Marco Island to Key West

[Constellation1]

Greetings - we are heading from Marco Island to Key West at the beginning of January, and this will be our first time doing this trip so I’m a bit anxious.
Our cruise speed is 7 knots and the days are short - I don’t want to run in the dark. Has anyone got a workable route for daylight hours cruising in January.

Thanks

 

[O C Diver]

January is also tough from a weather perspective. If you don't want to run at night, how do you feel about anchoring offshore for the night?

Ted

 

[High Wire]

Marco to KW straight up is about 100nm. With only 10 hours of daylight, not going to make it. How about Marco to Little Shark River to Marathon then KW.

 

[Anniesez]

Marco to Little Shark River, then Little Shark River to Key West is doable at 7 knots. I did it last Feb.

 

[Blissboat]

Marco to KW straight up is about 100nm. With only 10 hours of daylight, not going to make it. How about Marco to Little Shark River to Marathon then KW.

Good plan, under the circumstances. Easily done in solid daylight legs, plus less weather dependent. In January you'll be keeping an eye out for cold fronts that can stir things up, even as far south as Florida Bay.

 

[DavidM]

I have done that trip twice in a 6 kt boat, but always overnight. I left Marco's Factory Bay in the early afternoon so I could clear the shoals and be well offshore by dark. Then the only thing you have to watch out for is shrimpers who are well lit and one well lit tower, off the east of the rhumb line. Plan to clear the G1 marker to the NW Channel in early morning and make your way down it into Key West.

The first time I did it with my wife and she said it was one of the most beautiful offshore passages we have ever done- clear, moonlit skies and dolphins swimming along with us.

The other time I did it solo, setting a kitchen timer every 20 minutes to wake me up and look around. I had radar and the alarm set, so I felt pretty safe doing that.

I wouldn't leave Marco at night because the entrance is pretty tricky, but would take the NW channel at night as it is well marked. So you could leave Marco at sunrise and arrive at Key West after dark about 8-9 PM. So no real overnight passage.

David

 

[DCDC]

Have cruised from Marathon to Ft. Meyers several times in late spring. Slow boat, anchoring in or off Little Shark, and in Indian Pass. During that time of year there are lots of crab traps unless well offshore. We draw a little less than 6’ so we keep an eye on the tides when transiting the passes.

 

[Constellation1]

Thanks everyone. We will plan for Marco -> Little Shark and assess Marathon or direct Key West. Of course I have another ripple in my story ... we have a dog, is there any place for him to have shore time in Little Shark?

Is there a solid / recommended spot to anchor in Little Shark, or just use Active Captain's info?

Thanks again

 

[Choices]

At Shark there is a nice beach at the inlet.

 

[neworleansrich]

Don't forget the 2 million crab traps laid out in the most mismanaged fishery in the world.

 

[Steve1.0]

Don't forget the 2 million crab traps laid out in the most mismanaged fishery in the world.

I did a delivery on a Hatteras 65 (as crew) from Sarasota to Ft. Lauderdale thru the keys. While cruising at 15kts+- the captain just plowed right over the trap floats, and the bow wake just pushed them aside. We pushed aside hundreds. I kept waiting for the dreaded rumble of a fouled prop, but it never happened.


He says he discovered the technique by accident. While distracted for a moment on a similar trip, he looked up to see a trap float too close to avoid and the bow wake just pushed it aside.


I haven't tried this in my GB46, but I was there. I even stood a watch for a spell (just waiting to prove him wrong) but we never fouled a single trap.

 

[skyhawk]

I've run over quite a few over the years in an outboard powered small boat, at all different speeds. I recon you'd have to be going pretty slow to snag one.... or perhaps if it has much to much extra line that floats???

 

[Group9]

I've only caught one in my prop one time, but it was over in Hawk Channel, and there some 2-3 foot seas, so it was real fun getting under there and cutting it out with all that going on. My arms looked like I had been in a knife fight with someone with a lot of really tiny knives, from the barnacles on the hull.

One trick is to stay inside the Everglades Park as you go around (they have I-beam pilings sticking up ever so often to mark it, if you don't have a GPS that shows it). You're not supposed to put crab traps there so, its one place you can avoid them.

But, I've run over a lot of them that I didn't see in time to dodge, and that one time is the only time I had to get one out of my prop.