Ft Lauderdale to Key Largo

We left our mooring in Fort Lauderdale at 7:15 in the morning motoring down the river towards the large draw bridge that once passed would allow us to make a quick left and head out to the ocean. The drawbridge, like many in busier areas opens twice an hour, on the hour and the half hour. We timed our arrival so we would be there a couple of minutes before the hour.
The 8:00 hour came and went and at 5 minutes after I called the bridge tender. I told him that I had read in the NOAA (National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration) Guide that the bridge should have opened at 8:00 and asked if there was a problem. The bridge tender replied quoting the book that the bridge would open on the hour and ½ hour if requested. I told him that I was new to the whole bridge thing and requested an opening at 8:30.
So a half hour later than we planned, we motored out of Ft Lauderdale and turned south towards Miami. The water was deep enough along here that we were able to stay fairly close to shore and see the sights. The shore was lined with numerous beautiful homes and mansions a couple of which were massive to the point of amazing.
As we got closer to Miami the homes were replaced by high rise condo buildings which lined up side by side down the coast for miles. I’m not sure of the exact numbers but I suspect that ½ of the population in the area must live in these oceanfront buildings based on the number of them.
The older buildings were more traditional but the newer ones where all different in their style and colors, I have never seen such a variety of buildings in my entire life. There were quite a few new ones in the process of being built which surprised us considering the state of the real estate market. Maybe it is still strong here or it just made sense to keep building them once they had started.
We turned west to head into Biscayne Bay, went past the large commercial docks, then headed south into the bay itself. Moving under motor only we followed the Garmin and the navigation signs thru the channel that was deep enough for our 7 foot draft.

The bay averages several miles wide and is about 10 miles long but the deepest it gets is about 12 feet in a couple of spots. Much of the water is only 2 – 5 feet deep and from the surface it all looks the same. In open waters with waves it is easier to see where the shallows are by the waves. As the water get shallower the waves break and form white caps, this is a sure sign of a place to stay away from. The color of the water is also a good indication of depths but this only works if it is sunny and not to wavy.
We picked a spot in a harbor on the west side of Key Biscayne to anchor for the night near the Key Biscayne Yacht Club. The spot was sheltered and the yacht club would have docks that we could bring our dingy and dog ashore.
After anchoring and getting settled in John, Ziggy and I took the dinghy ashore. I took off to the store to get some groceries while John walked Ziggy. As I exited the property I noticed the guard who indicated that he was not going to let me back in thru the property when I returned. I hiked the 1 ½ miles to the grocery store thru quiet neighborhoods past neat old homes and newer large homes which were obviously replacements for the older homes that were torn down to make room for them.
Walking past a park with families gathering for a Little League game I thought of how strange my life had become. While living in Geneva, IL we were up the street from the park and often heard the noise from these types of gatherings. These days we were more likely to hear the sounds of freighter horns, gulls and crashing waves.
I did my shopping and bought 2 canvas (not paper or plastic) shopping bags and filled them with our groceries as I had forgotten a backpack. After a few blocks I took off my canvas belt and looped thru the handles of the bags so I could sling it over my shoulder. Switching shoulders every few blocks made the trip back relatively comfortable.
After leaving the yacht club earlier John had noticed that the house next door had all of it’s windows covered with hurricane shutters, a sign that no one was home. When I called to get brought back to the boat we rendezvoused there and all was well.
Dinner was tasty as always; we relaxed for a while afterwards and went to sleep.
The next morning we weighed anchor and with no wind at all we started motoring to Key Largo. We were on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) following the natural and sometimes dredged channel from marker to marker.
A few miles into our trip we saw what looked like boxes or sheds on stilts off in the distance. As we got closer we realized these were houses on stilts with docks at water level and stairs going up 10 feet or so to the main level. Most of them seemed deserted but a handful of them had boats tied to their docks. As we motored by one of them we read a sign warning unauthorized people away. There was also mention of use with a special permit that was available with information at the website www.stiltsville.org. We visited the site which has quite a bit of info about this unique area which in it’s heyday semi-lawless and communal.

Near the bottom of Biscayne Bay we exited to the east into Hawks Channel which runs on the eastern side of the Keys all the way to Key West with a long reef several miles to the west. The reef on the east side breaks down the waves coming off of the Atlantic making it smooth sailing in all but the worst conditions.
We motored along uneventfully with John and I sanding the cabin and deck with orbital sanders until a US Customs and Border Patrol boat came up next to us. Seems it was a slow day and we were the only people in the area to harass. They requested permission to come aboard which they were granted and 2 younger agents came aboard leaving 4 agents on their boat that all tried really hard to look intimidating.
After introductions the lead agent asked our names, our business and for the boat registration. We told him that we did not have the boat registered as we bought it in North Carolina and were going to register it in Texas where we were going to be living. Texas, like many other states requires a physical inspection of a boat to register it so we were not registered but did have a bill of sale and the surrendered title from the previous owner. We were asked to give our ID’s to the agents on the other boats so they check us out.
I went below to find the paperwork and after a few minutes one of the agents came below and asked if we had anything down here that we should know about such as guns or drugs, I said no but was kind of weirded out by the way he had asked.
I still couldn’t find the paperwork so I called up to Julie to help me find it. The agent up top insisted that I had to come up while Julie went down for the safety of the other agent so I obliged.
Up top I started talking to the 2nd agent and found out he grew up in Wheaton, IL which is the town where I went to high school and lived for a while. After finding out that he was a DuPage County Sheriff, John mentioned the name of another sheriff that he went to school with that the officer knew and the ice was starting to melt.
Down below the 1st agent was nosing around in lockers and drawers while Julie was growing upset while trying to locate the paperwork. I remembered that we had a copy of the bill of sale and title e-mailed to us which we had saved to the laptop that we could show them. The 1st agent said that would help so Julie tried to retrieve the copies but the laptop crashed.
Just then they were told by the guys back on the patrol boat that our licenses had come back clean sot hey told us we were free to go.
I asked the 1st agent why they had stopped us and what they were looking for. He said that because we had no registration numbers the boat might be stolen. I laughed and said “If I wanted to steal a boat it wouldn’t be this one.”, he laughed too.
We traveled a few mile further and found a place to anchor for the night.