3.12/Thursday Boot Key Harbor to Rodriguez Key

Finally the weather was favorable for our trip northeast. Steve had been at Boot Key for two weeks and was ready to get across the gulf and headed to the Exuma Islands. Yesterday, we made a run to top off the fuel and replenish the water tank in preparation for our departure. The mooring ball was released around 7:30 am and we slowly motored out the narrow and shallow Sister Creek to Hawk Channel. Winds were from the east between 15-20 knots, with 4-6 foot waves pounding us on the nose for a couple of hours. Steve said he thought it was the roughest he had ever seen the Channel. I spent most of the day braced across the cockpit trying to remember why I was making this trip! Nourishment for the day was crackers, snack bars, coca-cola, and peanuts until we anchored at Rodriguez Key. The few times I had to go below, I felt like a monkey hanging from the ceiling handholds in order to make my way to the head. We mostly motored, with the main sail out for stability, the entire day. I was thrilled when Steve sited Rodriguez Key, knowing that the day was over!

On our approach to Rodriguez Key, late in the afternoon, we noticed the absence of anchored boaters on the western side of the key/island, where we thought would provide the most secure anchorage from the easterly winds. We motored close to the island and the shallow water trying to decide if this was where we needed to spend the night. Thinking it odd that there were no other boats in the vicinity, Steve decided to motor to the eastern side and check it out. There, we found other boats anchored and dropped our anchor as well, all the while wondering why the eastern side gave more protection in the easterly winds.

Steve listened to the weather forecast to hear that the winds were still blowing from the east. Based on this information and the fact that we would be making the Gulf Stream crossing alone, Steve thought it best that we continue tomorrow along Hawk Channel to Angel Fish Creek. This would decrease the number of miles across the Gulf Stream and make the trip shorter. I concurred.

3.13/Friday Rodriguez Key to Angel Fish Creek

With a good night’s sleep, we motored out to Hawks Channel around 8:30 am, noticing two other sail boats in the distance heading north. By the time we got to the channel, they were over a mile or two away from us. The winds were between 10-15 knots, the sun was shining and we were ready for a great day of sailing. Steve raised the sails and to our surprise the wind had clocked to the southwest, giving us a great point of sail. I enjoyed being at the helm, hand steering Little Wing under these conditions and pushed her to go faster, gliding through the waves with ease. I had her sailing between 6-7 knots and noticed we were gaining distance on the sailboat that had passed us in the channel earlier. After looking through the binoculars, Steve remarked that the boat ahead was an Island Packet, with the name Gandalf, hailing from Boston, and we were in fact catching up with him. I finally gave up the helm to Steve after an hour.

He began to get in a race with the sailboat ahead. We were probably a quarter of a mile from him we heard his buddy in the sailboat ahead of him hail Gandalf on the radio. When Gandalf answered and switched to another channel, we switched to the same channel. The buddy ahead said, “I think it is time to make your move!” Gandalf replied, “I’m toast, you are the one who needs to trim up so he doesn’t catch you!” I looked at Steve and he was grinning from ear to ear. At that point, Steve got on the radio with Gandalf and had a good natured conversation about their Island Packets. It turns out the guy at one time owned a 380 Island Packet, but it was lost in a storm some years back.

As we began overtaking him, I moved out on the deck of the boat to take pictures of Gandalf at full sail. Steve radioed him that I was taking his picture and would email them if he would share his address. He seemed excited to know that I had taken the pictures and would send them to him. Soon thirty minutes after we had passed Gandalf, we arrived at the entrance to Angel fish creek and prepared for the narrow and shallow creek depths, leading from the Atlantic Ocean into Biscayne Bay. Since it was close to high tide, we did not have any problem with the depth of the channel and found our anchorage near Pumpkin Key easily. Before lights out, we listened to the weather forecast again and set the alarm clock for 5:30 am.