Category: Boat Trips

Day 4 of my Florida Keys sailing trip was at TRIP. Time to head home – the wind forecast was east to southeast. Hoping for an early switch to SE wind, I left the Scouts Sea Base and went through Channel 5, between Lower Matacumbe and Long Keys. The bridge is 65′ high, easy access to the Atlantic Ocean and Hawk Channel which is somewhat protected. It’s inside the Florida Reef and the reef breaks up the ocean swells. It was calm at first, because it’s shallow but farther out from land it gets choppy. No big deal – kinda. The wind was 15+ from the east and guess what direction was needed… yup, east. 15+ on the nose is tough going, the sails are useless at that point. My little inboard diesel is 14 horsepower pushing a 6 ton boat, it was working hard to make 3 knots. With no wind and waves, the engine can push the boat at hull speed, about 6 knots but not headed into the wind and waves. Boo Hoo

The wind was to clock around to the southeast, but that didn’t happen yet. And as one follows Hawk Channel, it curves around and eventually turns north. With that in mind, I slogged on. After over an hour in the slop, I gave up and turned around headed back to Channel 5 and the comfort of Florida Bay. Going with the wind and chop, it took me about 20 minutes to cover the same ground into the chop in well over an hour! Florida Bay is on the lee side of the keys so it was a lot less choppy. The engine didn’t have to work as hard, and the sails helped as I zig-zagged through the bay and channels.

I did take some videos as well as pix, they can be seen at Google Photos

As I wandered about the keys the weather was sooo nice, and I had nothing on my calendar so it was off to Islamorada Wednesday. I was running low on food, and I hadn’t had a shower since I left Fort Lauderdale on Monday, adding sunscreen day after day. It was nice that the gang at Boy Scout Sea Base found a slip for me to stay for the night. I was able to stock up a bit and ahhhh – a hot shower, and in the morning hot coffee and stuff.

By the way, the pix above are links to the original images at Google Photos, which have comments for each picture.

On Tuesday morning I pulled anchor and left Key Biscayne and sailed south in Biscayne Bay, passing a few keys: Soldier, Boca Chita, Elliot, Adams, and others. The bay is shallow in spots, so it’s important to navigate through the channels at Featherbed Bank, etc. Leaving lower Biscayne Bay, next is Card Sound and then Little Card Sound. A few “sounds” later, I dropped anchor at Blackwater Sound on the backside of Key Largo near Jimmy Johnson’s Big Chill Restaurant where I was able to have dinner and enjoy the sunset over the water.

Anchoring was interesting, it was windy and there is a small layer of mud on top of hard bottom. Using my anchor alarm app I found that I was dragging anchor. Up came the anchor and off to a more protected cove. With 2 anchors out, I set my Anchor Watch Pro / Alarm app and crossed my fingers. The anchors held while I used the dinghy to motor over to the restaurant – I couldn’t see the boat while having dinner as night fell. It was a leap of faith… I dreaded heading back to the cove to find the boat had dragged anchor in the dark. Thankfully the boat was still there!

One recent Monday, the weather report was perfect for a sail south for a few days (northerlies) then predicted a wind switch to southerlies later in the week. So, off I went in the sailboat leaving Fort Lauderdale and heading south in the Atlantic bound for Key Biscayne, near Miami. I anchored for the night near Nixon’s Florida White House

It was a blast to have Troop 8 aboard and watch them progress through their SCUBA skills, and enjoy the salt life. I’m not sure who enjoyed it more, Troop 8 or the BSA Burglar crew!

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July 19, 2022 was a nice day for SCUBA diving. With certifications done, all dives at this point are fun dives, no more instruction – time to implement new skills. First on the itinerary was a dive spot named Labyrinth, and spur and groove reef. Then, on to a similar type of reef named Boink. The gang enjoyed both sites and did a great job. It’s nice to see divers progress and become comfortable in the water!

Wednesday Cathy and I went snorkeling at Cheeca Rocks, about one mile from Breezy Palms Resort. I went and got the boat from Caloosa Cove Marina and ran it about 5 miles up to our place. It was a wonderful dive, the visibility was good and the reef was alive with life. We saw: grouper, sergeant majors, a sea turtle lazing about looking for lunch, hard and soft corals. Parrot fish. Angel fish. Christmas Tree Worms, which retreat in to the coral heads when frightened. Some Coral Bleaching <frowny face> but overall healthy coral <smile>.

Then on the Lorelei Restaurant And Cabana Bar

Cathy and April came to the keys for a visit with Ernie and we went out in the boat to make sure the sun went down 🙂

After checking in to the Breezy Palms Resort near BSA Sea Base, we went boat riding to see the sights. We stopped and toured the Boy Scout Sea Base complex. Then we went by the Oceans 305 restaurant and tiki bar, a neat spot located in the Fiesta Key Campground.

Then out to Florida Bay to watch the sunset.

The gang from Troop 5 was lucky to get good weather for 3 days and did a great job in the water getting SCUBA certified!

July 6, 2022 – Keeley, Louis, and Sean got certified by instructors KL and Spencer at Pillars dive site, diving from BSA Burglar! See link below for a Google photo album 🙂