Singer Island to No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne, AICW mm 1096

May 20-21, 2017

Rob had been keeping an eye on a weather window for traveling from Key Biscayne to Marathon on the outside (on the ocean) via Hawk’s channel.  The AICW does go through the more protected waters of Florida Bay, on the west side of the Keys, but it is recommended that boats with more than 4.5 ft of draft take Hawk’s Channel.  While Lorelei IV’s draft is somewhere between 4.2 and 4.5 ft, -- meaning we should be okay to stay on the AICW through the Keys – the sea is whimsical and shoaling does occur, so we are more comfortable with charted depths of more than 8 ft.  Since the weather window did not seem to be opening up until Monday, May 22, we decided to stay at Singer Island another day so that we could get another dive in at the Blue Heron Bridge.

We like to see as much white as possible in the area we will be traveling in (Screen shot of Passageweather.com)

High tide wasn’t until 4:22 pm, so we had time to fill our tanks with our small high-pressure compressor, which can fill an 80 cu ft tank from 500 psi to 3000 psi in about 22 minutes.  We have to run our 12 kW generator in order to use the compressor, but we figure it’s still economical to use it versus renting tanks.  If we figure approximately 2.7 air fills per hour at even $5 per hour as a generous margin for fuel and maintenance costs, that’s less than $2 per tank.  Since typical air fills are around $6-10 and tank rentals around $10-15, that’s quite a savings, not to mention the convenience.  We have 5 scuba tanks aboard, but we used them all in Daytona, between diving the boat and teaching class, and didn’t have them all filled back up yet.

Since it was a Saturday, the area around the island was very busy with boat traffic, with boats being launched at the park’s public boat ramps and boats cruising up and down Lake Fort Worth.  It was a bit more rocky and rolly than the previous day but tolerable.  Most of the boats were relatively smaller boats, and the larger ones generally waited to ramp up their speed until they were mostly past the anchorage.  One very large boat, however, did not wait and waked us all severely.  With the wind and the current, most of the boats were positioned so that the wake hit almost directly on the beam, so boy did we rock and roll!  We leave the galley hold open while we are pumping air so that the compressor has plenty of air circulation since it generates quite a bit of heat while operating.  We rolled so badly that our captain’s chair and hi-lo table tipped over in the salon, things fell off of the counters, and our microwave in the galley hit the floor again – or would have hit only the floor if the hold had not been open.  Since the hold was open, it hit the edge of the opening before tumbling to the bottom of the hold, putting a huge dent in it, springing the door, and shattering the glass turntable inside.  Thanks goodness Rob had not been in the hold working with the compressor and that no one was in such a position to be flung overboard!

After we got things cleaned up, we debated whether we should stay put, leave the anchorage, do the dive, or not do the dive.  We hated the thought of Sasha being onboard alone if it happened again.  We decided that since it had only happened once in the 24 hrs or so that we had been there and since boats had been anchoring here for a long time, it was likely just a “perfect storm” kind of thing that did not happen very often.  Otherwise, surely people would have complained enough that officials would have extended the No Wake Zone to include the anchorages before now.

We decided not do the Big Bridge dive site due to all of the boat traffic – perhaps we would come back another time and dive it on a weekday.  We decided also to walk over to the beach this time so that we would have the tide with us for at least the first part of our dive.  Additionally, we had not seen much of the snorkel trail’s artificial reef structures on our first dive and wanted to see those as well.  The snorkel trail had a good variety of fish around the structures, but the water was shallow and murkier, probably due to all of the swimmers and snorkelers in the water.  Another negative thing about the trail was that the swimmers and snorkelers didn’t seem to be as respectful of the artificial reef structures, often standing on them or diving down and grabbing and poking at them and the fish.  We did see a juvenile green moray eel, a first for us, but we quickly had our fill of the chaos and headed on over to the Little Bridge.

Shark statue on the snorkel trail (Google image)

Artificial reef structure (Google image)

Snorkelers (Google image)

The rest of the dive was great, with the water clarity being a bit better today than yesterday.  We saw most of the same creatures as yesterday with just a few additions:  a large green moray eel hanging out in a hole in one of the wrecked boats, being cleaned by at least 2 arrow crabs; even more lobsters, including a literal pile of about 12 of them under a shelf of rock or concrete; a couple of well-camouflaged scorpionfish; a small guitarfish; and just as we were heading out to end the dive, a manatee that almost ran into Rob and passed close enough to me that I could have touched it!  Manatees can sure move fast when they want to, because the outgoing tide was getting pretty strong and the manatee we saw was gone from view in just a few seconds even though it had to swim against it.

Sea Robin/Flying Gurnard (Google image)

This manatee photo is an accurate depiction of what we saw ourselves (Google image)

When we got back to the boat, everything was still in order, so apparently no more rogue wakes had occurred.  After supper and our evening walk, we made our preparations for an early departure the next morning, i.e. getting things squared away, course plotted, weather forecast reviewed, etc.

On Sunday morning, we were done with our morning shore excursion and had weighed anchor by 7 am.  When we came to Singer Island from Jensen Beach, we went under 9 bridges, none for which we had to request an opening.  Today, we would be going under 37 bridges, 11 for which we would definitely have to request openings, and 3-4 more for which we might need openings depending on the state of tide.  Since we were hoping to go about 80 miles to No Name Harbor to anchor for the night, plus we wanted to top off our fuel tanks in Hollywood, FL, we would need to average 6-7 mph in order to make it to the anchorage before dark.

Cruise ship Grand Celebration coming in just as we were leaving

The bridge openings went smoothly for the most part.   For the first 4-5 hrs of our trip, there wasn’t much boat traffic, but by midday, it had really picked up.  There weren’t many big boats in the confined waterways of Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale and Miami, but there were plenty of small and medium sized boats cruising around.

Crowded waterways in the Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale, Miami area

Most of them were pretty good about slowing down for No/Minimum Wake Zones, but then many of them cranked it up once they were out of them.  Since the wakes from all of the boats bounced around off of the seawalls on both sides, the water was as choppy at times as a windy day out in open water.  As we went through one of the 22 ft clearance bridges, the water was rough enough that we bounced up and down as we went under.  Rob said that we had no more than 6 inches of clearance on the upward bounces and the tide was still coming in, so we decided that we should request openings for any of the remaining 21-22 ft bridges if conditions stayed as rough.  As it turned out, we got behind a couple of larger boats that required openings for even the 25 ft bridges.  Since they traveled a little faster than us and the bridge openings were generally timed to keep traffic moving along, by the time we arrived at the drawbridges, the larger boats had already requested openings and we only had to wait a few minutes at most.  There was no sense trying to get ahead of them even if we didn’t need the opening, because the boats would just pass us again since they were traveling at a faster speed.

Mega Yachts

Rob estimates that this mast was probably about 100 ft tall

A couple of cool-looking boats

We generally try to keep a little distance from both the bridges and other boats as we are waiting, because we have seen boats jockeying around in close quarters.  We can understand the desire to be closer to the bridges in this area however, because many boats don’t slow down until they pass the No Wake sign and then speed up as soon as they pass the Resume Normal Operations sign on the other side.  They really have no consideration for boats which are having to wait for an opening.   

Quite a birthday celebration being made ready

Deluxe accommodations indeed

The two larger boats left the channel close to Hillsboro Inlet, one turning into a marina and the other going out the inlet.  Boats which need to have the 13 ft bridge raised in order to go out at Hillsboro Inlet pretty much have to wait in the AICW channel, so the 2^nd larger boat pretty came to a stop in the middle of the channel.  There were also a few other boats jockeying about, including a small sailboat -- sailboats generally have limited maneuvering ability compared to powerboats – as well as boats continuing to approach to go through the junction, so we had a few anxious minutes deciding how to best maneuver ourselves.  We had just decided that we would just have to wait it out when the bridge started going up, and the congestion cleared up immensely.

Expensive home with cool hedge

Mar Lago.  We've heard that boat traffic gets backed up due to security measures when the President is in residence here.

We were on our own for the next three 15 ft bridges, but again we didn’t have to wait long for openings since once we were through the first one, the other openings were timed to keep traffic moving.  We also didn’t have to worry as much about bigger boats coming up from behind us, because if they didn’t come through the bridge with us, they would be at least half an hour behind us.  Boat traffic was also starting to slack off a bit since it was getting to be later in the afternoon.

Typical canal off of the AICW

A family of jetskis

Iguana out catching some rays

We reached the City of Hollywood Marina around 3 pm, but we couldn’t get anyone to either answer the phone or VHS hails.  We saw a dockhand on the fuel dock, and he waved us in when Rob called to him to ask if they were still open.  The marina is right off of the AICW channel and the fuel dock is a straight shot in parallel with the channel just inside the marina if you are headed south.  If it had been less windy, we would have had no trouble getting to the dock, but, of course, it was quite windy with the wind wanting to blow us off of the fuel dock and into a nearby boat.  To gloss over the more stressful details, docking was challenging, giving us another lesson in close quarter maneuvering in windy conditions, and the dockhands sure earned their tip getting us in safely.

This boat is 126 ft long, and its tender is about 34 ft

A busy day on the water to have to side tow another boat, much less its lift with it

We saw quite a few restaurants with dockage for patrons from the waterway

The SE 17th St Bridge is "only" 56 ft tall, so it has a span which can be lifted for very large boats or sailboats with taller masts.

We were on our way again by 4:15 pm, and the arrival time on our chartplotter showed that we should be in the anchorage between 7:30 and 8 pm, which is plenty of time before full dark at this time of year.  We only needed 2 more bridge openings, so we hoped that our luck would hold out.  Boat traffic was still fairly light until we arrived at the approach to the Broad Causeway Bridge. Here, there is a long stretch with large shallow area and sandbar on the beachside of the channel, which is apparently the perfect party cove for the south Miami area if you don’t want to go all the way to No Name Harbor.  We saw hundreds of boats of all sizes anchored, with more boats leisurely weaving across the relative shallow and narrow AICW channel with little apparent regard for a 25+ ton boat – which cannot stop on a dime -- bearing down on them.

Large boat anchored at the party cove.  It even brought its own docks for its small runabouts.

Needless to say, we slowed way down, but we still had to give a toot of our horn when a couple of young girls on a jetski darted right in front of our bow and started to slow down.  I don’t know if pictures could adequately show the extent of the madness, but we couldn’t spare any of our attention anyways, needing all eyes and laser focus to maneuver through the inebriated, clueless, or otherwise oblivious boaters.

Just as we thought we could relax as the channel deepened and widened back out, we had to deal with the wakes from boaters who were also taking advantage of the fairly deep water outside of the channel to blow by at speed up to the bridge, only to turn around and charge back the way they had come.  Since we had to wait about 20 minutes for the next bridge opening and it was tall enough that there was still quite a bit of traffic through it even with it closed, we went off of the channel a little ways and tried to keep our stern to the larger wakes.  By the time of the bridge opening, there were several other boats waiting to go through, including a floating billboard.

Floating billboard

Once we were through the bridge, boat traffic dropped off again.  The Venetian West Bridge was the last one we needed opened, and we got through with only a short wait.  If you are passing through this area on the AICW, you will also hear VHF calls for the Venetian East Bridge, so don’t get confused and think that it is the one that you might need opened for yourself.

As we approached Biscayne Bay, we began to meet more boats coming in from the Bay on the way to their home docks or boat ramps since it was close to sunset.  When we passed boat ramps, they were pretty crowded with boats waiting their turns to be taken out.

When we arrived at No Name Harbor at Key Biscayne, there were 5 boats still anchored as well as 5-6 tied up along the seawall.  A small boat was anchored in the middle of a large space between 2 other boats, but they said that they would be leaving shortly, so we should go ahead and set our anchor for that space.  I don’t think they realized how much room we need for a proper anchor set, so we got fairly close to them.  Once we were set though, we pulled in some rode to give them more space.  Because they were still there, we hadn’t dropped our anchor in the ideal spot to keep us from swinging into the bank opposite from our current position, so we debated putting out a stern anchor as well since the light was fading.  About the time we had decided to do so, the small boat as well as the large boat to our port were making ready to leave, so we were able to just pull up our anchor and reset it in the middle of the nice wide spot that remained once they left.  We’ve read that the harbor can be fairly crowded with boats during the day, especially on the weekends, so if we had been planning to stay more than just overnight, we probably would have shortened up our scope and put out a stern anchor to keep our position in the anchorage stable.

No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne (Google image)