Mosquitoes!

Day #22:  Boca Chita, the picture perfect key during daylight hours, but a living hell after the sun sets.   We should have been on edge  when everyone cleared out early: the families, the couples, even the crazies.  At first we couldn't believe our luck, to only have to share this beautiful place with one other boat.  We did notice the crew going below decks at dusk and dogging all the hatches and port lights.  In retrospect it's all so obvious, but at the time we were happy and considered ourselves fortunate.  Before the sun was even down the attacks started.  Quickly we took the cue from our neighbor and shut Nellie up.  Vicki in the salon and I in the pilothouse called out each time we made a kill.  The count was above three dozen in less than half an hour, and still they came.  The 3/8" thick windows bowed inward from the onslaught.  To survive the night we'd have to retreat to a smaller and more defensible space--the stateroom.  While our retreat was fast we still weren't alone and the blood bath continued.  Although it was 90F out we closed even the screened windows hoping to stem the tide.  Slowly, and close to midnight, the battle went our way. Hot, but finally alone we went to sleep.  We were out of Boca Chita, which would be better named Boca de Mosquita, by 6:45 am.  

We're anchored in No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne tonight.  It's only 13nm from Boca de Mosquita.  We're afraid they'll find us...  359nm into the cruise. DBH.  

Key Largo and North

Day #21: Happy Mother's Day!

It's nice to have some time to really explore the northern Keys. There's an awful lot going on here. After a calm night on the hook we were anxious to get a good look at the very north end of Key Largo; home to the Ocean Reef Club. Our dinghy explorations, the blue line in today's photo, confirmed for us what a special place this is. While houses start around $3M, I have to admit, they're probably worth it. Back aboard Nellie, and with Henry stowed, our next stop was Elliot Key, 13 miles to the north. This is clearly a hangout for the Miami crowd as there were over 200 boats anchored in the crystal clear waters. A lot of folks were swimming and playing with water toys. We anchored here for several hours and enjoyed the surroundings with them. With the late afternoon winds accelerating we weighed anchor and continued another few miles north to Boca Chita. This small Key is a National Park with a very well protected harbor--and very hungry mosquitoes.

Tied to the wall in Boca Chita swatting mosquitoes, 15nm today and 346nm so far. DBH.

Afloat Even Simple Jobs Take More Time

Day #20: My grandfather used to say, "I don't know what I did all day but it took me all day to do it."   I feel this way a lot while cruising.  The days fly by and there's not much to show for them.  The fact is there's a lot of overhead for anything you do while living afloat.  Take for example today's trip to get milk.  Going ashore in the dinghy means finding a dock to land.  The Caribbean Club (where allegedly some of the 1947 film Key Largo, with Bogart and Bacall, was shot) has such a dock but there's a quip pro quo; the dock is free as long as we dine there.  With the dinghy safely tied up we march into the Club and ask for a menu.  A blank look from the bar keep signals there's trouble coming.  We've overlooked the fact that the Caribbean Club is a bar--nothing more.  We order a Coke, a Corona and a bag of chips--$6.00.  Done with 'lunch' we start walking the mile along Route 1 to the Tom Thumb convenience store.   Halfway there we come across a Philly cheesesteak shop.  Seems our earlier 'lunch' hadn't quite filled us up--$12.00.  At the Tom Thumb we purchase one gallon of milk--$3.99.  We then walk back to Henry (our dinghy) and motor out to Nellie.  So, all told it took 2-1/2 hours and $21.99 to procure one gallon of milk...

You can see from today's picture that we doubled back while transiting the shallows between Barnes and Little Card Sounds.  Some poor fisherman had lost their engine and were paddling into a stiff wind.  The boat waiting to tow them home couldn't get close for fear of going aground. Nellie dropped her dink which was able to fetch the exhausted fisherman and join them up with their tow boat.  All's well that ends well.

Anchored between Pumpkin Key and Key Largo.  16nm today and 331nm for the trip.  DBH.

Dinghy Touring Key Largo

Day #19: Fronting Key Largo's Black Sound are several large canal front neighborhoods. The manmade canals were cut out of what looks like a limestone formed of seashells. The lots are mostly small, cutely decorated, with travel trailers in lieu of houses. Gentrification is taking place as some substantial houses have sprung up. If you're into fishing one of these places would have to be heaven.

No miles on Nellie today and holding at 315nm for the trip.

0400hrs Bridle Setting

Day #18: Just when the mild winds lull us into overconfidence, a mild blow this morning had us up early to silence the unbridled chain. You'd think we'd learn ;-)

This morning, after dropping Ethan and John at a dock in Islamorada, we continued our journey east.

I've come to realize there are many passages between the Keys--i.e. from the Gulf and into the Atlantic. While the charts only show a few navigable passes, fisherman, with local knowledge, know of many more. What's common about these 'local knowledge' passes is they're narrow, with swift currents, and very shallow. If you survive the approach, the Atlantic welcomes you with a gauntlet of sandbars and reefs. Henry, or dinghy, is a safe and fun way to explore these channels. He's fast enough to outrun the current, draws next to nothing, and light enough to portage should the need arise.

It was an easy 25nm run to the anchorage in Blackwater Sound, Key Largo. The total now is 315nm for the trip.

Reef Diving

Day #17:  My brother, John, and nephew, Ethan, who is visiting from Cambridge, MA, drove over from Naples to join us for a few days.  It couldn't have been a nicer day; there was only a wisp of a wind and the seas were dead calm.

  Our first dive was off Cotton Key in 6' of water over a very soft sandy bottom.  We saw lots of grasses and some fish.  Mostly we enjoyed just cooling off. 

Our next stop was the curiously named Hen and Chickens reef.  Quoting from divespots.com:

Giant Christmas tree and brain corals dominate the underwater landscape. Some coral heads are over 15 feet tall. This is a prolific area of corals that almost creates a labyrinth for divers to explore. Even though it's shallow, no divers ever regret visiting. Hen & Chickens is one of the most unique reefs in all of the Florida Keys.

John gets the 'Cool Customer of the Day' award after calmly announcing, once we're all safely back in the dinghy, that he saw a 7' shark exploring the bottom of the reef.  Yikes!

Safely back in the anchorage off Islamorada after 13nm of reef hopping which brings our total to 290nm for the trip. DBH

Wreck Diving

Day #16: The winds are down and the living is easy.  We motored east on a glassy calm Hawk Channel.  The photo shows what all the cool wreck divers are wearing--well, maybe only the cool wreck divers aboard Nellie D. ;-)  The San Pedro sunk off of Indian Key in 1733.  Not much remains on the bottom but a few cannons and her ballast stones.

The floating grasses we keep running across remind me of Van Gogh's Starry Night--a stretch, maybe?

While dropping the hook in Islamorada a dinghy can zipping over. It was Tom and Martha Talton out of Naples.  The Taltons have been cruising the Keys and Bahamas since the 60's.  Like us they're here on their boat waiting for a weather window to cross over.  Also like us, they've decided to cruise the Keys instead.  While we're not in the Bahamas we all ate like it at Lorelei's last night; conch fritters and cracked conch sandwiches. 

Ok, now I've seen everything ;-)

At anchor off Islamorada. 31nm today and 277 for the trip.