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FORT LAUDERDALE TO
KEY LARGO
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WHAT’S GOING ON?
There sure are a lot of boats hovering just off the docks all facing the same way. They weren’t anchored and they weren’t fishing. We couldn’t figure it out. Maybe there was something going on with all these big important yachts and don’t forget the navy vessel. Maybe someone important is here? It was possible. Naw, guess what was going on. All these boats were waiting to get on Dockwise which was headed for St. Thomas. (Hmm, that might be something we could consider doing in the future.)
USCG PATROL BOAT
Up ahead a USCG Patrol Boat was perched perpendicular in the channel and was definitely blocking us from passing. We hailed them on the radio and asked if we could pass. They waved us on. They were there for the protection of the naval ship I guess. It was hard to figure because there sure was a lot going on around here.
As we made our pass the Coast Guard boat started to back down on us. We couldn’t figure out what they were doing. They came within feet of our boat. The boat looked like it was full of Spanish speaking trainees. Maybe they put it in reverse by accident. Guess we’ll never know what they were doing.
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WHAT NEXT?
Then we passed the Miami Sheriff’s boat. Boy there sure is a lot going on around here. He reminded me of a big alligator as he sat quietly in the water watching us go by.
BACK TO THE HUM DRUM OR MAYBE NOT?
That was really exciting but now back to the ICW again and memories of getting hard grounded down here a few years ago had me a bit on edge this morning. Yep, we were headed to the same area again.
FIXED?
Larry turned the inverter on so we could heat up some coffee in the microwave and soon after that damn depth sounder alarm started going off again. Now Larry says he may have figured out the problem. It might be a low battery. He’s going to watch it. He set it to low power and for the rest of the cruise and we didn’t have another problem. Larry said he read in some chat room that others boaters were having similar problems and some guy said to try that. It seemed to work for today.
Explanation: (So I could understand) The depth sounder is normally set for deeper water, for fish finding and we were traveling in shallow water and it was a bit of over kill for the amount of power it was using to send read backs and then we took a big draw to run the microwave and it was too much. So Larry switched it to manual and lowered the power it required. That seemed to do the trick. We’ll see.
NERVOUS
After the excitement of the Inlet, the rest of the journey seemed pretty non eventful. Even though we came through this same area before we both admit that we don’t remember any of it. I guess we must have been in shock after going aground right after we left Miami in the Nordhavn. Not a thing looked familiar. (You can check out the website to see that ordeal if you are curious.)
INSIDE CUT
Needless to say I was a bit uptight thinking that we are going to the area where we got stuck before even though we were in the channel abiding by the markers. That’s a sure way to lose your confidence about the dredging of the ICW. Larry said we’re not going the same way as before, that we’re going to take the inside cut to the marina. It’s called the Miami Channel not the ICW.
WORRY WART
I was a little nervous about it. Larry showed me where we were going to go. I asked “What makes you think that area is going to be dredged and marked if they can’t even get the ICW dredged?”
Larry said it will be fine, that the boats for the Miami Boat Show, the big boats, come and go there. “It’s not going to be a problem!”
“OK, I hope you know what
you are doing!”
We took the cut slow as there are shallows all around. We weren’t in any hurry anyway as this was a short trip today. I was diligently looking through the binoculars to pick up the few markers we had to go by. Once we found the essential red we were to hug the shore line close. Of course to start it off we had to find two sets of red and green markers and off course two of the markers were missing, just the naked posts were left. That made me wonder if that was a sure sign that the rest wasn’t going to be properly marked and this was just a place for “locals” with “local knowledge”. My worry wart side was coming out again.
ANOTHER LUNATIC
Just as we headed across this big wide space some big monster cigarette boat flew by right in front of us. (click here for video) His engine was so incredibly loud that it just scared you to death and made your whole body shudder, you know like when you are walking on a street and a loud motor cycle goes by and it literally makes the store windows vibrate at the intensity of the noise? Well, this was the same. Ziggy got so stirred up he ran out on the bow and barked at him but by then he was far away. And if that display of egomania wasn’t enough, this nut did two more breaking the sound barrier loop-t-dos, like a Jack A____. Again, another Florida lunatic boater, showing off just like a complete imbecile.
NO DETAIL?
Anyway, everything was going fine and we had sufficient water under us. I was looking ahead on the chart to see what to expect, what markers to look for and reading the height requirements for the bridges we were going to go under. That’s when I noticed that the last bridge by the marina we were headed to, the one next to the Coast Guard Station did not have any detail on it. It didn’t give the height restrictions or anything. I asked Larry about it. He said he only knows of one bridge that we have to ask for an opening and that’s the Venetian Causeway. “Well, but what about this bridge?”, I asked. He checked the electronic chart and it too had no detail but just showed a bridge.
Finally to appease me, Larry hailed US Tow and asked about the bridge and they said it was high and we would clear it. OK, I’m good to go now. I was just a little paranoid today I guess because we had such a bad experience down this way last time.
VENETIAN CAUSEWAY
BRIDGE (East)
We were almost to the Venetian Causeway Bridge (East) and had heard several boaters hailing the bridge earlier. It was our turn and Larry asked when their next opening was. She said it opened on the hour and only if you are right in front of the bridge. We could see it in the distance but had a ways to go and only 7 minutes to get there and of course we had a big marina to our portside to get by without waking them. We pushed it a little more than we normally would and were surprised that we didn’t see any NO WAKE signs by the marina. Nevertheless, we tried not to wake anybody. I don’t know why though as no one else around here seems to care about things like that. I guess it’s just ingrained in us. We were about a ½ mile away from the bridge but made it just in time for the opening.
PROTOCOL
We had the current running with us and according to protocol, the one with the current is supposed to go through the bridge first even though we didn’t arrive there first. I could see another boat on the other side of the bridge waiting to come through the opposite way. Just to make sure we were all on the same page, as you never know around here, Larry hailed anyone listening on 16 that we planned to go through first with the current per protocol and any opposing traffic should call back on 16. The boat on the other side of the bridge answered back and acknowledged he would wait for our pass per protocol. OK, now that was civilized.
Once through the bridge we make a portside turn past the “monument” and head towards the marina.
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MEMORIES OF THIS MARINA
I remember this marina well. We came here before after fighting some rough seas with broken stabilizers all the way from Key West & Marathon. It was a welcome sight then but I remember the docking was an unexpected challenge. It was not what we had expected after being bloody tired after fighting the seas for 10 hours. You have to back in to the finger piers again and the docks are high and are built of solid CONCRETE so if you miscalculate on inch you are going into a hard unforgiving surface and just like before it seems we are arriving again in lots of wind.
I had all the lines ready, the two bow lines with loops ready to lasso, two stern lines ready for a crisscross and spring lines ready to put on whichever side we were assigned. The wind is blowing like crazy again and there were weird swells inside the marina. I think this must be a windy place as it’s near the ocean’s inlet.
We hailed the marina and said we needed a pump out first. They said to come to the end of the fuel dock and that’s where the pump out is.
This inlet is also is where all the big freighters and the big cruise ships come and go right next to the marina. The marina is only separated from the inlet by a manmade bulkhead and the swells made by the big ships still manage to significantly creep in behind the bulkhead and the boats in the marina rise and fall as if someone was shaking a blanket of boats in slow motion. It’s a bit unnerving depending on where you are positioned in the marina, as the swells can be more pronounced depending on how close and what position you are to the opening in the bulkhead.
As we headed to the fuel dock another boat was on the other end getting fuel. We headed to the opposite end as instructed there was no one there to take the lines. The dock is high about shoulder height to me standing on the boat. The dock guy was busy helping the other boat get fueled so I’m going to have to do this on my own. OK, how am I going to do this I’m wondering? Again those posts are there but I can’t reach them and they are too tall to lasso but then I spy some cleats!
Then suddenly the dock guy comes to the rescue just as we scoot up to the dock. I hand him a stern line and he’s trying to get it secure and meanwhile the swells are big and we’re going up and down. The wind is also blowing a good 20 knots and the boat is starting to pull us away from the dock at the bow even though Larry is doing his best with the bow thruster. I get up the gangway and manage to lasso that wonderful cleat and pull the boat over again. I felt so flattered when the guy said “You don’t need me.”
STRATEGY FOR THE SLIP
We got the tank pumped and the two docks guys now were telling us where we were going to go, what slip and that it would be a portside tie. The one guy said he’d meet us there and said what kind of lines to have ready because we had lots of wind to deal with. I already had the lines ready but he didn’t notice I guess. So we make our way over a couple aisles down. Between the big swells and the wind I’m worried that this is going to be a scary docking.
Larry has to make two tries to get in the slip because of the wind. It was blowing us over too fast. So, on the second try so he comes in way wide of where we need to duck in and makes the turn quick. The wind was blowing us right into this scary dock with the concrete! The dock guy tells me to give him the portside stern and portside spring and then says to get up on the bow and try to get the bow lines on the posts. He said if I can’t manage to get them one he will come on the boat and do it for me.
YAHOO!
It was scary with all this
wind. I had the lassos ready and amazingly lassoed each post on the first
try and the dock guy let out a big “yahoo”. He said he’d never seen that
before. He told Larry he had a good first mate. Maybe he tells everybody
that but it sure felt great to hear it. I couldn’t believe I lassoed
those damn posts. I’m sure I could never do that again but boy when you
are in a pinch sometimes things just work out.
Anyway, here we were and it was so fantastically quiet and peaceful here compared to that mad house we’d been in for the last several days. The water in the marina is aqua colored and the big condos nearby are fantastic, new, tall and impressively beautiful. We walked down the dock and got some lunch. There were no more loud noises from cars, planes, boats, sirens, not a thing. After lunch we washed the salt off the boat and Ziggy and I collapsed in a deep sleep until dinner. We both were so stressed out and exhausted from everything the past few days, the docking, the wind and swells, that we were just exhausted. The peacefulness just put you right to sleep.
SOUTH BEACH
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here as we waited on the weather. The winds were blowing outside like crazy and it looked like the front was going to dissipate in about 4 days. That was OK with me as I liked it here. It’s not an inexpensive marina to stay in. The rate was $4 a foot but well worth it.
We had several restaurants nearby that we went to, like Big Pinks for breakfast if you could stand the service and Clark’s a great neighborhood Tavern that served a variety of good food and then our last night we had a big feast of stone crabs at Joe’s Stone Crab. We took long walks everyday gawking at the amazing art deco buildings and Larry gawking mostly at the bikinis.
I was sad to leave but couldn’t wait to get to that beautiful water of the Keys.
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It looked like we were heading out the next morning after several days here. The winds were dying down to 15-20 knots and seas inside Hawks’ Channel were predicted 2-3 feet. It wasn’t the best forecast and would be a bit rough. The winds were going to be on our beam which is the worst ride but that’s the best it’s been in several days. Larry decided not to go on the inside ICW because the chat rooms said the winds were blowing the depths even shallower than they normally are so the safest would be through Hawk’s Channel. I wasn’t too excited about that as it’s a boring ride from one marker to the next and a distant glimpse of the keys but so be it.
SOUTH BEACH TO KEY LARGO
BUSY HARBOR
We got an early start this morning, about 7:00 AM, but not as early a start as the big shipping docks nearby. One mammoth cruise ship had already gone out the inlet and as we pulled out of the marina a big empty freighter was being pushed, turned and maneuvered up to the empty dock like a little toy boat by two hefty hard working tugs. They laid her up nice and gently next to a big massive concrete bulkhead soon to be piled mile high with a load of colorful containers to take to some faraway place. We passed one big freighter after another down the Lumus Island Cut and in the distance was the magnificent slick skyline of Miami. The view is quite breathtaking actually. It was almost as impressive as seeing the New York City skyline from the water. It’s dramatic and flashy and drooling with money. Legal money? Not sure but there’s lots of it.
BEAUTIFUL DAY
It was a beautiful sunny morning and the cargo containers were crisp and defined looking much like children’s building blocks, colorful, whimsical and all neatly piled in strict orderly fashion. I love the sun light down here as everything looks crystal clear, sparkling clean and colorful. It’s bright too, very bright. Sunglasses are a must especially after months living up in the Pacific Northwest. It was the perfect temperature out, not too hot, not too cool, and no bugs, none at all. It was going to be a great cruise down to the Keys today or so I thought.
A TOAST TO POSEIDON FOR SAFE TRAVELS
We passed a big black hulled old schooner and several big mega yachts and then this really funky out of proportion black monolithic sculpture of Poseidon mounted like a giant phallic symbol drinking out of a conk shell in the front of some fancy high rise condos. Guess you can’t take all the bad taste out of Miami after all.
Little did we know that I should never insult Poseidon as he should be respected. We should have joined him in a toast asking for a safe journey.
Big mistake.
Our route took us straight down the Causeway then a sharp left, a portside turn, towards the Keys and south. This short leg of the course follows the Miami shoreline line very close almost within a few feet of the waterfront until you take a diagonal course to the big bridge, called the Rickenbacker Causeway that connects Key Biscayne to Miami proper. Just beyond the bridge in the distance is the white Cape Florida Lighthouse shimmering in the sunlight with a black top.
WAKES
Again we crawl along protecting those no-where-to-be-seen manatees. Once out of the NO WAKE for MANATEE ZONE Larry picks up the speed. A few minutes later a sports fisher goes by and wakes us heading the same direction we are for a day of fishing. Then we slow to make an easy pass for a sail boater heading the opposite direction. He waves back a “thank you for not waking me wave”, and then he gives us a Buddha gesture, you know, clasping both palms and fingers of the hands flat together under the chin and a little bow, being humorous but very grateful. We could definitely identify after some of these crazy boaters here. We waved back as if to say “Glad to do it!”
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UNFORGIVING HAWK’S CHANNEL
Up ahead I see what looks like some strange structures on posts out in the middle of nowhere on the water. Actually they are plopped right down on either side of the Biscayne Channel that we were taking to get us to Hawk’s Channel. Hawk’s Channel is where most of the boats with a draft of 5 feet or more have to go when heading to and from the Keys as inside the protection of the keys in the ICW it’s just too darn shallow. The first leg of the Hawk’s Channel is a bit unforgiving because you have 40 miles of waters to cover without a place to stop and they can fetch up pretty bad. They are a body of water that deserves respect. It is definitely more protected than being out in the Florida Straits as it is protected by an invisible reef, a reef that has had over history taken many an unsuspecting marina before the days of electronics and charts. It’s there but you can’t see it. In fact here’s a little fact of interest:
“On the unlucky day of Friday of July 13, 1733, four Spanish galleons escorted eighteen merchant ship and several smaller vessels from Havana heading for Florida. They were caught in a hurricane and all were all lost along this reef except for one vessel that managed to return to Havana to report this tragedy.” So the reef is littered and to be respected, a bit of a graveyard.
Stiltsville
Getting back to the funny structures on stilts that we are passing, Larry says that this area is called Stiltsville. Apparently some of these Floridians in days gone by had the crazy idea of building a little village out here on stilts to get away from everyone. They eventually became abandoned probably due to hurricane damage and too darn difficult to keep up. There are now just a handful of them left. They are maintained by the park service as a recreational area for everyone to explore. I’m glad they are taking care of them as I’ve got to say they are a very strange sight and it makes you wonder how anyone could have lived out here. They must have been pretty antisocial.
FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD, SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY
We could see three large sailboats leaving No Name Harbor a popular anchorage to our portside by Cape Florida Lighthouse. They too were heading south today. We’ll probably see them further on down the road somewhere along the way as that’s the way it is when you are cruising. You all end up at the same places for awhile anyway.
WEATHER FORECAST A LITTLE OFF
There is a shallow spot at the end of the channel that Larry was watching out for. He read about it in the cruising guides or on some chat room. We had no problems though with depths but once we got out in Hawk’s channel all hell broke loose. The seas were 4 feet plus on our beam, not the predicted 2-3 and the winds were blowing a nasty howl. We were both thinking this is not going to be a pleasant ride and wondering if we should have tried to rub the bottom on the ICW.
We were hoping once we got further south where we make a slight navigational turn towards the west that these nasty waves will be coming on our hind quarter and the ride will be a little more tolerable.
SWINGING ON A TOWER
Up ahead we see a sports fisher with a guy holding on way up high on his fish spotting tower (as I call it). Wow, it looked really dangerous as the seas were rocking his boat precariously left and right sideways and swinging him with it. He was getting a wild ride. I hope he can hold on tight. It was like being on top of a sailboat mast in rough seas. He had his legs spread wide apart and each arm was outstretched griping on hard. I couldn’t believe it and so took a few pictures of him as we passed him by. In the back of the open cockpit were several fishermen. I guess those guys will go out in any kind of seas and endure any kind of discomfort to catch a fish.
In the distance coming up behind us is another big sports fisher. He’s putting out a big white wake. No, not big, HUGE. I take some pictures of him too as he is making fast track on the both of us. Incredibly he goes very close to the sports fishing boat even though that guy dangerously hanging on that platform swinging left and right. He surely will wake them bad. In fact he’s going so fast that I realize too late realize that he’s going to overtake us and wake the crap out of us too. I was already barely able to brace myself in the banquet to get the pictures of the guy on the tower and soon realize this is going to be bad.
UTTER CHAOS
I get up from the settee to warn Larry and like I said it was too late to do anything or try to get away from him. We watch in horror as he goes by about 20 feet from us and we think to purposely wake us. The next thing you know its utter chaos in the boat as the boat takes a 45 degree dip first on the bow and then to the side. I thought the boat was going to capsize. Everything in the boat was thrown across the salon and galley. It was like someone just picked up the boat and turned us upside down. The computers, cameras, binoculars, lamps, well, everything you can think of went flying including Ziggy and I.
This can literally be described as a life threatening experience that this guy put us in. Thank God Ziggy wasn’t out on the cockpit or even me as we would have been thrown overboard in these bad seas. I now wonder how the sports fishing guys behind us faired. They were literally more vulnerable because they were in the open cockpit and well, you just wonder about the guy up on the high wire. We were too busy trying to recover and assess our damage to even think about them.
Somehow our little camera went flying and while it did it miraculously took a picture of Larry with a surprised look on his face on its way down.
THIS GUY WAS DANGEROUS, LIFE THREATENING
I was so upset I got on the radio to hail this guy but who do you call? His boat was by now a small speck in the horizon. We have no idea how fast that guy was going but it was fast. I yelled on the radio that he was dangerous and that he ruined our computers, camera, etc. as everything was thrown across the boat.
It really shook us up for the rest of the trip. We just couldn’t believe that someone would deliberately do something like that. We were helpless to report him, not knowing his boat name, and he was so fast that no one could ever catch up with him. We just wrote down the time and waypoints thinking maybe that would be important to know if we decided to report him to the Coast Guard. We were also hoping if the camera wasn’t destroyed that we could see his boat name in one of the photos I took. We were very lucky to not have been seriously hurt and just coming away with a few bad bruises. Of course, Ziggy couldn’t speak any English to report if he had any injuries.
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This freak must do this for kicks. That was our only explanation. I hope he gets caught someday and caught good. He should not be allowed to run a boat that’s for sure.
RECOVERING
The seas continued to be very rough throughout the rest of the day. I managed to get things picked up but we were very worried about whether our computers, cameras and binoculars were ruined. Larry said our new computers have a shock protection so they should be OK and the binoculars should be fine too but the cameras were another matter. I had my doubts about the computers. I can’t imagine any computer being thrown across the room with a hard impact being able to survive that kind of abuse.
As I said we were shook up for the rest of the cruise and kept talking about the incident as being totally incredible and like nothing we’d ever seen since we’ve been boating. We were angered and very frustrated that someone could do something like that and not be accountable.
The boat handled the seas fine but it was a rough ride and the salt spray was nonstop over the bow and windshield. It was an exhausting day. Also, there were lobster pots out here that we had to strain to see and try to avoid. Sometimes you wouldn’t see them until they were just practically upon us because the wind, spray and waves and you’d have to make a last minute sharp turn.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMING IN KEY LARGO
Finally we were approaching Key Largo and our stop for the night. During our trip down Larry got a call on the cell phone from Candy the dock master confirming that we were coming. She wanted to make sure we knew before coming into the channel to the harbor that we should not come in first if a tour boat was heading in, that we should just stop and let them go on by. She also said to be sure to announce our approach to “Crash Corner” before turning there, and don’t forget to hug the last green marker as it’s skinny there and shoaling in. I didn’t like the sound of any of that after the day we had but was grateful for her conscientious warnings and instructions.
SKINNY ENTRANCE
Larry made our way to the entrance markers. The sea was still retching and the wind blowing but as we got close to the “skinny” water at the last green marker the water was starting to lay down flat. We both looked ahead an exclaimed “Boy, it’s a narrow entrance getting in here”. There’s really no room for someone else to pass at the entrance. We head in to the entrance to the harbor and I get busy getting the lines ready for more darn finger poles.
UH OH
As I go back to the cockpit to get the fenders suddenly out of nowhere there is a big tour boat behind us! It was a big dive boat and he was riding our tail. Where did he come from? Ah, oh. Remember, the dock master said “Don’t come in to the channel front of a tour boat, just let them go first.” That kept running through my mind as this guy just rode our tail.
CRASH CORNER
I very anxiously told Larry about him. Larry said he can’t worry about him as we were approaching “Crash Corner” right now. I guess your wondering about the name and I was too. I stood nearby as Larry called on the radio announcing his approach to “Crash Corner” and for any opposing traffic to call back.
Thank God no one called back. What would you do anyway? There’s no room to turn around, no room to pass, and this A____ H____ behind us is riding right up on our A____ so you can’t very well stop. I’ve about had it with these rude idiotic Florida boaters about now. Can you tell?
We make the sharp blind 90 degree turn of Crash Corner and now have a long narrow channel ahead of us with docked boats on each side. There’s no way you could pass two big boats in here and so I hope no one decides to leave the dock while we’re headed down here.
“Where are we going?” I ask Larry, getting very nervous.
“I don’t’ really know, to the end I guess”
“Where’s the end?”
“Down here. Don’t bother me right now I have to do this.”
We make another sharp turn at the end of the channel and there’s our marina finally at the end of this. Well, I say marina but it’s a channel with boats docked on each side. Larry is on the radio with the dock master now. She tells him where our slip is. She has a spot for us right in front of the marina office. Once we get up there I take a quick glimpse and it looks pretty narrow to me but I’m oblivious to anything about now after the day we had. Today I think that is Larry’s problem not mine. I just have to get these lines ready and on the finger posts.
CALM CANDY THE DOCK MASTER
Candy is calmly leaning against one of the finger posts on our little wedge of a side dock with a big smile and gives us a big friendly “Hi Guys! Welcome!” This lady is cool as a cucumber. She is calmly telling Larry which way to bring her in, like “little more to port captain”, “OK, bring her back now, you’re doing great captain”, etc. Then again cool as a cucumber she says to me “Don’t throw the line just hand me the stern line and then get the spring ready to loop around that pole that is coming up to you”. She was great. She completely had this down pat and knew how these docks needed to be set. I just loved this woman.
She was sweet as pie and made us feel so welcome. We told her about our experience and what a rough day we had. She said “Well, not to worry now, you can sit back and relax here, use the pool or Jacuzzi. Stay as long as you want.”
SO FAR SO GOOD
We had a lot of recovery to do with the boat after today’s harrowing experience. First thing I did was plug the computers in and Voila! They still worked. That’s saying an incredible amount for the shock protection built into those computers. The cameras still seemed to function as I tried taking some pictures but we’ll see if I can download them into the computer. The binoculars were working. So far so good. Later I downloaded the pictures from the cameras and all was fine and we had several good shots of the notorious boat but sad thing was, no ID on that boat.
We headed down to a local joint called Sharkey’s and had some beer and peel and eat shrimp. We were feeling a bit more relaxed now. We wrestled up some energy barely enough to wash the salt off the boat and then cleaned and picked up the mess inside. After a survey we noted some pretty major dents and scratches in our so far perfect floors and woodwork. The gouge in the salon floor surely was from the impact of one of the computers and we have no idea what flying heavy object did the others. We’ve also got one big long gouge on the back rail of one of the seats and have no idea about that one either.
PREPARE FOR THE WORST
Who would’ve thought that we would have had to stow everything like as if we were going out in 12 foot seas! We sure never thought we’d have an experience like that, a terrible experience done on purpose. Now we know better when cruising in Florida. You have to be prepared for the worst behavior.
NO HOPE FOR RETRIBUTION
Larry posted a picture of the boat on one of the Cruising Logs. We’ll see if anybody down in the Keys recognizes the boat and who this guy might be but we don’t have much hope. It would be nice to be able to report him to the Coast Guard and make him responsible.
Zig and I were exhausted after the ordeal of today and after the boat was clean, we both crashed for a couple hours getting some much needed sleep.
