January 7 - 13, 2024
This week we took the inside route to the Channel 5 Bridge to Buttonwood Sound in Key Largo! Jimmy has wanted to try the inside passage but was unsure if Utopia could make it due to the very shallow depths along this ICW route. While in Burnt Store we met some very experienced sailors (Two Can Sail) who indicated that a boat with a 6’ draft could make it in the right conditions. They were quite encouraging, so we started to consider going that way, and did a fair amount of reading about the inside route. However, when we read in one guidebook that boats that draw more than 5’ should avoid going that way, we changed our mind to do the out outside passage (Hawk Channel, on the ocean side of the Keys), entering Biscayne Bay by Angelfish Creek.
Due to some heavy winds expected to blow through this past Tuesday, we requested to stay at the marina until Wednesday (I believe that most of Florida was hammered by that storm). We lucked out and the marina had some last-minute cancelations allowing Utopia to stay snug in her slip.
During our extended stay at the marina, we spent one afternoon walking the docks and spied Gone Again, friends of Two Can Sail that we met back at the fuel dock in Burnt Store (December 10 Blog Post). This was the second boat in this marina that we knew the owners prior to arriving here (Sofia being the other one). After chatting with Jim and Bonnie on their beautiful Lagoon 42’ (or was it 44?), the topic of the inside route came up, and once again, our interest in that route returned. So, the day before leaving Marathon, we went back to studying the route and decided to go for it.
By the way, we had a great experience at Safe Harbor Marathon Marina. My review of the marina and area:
First of all, they had the cleanest, longest, floating docks I have ever encountered. The docks were so tall, it was super easy to step on and off of the boat. All of the staff there are helpful and friendly. Rick at the fuel dock, along with the boaters fueling up were fun to talk to. On our last day there, all of the boats on our dock were offered a pump out from their slip. The guy providing the service was awesome, then he even came back to our slip to offer to help us depart without our asking for help. There are showers and restrooms spread throughout the facility, along with a gym, and quiet lounge area.
Marathon Marina is located on the west side of Vaca Key, and therefore close to the pedestrian bridge that goes out to Pigeon Key, for a 6-mile round trip. Publix is three miles to the west, where we walked to then paid $8 for Native Taxi to bring us back to the marina. On one of our walks, we had some delicious Key Lime Pie from La Nina, a very small Cuban restaurant.
The marina schedules a lot of events for boaters and the folks staying in the adjacent RV park, or those staying in their cottages to attend. On the Saturday of our visit, we attended a complimentary happy hour at the saltwater pool where we all watched the sun set over the water’s horizon. Which brings me to the general atmosphere of the place!
There is just something about the atmosphere here that is so pleasing and nearly all of the boaters are very friendly, lending an opportunity to meet so many cruisers in either sailboats and trawlers. Both Jimmy and I enjoyed talking to people up and down the docks, and at the pool social. While we soaked in a lot of information, we were happy to share with others where we could.
I added a few photos taken while in Marathon to the folder we shared last week. Note that you can sort the photos by name to see them in a chronological order.
Leaving Marathon Marina on Wednesday morning, we sailed while we still had winds, then motored into Long Key Bight where we anchored near the Channel 5 Bridge. Thursday morning, we timed our departure to arrive at the sketchiest part of the inside route with the high tide.
I had the helm during raising of the anchor, passing under the bridge and until we crossed the first of several “cuts” along the ICW route to Key Largo. These cuts are interesting in that when looking at a map, one might imagine the boat passing between mangrove islands, or at least cutting through a marsh area, but for most of these cuts there is no land visible. Think of seeing water everywhere, with an occasional marking for the ICW route, spaced about 1 or 2 nautical miles apart. Then all of a sudden, there will be a set of closely spaced channel markers in the middle of the nowhere, a warning that there are shoals to either side of these markers. Leave the edges of these markers and land will be found just under the water’s surface; and sometimes getting close to the markers could lead to running aground.
Jimmy took the helm about 90 minutes into our trip, where the waters started to become quite shallow. Both of us were on alert for the next four hours as we wound our way up the ICW, dodging crab pots and extra skinny water spots. I stood at the companion way looking forward for the pots, and the occasional boat, while checking two different maps: Navionics fishing charts on his phone, and Aqua Map’s USACOE survey data on my phone. We did expect to possibly touch the ground with the hope that we could plow through it, but fortune was on our side in that the depths we measured were often a foot, sometime even two feet deeper than what the charts indicated. The shallowest part we encountered read 0.8’ beneath our keel.
By the time we reached the last of these cuts, which actually went through beautiful mangroves, I was starting to get fatigued. The constant monitoring, along with the cold, cloudy weather had gotten to me. I hope that future trips that we expect to involve a lot of mental work be kept under four hours. I was very glad that were close to reaching the anchorage, where we lucked out again, for it was within an hour after setting the anchor that the rains came and stayed with us through the night. We were quite tired, yet so happy to have experienced the inside route without touching the ground. Perhaps next time we cross through this area, we will have some sunshine for a stunning view of the beautiful teal blue-green waters found on the ICW route (I need Cordelia to tell me what the real color name is for these waters).
Friday morning, we woke up to sunny skies and discovered that we could see all the way to the bottom of the dark green waters of our anchorage. After a trip to land for exercise (and finding an awesome Cuban bakery), we put on our wetsuits and jumped into the 69-degree water. Since it took me about 15 minutes to get my old triathlon wetsuit on (it probably has been about 9 years since last wearing it), I wasn’t going to let the cold water hitting my arms and face stop me from swimming around. Once we began to swim around, the water was not too bad. When the water temperature warms up a bit more, I will swim in my shorty wetsuit, which is not as buoyant as my tri suit, and hopefully make diving under the water a bit easier.
We have met some other cruisers in this anchorage, like John of Greenlights, a Leopard catamaran and Sara and Steve on Sorella, an Antares 4470 Hybrid. We also met some folks visiting from the UK that John had met during his long stay here in Buttonwood.
For now, we might stay here a few days exploring and taking care of smaller boat chores. But we have our eye on the weather and can move over to Tarpon Basin with no land access or Blackwater Sound which I hear has a lot of boat traffic through the anchorage. At least we can head over to these areas if needed without the worry of having to cross through more skinny water.
P.S. We try to keep these posts at a 5-minute read or less. We’ve found it to be challenging to share a week’s worth of events in a very brief manner. For example, things this week that we could have expanded on include:
The drama of getting to be able to stay at a marina that is full at capacity when a storm is approaching
Hunting and combating mold and mildew that seems to have appeared magically overnight
What is like to have a water tank empty out in the middle of a shower
Seeing a herd of manatees swim under the dinghy
Finally having weather warm enough to sit on the deck to watch the sunset after six weeks of cool temperatures, wind or rain
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