Arrival!

We woke before the sun on Monday, January 5th, excited about heading southwest to Marathon, FL. For more than 10 years John and I have imagined sailing south to the Florida Keys for the winter. Taking our time, seeing the sights, then landing in the Keys is #66 of 104 items on my bucket list.

Exactly one month after arriving at Sunset Harbour Yacht Club in Miami Beach, we pulled away from slip E-109 at 7AM and headed toward Key Biscayne. Rather than heading out to sea the way we came, we stayed inside the Biscayne Bay and exited at the Key Biscayne Channel into the Hawk Channel. The Hawk Channel runs about a mile offshore inside the reef separating the Atlantic Ocean from the Keys. We unfurled the mainsail, staysail, and genoa, then set our course for Rodriguez Key. Under robin’s-egg-blue skies and fluffy white clouds we sailed on a broad reach at 6.5 – 7.5 knots. The clear, blue-green seas were one to two feet with winds at 12 knots. Eric the autopilot held our course. John and I reclined on our cockpit cushions and grinned as we rode gently up and down on the waves.

We sailed about 50 miles on the first day and stopped for the night at the Rodriguez Key Anchorage opposite Key Largo. Fortunately, most boaters had reached their destinations so the anchorage was nearly empty. The water was so clear we could see the bottom eight feet below. The bottom was sandy and grassy, which made setting our 60-pound CQR anchor challenging. Once we were satisfied that the anchor would hold us for the night, John donned his wet suit, fins, mask, and snorkel and dove on anchor just to be sure. By 9PM we were asleep. John awoke at midnight to ensure we were not dragging the anchor as the winds picked up and clocked around to the east. All was well. John awoke again at 3:30AM. This time we were dragging. In fact, we had moved backward about three boat lengths. Thank goodness no boats were behind us and the east wind kept us from dragging aground. We were not in danger of running into anything, so we decided not to move the boat or reset the anchor. It seemed like the anchor had dug in again as we did not drag any further. John kept one eye open for the rest of the night. We had experienced another first that we had heard so much about, the anchor dragging.

As soon as we saw the first signs of daylight, we weighed anchor and headed for Marathon and, specifically, Boot Key Harbor. The winds were steady at 16-18 knots. With all the sails unfurled we maintained speeds of 8+ knots in two- to three- foot seas and 20 feet of water. We were frustrated at the tremendous number of lobster traps in the channel, which were difficult to see and challenging to avoid in the waves. Crab and lobster traps have small floats attached to thick lines attached to traps that sit on the bottom. Had we hit a trap, the line would likely have become wrapped around our propeller and pulled the shaft out of the boat causing us to take on water and possibly sink. With thousands of traps along the Keys it is hard to imagine there are any lobsters alive!

By 1:30PM on Tuesday we were pulling into Boot Key Harbor and Marathon Marina. NOAA weather forecasted a cold front and storms by Tuesday night or Wednesday, so we were delighted to be docked before the front arrived. We had finally arrived at the destination for which we set sail in October. Blue skies, 80-degree temperatures, light breezes, blue-green waters, manatees, mangrove trees, tiki bars, hundreds of fellow cruisers…we had seen it all in our minds for ten years, and the Keys are as breathtaking as we imagined them to be.