Day 314 - Key Largo to Boca Chita Key, FL
Day 314 - Monday, March 6th: Last night the wind and wakes stopped and we had a quiet, peaceful night. We were up and underway this morning about 9:30am. The day turned out to be perfectly delightful, with very light south winds, mostly clear skies and temperatures in the mid 70s. This is what it looked like leaving the anchorage area:
We soon came to Jewfish Creek Bridge. They opened and we went through with no problem:
And this is Jewfish Creek. It is about a mile long and just mangrove on each side. Dang, what a pretty day!
At the far end of Jewfish Creek is Barnes Sound; it was glassy smooth. We had to get a picture of the clouds in the water:
It was a straight shot across the sound. Our wake made a pretty pattern, starboard side, then port side:
We noticed this trawler sort of sitting just off the channel, doing nothing. It was such a nice day they had obviously pulled off the channel, stopped the engines and were just enjoying Paradise. We thought the name was appropriate:
We were cruising in 7-8 foot deep water. It was gin clear and this is what it looked like off the bow of the boat. You can see the sand bottom, dotted with little grassy spots:
The next thing that happened (we were in Card Sound, just south of Biscayne Bay) was two identical, very fast, little boats sporting .50 caliber machine guns approaching us from the rear. We got a radio call from the Coast Guard boat in our wake, asking us to slow to idle speed. They were going to send a boarding party aboard.
Well, Bill was confident we had no contraband aboard and were in compliance with all rules and regulations, so we cheerfully complied. Three young "Coasties" came aboard, asked if we had any firearms aboard (they were bristling with them) and proceeded to inspect. They were very nice and we were very cooperative.
In the end, we were issued a vessel inspection certificate indicating "No Violations." We thanked them for doing all they do (they volunteered to defend us from all enemies), and they departed at 50 mph in the little boats. There was little delay, but it seemed dicey for a while.
Of course we were too taken up by the events to take any pictures. The Coast Guard probably would not have permitted it anyway.
We passed from Card Sound into Biscayne Bay and soon got our first glimpse of the Miami area skyline:
Have you noticed how the water has started getting choppy? The wind has been building from the south (behind us) all day. It is predicted to clock around to the west and strengthen by tonight.
Pretty soon we navigated our way eastward to Boca Chita Key. This is a very small island (key) between Elliot Key, a coral based key to the south, and Key Biscayne, a sand based island to the north. This zone marks the change from sand barrier islands to coral reef islands that comprise the Florida Keys. Boca Chita is in the Biscayne National Park. The approach looks like this:
Rounding the entrance to the little basin in the island, one sees the lighthouse:
We tied alongside the 1,000-foot long dock wall in the basin:
Mark Honeywell owned this little key in the 1930s. He is the founder of Honeywell Controls, Inc., the forerunner to Honeywell computers and other systems. He was wealthy (duh!) and built a fine estate on the island. This is what his boat looked like near the same spot we were tied:
We wandered around the island and enjoyed the nearly pristine park land and the shoreline. These Canadian kids enjoyed it even more:
Several buildings from Honeywell's estate are still standing and serving today. They were built from coral blocks, probably mined from the ocean floor in the area:
Close up, you can see the coral pattern:
This looks like the chapel they may have used:
Some of the old gnarled trees on the island may have been there when Honeywell cleared the land for his estate:
Now there are some pretty plants also:
We loved this plaque facing north toward Miami. Its placement relative to the viewing place seemed perfect (we don't expect you to read the words):
The structure around the base of the lighthouse was very unusual and very pretty. Honeywell even had his own cannon (we guessed it was his):
Being a National Park, there were several informational signs around. This one explained the problems related to protecting the live coral reefs of the area. We paid close attention to the sinking boat:
Out on the seawall the birds were all aligned with the wind:
The wind by nightfall was very strong out of the west and predicted to stay strong as it clocks around to the northwest and north. The sunset promised a nice day; we'll see:
Position tonight: N25 31.445 W080 10.534
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