As week three came to a close, we enjoyed our time exploring the North Miami Shores area as well as the visit to the Miami aquarium with an early dinner in Little Havana.   Saturday morning we departed Pelican Harbor Marina City Docks and began our cruise to Biscayne Bay to the Dinner Key mooring field in Coconut Grove.  It was a short trip of just over 14 statute miles but very scenic and exciting as we navigated through the Port of Miami area.  There was not the amount of traffic operating as compared to Port Everglades that day, and we quickly navigated through without delay.

Dinner Key has 225 mooring balls available at a reasonable rate which includes amenities such as a dinghy dock, showers, laundry, with wifi in the lobby area.  The field had a few cruisers moored on lines, but it was mostly sailboats, many of which were waiting for the wind to abate so they could cross over to the Bahamas.  As we approached we knew we were going to have our hands full of trying to hook the eyelet and thread our line through and safely moor.  The wind was a steady 20 mph gusting 30mph.  It took Jean and me five attempts to navigate the moored boats, cope with the wind gusts, and dodge a sailboat race and their support craft that were using the mooring field approach path as a shortcut.  The night on the mooring ball was one of the longest nights I have had while in the loop.  Wind and waves made this choice of overnight a sleepless one, not because of the fear of pulling loose and drifting, but of the noise and commotion of the waves pounding the stern, which of course consists of our new swim platform and dinghy! The boat was bathed and crusted in salt by morning. No more open mooring fields when high winds are forecasted, only marina tie-ups or snug little hidy holes from now on for us.

And at the crack of dawn when there was light to navigate by, we untethered ourselves and headed out of Biscayne Bay into Card Sound and found a great little hidy hole called Pumpkin Creek.  Just off of the sound entrance to Angelfish Creek, there is a small cut that has plenty of water and wind protection.  We threw out two anchors, dinghied around to see the local area and then slept like babies through the night.

The next morning we pulled our two anchors and began a slow cruise of 21 miles to the bay side of upper Key Largo.  The winds had not wound up yet, and with a few showers that helped clean the boat of salt, we made our way to our next anchorage in Tarpon Basin.

Tarpon Basin is a good place to anchor out and enjoy the scenery.  The dinghy allowed us to motor in and visit Key Largo and Uber down to Tavernier for a Rotary Lunch.  The Lunch was fun and was held at Craig’s restaurant.  Afterward the meeting, a man asked to speak with us and told us a story of when he was in college he captained the 72′ “Coastal Queen” around the loop.  She is an older ship with beautiful, graceful lines.  When we asked him how long it took, Jean and I smiled when he grinned and said that it took four years to complete. I could see where you might not want the adventure ever to end.

Photo by Jean Coleman

From Tarpon Basin we cruised to Islamorada and tied up at Islamorada Yacht Basin alongside Lorelei’s bar and grill.  It was a small basin completely protected from the wind, and we spent a few quiet down days. When in a marina, the boating life is not that dissimilar to living in an apartment complex, of course, you are on a boat and floating, but your neighbors are very close, and curiosity, questions, and conversation are constant.  It is a tight community, and you make friends quickly with invitations to visit from all over the eastern seaboard.  Jean and I used our bikes to explore some of the local out of the way places and witnessed the destruction Irma caused this small community.  The rebuilding and starting over is everywhere you look. The scrapped empty lots are the worst.

As a side trip, Jean and I dinghied to Lignumvitae Key to explore the botanical gardens. Lignumvitae is Latin for “tree of life” and has a very interesting history. You can get to the key only by boat and once we arrived we could see that Irma once again had taken a toll.  The public dock was in disrepair and hazardous.  Jean and I tied up to the one remaining piling and took a quick stroll around the house and some outposts.  Rain approaching from the southeast threatened our ride home so we left before we could enjoy a tour by a ranger. Maybe next time.

Our cruise from Islamorada to Marathon was windy but beautiful. I use both paper and

Photo by Jerry Coleman

electronic charts as we navigate from one place to another. The names of passes, channels and cuts, are always interesting to me.  As we navigated from Islamorada to Marathon we passed by, over, or around, places such as; Bowlegs Cut, Old Dan Bank, Old Sweat Bank, Rachel’s Bank, and Washerwoman Bank. I love the names and I am sure there are many interesting and colorful stories on how they came to be.  Once we arrived at Marathon, we stayed at Faro Blanco (The White Lighthouse) overnight. We fueled and visited the local West Marine for supplies.  Jean and I tied up in Marathon last year and we re-visited a small restaurant called Burdines.  We enjoyed a couple of sandwiches and a rainstorm as well as a beautiful rainbow afterward.  As we walked to dinner, we were able to witness some of the devastations that Irma brought to Marathon.  One of the boatyards in Boot Key was used as a boat graveyard. It was very sad to see the floating homes of people so damaged that their owners were left homeless.  One of the boats had a gaping hole in the aft cabin section, and you could see the clothes still hanging in the closet.

From Faro Blanco Marina in Marathon, we cruised to Mozer Channel and headed outside to the Atlantic, turned right and followed Hawk Channel down to Key West. Our destination is Stock Island Village Marina where we will winter until early March.

Week one of America’s Great Loop cruise is now in the books; literally in the; logbooks, personal journals, and postings to our social media sites. Our itinerary began with our leaving on Saturday the sixth and cruising out to Anclote Island for our first anchorage. It was a blustery night with waves noisily pushing on our stern all night. I do not sleep well when we are at anchor continually checking our position and making sure we are not pulling our anchor out and drifting silently into shallow water or someone else. When it is windy, our anchor has been known to become unanchored.
From Anclote Island, we motored to an anchorage just west of the Sunshine Skyway causeway and dropped the hook in 14 feet of water and spent a very peaceful night. I checked our position only five times that evening! We used our dinghy to explore local marinas and find the “facilities.” We try to use other facilities when we can so that we do not have to pump our black water out of our 40-gallon tank as often.
After a leisurely morning, we cruised into the Vinoy Basin and tied up to a mooring ball. We love St. Pete city and its beachfront lifestyle. Jean and I dinghied onto the city dock and walked the downtown area, visited with family, and took in a movie. The St. Pete Municipal Marina service and facilities (Wi-Fi, showers, etc.) are clean and included in the price of the mooring ball.
We left the Vinoy Basin in fog with one-mile visibility heading south using the radar and chart-plotter to navigate from one-day marker to the next. We could not see the Skyway bridge until we were a half-mile away and then only as we passed under it as it disappeared off the stern a half-mile out the other side. From the Skyway, we cruised to Anna Marie Island and anchored in a small basin called Jewfish Key. Jean and I dinghied into a the Mar-Vista restaurant and walked to the beach for a beautiful sunset. Fog settled in not long afterward and blanketed the entire area. While we were firmly anchored, the mist can create the illusion of drifting, and I was checking our position throughout the night. The next morning Jean and I dinghied over to the city dock and rode a trolley around the north part of Anna Maria Island and enjoyed a walk around Coquina Key Park. With winds forecasted to increase, we decided to head to Sarasota and tie up at Marina Jack’s.
The cruise to Sarasota was a breezy one with fog settling in from the north and chasing us into Marina Jack’s. We had tied up here before and knew that we would enjoy their service and facilities. Tying up at Marina Jack’s gives us an opportunity to refresh our batteries, fill our fresh water tanks (120 gals), wash the boat, and perform maintenance as needed. It is also a great joy when you can enjoy a hot shower instead of a quick sea shower.
We used an Uber for the first time in Sarasota as we needed a ride to a Friday morning Rotary Club meeting. Jean and I are fortunate to be ambassadors for Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust, which provides cutting-edge research for scientists finding a cure for Alzheimer’s. The Sarasota Sunrise club is a very energetic and a fun club to attend. Jean and I gave a quick overview of our loop trip and how Rotarians can help battle Alzheimers through the C.A.R.T. organization. Sarasota is one of our favorite cities to walk and enjoy dining out.
Our intended destination out of Sarasota was going to be an anchorage near Venice, but throughout the day and with a steady stern wind (9 to 10 miles an hour), we decided to stretch out and cruise to Cabbage Key and tie up for a couple of days. And here we are. Bright sunshine, chilly, and windy as all get out. White caps on the water.
Staying at Cabbage Key for a couple of days gives us a chance to catch up on household chores, writing, planning the next week’s journey, and some walk around exercise.
I want to share a few thoughts and insights on week one’s adventure. Economy stands out as being an integral part of cruising. Safety is always first with me, and I tend to be conservative in my choices as far as the safety of crew and vessel go. When I speak of the idea of economy though, I mean saving in size, amount, duration, and speed. When you live in a house, there is typically room for everything we accumulate, but on a boat, space is at a premium. I have too many clothes, too many notebooks, too many shoes, too many everything. Jean and I are learning that any item onboard must perform at least double duty, if not triple duty. Speed and duration are also at play while we cruise and since this is a marathon and not a sprint I am learning not to wake up and immediately start the engines and go with the intent of “getting to the next destination” as soon as possible. A hard lesson for me. I am learning to slow down and smell the salt air. It is the journey and not the destination that is key. I will insert a caveat here: we will either stay or go dependent on weather. I read somewhere that a captain has a book of intentions mitigated by weather and mechanical and will act accordingly.
Size does matter, and it matters very much. When space is unlimited, you can store things in “out of the way” places, not so on this boat. There simply is not enough room. Recalling the above thought on an item performing triple duty, smaller is also better. A rare thought for land lubbers.
Lastly, I want to talk about how important communication is when cruising (actually, it is always important). Communication is one of the keys to a safe and enjoyable cruise. Sharing ideas, feelings, and dreams is a big part of the trip as are the doubts, fears, and nightmares. Being open to discussing all the above without judgment is paramount.
This week we are planning to cross the Okeechobee Waterway and turn right towards Miami.