Angelfish Creek to Key Largo

After playing around in the sun on the paddle boards we climbed back up on the boat, strapped the boards to the side of the lifelines, tied the dinghy back up on the swim platform and pulled up anchor.  Our 30 pound Bruce anchor has been holding strong. We feel safe and secure at night. As a backup we have the Drag Queen app that we have used quite a bit over the last couple of years. It recognizes our GPS coordinates and we enter a distance for how far we allow us to swing or drag from anchoring before an alarm goes off. This way if we did drag we would know fairly quickly. Generally we enter 100 feet but we get woken up a couple of times because of our swing. But better safe than sorry.

We head out, sails raised, with Pumpkin Key to our left. It is a beautiful day. We go through Card Sound which is really a big Flathead Lake. But the surprising part is that it is all about 2 feet deep, except for the channel that we go through which is about 10 feet deep. I sail underneath a fixed bridge then head on through to Barnes Sound. After that we end up in a channel that is edged by mangroves. There are a couple of boats fishing catching black and white striped fish that are about a foot long.

 

 

Boats out fishing around the mangroves. That is where all of the fish like to hide out.

Love the family time on the water!

 

Lookin good Captn' Mark

 

 

 

We had under the next bridge that is near Manatee Bay. There are signs posted on the bridge beware of manatees. When we were back in Fort Lauderdale at the Las Olas Marina there were two manatees under the docks that we got to see  up very close. They are what they say to be underwater cows. They are just huge. I would hate to hit them with the boat. Not only for our boat but for the manatees.

It's coming up about 5:30pm and we come in to Blackwater Sound. We are almost to our destination and decide to throw anchor in front of the Marriott hotel on the West side of Key Largo. We watch the sun as it sets and take a lot of photos. I'm testing out my new camera that Mark gave to me for Christmas. I haven't gotten used to the settings yet so it gives me an excuse to take even more pictures.

 

The Marriott where we were able to connect to their strong wi fi signal.

 

 

 

 

The nice bracelet Mark is wearing is made by Melody on s/v Vacilando.

Get yours in any color today!!

 

 

 

 

Beautiful sunset. Captured pretty nicely thanks to my new camera.

 

        Seared Ahi Tuna For dinner. Just barely cooked and dipped in Braggs and wasabi. Mmmmm!

 

 

 

 

In the morning we decide  to venture out. We need to go to the store and buy some more groceries. Lexmark would like to stop at West Marine and pick up some more parts for the engine. Its always good to have some extras along and if we need to replace this water pump it would be nice to have the parts. We found from Active Captain that we can take our dinghy up the canals and on the side of the wall at the end we can tie off and climb out and be less than 1 block from Marine West. After rowing down a lot of canals and hitting dead ends we finally found where we were supposed to be, tied off, and walked over to Marine West. On the way we stopped at a Cuban restaurant that had a walk up window and ordered some Cuban coffee. That was amazing. It comes in a shot glass sized glass. It is strong like espresso but sweet and frothy. It is so good. If you have the chance to try it do.

Marine West in Key Largo was terribly disappointing. Although Mark found four shirts to buy he found no engine parts available for the boat. We did meet a guy though from Wisconsin, really close to Mark's home town, and he drove us to Winn Dixie for groceries. On the way we had also stopped at a marine shop to find parts but they also carried nothing on hand.

 

 

                                         Welcome to the Juice House. Great  Cuban coffee.

 

 

After finding everything we needed in the store we started walking back. We found that it was a three mile walk back to the dinghy and in the sunshine it feels like quite a ways. We stopped at the Caribbean Club. It is a local bar that is very popular at night. It is where they filmed the movie Key Largo. We stopped and had a drink then saw another cruiser coming into shore with their dingy and asked for a ride back to our dinghy. They let us hop in the back of their pick up truck and I tipped them $5 for the trouble. We had lunch at a sushi bar called Num Thai. They were advertising $1 sushi. It was delicious.

 

 

 

102 miles to Key West. 420 to Jacksonville. I am glad we aren't going to Jacksonville!!

 

 

Blackwater Sound in the background

 

The famous Caribbean Club.

 

 

 

 

 

                                         Cool seating but very hard to get in and out of!

 

 

 

Before sundown we got on our paddleboards and paddled through the canal that went to the other side of Key Largo. There was quite a current in there and it was becoming high tide. The current was taking heading out and if we waited a half  hour on thr other side it changed and it would take us back in. That was a lot of fun and very different. We saw large iguanas crawling up the walls from the water. They're also very expensive houses along the way. It was fun to sightsee. 

 

                                                   An Egret in flight in front of the mangroves.

 

Nice palm covered dock. I would like one of those with some lawn chairs there for

nights with friends.

 

Great zoom on my camera caught this Egret.

 

The canals here were a lot of fun to explore and just meet the local folk.

 

 

                                                                          Jellyfish?

 

 

 

We understand that the snorkeling is pretty good around this area including diving. But the weather is getting windy and we are unable to go to the Atlantic side to be able to do this.

 

We have listened to the weather and found that there are northerlies coming. We will not be able to go further south because of our time frame and we need to find somewhere to tuck in out of the storm . Will plan to head back up through the ICW to Cape Florida and go into No Name Harbor.

We had hoped to get further south on this trip but sometimes it just doesn't work out the way we plan. Sailing and a schedule are a hard combination. We feel fortunate with what we get to do on the water.

 

What fun things have you done in Key Largo?

Cape Florida to Angelfish Creek

After a pretty good night anchored right outside of No Name Harbor, we headed out the channel and past the Cape Florida lighthouse.   This is a traditional looking lighthouse that is tall and overlooks the big wide Atlantic Ocean.

Last night when we came to our spot for the night, it was very dark . . . . I mean completely black.  We could see the little protected bay (called No Name Harbor) on the map, but weren’t sure if it would deep enough for safe transit.    And it wasn’t something we really wanted to try in the pitch dark.  As we went by the harbor entrance in the morning light though, we could see quite a few sailboat masts inside, so it must indeed be plenty deep.

As we passed by the point of Cape Florida (this is the very end of Key Biscayne, by the way – some of the priciest real estate in America), we were astonished to find we were in open ocean all around, but still needing to follow the marked channel several miles offshore.  The water on either side of the channel was just 2 or 3 feet deep – and we were quite far offshore already.  

Once we left the flats, the water quickly deepened and we turned south.   The wind was really “up”.  Our AWM (Apparent Wind Monitor) on the top of the sailboat mast was showing readings of 16-19, and some gusts of low 20s.   This seemed pretty doggone windy to us.

We started with the genoa (headsail)  unfurled about ½ way, but as we got more confidence and things were going good, we unfurled her all the way and “let her rip”!    We hadn’t yet installed any reefing lines in the mainsail either, so we had full canvas up.   I was shocked to find out just how stable the boat felt.  In our previous boat (a Catalina 27), we were very much tossed over into a dramatic heel when the wind gusted.   In this boat (a Catalina 320), it was much MUCH more stable.    While I’m certainly no Naval Architect, I “think” this was for two reasons:  1) size – this boat is 5 feet longer and about 5,000 pounds heavier.    Seems like it is just much more solid and it takes a lot to move it.  2) design – the shape of the wetted surface of the hull is very different.  The Catalina 27 was shaped mostly like a rounded U on the bottom.   This boat (Catalina 320) is like a much wider rounded U.   it’s clearly got a wide flat spot on the bottom before rounding up to the sides.       I think that translates into a lot more initial stability.

                                             The aqua water of the Atlantic Ocean.

                                             I am on the foredeck while Mark is captaining.

Take notice on the homemade bimini with our swim towels. The actual canvas had the zippers ripping out. They are now being repaired at the sailmaker so that we can use them in April.

In any case, it was very much more stable and comfortable in breezy conditions.  There wasn’t one single time where we needed to grab either the Jib Sheet or the Main Sheet to dump wind, despite some pretty strong breeze. 

We headed down south-ish.  Our plan was to parallel the banks/keys.  Interestingly enough, for the first 15 miles or so, there was nothing visible.  It looked like we were completely offshore, however, the mapped showed that approximately ½ mile off our starboard side, the water was 0 to 1 feet deep in an impenetrable reef/bank.  Strange.  Nothing was visible at all.

We had planned to head through these banks at a place called Caeser Creek.    We got lined up with the channel markers and started to head in.  However, we soon noticed that the engine was badly overheating.   YIKES!   This was no place to be caught without working propulsion.   I quickly whipped her around 180 degrees back to the East and raised the sails.   Shawnae tacked  back and forth across the entrance (in deep water) while I tore into the engine with all of my (LIMITED) mechanic-ing knowledge.   It was difficult to troubleshoot with the swells, waves and high winds. 

Eventually I made a decision that we needed to sail on an hour further to the south, and get “inside” at a place called Angelfish Creek.    Angelfish looked to be a better, straighter, and deeper cut to attempt an entry under sail power alone – with NO engine backup.

It turned out to work very well.   We had no problems navigating the twisting channel of Angelfish Creek.  Upon crossing through the mangrove banks, we entered Card Sound.    A short distance to the south found a nice spot to anchor close to Pumpkin Key.   

                 This is where we anchored at Angelfish Creek. A few other boats were amongst us.

 

            Beautiful sunset and un winding in the cockpit at the end of the day. The sunset is beautiful.

                        This is Pumpkin Key. We heard there was good snorkeling behind this island.

Once in a calm anchorage, we left the non-working engine alone and had a nice dinner.   I also spent some time online with google searches on the overheating engine problem.  

The next morning, based on what I learned through Google the night before, I narrowed down the problem to the seawater cooling pump.   I took it apart completely.  Fortunately, it didn’t appear to be damaged, just very “gunky”.  I removed the impeller and O-rings and reconditioned them with silicon.   Shawnae also buffed the pump backing plate with copper wool (like steel wool, but made from copper strips – it doesn’t rust in the saltwater).    We put her back together and tightened the drive belt. And crossed our fingers.  IT WORKS!     Yahoo.   We ran the engine for a while and nervously watched the temperature gauge, but it remained rock solid – right where it was supposed to be. 

Having that problem “solved” (we hoped), we took off on the paddle boards and explored a bunch of canals that are part of the very exclusive Ocean Reef Club.   Ocean Reef Club    This was fun.  We felt like we were kinda “sneaking in” although we weren’t doing anything wrong.  BEAUTIFUL homes and tons of very expensive boats.  The really “odd” thing though, was that we saw very few people.   The beautiful gorgeous setting and people weren’t even using these homes or outside doing things.

                                       This is the cut that we took our paddleboards through.

 

We are headed through the mangroves. They plant their roots in the water.

 

                                            Back to Endurance for  another day of sailing.

 

  

About noon, we were back at the boat, with muscles a little tired from this new paddleboarding activity.   A light lunch and we headed off for Key Largo. 

Stay tuned - - next chapter!!!