We stayed at Key Largo for about 4 days, primarily because of the weather forecast. We knew the first few days would be windy and have significant seas, but, initially, it was supposed to calm down on Sunday; then it was supposed to really calm down on Monday; finally, it was supposed really, really calm down on Tuesday. We needed for it to calm down as the marina wasn’t cheap. Although Candy gave us a “retired military discount” (I think she made that up) it was still $2.50 per foot per day. Although conditions weren’t perfect, on Tuesday we decided we had to go.
We had been talking to Candy all week on the best way to get to the Intracoastal. From the charts and our Guidebook we knew there were three places where we might be able to transfer from the outside and the Atlantic Ocean to the inside. All three places looked like they had about 8 feet most of the way through – except for the first and last parts of the journey; those looked like they had about 4 feet at low tide. Since we draw about 4.5 feet we weren’t going to try it during low tide, but thought we should be able to make it during high tide. Candy had extensive experience in the area and had traveled Angelfish Creek in her 7 foot draft sailboat. She told us how to get there and what to expect. Moreover, she was sure we wouldn’t have any problems. So, we left early Tuesday morning and got the Creek about 10:00 AM, just a little after high tide. We slowly edged into what the chart said was the skinny water. If we got stuck, we reasoned, we would not go aground too hard and should be able to put the boat in reverse and let those two 550 HP engines pull us out of trouble.
As it turned out, we didn’t even come close to getting stuck. The water was, at its shallowest, about 7 feet deep. Moreover, there were some big houses on Angelfish Creek with some very big boats. We have found that rich people with big boats don’t like to get stuck either, so they make sure the waters around their dock are very well dredged. We crossed over into the AICW without a hitch.
| On the ICW on the way to Miama |
On the Intracoastal, there was only a slight chop. Given the size of our boat (55,000 pounds) we hardly felt it. In the Bay of Biscayne we saw several new (to us) kinds of fish. Ann saw jellyfish that were as big as a dinner plate. I saw a group of about 100-200 jelly fish in an area of about 100 square feet; they were practically lying on top of one another. For the first time in several days we saw frolicking dolphins and, for the first time ever, some flying fish.
Before leaving Key Largo we had tried to make reservations at the Crandon Park Marina. In our Guidebook, it said that Crandon Park was very good. Moreover, Active Captain (an internet site that publishes cruisers’ reviews on marinas) it was run by the City of Key Biscayne, was less expensive than most, and was a very nice marina. As I said the day before we left Largo we had tried to reserve a slip. Management told us that the marina did not take reservations, but it did not look overly crowded for the following day. When we arrived, we called on Channel 16 – as we did with almost every marina – for a slip assignment. They told us that we had to dock the boat at their fuel station, come inside with specific paperwork and only then they would assign us a slip. At first I didn’t believe it; over my boating career I had probably been to a hundred different marinas and I had never been told to dock the boat before being given a slip. Well, we pulled up to the fuel dock and saw that it was made for 30 foot boats – not our 52-footer. Moreover, nobody would have been able to refuel if we would have followed their instructions. Instead, we hung around for a few minutes trying to get the lay of the land and eventually found a dock that seemed almost empty, so we gently pulled the boat up to it. Of course, there was no one available to take our lines. Eventually, Ann saw and drafted a young man who clearly had no idea what he was doing or how to tie up a boat. Nevertheless, with some coaching from the First Mate, he eventually got lines around the pilings – at what turned out to the dingy dock – and Ann headed inside with our paperwork. I should note that this was almost a windless day. If there had been a 15-20 knot northerly breeze blowing us away from the dock we might have had trouble pulling the boat in and the history of our shakedown cruise might have been very different.
Anyway, after at least 20-30 minutes Ann came back with a slip assignment. It looked to be a good slip in the front row. Although they said they normally did not provide a dock hand to assist in docking, Ann insisted they find someone, so they did. I am sure Pablo was a nice kid, but he had no idea about tying up boats. He tried his best and we thanked him profusely, gave him a small tip, then undid all his work so we could re-tie the boat so it would stay in place. I have to tell you that while this is not the only marina that did not provide a dock master or dock hand to assist transients in docking, it was certainly one of the few (I can only think of one other). If I ever get into Active Captain and review this marina, I can tell you my review will not be as favorable as most of the others. The managers of this marina are bureaucrats in the worst sense of that term; they really don’t care how difficult it is to dock a boat in a strange marina, how important a dock hand can be, or anything else. The care only about having the paperwork properly filled out. I, for one, would have much preferred paying a little more and seeing some customer care.
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