BACK ON THE MOVE

Friday night brought us yet another beautiful sunset. 

That being said, after 10 days here we were more than ready to depart.  Saturday morning at 7am, we pulled up anchor and headed out.  We took advantage of the North wind and sailed genoa only about 17 miles to the next bridge that we could get Free Bird under just north of Long Key.  The 1st thing we encountered was like 10 times as many crab pots as we have been seeing.  They dotted the waters in every direction.  We headed just north of the Everglades Park boundary and all the pots disappeared. 

What a relief as it is hard to continually steer around them and hold to your course.  Makes for a tired crew if you have to do it for hours on end.

We had not previously considered coming "back inside" to the ICW as we thought it too shallow for our 4'10 draft.  Draft for those who don't know is how much of Free Bird sits below the water.  So with a 4'10 draft we need at least 5' to pass safely and that's cutting it a bit too close.  There are also tides to consider inside although they are not as big as on the ocean side.   We met some other boaters who told us we should be able to do it and sent a few emails to others we know who have been this way and got some advice.  We were hitting the first of the "skinny" parts approaching high tide which gave us a little extra cushion.  Have no doubt though, there is some shallow water here! 

See the shallow water, the colors are telling...

There were some narrow passages too.

We pulled into Tarpon Basin at Key Largo about 4:00 and were just darn glad to be there.  Towards the end of our run, the tide was going back down and we were getting a bit nervous that we would run aground.  

Woke up this morning to yet more wind and decided to just stay put for the day. Made another grocery store run and tomorrow we'll push on at high tide to Angelfish Creek.  Then we will watch the weather and decide whether or not we can cross to the Bahamas on Tuesday or continue on to Miami.