Bigfish
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2013
- Messages
- 297
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- My Lady
- Vessel Make
- Formosa 42 Double Cabin
After 4 months of preparation, we left Marco Island, Fl on October 12th. My Lady, a "rare," 1981 Formosa double cabin trawler performed well on the 9 hour trip south to Shell Key. Dodged thousands of crab pots and shallow water. Our 4' 6" draft made things interesting with our 12 year old chartplotter and charts...
Got directions confused and ran aground trying to get into Coral Bay Marina. Sat for a few hours until high tide floated us off damage free.
Anchored out that night then onto Mangrove Marina in Tavernier the next day. Stayed there for 3 days, ate great Cuban food, fixed a few things then left on the 20th to head south to Snake Creek and out into the Atlantic. Headed straight to Bimini and our 8 knot normal cruise speed increased to 12 at one point with the help of the Florida Current.
Anchored out off the beach on North Bimini Island in crystal clear blue water!
Then into Big Game Marina to go through customs and immigration. Left in the late afternoon to head to an anchorage south of South Bimini when just out of the channel I lost my old chartplotter and new Garmin chartplotter simultaneously sonar! We crept around the point and into the bay with my wife and her friend on the bow watching for shallow water. Just as I was about to take her out of gear, we ran aground on a sandy grass bottom that obviously looked much deeper to the girls than it actually was. Waited two hours for the tide to float us off and we backed into deeper water and anchored for the night.
Next day came back into the harbor and a slip at Brown's Marina to get things working right again. Then the wind came up today and we'll probably be here for a few more days. Beautiful place though! Having fun!
Got directions confused and ran aground trying to get into Coral Bay Marina. Sat for a few hours until high tide floated us off damage free.
Anchored out that night then onto Mangrove Marina in Tavernier the next day. Stayed there for 3 days, ate great Cuban food, fixed a few things then left on the 20th to head south to Snake Creek and out into the Atlantic. Headed straight to Bimini and our 8 knot normal cruise speed increased to 12 at one point with the help of the Florida Current.
Anchored out off the beach on North Bimini Island in crystal clear blue water!
Then into Big Game Marina to go through customs and immigration. Left in the late afternoon to head to an anchorage south of South Bimini when just out of the channel I lost my old chartplotter and new Garmin chartplotter simultaneously sonar! We crept around the point and into the bay with my wife and her friend on the bow watching for shallow water. Just as I was about to take her out of gear, we ran aground on a sandy grass bottom that obviously looked much deeper to the girls than it actually was. Waited two hours for the tide to float us off and we backed into deeper water and anchored for the night.
Next day came back into the harbor and a slip at Brown's Marina to get things working right again. Then the wind came up today and we'll probably be here for a few more days. Beautiful place though! Having fun!
