....................................--- Tavernier Creek to Key Largo ---
............................................................--- April 27 to 30, 2011 ---
Nights Anchorage: 025o 05.488' N -- 080o 27.044' W -- Key Largo--Sunset CoveTrip Odometer: 385.9 miles
Days Mileage...: 13.3 miles
North again on the ICW to Key Largo. More little....
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.... islands dot the days passage.
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You have to start paying a little more attention to he ICW markers. Here a cat looks like it is going to pass across our bow, but the cat is about ready to come about to her starboard once past the channel marker to the left in the picture above.
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Here she is making the turn at the marker and then...
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... goes by us on our port side. Ruth would kill to have stern steps down to the water like the cat above and some other mono-hulls. Every time she sees them I instantly know there will be a comment about them coming ;-).
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After more pretty islands and once last cut, Baker Cut, we turn to starboard and head into Sunset Cove at Key Largo.
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A few boats anchored here, but ....
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.... still not very crowed and we easily found a good anchorage. We hadn't been ashore since leaving Fanny Keys about 7 days earlier and decided to go ashore even though we weren't desperate for anything. I was able to hook up to a couple different WiFi connections here, the time of the day made a difference for some reason, and explored for options to go ashore. Finding a place to go ashore with a dinghy can be a major endeavor while cruising the Keys.
On the Internet or one of the cruising guides, can't remember which, I found the Upper Keys Sailing Club (305-451-9972 -- 025°05.930 N 080°26.522 W) a mile or so to the northeast, where the arrow is above to the left side of the picture. We could put ashore there for a couple bucks and they weren't too far from some shopping.
A gal came over from a nearby boat in her dinghy and introduced herself and also told of a very small inlet where she went ashore not too far away, but I wasn't exactly sure where it was so we used the Upper Keys Sailing Club.
We went ashore and did the hamburger thing and got some groceries and returned to the boat and didn't go ashore again to the end of the trip.
Of note: If you travel with dogs that need to go ashore. Most of the shoreline in the Keys and Florida's west coast is Mangroves and trying to find an actually beach is quite hard and a number of the beaches that you do find you are not suppose to go ashore on.
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I spent some time again in the water here and liked it also. I wasn't the only one.
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The guys above paddled all the way across the bay on their boards and disappeared out of sight.
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Some of the shoreline not too far from us.
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Again the one towel, top arrow, really did a good job of deflecting air coming into the front of the pop-top at anchor down into the cabin. Side towels held up also with simple clips helped to keep the air on you and also shade from any incoming sunlight if needed. This made the boat much more livable as the days got warmer. We never were really uncomfortable and think this March/April time frame is a great time to be in Florida.
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A good reason to name this place...
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... Sunset Cove.
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We were hardly ever disappointed.
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These houses were about 1/3 of a mile to the southeast of our anchorage and from us to them....
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... there was only a boat or two.
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I liked this little hideaway just in from us. Someone could probably make a lot of money off of that real-estate, but they are holding out. Good for them!
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We also started to see more and more abandoned boats ...........
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........ washed into the shore banks from here .....
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.... on north.
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We had wanted to move north into Barnes Sound for a couple days of sailing, but the weather predictions for just north of us were for some severe weather with major thunderstorms so we decided to hang at Key Largo and move north at the end of them and then take out and leave Barnes and Card Sounds and Biscayne Bay for another trip.
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They weren't wrong about the thunder storms as at night they went on ....
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.... forever to the north of us with....
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... the most continuous display of lightning I've ever witnessed. Here is a video of lightning north of Key Largo that is just a tiny fraction of what went on. It lasted for hours. (click HERE for video)
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We again put down a Bahamian Moor in Sunset Cove.
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We probably didn't need it, but again it kept us from swinging into unknown waters with wind shifts. I also like the lines when I go into the water for a swim. Also I'll put out a line with a float on it if I feel that currents might be a problem. Here there were none when I was in the water.
The build for the double bow rollers for the boat is ( HERE ). We also love using the cooler bags as rode bags. The line never tangles coming out and it is quick and easy to just stuff the line into the bags while you are going to the anchors to retrieve them. Also if the lines twist after a day or so we untwist them by using the dinghy tied to the side of the boat and fire the outboard up and spin the boat back around to untangle the lines. I'll often do that any time I see the lines are twisted so as to avoid a problem if we ever had to quickly get off of anchor. So far than has never occurred.
