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Old 09-28-2019, 06:52 PM   #21
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thanks for the feed back
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Old 09-28-2019, 06:53 PM   #22
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DD. Not brave stupid. On the far west side, at the last cypress pole I ran aground and had to wait for the tides and almost didn’t make it. Had three guys on the bow. Lucky.
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Old 09-29-2019, 05:48 AM   #23
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South bight with 4 foot below? U R brave[emoji43]
I was thinking the same thing! My boat draws four feet, and I wouldn't even think of trying that, even at high tide!

And, there are some hard bottoms in that water!
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Old 09-29-2019, 10:28 AM   #24
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That was my third time thru, saves a lot of time instead of going around and a straight line to Cat. The key is reading the water and finding some stakes thru shallow water. A hurricane went thru that area and wasn’t how I remembered it so it was more difficult but reading the water is really key. Current boat draws five feet so I’m limited to where I can go. Not really much I want to go back for anyway, bonefishing is superb.
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Old 09-30-2019, 09:36 AM   #25
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We spent winter in Key West, and bounced from Ft Meyers back and forth for almost a year.

After Fantasy Fest it slows down, there are good deals everywhere, till Christmas.

It does get cooler, occasionally, but no one needed more than blue jeans. We stayed at Stock Island and the Perry Hotel is part of it, all first class with a hourly shuttle. They now own A&B.

For my GB36 it was about $1500/month. High, but worth it. Bar tab was $200/day, restaurants $75/day for two. We enjoy life.

I will go back, crazy fun.

Once down there you can find all kinds of places to tie up, behind homes, yacht clubs, marinas, etc. But the wife likes having a pool and bar, and I liked the eye candy.

If your a vet call the naval air station, killer deal but aways off.
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Old 09-30-2019, 10:38 AM   #26
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About the Naval Air marina...what does "always off" mean?
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Old 09-30-2019, 12:32 PM   #27
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"A ways off", auto spell check. There are two bases, only one, I think, can handle Trawlers.
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Old 10-04-2019, 07:40 PM   #28
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The concerns about a full Marathon (Boot Key Harbor) mooring field stated above are a bit overstated. That mooring field fills and empties (at the margins, there are lots of semi permanent boats there) with boaters waiting for a decent weather window to cross over to the Bahamas. But when you get there you can call and get on the list for a mooring ball opening.

So if you are going to be there for 2-3 months then it would be worth anchoring out until the Bahamas wave opens up mooring balls. There are maybe three decent anchorages to wait it out: outside of Boot Key Harbor but fairly protected from the N and NE wind, just inside near the defunct bridge (maybe a bit dodgy with run down boats there) and way inside near the now closed Sombrero Dockside Restaurant.

Then if you have a weekly or monthly mooring ball contract, head down to Key West for a few days when the weather settles. It can be quite nice there anchored out or on a mooring ball in between frontal passages. Or take the bus from Marathon to Key West for the day.

I do agree with the advice above that the keys don't have many other anchorages with dinghy access to shore.

And on the way down or back up north, consider stopping for a day or two in No Name Key on Key Biscayne. But only in mid week. On weekends the Cuban Navy takes over the place.

David
Islamorada has good Anchorage on the weat side of the bridge/ key, nice area, groceries, but no fuel. Very shallow all around so careful with gps/charts. Very protected however
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Old 10-04-2019, 07:44 PM   #29
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Jackhulse....thanks...could you please be a little more specific.
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Old 10-05-2019, 07:49 AM   #30
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We rode a pretty good front out one time, in the cove just to the west of the Channel Five bridge, with a five foot draft. Really good holding and it was pretty comfortable. But, nothing there either. One little convince store with a really small marina, that we dinghied to (but the owner was the one who told us it was a good cove for riding out fronts).

We anchored right about where the southernmost anchor marker is and never had less than a foot and a half under our five foot keel. There were five other boats in there with us, so it has some room.
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Old 10-05-2019, 09:18 AM   #31
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Have considered that area but for me.... with marginal "expected" holding...not the greatest anchorage.


If I am going to anchor in possibly greater than 20 knot winds...I want better protection and holding....which this area has but limited if other boats beat you there...with not much else around t fall back to. Many Dec-Mar cold fronts can easily give you 20+ not winds so I was skeptical of this anchorage unless I had all day to investigate and backtrack if needed.
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Old 10-05-2019, 09:47 AM   #32
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Have considered that area but for me.... with marginal "expected" holding...not the greatest anchorage.


If I am going to anchor in possibly greater than 20 knot winds...I want better protection and holding....which this area has but limited if other boats beat you there...with not much else around t fall back to. Many Dec-Mar cold fronts can easily give you 20+ not winds so I was skeptical of this anchorage unless I had all day to investigate and backtrack if needed.
All, I can say is, that we found the holding good, and it worked great for us. But, we did have a 55 lb Rocna and an all chain rode. YMMV.
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Old 10-05-2019, 10:04 AM   #33
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Like the Bahamas, I trust few anchorages in the keys as the holding 10 feet right or left can be completely different no matter what size/type anchor.


Just too many reports through the last 40 years since I frequented the keys to trust cold front wind predictions and open anchorages. Last time I was anchored down there.... 10-15 knot differences were noted so options were a safe backup.



I would try that area if I could get into a few spots that looked promising...but like I said...you have to be an early bird and backtracking to better anchorages is only a bet...not a sure thing if the crowd is in town.
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Old 10-05-2019, 12:58 PM   #34
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About the Naval Air marina...what does "a ways off" mean?
Boca Chica Marina is at Mile Marker 8 on the Overseas Highway and transient slips with electric included are available for $1.00 a day per foot. The only catch is that you must have a Military ID card, either active, reserve or retired.
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Old 10-05-2019, 06:03 PM   #35
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No problem being qualified...like many places in the Keys.... I hear they are full many months in advance.
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Old 10-08-2019, 04:16 AM   #36
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I have a friend who lives on his 37 Morgan on a mooring ball in the boot key field. He tells me there are spaces left, but they are first come first served. You can not reserve ahead of time.
I was going to use the boot key field and called ahead of time.
There was no way they'd let me leave the boat unattended for 2 weeks while I went to work :-/
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Old 10-08-2019, 08:35 AM   #37
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Nop

Check out the area, how would they know? Many boats are left there for weeks or months at a time. I had a friend who left his boat there all winter.
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Old 10-08-2019, 04:57 PM   #38
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No problem being qualified...like many places in the Keys.... I hear they are full many months in advance.
That is not the case at all. I have a permanent slip and we have been here for the past year. The marina makes every effort to accommodate transients and we had a 56' Carver parked next to us last season for three months. Hurricane Irma shuffled the deck and a lot of long tern slip holders lost their boats or just decided that it was time to move on. Many of them were in their seventies. There is also a mooring field available if all the slips are filled. We are just starting into our high season and maybe 70% of the slips are filled.

Anyone interested in more information can send me a PM.
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Old 10-14-2019, 06:46 AM   #39
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Nop

Check out the area, how would they know? Many boats are left there for weeks or months at a time. I had a friend who left his boat there all winter.
Yeah I didn't even imagine there would be a rule against it or I wouldn't have told them what my plans were.
I surely could have gotten away with it for 2 weeks.
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Old 10-14-2019, 07:42 AM   #40
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Yeah I didn't even imagine there would be a rule against it or I wouldn't have told them what my plans were.
I surely could have gotten away with it for 2 weeks.
They don't call it "The Sailor Park" for nothing. Nobody follows the rules!
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