Bahia Honda Key - PART 5

Boot Key Harbor is a world unto itself. It consists of boaters and fishermen. There are many liveaboards here. Some have lived here on their boats going on 20 years. All have come here from faraway places like New England or Ohio or Illinois. All unique with their own stories of how they came to live here on a boat and why they stayed. Most stories they told resulted in a glimmer in their eye and a smile on their face. They simply fell in love with the Keys and Marathon in particular.
Every morning at 9AM there is a "cruisers net" on VHF channel 68. They welcome new arrivals, say goodbye to friends departing for the Bahamas or other faraway places; ask if anyone has any announcements, offer a buy-sell-swap segment and end each broadcast with a trivia question. It works. I purchased a chart of the West coast of Florida for $20.
John plays in a band and lives on the boat next to me. For New Year's Eve his band was playing at Cabana Breezes and I was invited to join the gang to hear him play and ring in the New Year. We had a wonderful time; watched fireworks and listened to John's band.
Marathon has a terrific beach called Sombrero Beach. The beach itself is great and is part of a community park complete with a playground, volleyball areas and a little dock. There is also a Turtle Hospital in Marathon. This facility takes injured sea turtles and if possible rehabilitates them to return them to the sea. It's a great exhibit with huge sea turtles in various stages of recuperation. There is also a dolphin research center and a lot of restaurants. One place in particular stands out. It is called Sunset Grill. There is an indoor bar and restaurant area and an outside bar and eating area that sits right on the ocean and includes a huge heated saltwater pool, dock and big screen to televise football games. They often have live music as well. You can go there for a cocktail and stay all afternoon as if you're at a resort; swimming in the pool and looking out into the ocean. Very cool.
Alas, the words of Captain Jaye kept ringing in my ears. Get out there Renard. Don't just sit here. Take that boat out.
Where to go? I asked around and learned of a key about 15 miles or so south of Boot Key called Bahia Honda Key. It has two great beaches, a good anchorage, and showers and restrooms. Sounds perfect.
I plotted the simple course and set sail to Bahia Honda. It was rather simple to do, except for paying attention to approaching the anchorage. Shoaling forces you to pass by the channel opening so as to approach it from the opposite direction you were sailing in order to avoid running aground.
The area is marked by an abandoned railroad bridge and behind that a newer automobile bridge that is too low to allow sailboats to go under. The railroad bridge has a couple of sections removed from it so sailboats can sail through. The anchorage is between the two bridges and right in front of a wonderful beach.
The trip was awesome and the anchor was set on the first try. It was a great learning experience. Ranges were noted after the anchor was set and a cocktail followed to insure there was no drifting.
A short dinghy ride around a jetty brings you to a tiny marina with a restaurant, gift shop, restrooms and showers.
The entire area is a state park, although it began as a county park many years ago. They didn't have electricity here until 1965.
I found it simply beautiful. The beach was great with areas of picnic tables on the beach protected from rain, many paths and little hiking trails including one that leads you from the Gulf side of the island and beach where Elysium was anchored, to the Atlantic side of the island with a mile-long beach to explore.
One of the trails takes you through the history of the construction of the railroad from Miami through the Keys and this particular section of the railroad. You can hike up to the top of the Railroad Bridge and capture some amazing sunsets.
The anchorage offers great protection from easterlies. A catamaran and one other sloop anchored nearby. It was quiet. It was beautiful. It is why I am on this journey (among other reasons).
During the evening I awoke a couple of times to check the anchor set as the wind picked up. It's really something how your perspective changes in the middle of the night as the boat swings from one direction to another. But all was well. Elysium hadn't drifted at all.
The next day brought another day of sunshine and great conditions to sail the several hours east, back to Boot Key Harbor. Always vigilant to avoid the numerous lobster pots scattered right in my path...or to keep an eye out for a pod of dolphins or the rare siting of a huge sea turtle.
Quite magical really.
The return to the marina was almost uneventful. While in the channel I radioed the marina informing them of my approach and requesting someone be at the slip to catch the dock lines. As I put the handheld VHF radio down the boat suddenly stopped.
Shit! Shit!...Shit!...while talking to the marina I went outside the channel and ran aground. I was going slow (a good thing); put it in reverse as I had learned and backed off...kicking up a lot of sand from the bottom as I did. A small fishing boat passed by and I telepathically heard what they were saying (which I can't repeat here). I turned the boat around...got back in the channel..and swore I would never get distracted talking on the VHF again while in a narrow channel.
I made another perfect landing in that narrow slip. The lines were secured when I heard it. "Hey, there's a Manatee here". "Where?" I said. "Here, right next to the boat in the slip". Really. "I've got to get my camera".
I ran below, grabbed my camera and walked to the bow of the boat to see a huge Manatee floating there. I snapped a couple of pictures. He swam under the boat and came up on the other side..then back again.
"What's he doing here?", I heard someone say. "Oh, once in a while they come in here", someone responded.
Meanwhile, I was thinking to myself, "I pissed him off when I ran aground and he's after me". "Why else did he follow me in and is just hanging around my boat". I was scared. He was after me for disturbing him. Maybe my prop hit him when I was backing up. Shit! What if he is really pissed at me?
He hung around for another day and finally left, frustrated he wasn't able to get even with me.
Sorry Mr. Manatee. It won't happen again.