Wednesday: "Forty Years" to Key Largo

This trip was long in the planning stage and as the date for the trip approached many complications arose. It seemed like someone was trying to get me not to make this trip. But, we did it anyway!

Our daughter, Melissa had just graduated from college with her accounting degree and wanted a vacation. Trouble is she already had a job and had to be back in Jackson, Tennessee on the 16th for her first day at work. We were making the trip with another boat and were planning on leaving Fort Lauderdale on the 11th an coming back on the 18th. I figured we'd take care of that minor schedule problem when the time came. On Monday just before the trip was to begin my wife, Rosemary, found out she had to have a medical procedure performed on the 12th. Hmm More complications.

I talked the situation over with Len Bartello who was taking his boat, Forty Years,  along on the trip. He had to be in Key Largo for a professional conference at Ocean Reef on the 12th - 13th. What we decided to do was that Len and I would take Forty Years to Key Largo on the 11th. Rosemary would drive down and pick me up that evening. We would take Trident down to Key Largo on Friday, the 13th (Oooooh), and meet Len on the Forty Years.  Once all the plans were settled, we decided to do it.

Len was to meet me at the dock at 06:00 on the morning of the 11th. There was to be another passenger here at the dock as well. He was going to ride down to Key Largo with Len and join the professional conference. Forty Years showed up a little late but not too bad. We boarded her and headed down the New River toward the ICW. While going down the river, I entered some way points into Len's GPS unit so we'd have them when we needed them.

We took the New River to the ICW and headed south to Port Everglades. There we exited the port and into the Atlantic ocean. The seas were absolutely flat. About as good as I'd ever seen it. We set course for Government Cut, near Miami, and sat back and enjoyed the ride.

At Government Cut, we set course for the Biscayne Channel just south of Key Biscayne. We were able to get some nice pictures of Cape Florida Light on the way by. Cape Florida Light is the oldest standing structure in south Florida. We entered the Biscayne Channel and drove through Stiltsville on our way to Biscayne Bay. There are seven houses left in Stiltsville after Hurricane Andrew. The government is trying to get those torn down but the public is protesting.

After entering Biscayne Bay, we set course for the pass in the middle of Featherbed Bank. At Featherbed Bank, we headed for Rubicon Key.
On the way to Rubicon Key, we passed Elliott Key to our left an Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant to our right. Len wanted to know if he was glowing in the dark but it was still daylight and we couldn't tell. At Rubicon Key, we altered course for the cut through Cutter Bank.

While going through Cutter Bank, we saw our first glimpse of the Card Sound Bridge. Len was excited because he said that you could see the Card Sound Bridge from the marina where he was going to stay. We made it through the bank and headed for the south side of Pumpkin Key where we would try to find Len's marina.

Just as we came close to Pumpkin Key, Len spotted the marina and called, via cell phone, to make sure. Len's friend, Mary, answered the phone and said that she could see us from the marina and to head on in. We took Forty Years to the marina and tied up. I called Rosemary and asked her to head south to pick me up. It would take her about an hour and a half to arrive so we decided to look around. Mary drove us over to Ocean Reef and took us to the Hospitality Suite for the conference. We socialized for a while and went back to the marina. Rosemary was already there, waiting. She made a quick trip! I told Len that we'd be back sometime late Friday and we'd head for Holiday Isle Saturday morning.

Rosemary, Melissa and myself went over to Key Largo and had dinner in a good local restaurant there called "Hobo's". From there we went back to Ft Lauderdale and Marina Bay.

Thursday: at Marina Bay
We took Rosemary in for her medical procedure early in the morning. It went very smoothly with no complications. Since things were going OK, we made the final decision and decided to go on the trip. We spent the rest of the day getting Trident ready to go. By the evening, things were ready and we decided to leave Friday morning. We wanted to get an early start but had to take Rosemary to the Dr. at 08:00 for a quick check up and we would leave after that.

During the day, Len called up and said that his generator had quit. He'd diagnosed the problem and found a faulty water temperature sensor. He gave me the part number and I was able to pick the part up for him. I'd deliver it to him in Key Largo.

Friday: Fort Lauderdale to Key Largo
We untied Trident at 10:00. A little late but we didn't care as we were on vacation. We followed the same route to Key Largo as I had taken on the Forty Years on Wednesday. The weather was a little rougher but not too bad. By the time we arrived at Key Largo, it was really starting to blow.
Len had arranged for us to stay at the same marina as he was which made it handy. We could use shore power and run the AC during the night.
Trident doesn't have a generator and can't run the air conditioner when away from shore power.

We tied Trident up next to Forty Years and secured for the night. Len and a group from the conference came over at around 10:00 PM. I gave Len the part for his generator. We agreed to try and get underway at 08:30 in the morning. Mary and Reggy were going to ride down the Islamorada with Len on the Forty Years. They live in Homestead and would arrive before 08:30 the next morning.

(Whew! We made it even though we started a voyage on a Friday and the 13th to boot!)

Saturday: Key Largo to Holiday Isle at Islamorada
Mary and Reggy arrived at 08:25. We were in the process of getting both boats ready to leave so they arrived at just the right time. Mary and Reggy loaded their stuff onto Forty Years and we cast off. I backed Trident out first and Forty Years followed. There had already been and early thunderstorm and the weather wasn't looking very good. But, we were on vacation in the keys and who cares.

After leaving the marina, we headed for the cut in Card Bank. From there to the Card Sound Bridge. At Card Sound Bridge, we set course for the north end of Jewfish Creek across Barnes Sound. We made the 10:30 opening of the Jewfish Creek drawbridge right on schedule. Couldn't have been better. We stayed on the inside passage until we arrived at Snake Creek. This is where we would pass from the Gulf to the Atlantic side of the keys. We had to get to the Atlantic side because we were going to Holiday Isle and it is on the Atlantic.

I'd never taken Trident through Snake Creek before and the chart shows two feet of water. I'd been through on boats of various size and knew that there was much more than two feet of water there. We took it slow and found the water to be at least six feet deep there at high tide. Trident an Forty Years both draw four and a half feet so we had no problem. As we approached the Snake Creek draw bridge a sailboat was already going through so we just followed him. Trident requires 27 feet for bridge clearance and Snake Creek is supposed to have 27 feet clearance at high tide. I was glad not to have to test it.

After clearing the bridge, we were in the very winding channel into the Atlantic. It was as crooked as a snake. Maybe that's where the name came from.
As soon as we were in deep water, we headed for the entrance to the channel into Holiday Isle. The tide was fairly high and Holiday Isle claims 4.5 feet of water at low tide. We took it easy but made it into the marina with no problems at all. After both boats were tied up, Len, Mary, Reggy, and I all went to the Tiki Bar for our first drink at Holiday Isle. Rosemary and Melissa went shopping.

On the way down to Holiday Isle, I'd been trying to find a way to get Melissa back to the Fort Lauderdale airport for her 07:20 AM flight on Sunday.
I'd tried everything I could and was about to turn around and beat it back to Fort Lauderdale. When Mary came up with a phone number that worked.
I made arrangements for Melissa to be picked up at 03:00 AM  Sunday morning and be taken to the airport.  We did all this while underway using the VHF radios and cellular phones. Ain't technology great!

Saturday evening we took Melissa to a nice dinner at Horizon restaurant in Holiday Isle. She would have to leave the keys and go back to Tennessee in the morning.
 

Sunday: at Holiday Isle
I set the alarm for 02:00. In fact, I set two of them as I didn't want to oversleep. At 02:00, sure enough, the alarm's went off. We got up and Melissa got ready for the trip. She packer her bags and we climbed out onto the dock and walked over to the Motel Lobby. The airport transportation was already there. We said our good-byes and told Melissa to all as soon as she got to Fort Lauderdale.

After they left, we went back to the boat and to bed. The phone rang at 05:00 and it was Melissa already at the airport. They'd made record time. I figured it would take at least two and a half hours, maybe three, but they did it in two hours flat. Melissa said that there was no traffic at that time of the morning and that's why they made it so fast.

We were glad to hear that she'd made it to Ft Lauderdale OK and told her to call when she arrived at home. We then went back to sleep.

We woke up at 09:00 and went out for breakfast. After breakfast, I checked on Len and he had just put his dingy with the new motor on it in the water.

Below is a picture of Len heading for the Tiki Bar in his dingy.

A little later on, Len's friends, Lauren and Greg Burnett, from Vale Colorado showed up and wanted a boat ride. Len thought it over for a while and decided to take Forty Years out for a short run. Pam and Bob from Fort Lauderdale had arrived as well as Lauren, Greg and their three young children. We all piled onto Forty Years and headed out into the ocean. It was a little rough and Len was worried about the children so we came back toward shore and anchored in about eight feet of water. Everyone got to jump in the water and swim and snorkel. The kids really enjoyed it. After an hour or so, we took Forty Years back to the dock and tied up.

We decided to head for Marathon the next morning. Pam would drive the car down to Marathon and Bob would ride with Len aboard Forty Years.

Len met Rosemary and I at the Tiki Bar in the evening and we finalized the sailing plans for Marathon.
 

Monday: Holiday Isle to Faro Blanco in Marathon
We cast off both boats at 08:30 on the dime. The tide was low and we were a little worried about the water depth going out of the channel. It worked out that there was no problem. The shallowest I measured was 5.3 feet. As Trident draws 4.5 feet, you an see that there was plenty of water. (If you say so.) After we cleared the channel, we headed south for Channel #5. There we would go inside to the Gulf for the remainder of the trip to Faro Blanco. There were the usual thunderstorms along the way but it was mostly nice.

We arrived at Faro Blanco at 2:00 PM. Pam and her daughter were waiting on the dock for us when we arrived. She said she had been watching the two boats come in for over an hour.

We tied both boats up and everyone headed for the pool. I stayed behind for a few minutes and took a picture of Forty Years and Trident tied up to the dock at Faro Blanco. In the picture below, you can just see Trident hiding behind Forty Years. The famous Faro Blanco lighthouse in in the background.

Len's friends, Lauren and Greg, had arrived at Faro Blanco the day before and had slept in the light house the previous night.

Later on in the afternoon, Rosemary and I decided to have a nice meal at the restaurant, Kelsey', at Faro Blanco. We showered and dressed up and went to eat. When we tried the restaurant door, it was locked. We walked over to the resort office and asked about the restaurant. The girl at the desk informed us that it was closed on Sunday and Monday. Too bad, we'd been looking forward to that nice seafood meal. Instead, we went to the restaurant by the pool and had dinner there. The food was good but not the same as Kelsey's.

Len and I decided to head back toward Ft Lauderdale the next morning as he had to be at work on Thursday. We would try to make Elliott key tomorrow and then Ft Lauderdale the next day.

Tuesday: Faro Blanco to Elliott Key
Everyone slept in and we were not able to get away until after 10:00 AM. Bob was to ride with Len aboard Forty Years and Pam was to take their car back to Ft Lauderdale. The couple from Colorado, Lauren and Greg, were going to Key West and then back to Miami to catch their flight to Denver. We all said our good bye's and cast off at 10:01 AM.

As we were casting off, there was a large thunderstorm to the south. We left the marina and went around Rachel Bank then headed for home.

Just as we were getting to Bowlegs Cut, we were hit with a ferocious thunderstorm. Couldn't see hardly anything except blowing rain. It only lasted for  a while though and we were able to make it though the cut with no problems. We were hit with storms all day.
Below is a picture of Forty Years between storms.

We kept going and ended up anchoring off of Elliott Key. The trip from Faro Blanco to the north end of Elliott Key took exactly eleven hours.
Forty Years anchored about a tenth of a mile south of Trident. After Trident was secure, I grilled a steak and Rosemary sautéed some Portabello mushrooms to go with it. I believe they had cold chicken aboard Forty Years.

Wednesday: Elliott Key to Marina Bay
It had rained most of the previous day but, lucky for us, the rain had stopped during our sleeping hours. The anchorage at Elliott Key was nice and peaceful.

We headed out at 09:00. We went through the eastern passage through Featherbed Bank. From there, we went back through Stiltsville in the rain. Once in the ocean, we headed north to Government Cut. From Government Cut, we headed out into the gulf stream for a little boost. Len went out a little farther than I did and got about a 2.5 knot boost while I only got about 1.5 knots gain. I could see the water change color between Trident and Forty Years. The different color of the water meant that he was in the gulf stream proper and I was only near the edge.

Bob tried a little fishing during the trip back but didn't catch anything worth keeping. Just some bait fish and a couple of small Bonitos.

We made good time back to Port Everglades. Forty Years came in about a half hour ahead of Trident because of her extra hull speed and the extra kick she got from the Gulf Stream.

We were back at the dock at Marina Bay at 4:00 PM. We secured the boat, showered and relaxed with a meal at the Restaurant at Marina bay.

The weather this trip was not very good. It rained on us about 30% of the time but it as still a good trip.

I've never had a bad day in the Keys!