Grassy Key to Long Key Bight

Day 34: Saturday, March 26, 2016

We enjoyed a calm night in the little cove on Grassy Key.  We awoke to calm waters and very light winds.

The mayor in charge of town council

We prepared our last package sausage gravy so we will be turning to alternative breakfast foods for the remainder of the trip.

We took our time getting ready to leave.  We have several options for the trip today. It looked like we would be motoring so we could cover quite a bit of ground.  On the other hand, we had no particular destination in mind.  I raised the sails while on the anchor we sailed away.  As we got further off shore, the wind was actually blowing at about 8 to 10 knots so we enjoyed a couple hours of wonderful sailing on relatively smooth waters. 

Virtually all of the water on the Florida Bay side of the keys is shallow so I needed to keep a sharp look out for shoals as we headed east.  We were not following a designated route for most of the way, however, in order to pass one particular

An artists at work

shoal, we had to join the Intracoastal Waterway and navigate through a narrow passage.  Anticipating the narrow passage, I steered the boat so as to hit the center of the opening perfectly but as I got close, the tidal current passing though skewed me off course and into potentially shallow waters.  I finally started the motor and got back on track, made the passage without incident.

We continued to sail for another hour or so until we needed to head directly up wind. I finally dropped the sails and fired up the engine for the remainder of the trip. 

I don't understand this sport

Our plan was to drop anchor somewhere around Long Key which is where we sat out the strong winds early in the trip.  The actual anchorage where we had stayed is not very attractive and is quite noisy from Highway 1 traffic.  We opted instead to travel on past Long Key and pass to the Atlantic side via the Channel 5 bridge opening. 

Just past the bridge is a fairly large bay called Long Key Bight.  Janine and I had stayed here two years ago.  On that last visit, we had serious trouble getting our anchor to hold.  I had dropped the anchor, checked it by swimming over it and determined that it was a good set.  But, in the morning, we awoke to find that we had drug a significant distance.  Luckily, there were no

Fishermen set up on the old railroad bridge

boats or shore near.  We reset the anchor, got into the Dink and traveled to shore to get ice.  Upon returning, we had to chase down the boat that had dragged the anchor probably ¼ mile.  This time it had drifted into shallow water and it was a white knuckle exercise to get back underway.

So, this time, with a new anchor, lighter winds, I was confident that we would hold.  Wrong!  I had taken a nap and upon awakening figured I would check the anchor set.  I found that we had in fact dragged probably 500 feet.  We were in open water and in no danger, however!  The anchor was in about 4 feet of water so I picked it up, removed the trash that had accumulated on it and reset it.  This time, I stomped it so that the point dug deeply into the bottom.  I swam around for ten or fifteen minutes continually check to see if it stayed put.  Back in the boat, I

Channel 5 Channel opening in the old railroad bridge and the new bridge

set the anchor alarm to warn us if we again began to move.

The bottom in this area is sparsely covered with vegetation and as I swam around, I saw many strange looking plants that were pulsating.  These things were all over the bottom.  I finally realized that the bottom was covered with jellyfish that were lying upside down with their tentacles pointing upwards.  There were all different sizes and many different

View from the front of the boat in Long Key Bight

color combinations.  I only wish I had an underwater camera to record them.  They were really interesting.

Back in the boat, we spent the remainder of the afternoon reading.  Just before supper, I decided to take another swim and anchor check.  The anchor had not moved.  However, the wind had shifted such that we were no longer in the direct lee of the finger of the Bight so we were getting increased wave action.  I decided that we needed the second anchor for security.

Sunset over Long Key

  I got into the Dink, Janine handed me the Danforth anchor, and I motored out to about 25 feet off to the side of the main anchor.  I dropped the Danforth in and was happy that it set immediately.

We prepared spaghetti and meat sauce for our evening dining pleasure and followed it up with a piece of Bake Packer blob carrot cake. 

After dinner we entertained ourselves with a rousing game of dominoes with me winning the grand prize of a bite size Milky Way.  Bed soon thereafter.