With the weather warming up and the Keys almost in sight - I replaced the AC pump that had gone bad and we were off. Before leaving Naples Yacht Club, we perused some gorgeous antique cars in the parking lot - my favorite, the 1961 Rolls Royce convertible! We spent a night in Marco Island at a marina in Factory Bay and had dinner in old Marco. The next day we headed out for Cape Sable
Cape Sable
We had a good sail to Cape Sable, passing by the Ten Thousand Islands and Everglades. We were a little apprehensive about a stop at Cape Sable for two reasons: we planned to anchor off the beach which can be very exposed, but it was a north wind and I figured we could get just around the cape anchoring at Middle Cape with some shelter from swells; secondly, last time here we saw saltwater crocodiles on the beach and were almost cut off from the dinghy by them...........and we have Salty! So we played it safe and took him for his beach walk with close lookout and made sure it was before dark.
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| Middle Cape - Cape Sable |
From Cape Sable, we had planned to go to Marathon for the obligatory night in the Boot Cay mooring field - just to prove that we would not get trapped there like so many do! However, I talked to another boater already in there and found it was packed. He had waited 10 days on anchor to get a spot in there - not sure why anyone would do that, but each to his own. Given this, we elected to take the marked channel from Cape Sable to Key Largo across Florida Bay. Wow it was shallow but we had a great sail. Typical depths were 6-8 ft, but we saw 4.5 and somehow, we didn't touch the bottom..
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| Beach at Cape Sable |
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| Midnight Sun in the morning Fog off Cape Sable |
Key Largo
We made it to Snake creek in great time and then decided to anchor by Ocean View Pub. This was a nice anchorage, wide open with lots of space and a dinghy dock for pub customers.
We found the pub to be very pet friendly - so Salty was happy he made a new friend who apparently lives on the bar!
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| Pet friendly bar! |
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| Ocean View Pub Anchorage |
Miami
We were very fortunate to get a mooring at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. Located just inside a small island, this is the most sheltered mooring field in Miami - way better then Dinner Key which is outside of the little island and completely exposed. We stayed for 2 nights here as we were ahead of schedule and meeting our friends Larry and Tracy who were now on their way south from Brunswick to join us in Ft. Lauderdale.
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| CGSC Mooring Field |
We had a good time in Miami, did some provisioning, and found a couple of wine bars!
The local Fresh Market proved to be well stocked, and was very close to the mooring field. We decided we will try to go back this way after Ft. Lauderdale to stage for the Bahama crossing.
Ft. Lauderdale
We met up with good friends Annie and Phillip in Ft. Lauderdale. They were anchored in Lake Sylvia so we decided to join them. Located near 17th street, this is a lake set amongst multi-million dollar homes! but very protected. However, anchoring was a bit of a challenge doe to a mud bottom and many boats. But we did it. And while here, another repair was needed - the watermaker was not working but I suspected a broken impeller on the raw water lift pump. Sure enough - that proved to be the issue and I had a couple of spares!
Fixing boats in exotic locations! or at least in expensive neighborhoods.......
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