Weather and Final Preparations
13 January 2023 | Key Biscayne
Susan DeSimone | strong cold front
The winds were forecast to be out of the N-NW steady at 20 with gusts to 30 kts for 36 hours so we took refuge in South Basin. It was a great place to shelter from the wind, but could not protect us from the COLD air (low 40’s in southern Florida).
We had one neighbor for the duration: Phil and his cat Shelby who have been cruising for 12 years on Hadhammer. It was a great spot to wait out the wind with the exception that we could not get to shore. Phil was a wealth of knowledge about the Bahamas as well as a nice guy. This was a great anchorage for the strong NW winds and it was surprising that more boats did not seek Shelter here. When we expressed that sentiment to Phil, he said the entrance was scaring everyone away. It seamed (and was) fine to us.
After the blow we motored to the Crandon Park Marina a few miles north to do our final top offs of fuels, water, and laundry. It is a state park marina and they required proof of insurance, vessel documentation and gave us a 5-page contract just to stay on a mooring for one night! By the looks of several of our neighbors though they don’t enforce their contracts very well. The mooring field also seemed to be a very popular stopping spot for large flocks of fish crows and Roger spent some time at dusk and dawn shooing them away from our boat so that we didn’t end up covered in dung! Definitely not a spot we would recommend for any length of stay.
We headed back to the anchorage outside of No Name on Monday with the hope that we would cross on Tuesday.
Monday we went into Key Biscayne for the final shopping and were fortunate to get a lift from the former Mayor of Key Biscayne on his golf cart. We got to learn a bit more about the history of the real estate in the community.
Alas, the weather looked like we would be fully motoring if we go on Tuesday but Thursday is looking good. Phil finally got his permit to bring Shelby in and is planning to cross on Thursday too.