The Florida Keys are much bigger than I could explore in a year let alone the mere 2 weeks we’ll have spent there. I wish we had more time to spend sailing The Florida Keys but this is the time we had and we did a lot in that time.
Our goal was Key West but it is far! We had to break it up and make stops along the way. With a sailboat, you can’t pick and choose where the stops are. A lot of The Keys don’t have great places to anchor. You want your anchorage to be protected from wind and waves as much as possible. We are learning that those are not always easy to find.
Key Largo
This was our first and longest stay. We motored the boat down from Miami in about 7 hours. We drove because there wasn’t much wind that day and we wanted to arrive before dark. Sadly, sailing the Florida Keys isn’t possible without wind.
Our anchorage was in the ocean just off a few canals. Key Largo is known for great diving, which we enjoyed, and fishing, which we didn’t even try. Otherwise, Key Largo doesn’t have a town, just a very busy highway scattered with strip malls.
Aside from diving and fishing, this northernmost of the keys off the highway is known for The African Queen. It doesn’t make sense to me either since I am pretty sure that movie was set in Africa. The story goes that a local bought the boat from the film’s director, John Huston (Angelica’s dad! She’s awesome) to make it a tourist attraction. It’s a small boat with a stove in the middle and they charge retirees and other tourists a large sum to take them through the canals to the sea. They also honk a horn a few times. I wonder how much longer the appeal can last because all the people who remember that film are boomers and will be gone soon.
It’s on the ocean, a quick drive from Miami, so Key Largo isn’t all bad. The people are very friendly and we had some good meals and some good times there.
Marathon
The trip from Key Largo to Key West is too long for us to go straight through AND there was a storm forecasted for Sunday, so we opted to take a break in Marathon. That was different! Boot Key Harbor is so ideal for anchoring that everybody does it! After 6 nights as the sole or 1 of 2 boats in our ocean anchorage at Key Largo, the 100s of sailboats in Boot Key Harbor was dramatically different.
We stayed two nights and one day in Marathon, surrounded by hundreds of other sailboats. We got the impression that many of these sailors were waiting to head to Bahamas, while an equal amount seemed entrenched there.
The sailing community in the harbor is so established they even have a daily “meeting” on the VHF radio each morning, called a cruisers net. We tuned in and it covered everything from lost and found to sharing tips on boat repairs. Very useful!
We did go into Marathon briefly and again, it consists of strip malls along the highway. My impression was even worse than Key Largo.
We rode out the storm, tried to watch the eclipse but only caught glimpses through the clouds, and left Marathon early Monday for Key West.
Crab Pots
Sailing in the Atlantic through The Keys this time of year is a challenge because of all the lobster and crab pots. I called them “cartoon bombs” because that’s what they look like in the water. They are scattered about in strings, clumps, and random patterns which we tried to avoid so one didn’t get tangled in our prop. It makes the sail a little more hectic than normal. Like a video game only real life: You don’t want to set the cartoon bomb off!
On land, The Keys between Marathon and Key West sounds a lot more interesting, full of wild parks and nature. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of anchorages, and we were short on time.
We sailed to Key West and anchored outside with a view of the Navy Yard, some islands and the town. We loved Key West and found so much to do!
Heading Back North
Now we are back in Marathon for the night, after a beautiful 6 hour sail with the wind off our side the whole way from Key West. We are again anchored in Boot Key Harbor to ride out another rainstorm expected tonight. If all goes well we will be back in Miami by Saturday. We may have to break out our foul weather gear for the first time but at least it’s warm sailing The Florida Keys.
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