Day 210 – Sombrero Dockside Marina to Plantation Yacht Harbor, Islamorada, FL - February 1, 2012

We are headed back north!  Well, technically it is more like north east right now, but we will not be going any further south.  The location we are recording as “the furthest south Boreas went on the Loop” is the Sombrero Key Lighthouse where we went snorkeling a few days ago.

We left Sombrero Dockside Marina at 8:45am and headed out the main entrance of Boot Key Harbor.  We had hoped to be able to use Sister Creek to leave, but the tide was down and we were a bit concerned about the depth at the mouth of the creek.  Our plan was to test traveling on the outside (in Hawk Channel) and see if we thought we could make it all the way to Key Largo today.  If not, we’d turn around, go back to the inside (in Florida Bay) and go to Plantation Key tonight and then on to Key Largo tomorrow.  The forecast was for winds today was 15-20 knots, but diminishing as the day went on.  We got about two miles in the Hawk Channel before we decided it was going to be too uncomfortable for a 50+ mile journey.  We were seeing steep waves and swell in the 3+ foot range.  The waves were basically straight on the bow, so no side to side rocking, but there was definitely some slamming into and off of waves.  Our friend Greg from Grianan would say there were potholes in the water and that is definitely what it feels like when you fall off some of the waves.

So, we turned around and headed back under the Seven Mile Bridge and into Florida Bay.  Conditions in the bay were “moderate chop”, which means waves around one foot.  It was an uneventful trip for the remainder of the day.  There were three places where we had to travel in manmade channels, dug through very shallow areas.  They were all well marked and easy to navigate, but it was quite eerie to see how shallow the water was just outside the channel.

We were tied up at Plantation Yacht Harbor Marina and sipping cocktails before 4:00pm.  There are a number of other Loopers here and we’d like to stay an extra day and catch up with everyone.  However, the forecast says that tomorrow is the only “good” day for travel for the next few days and we are anxious to get to Key Largo. 
 
            Miles: 49.6      Bridges: 1        Locks: 0

Brandy IV making her was in Florida Bay

looking north into Everglades National Park - the camera does not do it
justice, but the water here is amazing shades of turquoise, blue and green

not far away from the channel marker is VERY
shallow water - where you see brown versus
blue, you know it is shallow