PHOTO ABOVE: Sunset as viewed from the Harbour Cay Club Tiki Hut

TRIP DATA
Starting location: Bahia Mar, Ft. Lauderdale
Destination: Harbour Cay Club, Vaca Key, Marathon, FL
Route: Off shore & Via Hawk Channel
Departure Time: 4:00 PM (2/16)
Arrival Time: 12:45 PM (2/17)
Transit Time: 20.7 hours
Distance: 121.5 NM
Lobster Pots Encountered: Too many to count!
Weather: 76-78 degrees daytime, 63-66 degrees nighttime with a breeze. AHHHHH!

We completed our first transit of the famous Hawk Channel completely in the dark and arrived at our destination just after noon. With heavy reliance on our Raymarine Chart plotter and the most up to date C-MAP NT+ charts, as well as our Raymarine radar, the transit of the Hawk Channel was mostly straight forward. Our reading of the weather was spot on and most of the wind and seas conditions we experienced were as predicted. We are certain we missed a lot of great scenery making the transit at night but I am sure we can catch it on our way back north later this spring. Boat traffic was very, very light this evening and aside from the usual fishing boat that insists on passing 50' in front of us, sometimes at 3:00 am, we didn't have any traffic situations that caused us alarm. The moon was nearly full and shone a bright light on the ocean channel waters as we headed southwest to the Keys.

However, we did have the &*^% scared out of us at 1:00 am when we were in the vicinity of Key Largo. I was dosing in the cockpit while Marjorie took her turn at the helm. Suddenly my eyes were lit by bright lights shining in the cockpit. As I awoke I saw a U.S. Coast Guard boat about 20' off our starboard stern shinning a spot light on us. They asked questions about where we were going, why, if we had all 'the papers' on board as well as our legally required safety equipment. Finally, the Guardsman said something to the effect of sail safe and they turned away, turned their lights off and proceeded back into the darkness of the shore side of the Hawk Channel.

We made the turn north off the Hawk Channel about 11:30 am and proceeded through the Moser Channel, one of the few places in the Keys where you can get a sailboat with a 60' mast under U.S. 1. There is a 65' high bridge span here, at the beginning of the 7 Mile bridge. Moser Channel is the deepest passage spanned by the Seven Mile Bridge and is one of four predominant passages in the Florida Keys which allow exchange of waters to the north and west of the Keys (including Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico) with the Atlantic waters of Hawk Channel and the Florida Reef to the south and east.

Suddenly we were on the Florida Bay side of the Keys where the water is beautiful shades of sea foam green, turquoise and blue, depending on depth an the tidal cycle. Forty five minutes later we were entering the marina at Harbour Cay Club on the north side of Vaca Key with 5-7 folks standing on the dock to assist us with docking.

I'll write more about Harbour Cay Club in the next few days, but here is a preview; this place is special. We are so happy and thankful to be able to dock here when the rest of Marathon is full. We'll stay at least a month and likely longer. Stay tuned for more details about this great place as well as our Keys activities and experience.