Cay Sal Bank to Marathon Florida
12 March 2010 | Fanny Keys, Marathon Shores
Gary-Storm 1 hour away
Anguilla Cay, Cay Sal Bank to Cay Sal Island to Marathon Florida: The winds were too perfect to stay an extra day AT Anguilla Cay so we left for Cay Sal and arrived there at 1pm. Anxious to see the only inhabited island (we are 35 miles north of Cuba), we droppe3d the dink and headed to the beach. Now I don't know who put the "inhabitants" into the Wikapedia outline for Cay Sal but whoever that inhabitant was, he left. Nothing there but ruins of old dwelling, a caved in quanset hut, a rusted out 1950's tractor and big ole rusted tanks. Whoever did live there obviously had a generator, electric and was doing some type of farming. It was eerie. Evidence of people camped out under the rusted quaset hut were apparent. This island is on a direct path for floating junks and rafts from Cuba, Haiti and Hispanola so perhaps some desperate soles managed to make landfall. I am not 100% sure but I hear the rules for illegal immigration state that if a person can manage to get one foot onto the US shore (not a bridge, reef or piling), they have landed and have entitlements, perhaps $1500/month. They say that is why you often see "boat jumpers" swimming and running for shore and customs agents running out to tackle them in 2 ft. of water. No foot on, back you go. The Cay Sal Bank is all about fishing and solitude. It is very beautiful. Whatever you want to eat, go and catch it. For you cruisers going to Anguilla... the Anguilla Cays are made up of 3 small islands, we saw the 2 southern most (did I say all this in last post?). Anyway, we anchored at the only sand beach we saw at 23-29.563 and 79-31.113 in pure white sand. The 70 mile trip to Marathon was uneventful except for large seas directly astern, a nice Mahi that spit the hook right on the sugarscoop as if to say, "it's been nice, see ya"!! and the fact that we left a tad late and I was worried about arriving to Boot Key Harbor in the dark. Arrived at 5pm, all good but the harbor is absolutely packed with mooring balls (almost impossible to get when a front is approaching) and tons more boats anchored everywhere else. We got the hook in just meters from the mud bank. Checked in with customs using our new "Florida Boater Option Card" (phone check in was suffice). And this was a real treat compared to finding and getting to a customs office. We then took a culture shock walk to Publix and Home Depot, america. Cells phones worked. We are back. Next night, to get away from the crowded anchorage, we went up Sisters Creek and managed to get secure with 2 anchors and a line tied to the mangroves. After all that, we went below and found the strangest things happening. It was electrical. Lights were blinking, invertor going on and off by itself, sounds coming out of TV speakers, regardless if our battery bank was on or off. To shorten this story, it turns out that right adjacent to us in the "unofficial" US government site that pushes Spanish information non stop to cuba in an effort to perhaps alter public sentiment, policy whatever. Called "Radio Marti", I think it was put in during Reagan era. So, the locals say there is 50 volts in the water there. We pull the hook again and tried unsuccessfully 3 times to squeeze our fat 24 ft. wide boat into any possible open nook. Enough of that. We decided to do what we like best. Get out, get away. We'd rather sit in the face of 30 knots unprotected all alone with lotsa room than worry all night about us dragging or someone dragging into us. On our way out, we pass the local gas dock. The boys were there hangin out. On the way by I yell, "hey, can we stay with you tonite". Sure, for you it's free. Those are the kinds of people that are still around if your lucky enough to find them. Our Walkerbay dingy has some tube issues and we must get them fixed and we hope we can get it organized via warranty, corporate, and the local inflatable business so we are currently out there anchored happily all alone awaiting the 40 knot thunderstorms expected in 1 hour and getting reaccustomed to cell phone and internet service. The US Keys has lots and lots of remote places to explore if you leave the beaten path. That is where we hope to go next. We are not the first people to ever sail the keys but this is the first time for us so stay tuned for tidbits of our sail of "The Back Side" and skinny waters from Marathon to Key West. More later.