICW – to Fort Lauderdale, promised 19 (!) drawbridges, and increasing boat traffic. With good weather predicted for an outside overnight run, we happily motored out of Lake Worth at 4 pm.  Initially uncomfortable seas – mostly due to the huge wakes from the Viking sport fishing boats returning to the channel – settled into a beautiful night with a full moon.  We discovered that the cruise ships return to Miami around 4-5 am, and waited for two of them to enter before we crossed the channel headed for Biscayne Bay. Talk about feeling small…

Daylight appeared with a stunning sunrise as we turned into Key Biscayne and anchored near No Name Harbor in Bill Baggs State Park. It was exciting to finally see clear blue water with a temperature of 80 degrees!  After a couple days of exploring we continued south, running outside the keys in Hawk Channel, which is somewhat protected from the ocean by a series of reefs. Our draft of six feet is too deep to run inside the islands, where there are more anchorages and services.  

We had been looking forward to spending a week in Boot Key Harbor/Marathon, a totally sheltered bay with marina services. All 226 moorings were taken, but hoped we could squeeze into the anchoring area. As we cautiously circled the anchored boats looking for space, we suddenly went from 9 feet of water to 4! There we sat, stuck on a hard ledge. Before we could call a towboat, a couple guys arrived in dinghies, insisting they could pull us off. We suggested waiting for the incoming tide and calling for a towboat. Nope! Soon there were four dinghies, each once shouting instructions. Then folks on the surrounding anchored boats started to shout their ideas. As we often say, sometimes there is a show, and sometimes YOU are the show! Eventually, with two boats pulling on a halyard to lean us over, and two boats pushing on the bow, we slid off! We quickly found a spot and dropped the hook, glad all the commotion was over. Every morning on the cruiser’s radio net, they asked who needed help with something, and there was always someone who responded. When we announced that we were leaving for Key West, someone commented that we would miss them once we were gone, and they were right!

Looking forward to some family visits, we arrived in Key West hoping to snag a mooring ball, and the marina guy was encouraging that there were a couple (out of 150) available. We found only one, and after getting tied we called in, only to be told it was an unsafe mooring and we should get off!  So we trekked back out to the Fleming Key anchorage and found a spot about a mile north of the Key West Bight Marina.  Being peak season, marina slips were both rare and expensive. The cheapest we found was over $200/night, and was furthest from town. Our guests would just have to deal with a sometimes wet dingy ride back and forth!

Key West Bight Marina proved to be a great location in the middle of town, and it provided a dinghy dock and showers for a reasonable fee.  From here all attractions were walkable or accessible by the free bus. Fred’s sisters Debbie and Bonnie arrived first.  We walked the cacophony of bars/restaurants/loud music/t -shirt shops that is Duval Street, and lunched at the Hogsbreath Saloon, one of Bonnie’s old haunts when she lived here years ago.  We visited the US southernmost point (90 miles to Cuba) and had margaritas and great coconut shrimp at the beach.  The best part was simply visiting and being together for the first time in a couple years!

In between guests, we rode our bikes around town, toured the “Little Whitehouse” used by Harry Truman, caught up on laundry, grocery shopped, walked the back streets, and just enjoyed being stationary for a while.  There was a very nice looking rooftop bar that tempted us from the street, and we should have taken it literally when the sign said “get naked and have fun”!  Lisa turned the corner to the deck and was greeted with the “full frontal” from a guy standing at the bar.  It was difficult not to stare, and we retreated to the second floor balcony for our drinks, feeling a little dumb – I mean, it is Key West!

Daughter Lauren and her friend Rich arrived next. Along with the regular sites, we ferried out to Sunset Island for a wonderful lunch at the resort. They took a kayak tour in the mangroves, and we enjoyed the annual street art fair and walking the wharf and old Naval Station grounds.  We did not have a chance to snorkel – the reefs are offshore, and given the weather and boat anchorage scarcity we did not want to move Ritual. We also had to pass on a visit to the Dry Tortugas Islands, since the park was closed in order to process a few hundred refugees who had made it to shore. But it was another great visit!

You may wonder why we did not mention beaches. The Keys are carved from limestone and coral, and beaches are small and few. Most shores are lined with rock, and access to the offshore reefs is by boat.  Most swimming is done in a pool. We did enjoy a few visits to Sombrero Beach, a short dingy ride through the creek south of Boot Key Harbor.

February meant it was time to head north to meet Jeanne and Sheldon for our passage to the Bahamans. We returned to Boot Key Harbor, where we could provision for the Bahamas trip. We also rented a car to visit the vet in Key West for the cat’s health checks for their Bahamas permits. We had started the process there, and it was half the cost of the Marathon vet. It was an interesting hour-long drive over the bridges connecting the many small islands.  An added bonus of returning to Marathon was to meet up with friends Lisa and Jim Favors from TC, staying in a marina close to us. They drove us for some shopping needs and meals, and we enjoyed spending time at their dock, grilling with their boat neighbors and being entertained by a huge manatee hanging around. We can see how this place is like “Velcro Beach” for cruisers. Many boats stay all winter, and some folks stay year ‘round.

After two weeks in Marathon, we finally got a weather window to travel north and Shank’s Mare could come south from Miami, meeting in the middle at Rodrigues Key, a little island off Key Largo. It was great to see our friends again, and on Feb 20^th we left at first light to cross the Gulf Stream, riding its 2 to 3 knot current slightly north east to Bimini Island in the Bahamas!  More on that to come…

Fair winds – Fred and Lisa