Sea Bird Marina to Plantation Yacht Harbor Marina

Day 25:  March 24, 2013

This day has been a day of changes.  The weather forecasts were not promising a smooth ride.  Our long range goal was to be in Miami by Friday which was a very achievable goal and we had planned to stop in Key Largo and do some skin diving in the John Pennykamp Coral Reef State Park.  To do that, we would travel on the Atlantic side of the Keys and stay in Largo basin.  However, we awoke to a brisk southerly breeze which meant that the waters on the Atlantic side would be quite rough.  The forecast called for increasing winds as the day progressed. 

Panache and Dink rest after a rough day

We contemplated staying in the Sea Bird Marina but the forecast also called for the winds to swing around to the north and Sea Bird is open to the north.  They are also calling for winds to reach up to 25 mph.  It would be an ugly stay.  We studied the charts and there are few marinas or anchorages on the north side of the Keys between Sea Bird and Miami that are well protected from northerly winds.  We did locate one called Plantation Yacht Harbor Marina which is located about 24 miles up the Keys.  The write-ups look encouraging so we set out.  We called them and they had room available.

I must record that we had eggs, pork chop, blob blueberry muffin and V-8 juice for breakfast.  We got under around 8:30. 

We put up the sails and began an exhilarating sail.  The seas were somewhat rough and, as we traveled, the winds increased and became gusty.  I reduced the jib down to near the size of a storm jib but the boat was still overpowered.  We finally put a single reef in the main and that tamed the boat down significantly.  In the past, putting a reef in the sail in high wind and rough seas was a trying operation, however, we are getting pretty good at reefing and this time we did it in a minimal amount of time with a minimal amount of danger.

When we were approximately due north of Plantation Yacht Harbor Marina, we dropped the sails and swung south.  The waves had built to about 3 to 4 feet and the winds were strong enough that the motor had to struggle to move us along as speeds above 3mph. 

We contacted the marina by radio and were assigned a slip.  Although I was most concerned about docking in the high winds, it turned out that we were able to slide into our spot with no problems. 

Big beautiful classic old cruiser

This is a really nice marina that caters to big boats.  There was only one other sail boat moored here.  We were surrounded by huge boats.  One particular old classic boat is alleged to have been owned by the Firestone family.  It has a lot of wood bright work on which the owner spent the entire day stripping.  It is a real beauty in fantastic shape. 

The marine is owned by the city of Islamorada and they have developed the area into a really classy park.  They have an Olympic size swimming pool that is temperature controlled.  The grounds within the pool compounds are manicured to the level of a golf course green.  They also have a nice beach with an attached kid’s playground.  There is a huge band shell, soccer field, and tennis courts.  With the weather forecast as it is, we will probably be here for several days.



One of our neighbors at Plantation Yacht Harbor



I took a swim in their nice pool.  After the swim, we found a shady spot near the beach and she read while I worked on my navigation course.  It Was Really Hot.  When we got back to the boat, our thermometer read 92 degrees.  We pulled our little electric fan and sat in its draft.

We decided that it was too hot to cook on the boat so we ordered Chinese food and had it delivered to the marina.  I had a couple of egg rolls and a special multi meat/seafood fried rice and Janine had shrimp in lobster sauce.  We stuffed ourselves and still have enough for another meal.

We purchased a audio book, “Killing Lincoln” by Bill O’Reilly and listened to it until we couldn’t keep our eyes open.  It is to be a rough weather night so we are thankful for a nice protected tight mooring.