Everything is beautiful
09 February 2014 | Key Largo, Florida
Author; Dennis. Weather; Beautiful
Everything is beautiful...in its own way. - From the song by Ray Stevens
When we look at a map of the United States we see Florida as this long handle stretching south on the eastern side and usually think of it ending at Miami at the southern tip. Not too much attention is paid to the nearly two hundred miles of islands extending south and curving west towards Cuba. It is the remains of the Florida handle. We do know of Key West because of Ernest Hemmingway and Key Largo because of the movie. (In fact the island's name was changed to Key Largo in the 1950's to take advantage of spinoff from the movie. Their motto now is the "Gateway to the Keys".) These Keys are a long thin group of tropical islands which already remind me of the Thousand Islands at the end of Lake Ontario but instead of being in groups are stretched out in a sweeping band.
After leaving the anchorage in Miami Beach the planned destination was Coconut Grove, self described as "an upscale village" in the Biscayne Bay. The marina is upscale as well, maybe not as much as Miami, but filled with just a lower tier of cruising and fishing yachts. The Dinner Key marina has mooring balls in Biscayne Bay for cruisers like us and for only $22.50 per day we can go ashore and partake of all their services which include showers, laundry, and internet services in the "captains lounge" The lounge had all of four chairs and a coffee table and two receptacles to plug a computer in. Up until now on this trip, I hadn't required a mooring but the laundry bag was overflowing and the need to become acquainted with normal life is sometimes necessary. The village itself is a fair sized town or city south of Miami which has everything accessible for a cruiser in need; especially groceries, a barber shop, hardware stores and best of all a Starbucks. It has wonderful little sidewalk patio cafes along a cobblestone street with the very best in restaurants and an ice cream store! I could bike to the outer reaches and get everything I needed in the short time I was there.
Between Coconut Grove and on the way north to Miami lies an attraction I had heard about years ago, so on Sunday I decided to bike the five miles and have a look. It has a mansion museum built for and lived in as a winter home for the owner of International Harvester farm equipment. John Deering had the Spanish style mansion designed and constructed for him upon his retirement to house and entertain his well heeled friends. It was to be created in such a fashion to make it look used from the moment he took possession. It had all the modern conveniences of the beginning of the 1900's. Everything, as you can imagine is built with marble and the finest stone available anywhere in the world. It is filled with precious art, tapestries, and artifacts from all over the world. Because of this it is heavily guarded and you are not allowed to take pictures inside the mansion. The whole house is built around a courtyard so that from most of the rooms you have to go outside on to the inner balconies to get to another part of the house. Some rooms are connected but all surround the courtyard. He called the whole estate Vizcaya and surrounded it with gardens and ornamental art and plants so that it would challenge any garden in the world. Also it was to impress his friends which is what a rich gentleman of that era was supposed to do! I posted pictures of the gardens and the outside of the home. He even had a replica of a Greek barge built on a former rock in the water in the cove in front of the mansion so he could entertain his guests on his "yacht". It sure was impressive, but that's enough about us old rich guys and our mansions!!
After leaving Dinner Key at Key Biscayne, a bearing was taken to head down the Biscayne Bay towards Card Sound the real entry to the Upper Keys. On leaving Biscayne Bay,there are three ways to go into the Keys by water. You can sail directly east and then turn south in the Atlantic, which is the route I took last year to cross to the Bahamas. You have to sneak out through the reef and head east to Bimini or south to the Keys or Cuba. Because even the Keys are protected by a reef which is similar to the barrier islands that run down the whole coast of America, except now most of those islands become the reef, which is just barely under water. Along this area between the reef and the islands of the Keys, is a few miles wide and is named the Hawk channel. I don't know why it is called the Hawk Channel but it is an impressive stretch of water. This is open water all the way to Key West but protected from the Atlantic swells by the aforementioned reef. However there is a third way and that is to go on the "inside"; the scenic but really shallow Intracoastal route known better as the Florida Bay. It only is accessible to shallow draught boats and because of my winged keel I can make it through. It goes south of Marathon but we cannot go all the way there. I say 'we' because Chances and Soulstice II with Mike, Judy and Murphy the sailor dog aboard, have been buddy boating with me this part of the trip.
The two large shallow Sounds of Biscayne, and Card, empty into Barnes, Blackwater, and Buttonwood Sounds connected by a narrow passages which in turn empty into smaller Sounds or sometimes it appears like large lakes. They are not lakes at all but part of Florida Bay surrounded by various islands of different sizes and shapes. It is through these hundreds, maybe thousands of islands that the Intracoastal Waterway continues to run. Some of these take you through mangrove swamps and narrow creeks which is similar to the Dismal Swamp in the northern Carolinas. Very scenic and very interesting, with different species of plants and wildlife. It is a place to keep one's eyes wide open because the channel is often times only seven feet deep and a little too close to the edges means grounding. When planning this trip years ago there were always places I would mentally note, and when I reach them now they all seem to be a major accomplishment. I don't know why Jewfish Creek stuck with me but I drew a deep breath when I reached it. I had been waiting for this place for years and it seemed like it was waiting for me. All because a large pod of dolphins, almost on cue, surrounded the boat as I exited the creek and entered Blackwater Sound. They never cease to astound me every time they appear. A wild animal with a permanent smile on their faces comes out, hangs around for a few minutes with its whole family and makes me feel they came especially just to greet me. They are wonderful in confined space doing their act, but they are simply outstanding doing their thing in their wild environment.
There are hundreds of places to anchor in behind islands and in shallow bays, but again attention has to be paid to the depth sounder. The days have been warm and sunny, sometimes really hot. On this whole trip there have only been a couple of days with showers. Although a "norther and cold weather is predicted "coming down from Canada" it falls down to the sixties and lasts for a whole day. Really not all that noticeable. There have been a grand total of four of those "cold" days since 2014 began and the further south we get the less effect it has. I don't think they sell many pairs of long pants here. I've never seen anyone wearing them. We have anchored behind Pumpkin Key, an island anchorage that could shelter from the wind in all directions, and now are anchored in the wide open bay of Community Harbour in Tavernier Sound which is a small town on Key Largo. Before reaching Marathon we will have to go through Channel Five which means heading out into the Hawk Channel under one of the bridges that connect the Keys and allow for up to 65 feet of mast to get through. The Channel Five Bridge is as far as a sailboat can reasonably go without a lot of stress on the captain. You probably can go further but it gets really shallow and access to the channel is limited.
We arrived in Marathon at sunset on February 11th. I will tell you about life in this "cruisers paradise" in the next blog.
"Don't be sorry young fellow, the gods tested you beforehand to see if you deserved it, and you passed with flying colors. You went through hell to get to heaven. Enjoy the well earned time and space of the journey you are on. You own them and they are truly yours to enjoy. Sail on into the mystic."
This short e-mail was sent to me by a very good friend, just like the ones you have sent me, after they had read one of my blogs. You all know who you are. It is an example only of all the e-mails and comments I received from you following each blog. I'm really grateful although at times I wonder why, because I truly enjoy what I am doing and can't tell you enough that I am having a great time. Sailing solo has its challenges but you don't have to be brave to do it. Confidence in your boat, experience and the hunger for adventure is all you need. Well the ability to navigate, wash dishes, fix just about everything, and take advice also helps.