Sunday, January 17, 2021

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Part II)

 Barnes Sound Anchorage, Key Largo, Florida:  January 17, 2021

25.0865° N, 80.4473° W

Boca Chita Key
Biscayne National Park


Biscayne Bay water.


Our exploration vehicle.

Harbor entrance.

Marc-  We bought the most expensive fuel of the trip ($4/gallon) in Miami this morning.  Service was great and the marina was brand new:  Prime Marina.  We departed at 09:00 for Boca Chita Key.  We cannot get over how beautiful the water here is.  We arrived at Boca Chita Key in the Biscayne National Park just before lunch.  I had called the Park Service earlier and the only restriction was to not anchor in coral.  We easily found a sandy area with the clear water (in fact we saw the bottom the entire day through to Barnes Sound).  This Key is very popular on weekends and you cannot get a wall to tie up to.  We jumped aboard Fiddler's Green for a look inside the keyhole harbor.  The inner harbor has 7 feet of emerald colored water and there was not a single spot to tie up to.  The Miami PD was there making people leave from unauthorized areas where they had tied up.  We will have to return on a weekday.  The Island also has a small passenger ferry from the National Park headquarters in Homestead and a tent camping area with facilities and a beautiful beach/surrounding reefs.

We spent the rest of the day motor sailing in light winds to Barnes Sound.  As soon as we had anchored the boat, two friendly dolphins decided to swim around and under our boats in a sort of welcome to Key Largo.  We must have anchored in a good fishing spot as they kept coming back to our rafted boats.


It is so hard to get good dolphin photos  



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