From No Name Key to Boot Key Harbor

Day 25: Thursday, March 17, 2016

Today was a moving day.  We began the day with bacon, eggs and toast.  And,

Cormorants getting ready for the morning on a day marker

fairly quickly we raised anchor and headed out.  Before leaving, I checked the long term wind forecast and found that they were predicting strong winds beginning early next week and, since we are getting closer to our predetermined departure for Ohio date, it would be unwise to continue heading west.  I was concerned that we would get to Key West and then have to wait out unfavorable winds so we decided to head back east. There are a number of really interesting places that we have never visited in the Keys to our east, so it made sense that we would liesurely work our way that way.

Each time we have come to the Keys, I have wanted to do some skin diving on coral reefs but so far, we have spent probably no more than an hour doing so. So t

oday, we started out for Sombrero Reef which is about 4 miles south east from Marathon. It is located right on the edge of the continental shelf where the waters are 30 feet deep.  Probably 300 yards further southeast, the depth jumps to about 500 feet. 

We motored back to the Moser Channel which allows you to leave the Florida Bay and move into the open ocean and the Hawk Channel.  The Channel cuts through a section of the old Flagler Railroad Bridge that has been removed and under an

The bridge cut at the Moser Channel

elevated section of the Seven Mile Highway 1 Bridge.  The Atlantic waters were a bit rolly but nothing like we experienced on our trip to the Bahamas last year.

When we got to the reef, there were quite a few boats occupying all of the mooring balls set for those who wanted to dive on the reef.  Most of the balls were occupied by commercial dive tour operators.  We realized that it was a “good ole boy” system in which a ball being vacated by a dive shop guy would be held until another commercial dive guy came by.  We motored back and forth in front of the group of buoys for a good half hour before we realized the futility of it all and headed back towards Boot Key Harbor and the city of Marathon. 

We contacted the city marina that controls the more than 225 mooring balls in Boot Key Harbor. They told us that there were no available balls but that we could anchor

Sombrero Reef Light House  1858

outside of their field and get on a waiting list.  We found a suitable place not far from the entrance to the harbor and dropped our hook in about 7 feet of water.  There were a lot of boats in close proximity so I put out our small Danforth anchor for a bit more security. The boat closest to us was a 38 foot Morgan named Enigma sailed by Katy and Ric from Destin, FL.  I rowed the Dink back to their boat to see if they were comfortable with where I had anchored.  They were an interesting couple who had been on the boat since January.  We talked for

The Dockside Tropical Cafe

probably 45 minutes sharing stories and comparing notes.  They did suggest a good eating place on the water called Dockside Tropical Café.  They pointed out that it was located at the opposite end of Boot Key Harbor which would make it a very long ride in the Dink, but, what the heck.  We made plans to go there for dinner.

The directions were a bit sketchy and we ended up going significantly further down a narrow canal past condo with huge boats parked out front and also lower end vacation housing with their smaller power boats parked there. At the end of the canal, we found no restaurant so I asked some folks sitting on their porch for the location and they said that we had passed it about ½ mile back.  As we were traveling back, we saw three folks getting off of about a 40 foot boat into a dinghy.  They headed out the same way as we and soon passed us.  When we got to the restaurant, and were tying up, one of the two guys from that boat offered to take our painter.  The quickly threw a clove hitch around the piling.  I commented to him that I know that the clove hitch was one of the easiest knots to tie but that I could not master it.  He took the time to teach me a no fail way to remember how to tie the knot and tested me to verify my level of completion of the objective.

Mike and Vickie's Boat Whensday

Vickie aboard Whensday

He offered that we could join him along with his partner and a good friend.  Mike and Vickie are fascinating salty sailors.  They are living on their boat

Katy and Ric's Morgan, Enigma

and sailing between jobs at which they hire on so as to earn sailing cash.  Mike has held all sorts of jobs from working in the Navy on submarines to teaching physics at the high school level.  We spent a wonderful evening listening to them tell of their many experiences the latest of which involved riding out a Force 9 (41-47 mph wind speeds) storm in the Caribbean that did significant damage to their boat.

The music at the Café was really good and the food was interesting.  Both Janine and I ordered blackened fish sandwiches.  She had a blackened grouper sandwich and mine was mahi mahi.  Neither of us had ever had anything prepared as blackened and I assumed that it was cooked until there was a black crust on it.  You may know that it is highly seasoned with hot spices and by the time I was ¾ of the way through my meal, my mouth was burning so much that I called it quits.  IThrprobably won’t do that again.

At about 8:30, we decided it was time to head back and try to find Second Wind in amongst the 300 plus boats moored and anchored in the bay.  We carry a bi-color light for the Dink to make it somewhat legal but we had no spot light to help us find our way.  This is somewhat different to what I used to do on Kentucky Lake in

The Morgan White Pearl

my younger days.  There, I knew the lake like the back of my hand and we also carried a very bright light to find buoys and markers. The good thing is that we were in no hurry and we traveled slowly and, with the help of a ½ moon and some knowledge of the area, we arrived back at the boat as though we knew what we were doing.

Back on the boat, I realized that I had a missed call and a voice mail from someone from Wilmington NC.  I listened to the message from Mike, the guy we had just dined with, in which he informed me that I had left my hat in the chair next to where I was sitting and that it would be hanging on the lifeline of his boat in morning.  I was thankful.  We went to bed.