This is a really sweet anchorage. I can't believe the place was empty when we pulled in here 2 days ago. There were thunderstorms marching by last night with high winds and some rain but we barely moved in this very protected cove. It was quite the lightning show and we were dramatically woken up with a very loud "CRACK!" of lightning somewhere very near us. We are about 1/2 mile from where we were anchored when struck by lightning in 2012 which took us over a month and $19,000 (thank you insurance) to repair so we don't like lightning around the boat.
Today, the winds are 12-20 knots right from the opening in the harbor and we still only have a light swell coming in. The winds should die today and be calmer tomorrow before the big storm predicted for Saturday and Sunday.
Yesterday, we dropped the dinghy, lowered the new outboard onto it and ran about 2 miles to No Name Harbor which is in a state park ("Billy Bags State Park" I think). It was a little bumpy and wet as we were motoring into a light swell with about a 1 foot wind-chop off the ocean. But, after a little sightseeing with the dinghy, we stopped for lunch at the Boaters Grill restaurant in the park before taking walk down toward the lighthouse. Lunch was on the expensive side but very good - $40 for the shrimp ceviche appetizer, caesar salad with Mahi-Mahi (which we split) and one sangria.
The state park has an $8 tie up fee which is on the "honor" system. There is a dropbox with envelopes near the seawall. No problem as we paid the money and dropped off our garbage. Even though we are pretty independent for 2-3 weeks on the boat while away from the dock, the major problem is garbage. If we are anchored near open water, we don't have a problem throwing organics in the water ("fish food") but we don't toss anything else. It all gets bagged for shore.
We only made about 1/2 mile into our walk before dark clouds came over so we headed back to the boat where we had left windows open. It was clear skies when we left...
The downwind ride back was a little nicer and we never did get any rain the rest of the afternoon.
Every morning we listen to Chris Parker's boaters forecast and still don't see a good window for crossing to the Bahamas. This batch of "impulses" coming from the Gulf of Mexico will finally end with a large front on Saturday / Sunday. After that, the winds settle down a bit but are mostly from the east - where we want to go. Laura and I have pretty much decided that if we don't see weather for a crossing by early next week, we will probably go back to Burdines in Marathon for a couple weeks (at least). The long range weather forecast calls for more moderating weather mid-February.
The past year or so I have been using a new marine navigation app called AquaMaps. It has a pretty neat anchor watch function which let's me relax a bit at night or during storms. It does a great job of watching where the boat is compared to where we dropped the anchor so I don't have to sit in the cockpit when the wind picks up. Check out this screenshot from just a few minutes ago.
The dark circle with the yellow outline is the section we should be staying in based on how much anchor chain we have out. Notice the black anchor icon in the middle of the circle. That is where we dropped our anchor on Tuesday. The box at the top of the screen says we are 75 feet from the anchor right now - I have the alarm set at 140 feet. I can walk from the bow to the stern with the iPhone and watch this number change. It's very accurate!
AquaMaps is constantly watching our position based on my iPhone GPS. If we drift outside of the yellow line it lets me know with a loud siren. I know because I forgot to turn it off when we went on our dinghy ride yesterday and could hear it even way down in our backback.
We've decided to stay here over the stormy weekend instead of heading back to Key Largo for a more open anchorage. The anchor is holding well and we're very protected. We may dinghy back to the state park tomorrow for a walk-a-bout. Only problem with this anchorage is sometimes a powerboat comes in from Miami then anchors and blasts music all over the harbor for a couple hours. What's up with that?
Even some of the homeowners blast the music!
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