March 3rd- Marathon to Barley Basin, Islamorada FL

We got a, somewhat, late start out of Boot Key Harbor today. Ollie had to “say goodbye” to the marina staff. He had his picture taken for a doggy wall of fame. We then waited for the cruisers net to announce our departure. I think I mentioned in another post, that when we stay in port for a while, we feel like we put down roots. It’s difficult to leave. Another week on the mooring maybe? We dropped our lines and headed out into a windy morning.

Goodbye harbor. It was amazingly calm in here this morning. Not so on the outside, near 7 mile bridge.

I immediately noticed a significant reduction in speed while motoring. I guess this was a manifestation of Catalpa putting down roots. One thing that I didn’t check before leaving was the bottom of the boat.

Part of my spring commissioning process is painting the bottom of Catalpa. This is a copper based anti-fouling paint that keeps barnacles from growing. It doesn’t need to be done every year but I usually add more paint anyway. I also paint the propeller with a similar paint but this wears off in a few months. It all works well in New England. Not the case in Marathon. We had the bottom cleaned up in Vero so I didn’t think there would be a problem. Apparently the sea critters in the Keys are not bothered by our paint.

Once out of the harbor I was able to raise some sail and pick up some speed. We hooked behind Vaca Key for a great sail on Florida Bay. The Keys blocked most of the wave action but we still had a good wind driving us toward our destination.

Our salt covered vessel flew into the anchorage at Islamorada just before sunset. I got Ollie in to shore. We had hot dogs and chili for a quick traveling meal.

We saw this beautiful boat ghosting along in the evening. I think it’s a sharpie.

In the morning, we had a sea plane land nearby.

March 4th- Islamorada to Black Water Sound, Key Largo, FL

On our trip down I was concerned about getting stuck in some shallow spots. On my GPS (navigation aid) I was able to lay a trail on the screen showing where I passed through on the map. This made getting back a cakewalk as I had a safe path.

We still had good wind and weather driving us along. I had to motor through the cuts in the mangroves but was able to sail the bays.

We made good time to Key Largo and got there early in the day. I donned my snorkeling gear and jumped over the side to see what was going on under the hull. As suspected, the prop was covered in barnacles and there was quite a bit on the hull also. The water around Key Largo is very clear so it was easy to see the problem. Our water up north it is mostly a murky green/black. I’m no diver but an hour later I had scraped clean the propeller and some of the hull. I also swam down to see the anchor on the bottom. Our new anchor is digging in well (so far).

Another sunset at Key Largo with rum drinks in the cockpit. Too many sunset photos? Maybe.

March 5th and 6th- Key Largo to Marine Stadium, Miami, FL

We feel like it’s August. Not Florida August, Massachusetts August. The wind was still from a favorable direction but it had died down quite a bit. The sun was blazing today. These past few days have been really nice. It feels good to get “out there” again.

Catalpa was gliding through Biscayne Bay, nothing around us for miles. No land, no boats. Just 8 feet of crystal clear water beneath us and the sun above. Eventually we turned off of the ICW path and dropped the hook in the middle of the bay for a swim. We felt like we were in our own universe. A half hour later we were back on track to Miami.

My hull and prop cleaning seems to have helped a lot. Our speed is much better with less vibration. It’s still not perfect. Maybe I’ll work on it more at the next anchorage.

Still flying the BKH burgee.

Approaching Miami. A big Regata.

The end of the day had us anchored back at the Miami Marine Stadium again. Crews are still working to disassemble the Miami Boat Show. They were setting it up when last we were here. Most of the piers are gone. We had a quiet night.

Today (Friday the 6th) we had some rain in the morning. Catalpa needed a wash down. We were even able to gather a few gallons of water. In the future I plan on setting up a more efficient system for catching rain water. It beats lugging big cans of water around.

Back to civilization.

It looks like we’re going to have some heavy winds until Monday or Tuesday. We are going to sit here until it clears out. Despite jet skis and speed boats with poor taste in music, this a good/safe harbor. We have plenty of provisions. The only thing we needed was ice. We stopped over at the marina and grabbed 30lbs (along with a pastrami sandwich).