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Odyssey's
Key West Adventure
Going
farther every year!
This year’s trip to the Keys began on May 17th
with the goal of making it all the way to Key West from Melbourne along
with our regular cruising friends Barbara and Gary. Last year we made it to Marathon and this year we were bound
and determined to make it all the way to Key West. This year promised some
new experiences as Barbara and Gary just got a new Catalina 350
“Freedom” a few months ago and we expected better speed and looked
forward to comparing their performance with ours.
One
difference between their 350 and 1988 Catalina 34 was the cruising speed
we attained while motoring down the ICW from Melbourne to Peck Lake near
Stuart Florida. In the past
we were restricted to cruising around 5.5 knots, this year we averaged
over 6.5 without pushing the motors. During the day we also noticed how
similar the powering speeds of the two boats were. Several times we had to
power up for a bridge opening and we found that we could do hull speed
on
both boats. We weren’t able to raise the sails on the first day but made
very good time and were able to  anchor around 6:00 p.m. a long day, but we
covered over 60 miles. This
was our first rafting experience since they got their new boat and we were
amazed at the size difference, “Freedom” is much taller and it shows
in the attached photo. Peck Lake
continues to be a great anchorage and we got some great pictures with the
boats reflecting on the smooth waters.
Day two started out nicely but quickly became a
real pain when we hit Palm Beach County as they had just initiated a
“pilot” bridge opening schedule on previously “on demand” bridges.
The new schedule put almost every bridge on a very rigid schedule
and proved to be a real miserable experience for us. Come to find out that the bridge openings were predicated on
a boat doing 8 knots between each bridge – just a slight problem with
most sail boats. After an
extremely excruciating day with over an hour of lost time caused by
missing scheduled openings we spent the night at a marina in Del Ray
Beach, the marina operator said the trial period was a dismal failure and
they hope it will be repealed later in June.
For me it was an example of a county implementing a very negative
anti-boating regulation and I vowed 
not to pass through their county again
if they continue this process. The
good news was the operator told us that Hillsboro Inlet had just received
a 4 million dollar renovation and was very usable for sailors; in fact we
found it easier to use than some of the big inlets like Ft. Lauderdale and
Government Cut. The attached
picture shows the inlet as we were heading out to sea.
Day three was much better because we used
Hillsboro Inlet and were able to make Miami and Miamarina by 5:00 pm, due
to cruise ships being in port we had to use the cargo channel south of the
traditional channel. For once
we had winds in our favor and were able to motor sail to Miami and
averaged almost 7 knots during most of the day while  keeping the engine
rpm around 1500 – a very good day when you want to make good distance to
reach the final destination. The attached photos show both “Freedom” and “Odyssey”
under sail. The bad news for
the day was that Miamarina had just raised their rates, last year we paid
under a $1.00 a foot with our BoatUS discount, and this year they charged
us the minimum fee of 40 feet at $2.25 a foot.
Needless to say we probably won’t return to the Miamarina at that
rate, it’s too bad because it is a neat location with a friendly staff.
Three days is good progress for us to get from home to the
beginning of the Keys.
Day four we took the inside route to our
planned anchorage near Key Largo in Tavernier Harbor a very peaceful
location and only a short distance from the Jewfish Creek Bridge. We had
another great day of motor sailing in good conditions.
While working our way down Biscayne Bay we sailed past Bill Harvey
onboard “About Time” and had a great discussion. Once
again we made great time and speed and were able to make about 45 miles
before calling it a day. Barbara and Gary anchored this evening and we
rafted up in a beautiful setting with easy access to the beach for our dog
Thistle. This location was recommended in Claiborne Young’s cruising
guide and turned out to be everything he mentioned in his book.
Day five found us motoring to another anchorage
near Boot Key that Claiborne Young recommended as one of his favorite
locations on the Gulf side. At
one point we had a mother and baby dolphin swimming along our boat and it
was such a joy. We arrived at
the anchorage around 4:00 p.m. and as it was our turn to anchor we took
the lead and for the first time in recent memory we had problems getting
the anchor to stick and with the wind picking up we tried to stick it
two
additional times. We were frustrated and decided to make for another, more
protected anchorage when the storm clouds started heading our way.
We made an on the move decision to go to Faro Blanco Marina in
Marathon, a very good decision as we made  the dock and got everything
secured just in time to be hit by high winds, lightning and rain.
This marina is on the Gulf side in Marathon and just about directly
opposite from their ocean side marina.
The local Coast Guard station at Marathon was very active, it is
nice to know they are there.
Because of our great progress south we decided
to make it a short day six. We
left Faro Blanco early and about three hours later we made it into the
Bahia Honda State Park which has to be one of the most beautiful
anchorages in the Keys. The
park is now accessible to sailboats on the ocean side through a gap that
was made in the original railroad bridge built by Mr. Flagler in 1912.
We were warned that currents and anchoring conditions were a little
tricky and so we took a lot of precautions to make sure we wouldn’t
drift. For this reason we
decided not to raft up and go it on our respective anchors, a 33 pound
claw for both of us. We got
great pictures from the Park and the bridge that you are allowed to walk
on gives you great vistas around the Keys. The evening was windy and our
anchor alarm kept waking us up, not the best night I have had at anchorage
even though we really didn’t move during the night.
Regardless, the next day I called home and told my daughter to
bring our 35 pound Delta Fast Set with her when she met us in Key West.
We arrived in Key West Bight Marina the following day
for our four day stay in the southern most city in the USA. The municipal marina is extremely well located right in the heart
of the action of Key West and the variety of boats, activities, and people
really makes this an enjoyable city to visit.
When you tie up in this marina you blend in with  everyone, the
tourist, charter operators, everyone and they all have access to the docks
and the facilities are clean but pretty basic.
A real positive is that West Marine is less than a block away and
there is a local marine hardware store that has a great selection of parts
you don’t find elsewhere. Regardless
of which store you go to the people are very helpful and know the marine
business and their stuff.
 We hit all of the major tourist attractions –
Sloppy Joes, Mallory Square, Hemmingway’s home, you name we went to
it.
Our daughter was over three hours late because of a fatal accident
on US 1, which goes to show how vulnerable an island is with just one
major highway that is two lanes in some places.
But having her there was great and her car made it easy for us to
get to a Publix grocery store for re-provisioning.
We had a great time in spite of the 90+ degree  temperatures and
intense sun, but that is why we live in Florida, once again we are so glad
to have air conditioning on the boat. 
Our pictures reflect the number of experiences we had in this great
vacation location. They had a local boat race on Memorial Day where all of the
boats had to be made with no more than 2 pieces of plywood and 2 2 x 4s.
On Memorial Day we pulled away from Key West
and started the journey home with the decision to take a more leisurely
pace home to Melbourne. So it
was back to Bahia Honda State Park for a retake of our fond memories and
experiences there. With the Delta now on the front of the boat I felt that my
anchoring problems would be a thing of the past. We had a great day of motor sailing reaching over 7 knots on
average, we couldn’t believe our good fortune of having sailing
conditions on the way down and then on the way back – this had never
happened on any of our previous trips.
This time, however, the weather gods gave us a very unpleasant
evening at Bahia Honda with a thunderstorm during the evening and some
wildly gyrating boats at anchor caused by the confused winds and opposing
currents. In retrospect I
would only go back to this location when the weather forecast is very
favorable. But the pictures
are worth a million dollars.
The following Tuesday we left early for a long day to
Key Largo and Marina Del Mar, a regular stop on our previous Keys trips.
Unbelievably we had another great day of motor sailing with the
engine at around 1200 rpm and showing an  average SOG of over 7 knots.
Another great day of sailing and we are really thankful that all of the
bad weather we have encountered is at night and we have had good sailing
experiences. Marina Del Mar
has been enhancing its facilities and the stay was very pleasant and
relaxing.
Wednesday we left with our destination being No
Name Harbor on Key Biscayne, another regular on our trips.
Once again a wonderful day of motor sailing with great speeds and a
lot of traffic in the Hawke Channel were we usually follow the submerged
cable route. Around mid-day
we had an encounter with a sailing replica of an old sailing vessel that
appeared to have a student crew aboard.
As we got closer to Key Biscayne the weather began to get
threatening and we decided to drop the sails and drift in the channel as
the storms were moving east across the bay to give them a chance to clear.
There was a front moving south through Florida and the band of storms were
constant so we held our position until there was an opening that we
thought was large enough to make the dash into No Name. We
timed it just right and entered the Florida Strait and moved quickly
towards No Name under an increasing rain, dropped the anchor got things
stowed and then the storm went through – a little hairy but we had
developed contingencies and were monitoring the lightening  to make sure it
was at least 20 miles away. After
the storm passed we weighed anchor to move closer to Barbara and Gary only
to be approached by the harbor master (volunteer) who asked us if we
wanted to tie up along the wall. In
previous times this was taboo, but with three other boats against the wall
we took that option, as did Barbara and Gary, and with the evening
progression of thunderstorms we were happy to be firmly attached.
The front provided us with a drizzly rain the next
morning but with the front threatening worse weather for the Biscayne Bay
later in the day we decided to head north for a short day to Ft.
Lauderdale through the ICW. The
light rain eventually lifted and our passage through the harbor was
uneventful and we stayed at another regular location, Bahia Mar Marina.
The marina is under renovation and when the new concrete floating
docks are done this will be a wonderful place to stay – close to the
beach and with great restaurants available.
The following day we headed north on the ICW
with the intention of exiting to the ocean at Hillsborough Inlet to avoid
the infamous bridges of Palm Beach County.
This turned out to be the best decision of the trip as we exited
the inlet we went out to catch the Gulf Stream and were rewarded with over
four hours of sailing without the motor.
At one point in the Gulf Stream we hit speeds of over 9 knots with
a peak of 10.5 knots SOG, never in my life have I experienced those speeds
under sail. During the sail I  think the 350 actually was a bit faster than
the 36, although it may have been my complacency with sail trim. When it
came time to get back in to enter Lake Worth inlet we reduced sails,
started the motor and showed speeds over 11 knots, unbelievable –
however once we left the Gulf Stream we re-entered the normal sailboat
speeds. You have to love the
Gulf Stream, when it works in your favor. That night we stayed at a marina right next to the inlet that
specialized in the charter fish business, they placed both of us on the
end of a T-dock across from the gas dock.
The current and constant boat traffic all night was not conducive
to sleeping and it was a fair night on the boat, if I were to do it over I
would have stayed on the other side of the inlet in the Lake Worth area
were the traffic pattern is larger and there are less fishing boats.
Our last day at sea was the trip from Lake
Worth Inlet to Fort Pierce and we had a good day at sea with the best
motor sailing conditions of the trip.
We made an average speed of almost 7.5 knots SOG and arrived at the
Fort Pierce Municipal Marina around 4 pm. This is the best municipal
marina we have  ever stayed at, wonderful facilities, very friendly and
helpful staff and well maintained. The
irony at Fort Pierce was that the city had spent a lot of money renovating
the downtown but nothing was open Saturday afternoon.
The following day we were going to motor up the
ICW to Sebastian Inlet and spend our last night at Captain Hiram’s
marina as we had the year before. We
called early in the morning and got a reservation for the long fuel dock
and told them we would be there around 2 pm.
When we got there the dock was full and they tried to put us in a
slip that was so shallow I just barely got the bow in, the dock master was
not helpful and we elected to head home to Melbourne.
To make this experience even more frustrating,  I
brushed the bottom of the channel on the way out, fortunately it was a
soft hit and I was able to motor though the shallow area and get back in
the ICW. Fortunately Barbara
and Gary had held back in the ICW during this whole fiasco and didn’t
have to deal with the tight quarters and shallow water, especially given
the fact they draft slightly more than we do.
We arrived home in Melbourne around 6 pm and
took a leisurely time getting the boats set up in their home slips and
then went out for dinner. We
decided to spend the night on the boats so we could take our time the next
morning getting everything packed up, cleaned up, and settled.
In retrospect we had a great trip with no real problems other than
some anchoring problems, nightly storms, and half a day of drizzle.
The size  difference in the 350 is really amazing and I love the
extra space that comes with the 13’ beam.
I think she sails as well as the 36 and Catalina has done a
wonderful job making enhancements from their experience. The 350 is also a
drier boat than the 36, the bow is higher and they took less water over
the bow. That said I still
love the lines and our 36 performed flawlessly, our boat motored or motor
sailed everyday and I put almost 100 hours on the tachometer without a
hiccup, the furling and sail handling systems performed without a glitch
and we are already talking about next year – the Bahamas!
Dr. Craig M. McAllaster
Winter Park, FL 32789
Craig M. McAllaster
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