The Travels of "Fruition": The Upper Florida Keys

one of the narrow cuts thru a sandbar "on the inside"

On Monday July 11 we were finally able to cut loose our dock lines which had so tenaciously been holding our boat captive to the dock at Marathon. Our boat had enjoyed a 2-month resort vacation here (even though Sue & I only had a month here), but has anyone ever told you that Florida gets HOT in the summertime?!?

Did I say that the cut was NARROW?

For those boaters who have been cruising down here, you’ll know that there are two routes to take eastbound from Marathon: the Hawk Channel “on the outside” between the Keys and the outer reef; and the ICW route “on the inside” between the Keys and the Florida mainland. We chose to go on the outside for about 30 miles and then cut to the inside at Channel Five to cruise the inside the rest of the way to Miami. The weather forecast was good for going on the outside, but as we all know, the weather guessers are just that – guessers. The wind went to 20 mph, we had 2-3’ waves on the beam so that we rolled like a puppy dog, and had sea spray everywhere. We had not properly secured our gear below deck, so we got to clean up the mess that evening.

Once on the inside, the waves were non-existent, but the water was SHALLOW! For two days we traveled in 6-7’ depths (our boat draws 4.5’), and sometimes we had less than 12” of water below our keel. But the water colors were beautiful and the scenery was gorgeous. The water was so clear that we could see the dolphins crossing under the boat as they came to ride our wake, and saw the 3 manatee feeding at the bottom as we slowly passed above them. We anchored the first night & went swimming in water so clear that you could see the anchor on the bottom.

View from our anchorage for the night

The ICW route cuts through the mangrove islands

The second day we continued north through the narrow cuts past the mangrove islands, up to Biscayne Bay to a little deserted island that we had been looking forward to visiting again. Y’see, Boca Chita Key is now a National Park, but in the early 1900’s was owned by the Honeywell family (Honeywell Controls) who started building an estate on the island. A few years later, his wife fell on the island & died from her injuries, so the estate was never finished. What remains are a landmark lighthouse and a fabulous boat basin, which is a magnet for the Miami crowd on the weekends.

For Sue & me, we first visited Boca Chita Key in the fall of 2007 when we were just thinking about buying a boat. We both had had much book-learning about boats from the US Power Squadrons, but I wanted Sue to get some hands-on experience before committing to living on a boat. So we chartered a 42’ trawler (including the owner/captain) for 4 nights/3 days out of Dania Beach FL. Sue had never driven such a boat, but within 10 minutes of leaving the dock, the captain grabbed Sue & said “Here. You drive!” The two of us drove & navigated for the next 3 days. And, of course, we went to Boca Chita to spend the night & fell in love with it. After that charter trip, I asked Sue whether she still wanted to buy a boat & live on it. She replied “Not yes, but hell yes!!” So here we is!

Approaching Boca Chita Key National Park

Paradise looks just like this!

View from atop the lighthouse. You can see the
Atlantic Ocean in the background

One of our memories this time will be our evening swim at the small beach, keeping our mojito (with fresh mint leaves) above water, wading next to the mangrove trees, listening to the cacophony of bird calls from the wildlife preserve ¼ mile across the water, and seeing the Miami skyline on the horizon. The contrast of being at such a remote place while looking at one of America’s largest cities was amazing.

The Miami skyline from Biscayne Bay

After 2 nights at Boca Chita, we continued north right past downtown Miami & the cruise ship terminals, into a very crowded ICW, continuing to a marina in Ft Lauderdale. Again, the contrast from where we were, compared to where we had been, was significant. From Miami northward, we basically saw nothing other than the “3-M” (mansions, mega-yachts and mangroves). We later saw that this pattern continued for 100 miles north. Whoever said that there’s no money left in America, or that there is some kind of economic hardship?!?