May 29, 2007 Part 1 of 2 No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne through St. John’s River

We went next to the No Name anchorage (it is really called that!), a little harbor at the southern tip of Key Biscayne. We took the dingy into a Cuban restaurant and had a great meal. From there we ran ‘outside’ in the Atlantic, about 2 miles offshore, to get back to Lake Worth. The ICW from Miami up to Lake Worth has lots of bridges and we wanted to avoid them, since we had enough of a taste of trying to time their openings coming south. It was a 10 ½ hour run but we had light winds and relatively calm seas so it wasn’t a big deal, especially with the autopilot. We just played lots of Jimmy Buffet music to while away the hours.

When we left Lake Worth the next morning, Rick was on the bow pulling up our anchor chain with the windlass, and Lynnie was maneuvering the boat. As the last 25 feet or so of chain came onto the boat the windlass gave a mighty groan. Rick looked over the bow roller and discovered we had snagged a much larger anchor chain which someone had abandoned. He got the boat hook and managed to wrestle the offending chain off our anchor. However, now the boat hook was carrying all the abandoned chain and could not be freed, so he finally let go, but at least our boat was free.

We went back to a marina that we had enjoyed on our southern run in Melbourne FL. It is a cool little town. I got to ride my bike to the grocery store while Rick did boat chores and changed the oil and filters in the 2 main engines and 2 generators. We met some new friends who own a sail boat and we had a couple of good meals with them. They live in Hilton Head so we are planning on stopping to see them as we go north.

Our next stop was in an anchorage in St. Augustine. We did some trip planning at that point. Our boat slip in Morehead City, NC is rented through June 16 so we discovered we had some extra days. So from St. Augustine we decided to head for Jacksonville, FL up the St. John’s River about 15 miles. We stayed at the River City Marina and Brewing Company (seemed appropriate). We took the water taxi across the river to the newly renovated downtown area which is called Jacksonville Landing. This is a shopping and restaurant complex done by the same company that updated the Baltimore Inner Harbor. All the water activity and lights of the city were pretty neat. It was a fun time.

The St. John’s river actually flows north from central Florida about 140 miles to Jacksonville. Since we had heard and read it was all navigable and a beautiful trip, we decided to take a couple of days cruising the St. John’s river. It was, indeed, beautiful and the southern reaches, below Palatka were narrow and deep with cypress swamp, Spanish Moss laden live oak trees, and occasional patches of water hyacinth. We spent 2 days on the river, finally turning back north about 80 miles south of Jacksonville.

From there we planned to head for Cumberland Island, GA. We’ve had a great time in Florida but are glad to be heading north.


Lynnie at the Cuban restaurant with Rickshaw in the anchorage.


This is Stiltsville, which is where fisherman built fishing homes near Key Biscayne until the hurricanes took most of them away and the city banned further development. There are just a few homes left.
This little guy joined us about 2 miles offshore in the Atlantic. He took a power nap for about 15 minutes and then left us to find his flock. We enjoyed having him onboard. The day before Rick went down in the galley and there was another guy who come into the saloon when we left the door open. Rick was able to get him out with no problems!

On the way up the St. John's river to Jacksonville. Container ships and tugs were working the waterfront.

Jacksonville at night is a pretty sight. The bridges are all lit. This is the Main Street lift bridge with another bridge lit up behind it.

Rick by the fountain near the River City Marina and Brewing Co. Rick and I asked a Park Ranager to take our picture looking over the Main Street Bridge. Coming up the St. John's River into Jacksonville.

The fountain at night. It changed colors continuously and was just amazing.

This is a small village that we anchored next to in the lower reaches of the St. John's river near a small town called Welaka. The last picture shows what they call 'Old Florida' with water hyacinth. Pretty place.

May 8, 2007 Key Largo to Key West, FL

We enjoyed our stay in Marathon. From here, we're headed to Key West on the "outside", meaning the Atlantic side in the Hawk Channel. We stayed in a marina and got to go to the local grocery store and do laundry and wash the boat. Always fun! We discovered a dockside bar/restaurant that we could walk to and that had local music and we enjoyed it so much we went there both nights of our stay. We even had ‘happy feet’ and danced to a few songs. The restaurant was described as ‘Keysie’ which we learned means: flip flops, Hawaiian shirts and a very laid back attitude. Gotta love life in the Keys! We particularily enjoyed the singer, Dan Sullivan, and his signature song ... "I'd Rather be Drinkin a Beer Here, Than Freezin My Ass in the North."

We left Marathon for a 6 hour cruise to Key West and spent 3 nights in that wild town. We enjoyed our time there as it felt like we were ‘on vacation’ from the boat. The marina that we stayed in was a resort/marina so we took advantage of it and used their pool a couple of days…and it felt just like being on vacation. It was fun. We ate some wonderful food and enjoyed drinks at a couple of the many, many bars that Key West has to offer. We left on the morning of Cinco De Mio, which was a good thing since it is their version of Mardi Gras; a bit too much craziness for us.

We have spent the last 3 nights in a small anchorage on the south side of Key Largo. We came here to get out of the way of storms which were coming from the North. We knew the weather was going to get bad so we wanted to find a place to hide from the wind. On Sunday night a huge thunder and lightening storm was parked over the boat for about 3 hours. The wind was fierce and the strobe lightening was a bit frightening. But we didn’t see any of the nickel sized hail that was predicted. While the winds have died down somewhat, it is still a bit more lively than we like to travel in.

Today we took Rickshaw about 6 miles out onto the reef and did some snorkeling. It was so cool to be able to do that from the boat.. Tomorrow, assuming the weather cooperates; we will leave and head north to Key Biscayne and anchor in a place called No Name Harbor. Below is a 'Keysie' boat!

Scenes leaving Marathon.

Customs House as we approach Key West.

Coming into Key West; Mallory Square where everyone goes to watch the sunsets.

Hanging out at the pool.

One of the many sailing ships that take folks out to see the sunsets.

These pictures were taken on the way to snorkling. The water was an amazing shade of blue.

May 3, 2007 Key West, FL

We have been remiss on updating the blog. Guess we are having too much fun!

After leaving Boca Chita Key, we continued our trip south. We anchored out next to a very small island called Pumpkin Key because some folks we know, who also have a Defever 44 like ours, were there. They came over for dinner and we had a great time.

Our next stop was in Key Largo at what Rick called a funky marina (I called it ratty). The dockmaster seemed to have only two teeth in his mouth and was, let’s just say, not overly friendly. However, we went to the Tiki bar for a hamburger and an adult beverage and it turned out to be a great burger and we had a fun time talking with the locals. We weren’t able to go into Key Largo proper because A-1A is the main highway from Key Biscayne to Key West and is dangerous to walk on or ride bikes. So, we did fun stuff like laundry and washed the boat.

We left Key Largo and made our way to Islamorada, the next island south. Our boat draws 4’7” and we bumped the bottom 2 or 3 times. We knew it was shallow water and just went slow. Luckily, what we bumped was just sand so no damage was done to the boat. We anchored out in a beautiful anchorage for 4 nights. It was a wonderful anchorage and we got to go swimming for the first time. We took the dingy ashore and ate dinner at the Lor-E-Lei Restaurant and Cabana, famous for their conch chowder. It was good!

In fact, it was so good we decided to go back for Sunday breakfast. We both got home cooked breakfasts, and two glasses of orange juice. Since it was prior to 11:00AM, and certainly 5-o’clock somewhere, we added some vodka to each glass, making Screwdrivers … their Sunday morning special. We then tooled around in the dingy, and explored a little mangrove basin which had another dingy dock with shopping. Then back to the boat for a nap …! Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

Tomorrow, Monday, it’s on to Marathon at Boot Key Harbor. For this leg we’ll be crossing over from the Florida Bay (northwest of the key chain) to the Atlantic side, as the water from Islamorada further west is even shallower than we found earlier. We’ll run thru the Channel Five cut into the Hawk Channel, which will take us down to Marathon and Key West, with water in the 20 – 30 ft range … much less stressful.

In Key Largo we watched a guy providing fresh water to a manatee under the dock. The manatee drank from the hose for about 30 minutes.

The color of the water is just amazing.

This is actually a dingy that has been made to look like a pink cadillac. Only in the Keys!

We finally were able to go snorkling. It wasn't that clear but we had to give it a try.

The Islamorada anchorage looking east. Lots of trawlers and lots of room.

Rick's sunset pictures at Islamorada.

We passed a bunch of stakes in the water to the left of the channel. The cormorants decided this was a good place to roost, and it made an interesting picture.

April 22, 2007 Boca Chita, FL

We have made it to the Keys! We enjoyed the trip down the Intercoastal Waterway in Florida; seeing the mansions, the yards, the incredible boats, and all of the funky parts. But the bridges!! Yikes. There are more than 80 bridges with heights from 6 ft to as high as 75 feet.

In the Palm Beach/Miami part of the ICW, there are bridges every few miles. Some of them open on the hour and half hour, some of them open on the quarter and three-quarter hour and some every 20 minutes. Which means that you do a lot of hurrying up, which isn’t so easy for a slow boat to do, and lots and lots of waiting for the bridges to open.

We left Ft. Lauderdale and headed to Coconut Grove which is, technically, part of south Miami, and a large art community. We took the dingy into town but were a bit disappointed that we didn’t find lots of artist’s shops. However, we did eat lunch at a great Peruvian restaurant, which one doesn’t find every day.

We could see the lights of Miami and Key Biscayne at night. We also got ash all over the boat from the fires in the Everglades, which we hear is a yearly occurrence. The ash in the sky, however, provided for a beautiful sunset.

After leaving Coconut Grove, we cruised about 2 hours to the northern-most Keys. Coincidently we passed some friends from our DeFever Association, Steve and Diane, as they headed north delivering another boat to Ft. Lauderdale. It was good to catch up on the radio and wave as we passed each other on the ICW. We’ve also made phone contact with Bob and Barbara, who are waiting for a weather window to cross to the Exumas, as well as Ron and Charma who are hanging out just south of us and we hope to see them tomorrow.

We are now tied up to the dock wall in Boca Chita. This is a very small island that was bought by Mark Honeywell (of the Honeywell Corporation) in the 1930’s. He built his own lighthouse as an aid to navigation and a pavilion to entertain his friends whom he brought over in his 70’ yacht, and this was during the Great Depression! Since his lighthouse was “out of spec” the Coast Guard wouldn’t let him keep it lit. It is now a part of the Biscayne National Park, and still pristine.

When we arrived on Friday morning we were one of two boats in the small basin and it was a lovely day with swaying palm trees and lots of silence. Since it is now the weekend, the small basin is full of small boats from Miami, sometimes rafted up together, and lots of boom boxes playing Cuban music. Just another adventure!! Tomorrow we will continue south looking for quieter keys, and will plan to do some gunkholing … hanging out at anchor, fishing and snorkeling.

Below: Yard art...yes a fish and a cow!


In the little park across from our Ft. Lauderdale anchorage; a man and his parrot enjoying the day.






Rick on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale.
Yes, a helicopter on the back of the boat, er, ship!

Lynnie driving Rickshaw as we enter North Miami.

Ash in the sky made for a beautiful sunset in the Coconut Grove anchorage.

This is the entrance to the small basin on Boca Chita. The lighthouse was built by Honeywell.

A picture of Rickshaw from the lighthouse. The Atlantic ocean is on the other side of this tiny island.

The water is incredibly beautiful. These shots are looking out over the Atlantic.

Lastly, the sunset. The first was interesting; as the sun set, it traveled through the lighthouse light!

Moving south tomorrow.