Sailing south!
06 February 2015
Judy
Feb 3
Leaving the stadium we motored under the Rickenbacker Causeway. We motor sailed through Biscayne Bay to No Name Harbor for a delightful day at Bill Bags State Park. It began with a successful rafting of Nemo and Perceptions. Looks like all the practice with SeaQuell paid off! Don was a happy camper working on his dingy motor while Carl, Melissa and I took to the hiking trails. The hike past Stiltsville was beautiful, looking over the azure waters of the Bay. Stiltsville is a collection of buildings on pilings built in the 30's way out in the bay. The first building was erected to sell bait and supplies to fishermen. The buildings are long since abandoned and now belong to the Park. I look forward to future research on them when Internet is more readily available. Our trail meandered past several fishing pavilions that were being put to good use. Along the way we saw yellow and black striped butterflies, dragonflies, an occasional bird, and many iguanas of various sizes, along with a curly tail lizard or two. The Cape Florida Lighthouse, completed in 1825, was restored beautifully and was amazing in it's stark white with black top. At the beach entrance we turned around and headed back, having hiked a couple miles already. The park was well used without being overly crowded at this time of year, and no bugs!
We called Don to join us for a cheeseburger and beer at the restaurant in celebration of his success with the dingy motor - thanks Julia and Gayle for great input there! While resting in the cockpit I spied what I thought was a turtle. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be an enormous golden iguana that climbed the mangrove trailing behind a two foot yellow and black tail. Wow! Not wanting to miss the comings and goings of the anchorage, we all settled into Nemo's cockpit for snacks and dominoes, enjoying the sunset, moonrise, and entertainment unfolding all around us. In particular a 26 ft gaff rigged wooden boat that sailed in and around the anchorage before dropping anchor, still under sail right in front of us. What a beautiful sight to behold! The captain had designed and built his craft in a three year period and launched her last year. She was a beauty! They lounged, swam, cleaned her bottom and enjoyed the peacefulness until just before sunset when they raised sails and sailed off anchor for a final spin around and out to the bay, back to Coconut Grove.
Feb 4
Beautiful sunrise over the anchorage this morning just as the full moon was setting in the opposite direction! Several boats had cleared out of this popular anchorage leaving us room to maneuver to the free pump out station located on the sea wall. A very peaceful sail across Biscayne Bay allowed me to fish, catching and releasing only copious amounts of seaweed. Early on I spied a couple dolphins off in the distance but that was it aside from the seagulls and cormorants. Anchoring and rafting up with Perceptions early in Card Sound, North Key Largo, left time to explore Steamboat Creek by dingy. This mangrove creek is a bird sanctuary and I was hoping to spy colorful parrots. We saw an enormous crane of some kind and several ibis and that was about it. However the jumping fish had me wishing we had packed the poles, passing one kayak that was taking advantage. After a mile we were wondering just how long the creek was. After another mile we were relieved to see light up ahead. We had popped out in a deserted anchorage on Barnes Sound, with nothing but a highway bridge in sight. Don putted up to check out the next little bay and spotted another creek and we were off exploring again, praying it returned us to Card Sound. This narrower creek held absolutely no wildlife! When it became almost closed in we had tense moments, especially when the dingy motor quit. Luckily it started again, only to have Carl's motor quit. He had run out of gas, but was prepared with a spare tank. The creek widened and we entered Card Sound just up from Steamboat Creek, thankful we didn't have to backtrack. Melissa prepared a lovely dinner and we plotted course for tomorrow. A peaceful nights sleep followed.
Feb 5
We left early hoping to beat a weather front to Tarpon Basin on the inside of Key Largo. Just before the bridge the weather alert on the VHF radio advising all craft to take cover. We pulled off the channel and dropped anchor just in time for a fast moving squall that produced 30 - 32 knot winds and copious amounts of rain. The worst passed by within a couple hours and we were on our way again down the ICW. The depth alarm sounded several times confirming Don's assumption that Tarpon Basin would be the furthest south we would go via the Inside passage. We will be backtracking to Angel Fish Creek to take Hawks Channel on the outside when we leave here. With a grassy bottom and uncertain holding both boats set their own anchors and a windy night kept Don dozing in the cockpit.