Florida Keys Quick Pass
The Florida Keys
We started through the keys by stopping off Elliot Key about a mile off shore. It was windy and there was a of of fetch so it was a bit choppy. We didn’t go ashore or even swim, but it was our first glimpse into the blue water of the keys.
We continued on through the scariest part of our trip at high tide. Our boat draws about six-and-a-half feel, and the way out of the bottom of Biscayne Bay into open water is not that deep except at high tide. We white-knuckled the wheel for about an hour rising up to high tide watching the depth sounder with two sets of eyes. After that, we were on the Atlantic side and cruising down the keys.
The engine was making some noise and vibrating quite a bit though, and we were concerned. I went below and opened the engine compartment to find that the engine was violently shaking on its mounts. I told Grete to stop the engine immediately so I could try to figure out what was going on. I was looking around the engine trying to see something that looked out of place and that is exactly what I found. There was a nut in a small bilge that was not there when I performed my pre-underway checks before we started out from the anchorage. The nut, it turned out, was for the back of the long bolt that holds the alternator in place, and the bolt had pulled out of the after hole, allowing the alternator, and thus the serpentine belt to thrash about.
I got the bolt back in and tension back on the alternator and all was well…for today.
We stopped for a few days at Marathon Key. It felt, overall kind of trashy. Not sure how else to put it. It was like a giant strip mall and not anything there was appealing. The marina itself was a bit tucked away, which certainly made for calm conditions, but the trade-off is that the mosquitoes were at full force. Grete and I got in a couple of decent runs and we all went out for nachos, so all in all, it was a sufficient place to stop to break up the trip to Key West.
Key West
Key West was fantastic. Grete and I have both been (although separately) via the land route, but this was a different experience. This route in was far more beautiful and again plagued by woes. I noticed a small tear about 2/3 of the way up the leech of the mainsail (PS, it wasn’t a big deal and we got it fixed after we got back to Pensacola). The engine would not get above 1200 RPM or so, which is not good for a diesel and moreover not good for our forward progress. I knew from earlier experience with Tony Wall that this is the sign of a clogged fuel filter. Luckily, we carry a spare (might want to start carrying several). I was able to get the filter changed out with Dublin’s help and we were back on our way into the mooring field just before sunset.
Now, I don’t know what the “typical” weather patterns are in Key West, but the 4-5 days we were there were all the same: nice, calm mornings and super windy squalls all afternoon. The squalls were filled with pounding rain and 30 knots or so of wind (not sure since we don’t yet have an anemometer). I think the gusts were upwards of 40 knots.
How long does it take to chafe through 3/4 inch nylon line on a mooring ball in Key West?
About 2.5 days, it turns out. After a days of great sight-seeing, BBQ and a few errands, we returned to our dinghy and started back out to the mother ship. About a quarter-mile into the trip back we passed a guy in a dinghy going the other was and yelling something about “Sea Horse”. Uh oh! Well, come to find out the line tying us to the mooring ball chafed all the way through in the wind and chop and our boat, with the brave Sea Pug aboard started drifting through the anchorage. Luckily, the boat it was headed for had someone aboard who knew exactly how to minimize the damage. He fended off our boat, and then jumped aboard. Once aboard, he let go the anchor and our boat eased to a stop less than 100 meters before running aground in a very damaging and likely disaterous fashion.
So, we thanked the man profusely and moved the boat back to the mooring ball, this time tied up with double lines each going to the mooring ball and right back to the same cleat. The new setup worked for the next couple of days with no issue and we departed before sunrise the last day to head for Dry Tortuga National Park.
Dry Tortugas National Park
Dry Tortugas N.P. is quite some distance from Key West and thus we had no internet connectivity. We waited for a window of a few days of decent weather and struck out toward Fort Jefferson. Since there is no connectivity, we didn’t want to stay too long because we didn’t want the weather to change for the worse, and also didn’t want to keep our families worried about our radio silence.
We anchored near Fort Jefferson for two eventful nights. The anchorage is also the landing strip for the seaplanes that rich folks take out to see the fort. Watching the planes come in and go out was a pretty cool addition to the experience. There aren’t that many but a few times a day we got a buzz.
The fort is in good shape and has some features that differ from the forts in the Pensacola area, so we enjoyed touring it. We also waited until the ferry boat from Key West was not at the island, which meant that we pretty much had the fort to ourselves.
Grete and I did some snorkeling along the outer moat walls and we all had a swim at the beach, as well as another swim call off the sugar scoop.
The anchorage was a little bit crowded and very windy. Soooo, at around midnight, the anchor alarm sounded and I ran topside to see that we had dragged anchor 100 feet or so and were now too close to the boat behind us. We had to pull up the anchor and reset it in hard winds, with pelting rain, in the black of midnight. It was really stressful, but we succeeded and had no more issues with the anchor after that.
I loved the Dry Tortugas for their remoteness and before/after the ferry is on the island, the sheer tranquility of the place. On the second night, we were invited onto a very nice boat by some folks from the Pensacola area for drinks and just hanging out. They had Capri Suns, a trampoline, and a teenage girl - the combination of which made it Dublin and Fira’s favorite night thus far. This is certainly a place we’ll return to for more than just two nights and with our new dinghy and more horsepower so we can snorkel the nearby islands as well.
