Florida Keys Trip, Part 3 of 4- Marathon/Boot Key Harbor & Big Pine Key

Missed part 2? Check it out here!!

Sunday, Dec. 27th- Lifted the anchor early so that we could start the 25nm trek to Marathon and Boot Key Harbor. We knew another fierce wind was coming soon, this time from the Northeast. Approaching BKH from the Northeast, you get to see popular places of interest such as Vaca Key, Sombrero Key Light, and Sombrero Beach. As we came around the corner into Boot Key, we approached through somewhat of a narrow and busy channel. Our boat buddies, Bill and Linda, had gotten a head start on us heading into the channel and we were all doing our research trying to figure out a place to hide from the upcoming 30-40kt winds again. There were shallows with some derelict boats and Book Key off our starboard, marinas and restaurants on our port. Getting closer to the Harbor, you approach Boot Key Road, or the “bridge to nowhere.” There is a permanent gap in this bridge which makes it much easier for boats with masts to make it through. We recommend to stay VIGILANT when passing through this area. The amount of derelict boats, sunk boats, yachts, fishing vessels, dinghies, shallow areas and tight channel make for an exciting voyage. After we tried to anchor in Sister’s Creek unsuccessfully…we heard from our friends that they found a good place at a marina. We then bobbed and weaved our way through the canal to Yacht Haven Marina.

Monday, Dec. 28th- The next few days were reserved for hiding from the wind, relaxation and reevaluation of our next move. Yacht Haven Marina is found at the very end of the canal, tucked up into the heart of Marathon. A very convenient location for cruisers, it’s basically in the parking lot for Publix, UPS and Walgreens. We spent the early morning accessing the damage from our anchor drag, then headed into town to see what we could find for breakfast. Within walking distance there are a lot of great places that are helpful for cruisers like bike shops, Home Depot and bait shops. West Marine is about a 15 minute bike ride, or 40 minute walk from the marina and along the way, there are fun places to see including a turtle hospital! Bella and I got to paddle board to go check out our new (temporary) neighborhood and really enjoyed paddling next to manatees! The rest of the time, we cleaned up the boat and of course, Bella relaxed on the bow!

Thursday, Dec. 31st, New Years Eve- One of our “to-do’s” while we’re here in Marathon is to make sure our watermaker is in good, running condition. It’s a great thing we’re so close to all these stores, just in case we need more supplies! The watermaker is an older ARMA design from Turkey that was installed close to the time our boat was made, around 2002. Luckily, it still works but it’s 220v so in order to run it, we had to use a secondary power inverter (which was it’s only job!) It’s also hard to find any info for it online and source parts if needed. That night, we had a delicious New Years Eve dinner and celebrated with our boat buddies, Bill & Linda. Cheers to 2021!!!

Friday, January 1st, 2021- We started the year off right by heading to Sombrero Beach. Both our family, as well as Bill & Linda jumped in the dinghies and made our way (slowly) down the canal to Sister Creek and eventually to the beach. The beach is about 2mi away from the marina by dinghy. Take caution when cruising around BKH. There are shallow spots (shoals), and lots of boats constantly moving about.

January 3rd-8th, 2021- We found out that it was less expensive to rent a slip at Yacht Haven for a month than it was for a week. We really didn’t have a timeline so we decided to stay a month, but also take some trips out and around the Keys. For our first night out, we headed to Newfound Harbor by Big Pine Key. Beautiful day of sailing with about 9kts of wind on the starboard beam and it was about 23 miles total and took us about 4 hours at about 5-6kts. Once we dropped the anchor we ate dinner, paddle boarded, and enjoyed the sunset.

January 4th-5th: We headed out for a day sail and then anchored near Lois Key (AKA Key Lois). This island used to be home to one of the largest laboratory animal producers back in the 1970’s. It was home to many rhesus monkeys until around the late 90’s. We ventured close but there were really no good places to land the dinghy. We listened intently for any monkey calls, but the only sign of creatures we found were in the shallow waters near shore. We had hoped to keep heading west, eventually going to Key West and the Dry Tortugas…but the cold and breezy January winter winds had other plans in mind for us. So instead, we spent two nights near Lois Key and then headed out on the 6th for a day of snorkeling at Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary.

Wednesday, January 6th- Around lunch time, we headed out from Lois Key to grab a mooring ball at Looe Key. This was our first time ever catching a mooring ball and I’d say that we nailed it! I was at the helm while the boys were on the bow catching the ball. It only took us a few minutes and one try to get it connected. We were very proud of ourselves! As soon as we were settled, we threw on our snorkel gear and headed out to explore. It was SUCH a beautiful experience, and it was a first for us as a family! That night we headed back to Big Pine Key for a night and in the morning made our way back to Marathon. On the way, we got interviewed by the U.S. Customs & Boarder Protection. They just asked routine questions as we approached BKH.

January 10th-17th- We said goodbye to our boat buddies Bill & Linda and then hello to new boat buddies, SV Santosha! We enjoyed more days exploring around Marathon including trying our hand at lobstering. Of course Bella and I paddled with many manatees and then we welcomed our new friends and neighbors on the 17th.

Jan 21st-Jan 23rd- As our month rental at Yacht Haven came to a close, we went for one more trip back out to Big Pine Key to spend a few nights. While there we enjoyed many beautiful sunsets, snorkeling at West Washerwoman Shoal, and lobstering.

January 24th- This morning we headed back to Boot Key Harbor to plan our push to the Bahamas. We made an agreement to go with our new found boat buddies, SV Santosha so we started planning our jump over to South Riding Rocks. In the meantime, we took stock of all of our ship’s stores (supplies and equipment required for the operation and upkeep of a ship) and provisioned what we needed at Publix right next door. On the morning of the 27th, we headed to another fun anchorage…Little Crawl Key! Check back for the next post where we spend a few weeks in Little Crawl Key…and get ready for the big Bahamas JUMP!