The Last Leg

We left Tarpon Basin Friday morning with the intent of making 18 miles to Pumpkin Key. An adverse wind that was stronger than forecast cut the anticipated trip down to 2.3 miles. Now we were on the expensive side of Key Largo. Beautiful homes and landscaping. A professional water skier was the afternoon's entertainment. A chase boat was filming his midair sommersaults, flips and rolls.

Saturday, with slightly calmer winds and a little better angle we started at dawn. We had the first 2 cuts to ourselves and enjoyed watching several dozen racing catamarans fly by in the opposite direction. Then, we saw the rest of the fleet. Over the next hour at least 100 sailboats passed us. The first few were just south of a narrow mile and a half cut called Cutter Bank. We met the main body of racers in the narrow channel. They were sometimes racing 3 abreast in the 80 foot wide channel. Just for added fun a few big powerboats were mixed in. We were the only boat headed north. It is a miracle that we missed them all; although, more than once, I could have boarded another boat with just a quick step over.

Finally we were in Biscayne Bay and turning a few more degrees north were able to sail on a fast and comfortable broad reach. The only problems of the day were when the generator quit working and the refrigerator died. Remember the cruisers motto - "The definition of cruising is: Fixing your boat in exotic locations".

We are now on a mooring ball at Dinner Key Marina, just south of Miami. Now we start replacing/repairing things broken during the 100 mile trip up the calm, protected waters of Florida Bay.
Our water ski show:
The end of the racers, of course I was too busy to take any pictures in the midst of the channel and racers: