dcpringle
Active Member
- Dec 13, 2012
- 492
- Boat Info
- 2000 Sea Ray 480DB "Diamond Girl"
- Engines
- Cat 3196 660HP
Very cool pic of Retreat..
Trip to the Keys
- Thread starter Alex F
- Start date
Steve I'm bias but damn the 500 looks awesome in the ocean!!!!!!
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was in contact with Alex during your stay sounds like a fantastic trip!!!!!!
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was in contact with Alex during your stay sounds like a fantastic trip!!!!!!
ziekman@cox.net
Active Member
Great to see you guys had a successful trip!!!
trit21
Active Member
Ok..., so I guess you were to busy taking photos when I hailed a "Good morning Inspiration!" on channel 16 and didn't get a response!. Please let me know your experience with Galleon Marina.. We were very happy with the Westin......
Just to let you know before you get in trouble, it is illegal to interfer with manatees in the State of FL and that DOES include spraying them with water to give them a drink. Just to let you know and if the wrong FWC officer sees that you may get in trouble. Just an FYI.
Alex F
Well-Known Member
- Nov 14, 2006
- 9,166
- Boat Info
- 2005 420DB with AB 11 DLX Tender, Raymarine Electronics (2x12" MFDs) with Vesper AIS
- Engines
- Cummins 450Cs, 9KW Onan Generator, 40HP Yamaha for tender.
Ok..., so I guess you were to busy taking photos when I hailed a "Good morning Inspiration!" on channel 16 and didn't get a response!
You must have been in Cuban waters when you hailed me. LOL ... Sorry Steve, don't know what happened, but I'm scanning bunch of channels, and of course 16, but haven't heard a word from you. Anyway, the pic was more important. ...Lol...
Galeon is pretty good. You get a feel of being in resort and footsteps from the main downtown area. Docks are floating and in great condition. The only downside, it feels like parking in the heart of NYC. The fairway is narrower than my boat's LOA. So, it's "stick the bow between boats" approach.
P.S. We walked by Westin again for the sunset and the marina was rocking pretty bad.
But it's great place for sunsets.
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FootballFan
Well-Known Member
Stock island is filling up. Blue planet odyssey round the world sail trip is forming up at stock island for their departure next week.
We are out in the morning, back to Hawks cay for a couple days.
Would rather be at LPI, but have the pup with us.
We are out in the morning, back to Hawks cay for a couple days.
Would rather be at LPI, but have the pup with us.
FootballFan
Well-Known Member
Left Stock Island this morning, back at Hawks Cay.
Saw a bridge boat tied up at LPI, wasn't close enough to see if it was Retreat.
Bouncy, rough ride. Spent a lot of time this morning in the go/no go debate. Marina said I could stay (at the last minute). After all of the contemplation and weather source checks, decided to go.
40 - 50 NM dead into a 20+ knot East wind. Alex had left an hour or so ahead of me, was texting with him, his read on conditions was Steep and close together on the waves.
We went, it was the right decision for us. Still learning about weather and seas, and know that we have a lot to learn. In November decided to go up to Palm Beach, did a lot of studying and went. Learned a lot about the "no-go" parameters with that one. We turned back after 45 minutes.
Going to relax here for a couple of nights, then keep moving east and north.
mark
Saw a bridge boat tied up at LPI, wasn't close enough to see if it was Retreat.
Bouncy, rough ride. Spent a lot of time this morning in the go/no go debate. Marina said I could stay (at the last minute). After all of the contemplation and weather source checks, decided to go.
40 - 50 NM dead into a 20+ knot East wind. Alex had left an hour or so ahead of me, was texting with him, his read on conditions was Steep and close together on the waves.
We went, it was the right decision for us. Still learning about weather and seas, and know that we have a lot to learn. In November decided to go up to Palm Beach, did a lot of studying and went. Learned a lot about the "no-go" parameters with that one. We turned back after 45 minutes.
Going to relax here for a couple of nights, then keep moving east and north.
mark
I've been tracking Alex with AIS last reported position was inside Marathon key, 6hrs ago.this morning he did report 5' seas and not much room in between.
FootballFan
Well-Known Member
yeah - it was rough. He turned in at Moser channel. Last time we texted this afternoon he was within a few miles of his desired anchor position. We stayed on the outside, our marina entrance was about 10 NM down. He did say the water improved inside the bay - I think the term used was night and day.
We are sitting here till Monday, weather is looking really good then - will finish our run back to home marina then.
We are sitting here till Monday, weather is looking really good then - will finish our run back to home marina then.
cod
Active Member
So like most good things... this vacation came to an end. We were very lucky with great weather and calm seas. We only experienced one day of rough seas and it was only for a short portion (13 NM) in Hawks Channel on our way home to Naples from Little Palm Island in the keys. Once we went through Moser Channel which goes under the 7 mile bridge, it was flat the rest of the way. I'm sure Alex will post a lot of great pics..... but I figured I would post a few since we had different destinations other than Key West.....Our first stop was the Dry Tortugas which is about 70 NM west of Key West. The photos of Ft. Jefferson and the sea planes are the Dry Tortugas. The photo of the lighthouse is on Loggerhead Key, another island in the Dry Tortugas. I did a real nice dive on a wreck off loggerhead with tons of fish. At night the underwater lights would attract a dozen or so 3-4' Tarpon and we had 3 huge jewfish (5-6') just hangout under the boat each night. The only photo of Key West is Duval Street on New Years Eve. The other couple of photos are Little Palm Island......
Attachments
Do Over
Member
You guys are really starting to tick me off :smt089
Xplicitlnck
Well-Known Member
My retirement dream is to one day own a vessel large enough to be able to pack up in the fall and run down to the keys and pass my winter months as a dive master and a beach bum. It's really cool to see how realisTic my dream really is and to actually see my dreams become a reality through somebody else. One day that will be me! Glad everybody had a safe and uneventful trip!
- Jan 26, 2008
- 2,839
- Boat Info
- SOLD 2005 420 DA w/T-8.1S Horizons
- Engines
- 2018 Sea Hunt 255se w/Yamaha 300hp
We flew into Dry Tortuga on one of those seaplanes last April. I thought that was great fun. But coming there by your own boat would be on another scale. Wow! How long was the trip from KW to DT? How many nights did you spend there?
Thanks for posting the pictures. It really is a nice break from the winter.
Thanks for posting the pictures. It really is a nice break from the winter.
Gofirstclass
Well-Known Member
Alex, were you standing next to us on the Sunset Pier?
![DSCN1875[1].jpg](https://clubsearay.com/data/attachments/22/22157-fd1397db2f2e56bbc70d57f0955d3b4a.jpg "DSCN1875[1].jpg")
Just kidding. I took this Sunday evening 1/4.
It sounds like you had another great trip. Congratulations, and thanks for taking us along with you.
GFC and GW from Key West.
Just kidding. I took this Sunday evening 1/4.
It sounds like you had another great trip. Congratulations, and thanks for taking us along with you.
GFC and GW from Key West.
Alex F
Well-Known Member
- Nov 14, 2006
- 9,166
- Boat Info
- 2005 420DB with AB 11 DLX Tender, Raymarine Electronics (2x12" MFDs) with Vesper AIS
- Engines
- Cummins 450Cs, 9KW Onan Generator, 40HP Yamaha for tender.
Great shot! You're not kidding, this world is too small......LOL
I'm gathering all pics and will do a quick write up on the trip in the next few days.
Alex F
Well-Known Member
- Nov 14, 2006
- 9,166
- Boat Info
- 2005 420DB with AB 11 DLX Tender, Raymarine Electronics (2x12" MFDs) with Vesper AIS
- Engines
- Cummins 450Cs, 9KW Onan Generator, 40HP Yamaha for tender.
Cheers and Happy New Year everyone!!!
Our trip started off with visit to Randy in Delray Beach. Dinner at on Atlantic Ave in Carpe De Em was excellent.
Here are some pics with Holidays spirit.
Leg 1: FTL to Miami.
We picked Miami Beach marina to be close to South Beach area. It’s very nice marina in excellent location. However, there are couple of things I didn’t like. They have fixed concrete docks with limited cleats. Having tender on the lift made tying off the boat a bit challenging. On the day of our arrival, we had the hottest temps and we planned on using their pool. When we saw the pool we were caught by surprise. The pool was right in the middle between two bars and there was a big sign stating “No kids under 12”. There was no one in the pool. Well, first we though, no big deal, it’s probably meant kids under 12 with no supervision. So, we go to find out and in fact, the sing meant NO KIDS UNDER 12, period. Supervised or not, doesn’t matter.
But, we didn’t let this minor thing spoil our stay, after all we didn’t come there for the pool. Our main goal was explore the area. So, we didn’t waste much time and pulled our bikes off the boat. BTW, before the trip we finally pulled the trigger and purchased couple folding bikes, which I store in the ER. Those that like to stay active and exploring, bringing bikes on trip like this is a must.
As I mentioned, the marina location couldn’t be better. It’s adjacent to Miami South Beach by walking/biking paths right along the ocean. The views are stunning, the ride along the ocean path is just beautiful.
After riding bikes for a while, we had lunch in one of the restaurants on South Beach restaurant valley. Quite few offer specials and you get treated with gigantic size of glasses for your drinks. We were caught by a pleasant surprise how good those oversized drinks were, and the food too.
After very enjoyable lunch break, we continued our bike tour along the beach. Girls checked out Versace mention. Then, we went to the end of the bike paths and got to the Lincoln Road Mall.
Leg 2: Miami to Key Largo
On the way to Key Largo, we took a minor detour to see historical Stiltsville.
Continued on via ICW we passed another well known spot Boca Chita, to our port side. We don’t have enough time to stop by there, so pressing on to Key Largo.
While on the “Bay side”, there aren’t too many good options for marinas in KL, but it wasn’t an issue as we planned to drop the hook in popular anchorages, anyway. I had two anchorages in mind, one in Blackwater Sound and the other Tarpon Basin (southeast). As we arrived to Blackwater Sound, the spot didn’t look protected and there weren’t many anchored boats there either. So, we moved on to Tarpon Basin instead. As we got closer the anchorage could easily be identified with number of boats there, leaving plenty room for us.
Something to keep in mind when cruising in the winter is that your daylight is shorter. As we pooled in desired spot, admiral glanced at the shoreline to spot the dinghy area. By the time we got settled with the hook/bridle, unloaded the dinghy, etc., it was already dark. So, our first dinghy exploration was in the dark, which adds some excitement. Obviously, we’re new to the area, so it’s easy to get lost in the dark and we did, just a little. There was an area that looked like it could be a dinghy landing spot, and my wife thought that this was what she spotted as we passed it earlier. So, we pull in and see some kind of a small dock and small fence on a side. All of a sudden we hear weird sound Awrrrkkk……Awrrrkkk….. Awrrrkkk…..We look in the direction where the sound came from and found group of Sea Lions behind small fence. There wasn’t much light in the area, so we had to get close to the objects to clearly see what’s going on. After few minutes we had realized that this wasn’t the official dinghy dock I’ve heard/read about. So, we moved on to the other area that we thought should be what we were looking for. As we got closer, we saw very nicely arranged docks to fit a lot of dinghies. The official name for the place is “Murray Nelson Government Center and Dinghy Dock“. This was just about the best dinghy dock I’ve ever tied to. Besides protected and convenient docks, there are couple of loading/unloading spots with concrete steps, making it very easy to get off/on a tender for loading provisions or whatever. There’s also dedicated water fill area where boaters can pull up and fill their water jugs. There’s bike rack with a loaner bike for boaters, few picnic tables. And the place couldn’t be much safer as it’s right behind a police station.
As we were about to tie up, all of a sudden we hear Pshoo and see a spout of water in the air. A dolphin came about 15-20’ from us. You can imagine the WOW factor kids had.
Next morning it was time to get the bikes back in the action. We load the dinghy with bikes and headed to the dinghy dock. As we pulled in to one of the loading spots, a very nice boater comes along and gives me a hand unloading the bikes. He then shared all the local tips about the area, bike paths, where to get provisions, etc. We felt very welcomed in this liveaboard community.
It’s time to explore the town. We’re off to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Something to remember for families with bikes, kids under 12 must wear helmets. We forgot ours on the boat, so I had to make the run back to get it. Otherwise, our 10y/o son wasn’t allowed to enter the park on a bike. A bit frustrating, but no big deal, as my 7 speed folding bike did an excellent job getting back and forth just in minutes.
After exploring the park and taking a bike ride to the other side where they have small shopping plaza, including Publix, we got some provisions and decided to move on to our next port, Islamorada.
Leg 3: Key Largo to Islamorada
The ride was very enjoyable. Since we took off in the late afternoon, our goal was to get to Islamorada before dark. I’ve dropped the hook in new to me places plenty of time, but the challenge in these waters is shallow spots and TONs of lobster/crab pots. These people just could care less about boaters. There’s zero respect for the ICW channel. It’s just sea of lobster pots. There must be thousands of them, and the problem is they have tiny floaters. It’s super easy to run over them. The stretch between Key Largo and Channel 5 is the worst.
Alright, forget the lobster pots, the ride was just beautiful. The water is crystal clear with sandy bottom. One of the WOW factors was that we could actually see the lobster traps attached to the line and laying on the bottom of the seas bed. We felt like if we would stop, we could probably see if there was any catch in those traps, right from the bridge.
Since it was a short run I decided to tow the dinghy. I usually do it as it makes things so much easier, vs. loading/securing/unsecuring/unloading process. Did I mention that this is very shallow water? Some sections showed 2.3’ under the boat. This is what my depthfider showed in few spots. At this reading it usually means that I have about 1.5’-2’ before props hit the bottom. My depth alarm is set to 4’, so as you can imagine it was constantly going off. However, for the most part the depth was showing 3.5’. There’s a section marked on Active Captain pointing out the shallow water.
Approach to the anchorage in Barely Basin is not straight forward, you have to go to R”84” before making turn to shore. By the time we got to the anchorage area we enjoyed gorgeous sunset and it was getting dark. It was interesting finding a good spot dodging anchored boats all over the place and those tiny lobster pots. Obviously, radar gave me good picture about boats and other large object around me, but to see the lobster pots I had to use the search light.
As we find the good spot and drop the hook we were enjoying watching the anchor hit the bottom and pretty much every link of the chain settling down. It was very cool seeing how the whole chain with bridle attachment just laying on the bottom.
There are several options here, but this is well known anchorage conveniently located just by Lorelei. If you have a dinghy that planes, this is where you want to ride it. This is an excellent anchorage surrounded by 3 restaurants where you can go by dinghy. The Bass Proshop World Wide Sportsman is very cool.
I love this place, but what I found puzzling is that there’s no official dinghy dock that I could find on the Bay side. There’s no issue if you go to the shop or a restaurant, they all have their private docks. But, if you just want to go and explore on shore and bring your bikes, there isn’t a dedicated dinghy dock for cruisers. For this reason, we decided to explore by dinghy instead of go on the bikes. In the way, that’s why we have fast dinghy.
Having kids with us, the primary attraction for the day was “Theater of the Sea”, which has 4.5 stars rating on trip advisor. This by all means not the Animal Kingdom in Orlando, but it’s very decent size, very cozy and well organized park, which the whole family enjoyed.
This was the port where planned to have a company of friends (“Miss Melina” and “Next Friday” crews) from Northeast, who flew/drove down for the holidays. I got to tell you, it very cool meeting up with friends in the Keys. It’s time for the feast at Lorelei…
Leg 4: Islamorada to Duck Key (Hawk’s Cay Resort)
Our original plan was going from Islamorada to Marathon. But, after talking to Randy, Mark and others we decided switching it to Hawk’s Cay Resort. After Mark told me that he’ll be there on 28th-29[SUP]th[/SUP], that perfectly fit our plan, so we didn’t wait much longer and booked the slip for one night.
As we entered the Hawk’s Cay channel, we were greeted by beautiful views. BTW, for those who’s new to the area, before you enter the Hawk’s Cay Channel, make sure you make a SECURETE call on CH16. State your boat name, location and direction. This is just a common practice for this very narrow dogleg channel. The last thing you want to see an 80’er come out of the blind corner taking up the whole channel. This is busy channel, so listening to others and letting everyone know before entering the channel, makes things much easier. Another local tip, as soon as you get to the marina basin take sharp turn to PORT and stay close to the slips for deeper water. If you look at the AC, you’ll see my hazard marker.
So, before we even tie the lines my wife goes “It doesn’t look like one night will be enough here. I think we need to ask for another night ASAP”. It was very good plan change. When we went to check in we paid for two nights right away.
As you may read from online reviews, there’s a mix, especially AC reviews. In a way I get why people would give somewhat lower star rating. From purely marina standpoint, you don’t get a lot. The docks are very small and narrow, and in a need of remodeling, pilings looked chewed up. The fingers are shorts.
However, we didn’t come there to seat at the dock all day long and watch people walk by. We came for the whole experience. IMO, the overall resort setup is excellent. Being in the marina you get a feel you’re part of the resort. Coming from Northeast, we felt that the price of $3 p/f was very reasonable, even with $29 per day resort fee. The property is very nice and clean. You get tons of activities to choose from. The location and setup is great. The largest pool had temp close to 90s. They have salt pond for those who’s not a big fan of chlorine pools. But, being there for the holidays, we felt that the beach personnel was under staffed.
After chilling in the salt pond kids went to the pool and played in there for hours. There was a soccer tournament, where kids had a lot of fun kicking the ball. We didn’t waste too much time and after awesome “beach day” we took the bikes to tour the Duck Key Island.
Not too long after we arrived, we had the opportunity to meet Mark and Debra and their guests John and Judy. While having pleasant and chilled wine we shared good stories and enjoyed each other’s company. We’ve seen 470DB few years ago and liked very much many great and unique features SR put in the model. But, Mark didn’t hesitate to give us a refresher tour of his beautiful yacht.
After a fool day of activities on the island, it was a great pleasure to just relax at the bow, watching the clear and beautiful skies along with surrounding views.
If you’ll be coming here with no bikes, bring your dinghy as you’ll enjoy touring the canals and local villas. Depending on the slip assignment, most likely you’ll need to unload the dinghy prior docking. But, there’s plenty of room to comfortably do that right near the slips.
We were very happy and thankful to our friends for suggesting this stop. We would comeback here in a heartbeat.
Leg 5: Hawk’s Cay to Key West
We took off just at first light and enjoyed watching the nature waking up in the early hours. The ride was beautiful. The lobster pots encounter wasn’t as bad as on the ICW side, but there were sections of Hawk’s Channel with lots of them as well.
Hello Stock Island marina….
Few words about the marina. It looks like the place was recently renovated. Everything looks fresh, nice concrete floating docks. The property is pretty big and there’s tons of room for parking cars, bikes and anything you need. The marina staff is professional and friendly, dock hands are very helpful. They have complimentary shuttle van taking you to town. In comparison, the marina is priced very reasonable.
Here comes the negative part. The area outside the marina is rural. Without a good means of transportation you feel isolated. We took the bikes to local restaurant, which was very good, but the ride was nothing to brag about. The shuttle van (only 15 passengers) runs on a schedule, but somehow it wasn’t conveniently working with our plans. The culprit is that you have to call and reserve every trip you make, going to town and coming back. If you don’t reserve a spot for everyone in your crew, you’re not going. There’s no pool. WiFi is totally useless. It’s overloaded to the point that you can’t even login. But, when you do, it’s so slow that we just gave up on it within minutes. Our hotspot was the only way to get connected. Transportation for New Years, you better make reservations way in advance (I mean previous day) and BTW, there’s no shuttle coming back after midnight. The last shuttle is at 10:30pm from the town to the marina. So, you have to arrange something on your own.
Alright, forget the negative. We’re here in Key West on our boat, we’re happy. The weather is awesome, the people are great. The rest of the stuff are just minor details we’ll work out one way or the other. Vacation is on full swing.
When we came back from a bike trip to local restaurant for lunch, Devotion was already tied in her slip right across from us. Mark and his crew had plans to take their dinghy to a restaurant close to marina, but my crew was anxious to see the town. So, we booked our shuttle ride and went to town for the evening.
Steve and I were in contact for a while, so we arranged meeting at a waterfront tiki-bar after strolling the streets (of course famous Duval street as well).
My crew just loves KW, so we planned on return here the following day. While driving here in the van (previous evening) we could see that it’s too far for a bike ride, especially on smaller bike our son was using. So, I proposed an idea to take the dinghy. This way we would see the island from land and water. There was a cut just south SIM to jump on ICW, so I figured we’ll be in protected water most of the way.
While in town near waterfront, I wanted to check out few other marinas we had in mind but couldn’t get to since they were booked. So, we checked out A&B, Galleon and Westin marinas. As we walked the docks by A&B marina we couldn’t miss a scene where about 4-5’er tarpons were just swimming around the fish cleaning dock.
The port plaza brought some nice memories. We were here on a cruise ship few years ago.
While touring around, my wife started telling me how she loves it here and asked if there’s a chance to extend our stay. I had some time planned in “reserve” and we reviewed how it would fit in our schedule. I glanced at the weather and explained to her that based on what I see we’ll have a bumpy ride (3’ers with SE winds @15-20kts gusting to 25kts), but nothing we haven’t seen before. I knew it would be really bumpy as the wind was blowing in the same direction for few days. Anyway, we checked with Galleon Marina and they had opening on the day we were scheduled to take off from SIM. The decision was made and we’re booked for extra night at Galleon. No question, it was a great move and being at the most Southern part of US, we just wanted to maximize our enjoyable experience.
On our way back to the marina, I decided to take the Atlantic side. It looked a bit sorter and it would be cool to complete a small loop in. So, we did it. Can I claim that I crossed from Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic on my dinghy?....LOL….
It’s New Years eve…. It’s time to get ready for the feast with my CSR friends. The town is glowing with holiday spirit.
The dinner at Michael’s was great. Everyone had a lot of fun and we didn’t realize that the time flew so fast that we had to run out of the restaurant to see Sushi (the shoe drop). This town is packed and hopping. Everywhere you look there’s a party going on, a true holiday feel, just as we like it.
I have to say that I was actually impressed. With this amount of people I had zero concerns having my kids there. The Duval Street was completely closed to any traffic except pedestrians. Police was present on every corner and everything was well organized.
The following day was a beach day. We decided to take a bike ride to Smather’s Beach.
As I’m taking pics before we’re wrapping up to head back, I looked at the sun and saw something I’ve never seen before.
It was time to change the marina and head to Galleon. As I’m cruising along who do I see? It looks like a SR, it looks like 500DB, oh man, this is Steve…..haha, this place is just too small. Apparently, Steve and Kris were heading to Little Palm Island at the same time we were on the way to Galleon.
Few words about Galleon Marina. Location is awesome, docks are in very good shape and they’re floating. It’s a resort type facility. It’s not like Hawk’s Cay (primarily due to lack of real estate) but you still feel like you’re in a resort. The have very nice pool, there’s also a section with small beach facing the ocean. Definitely a great place to dock. However, docking here is like docking in a middle of 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Ave in Manhattan. The fairway is narrower than my boat’s LOA. This means that I can’t just stop, pivot and back in to my slip. I need to bury my bow between two boats across from my slip in order to swing the stern and fit it to the slip. Did I mention it’s been blowing 15-20+ kts for the past few days? The bottom line, these are the times where any means of additional thrusters (bow, stern or better yet both) will be your best friend, especially when you have a tender on a lift and you can’t touch anything with it.
Leg 6: Key West to Boca Chita
Yeah, it sad but it’s time to start heading back north. On the bright side, I still have about 200nm of cruising back to my dock. Bye-bye Key West, until next time.
I checked the forecast and NOAA shows the same 3’ers ESE winds @20kts. I checked another couple of sources and they showed the same report as before, except for WeatherBug. It showed winds 25+kts. I listened to VHF and they announced small craft advisory. Oh well, we got to go. I woke up a bit earlier and made sure all items were secured, the dinghy, bikes at the bow, bikes in the ER, etc.
Leaving the slip we could feel that the wind was blowing already about 15+kts. As we made the turn out of the harbor, we saw Disney cruise ship docked in the port.
As we cleared the port and made 90degrees turn to port we got a good taste of what kind of ride this will be. Shortly after 3’ers were to be desired. The seas were very close together and they were easily 3-5’ers with wind and seas directly on the nose. The CSR bargee was whipping like it wanted to take off on me. I could only cruise at around 14-15kts to make the ride as comfortable as possible. In anticipation of this kind of a ride, I planned my route to jump in to the Moser Channel (by 7 mile bridge). This means that my shortest leg in the ocean will be 40NM, until I can jump inside. Oh well, it’s part of boating, so we take it as norm.
Knowing that Mark had few days extra, I gave him the seas report and suggested that he might be better off to wait for better seas. I knew that we wanted to go back to Hawk’s Cay, which is about 50NM run.
The minute we made the turn to Moser Channel the washing machine ride was over and we were heading to ICW, where the islands will provide shelter. As we cruising along (it was not far passed the part where we joined ICW after the bridge) all of a sudden I see the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen on water. There was a line that looked like a gigantic sand bar with no end in site.
I didn’t see this on the way south, as I came on the outside from Hawk’s Cay. Oh well, all I could do is play conservative and treat it as non-navigable sand bar. I came to it at 1.5-2kts slowly feeling the seabed and having my eyes glued to the depth sounder. Surprisingly enough, there was no difference in depth when I was on top of this line. That was huge relief as I didn’t feel like going all the way back and out.
As we were getting closer north we were reviewing our options on the spot for the night. Since it was windy and not very enjoyable ride, we decided to press on to Boca Chita. It made sense to hit another new port and be much closer to FTL.
As we pulled in to the BC basin we got caught by surprise. The place was totally packed, you couldn’t find a spot to tie a dinghy, never mind any big boat. Some yahoos had music blasting, we had no idea how people even on another end could carry a conversation.
As we idled in the basin and observed the situation, while making 180 degree turn to head back out, we hear a bang on the hull and few seconds later STBD engine dies. These are familiar symptoms, so right away I suspected that I must have grabbed a line form the bottom with something at the end. I place the shifters back to neutral and fired up STBD side. I observed normal engine operation, which was confirmation that the issue is with running gear. In anticipation of another stole, I gave the STBD side extra 50-100 RPMs and wanted to see what will happen next. It felt that the worst was over as I did the “dance” FWD/Reverse few times while turning the boat around and heading for the inlet to leave the basin.
We could have dropped a hook and waited for some smaller boat to clear the room as they would most likely head back to main land for the night. But, we decided to head to Sandy Cay anchorage instead. The island provided decent cover from the ESE wind and closer to the evening hours the wind subsided making a comfortable and pleasant night.
Leg 7: Boca Chita to FTL
Ahhh, the last overnight of the trip is over and it’s time to complete the last leg. Sad, but still happy as I’m about to pass most beautiful cities on water along the way.
Here’s Miami in site.
What a contrast! On the way south we passed Miami port when there was not a single cruise ship in port. But today, they were all back in. If I’m not mistaken, Disney Cruise ship from Key West made back to port as well.
Continue on northbound I noticed something in the distance what looked like a huge marina. But, then I’m asking myself, how could I not see it on the way south? As I got close and got better view I’ve realized that this is sand bar, a weekend hangout place for locals.
As we’re passing Port Everglades I get call from Larry. “Are you coming back to FTL, passed the inlet? I think I see you”. What are the odds, Miss Melina’s crew are taking the ICW tour on a local tour boat and meet us as we’re returning back to the dock.
We’re back at the dock. I immediately pull my diving gear out and go check what was I dragging on my shafts. All the way from Boca Chita I was going at displacement speed, the vibration was almost none to minor. I knew for sure I picked up some lines, but I felt that there was no emergency and it could wait until I get back to the dock. So, I dove and saw a line wrapped on my port side. I did notice minor vibration on the port side, when running fast to BC. This line was the proof why. But, when I got to the STBD side there was a WOW factor. There was a ton of line and some metal object at the end. I didn’t think I’ll be able to free it. I have very sharp knife with teeth on the blade, which makes cutting much easier. I worked really hard cutting in all directions and unwrapping in all directions. When I was almost out of air in the tank I made my last attempt and luckily it was successful one. I was able to get the rest of the line off, just before the air was gone.
I hope that everyone who joined us along the way enjoyed their trip and would like to do more of this. I also hope that those that couldn’t make it, at least enjoyed participating virtually and found some of the provided detailed info helpful for the time you’re ready to do the trip to the Keys.
Cheers to all. It’s time to start planning our Bahamas trip.
Our trip started off with visit to Randy in Delray Beach. Dinner at on Atlantic Ave in Carpe De Em was excellent.
Here are some pics with Holidays spirit.
Leg 1: FTL to Miami.
We picked Miami Beach marina to be close to South Beach area. It’s very nice marina in excellent location. However, there are couple of things I didn’t like. They have fixed concrete docks with limited cleats. Having tender on the lift made tying off the boat a bit challenging. On the day of our arrival, we had the hottest temps and we planned on using their pool. When we saw the pool we were caught by surprise. The pool was right in the middle between two bars and there was a big sign stating “No kids under 12”. There was no one in the pool. Well, first we though, no big deal, it’s probably meant kids under 12 with no supervision. So, we go to find out and in fact, the sing meant NO KIDS UNDER 12, period. Supervised or not, doesn’t matter.
But, we didn’t let this minor thing spoil our stay, after all we didn’t come there for the pool. Our main goal was explore the area. So, we didn’t waste much time and pulled our bikes off the boat. BTW, before the trip we finally pulled the trigger and purchased couple folding bikes, which I store in the ER. Those that like to stay active and exploring, bringing bikes on trip like this is a must.
As I mentioned, the marina location couldn’t be better. It’s adjacent to Miami South Beach by walking/biking paths right along the ocean. The views are stunning, the ride along the ocean path is just beautiful.
After riding bikes for a while, we had lunch in one of the restaurants on South Beach restaurant valley. Quite few offer specials and you get treated with gigantic size of glasses for your drinks. We were caught by a pleasant surprise how good those oversized drinks were, and the food too.
After very enjoyable lunch break, we continued our bike tour along the beach. Girls checked out Versace mention. Then, we went to the end of the bike paths and got to the Lincoln Road Mall.
Leg 2: Miami to Key Largo
On the way to Key Largo, we took a minor detour to see historical Stiltsville.
Continued on via ICW we passed another well known spot Boca Chita, to our port side. We don’t have enough time to stop by there, so pressing on to Key Largo.
While on the “Bay side”, there aren’t too many good options for marinas in KL, but it wasn’t an issue as we planned to drop the hook in popular anchorages, anyway. I had two anchorages in mind, one in Blackwater Sound and the other Tarpon Basin (southeast). As we arrived to Blackwater Sound, the spot didn’t look protected and there weren’t many anchored boats there either. So, we moved on to Tarpon Basin instead. As we got closer the anchorage could easily be identified with number of boats there, leaving plenty room for us.
Something to keep in mind when cruising in the winter is that your daylight is shorter. As we pooled in desired spot, admiral glanced at the shoreline to spot the dinghy area. By the time we got settled with the hook/bridle, unloaded the dinghy, etc., it was already dark. So, our first dinghy exploration was in the dark, which adds some excitement. Obviously, we’re new to the area, so it’s easy to get lost in the dark and we did, just a little. There was an area that looked like it could be a dinghy landing spot, and my wife thought that this was what she spotted as we passed it earlier. So, we pull in and see some kind of a small dock and small fence on a side. All of a sudden we hear weird sound Awrrrkkk……Awrrrkkk….. Awrrrkkk…..We look in the direction where the sound came from and found group of Sea Lions behind small fence. There wasn’t much light in the area, so we had to get close to the objects to clearly see what’s going on. After few minutes we had realized that this wasn’t the official dinghy dock I’ve heard/read about. So, we moved on to the other area that we thought should be what we were looking for. As we got closer, we saw very nicely arranged docks to fit a lot of dinghies. The official name for the place is “Murray Nelson Government Center and Dinghy Dock“. This was just about the best dinghy dock I’ve ever tied to. Besides protected and convenient docks, there are couple of loading/unloading spots with concrete steps, making it very easy to get off/on a tender for loading provisions or whatever. There’s also dedicated water fill area where boaters can pull up and fill their water jugs. There’s bike rack with a loaner bike for boaters, few picnic tables. And the place couldn’t be much safer as it’s right behind a police station.
As we were about to tie up, all of a sudden we hear Pshoo and see a spout of water in the air. A dolphin came about 15-20’ from us. You can imagine the WOW factor kids had.
Next morning it was time to get the bikes back in the action. We load the dinghy with bikes and headed to the dinghy dock. As we pulled in to one of the loading spots, a very nice boater comes along and gives me a hand unloading the bikes. He then shared all the local tips about the area, bike paths, where to get provisions, etc. We felt very welcomed in this liveaboard community.
It’s time to explore the town. We’re off to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Something to remember for families with bikes, kids under 12 must wear helmets. We forgot ours on the boat, so I had to make the run back to get it. Otherwise, our 10y/o son wasn’t allowed to enter the park on a bike. A bit frustrating, but no big deal, as my 7 speed folding bike did an excellent job getting back and forth just in minutes.
After exploring the park and taking a bike ride to the other side where they have small shopping plaza, including Publix, we got some provisions and decided to move on to our next port, Islamorada.
Leg 3: Key Largo to Islamorada
The ride was very enjoyable. Since we took off in the late afternoon, our goal was to get to Islamorada before dark. I’ve dropped the hook in new to me places plenty of time, but the challenge in these waters is shallow spots and TONs of lobster/crab pots. These people just could care less about boaters. There’s zero respect for the ICW channel. It’s just sea of lobster pots. There must be thousands of them, and the problem is they have tiny floaters. It’s super easy to run over them. The stretch between Key Largo and Channel 5 is the worst.
Alright, forget the lobster pots, the ride was just beautiful. The water is crystal clear with sandy bottom. One of the WOW factors was that we could actually see the lobster traps attached to the line and laying on the bottom of the seas bed. We felt like if we would stop, we could probably see if there was any catch in those traps, right from the bridge.
Since it was a short run I decided to tow the dinghy. I usually do it as it makes things so much easier, vs. loading/securing/unsecuring/unloading process. Did I mention that this is very shallow water? Some sections showed 2.3’ under the boat. This is what my depthfider showed in few spots. At this reading it usually means that I have about 1.5’-2’ before props hit the bottom. My depth alarm is set to 4’, so as you can imagine it was constantly going off. However, for the most part the depth was showing 3.5’. There’s a section marked on Active Captain pointing out the shallow water.
Approach to the anchorage in Barely Basin is not straight forward, you have to go to R”84” before making turn to shore. By the time we got to the anchorage area we enjoyed gorgeous sunset and it was getting dark. It was interesting finding a good spot dodging anchored boats all over the place and those tiny lobster pots. Obviously, radar gave me good picture about boats and other large object around me, but to see the lobster pots I had to use the search light.
As we find the good spot and drop the hook we were enjoying watching the anchor hit the bottom and pretty much every link of the chain settling down. It was very cool seeing how the whole chain with bridle attachment just laying on the bottom.
There are several options here, but this is well known anchorage conveniently located just by Lorelei. If you have a dinghy that planes, this is where you want to ride it. This is an excellent anchorage surrounded by 3 restaurants where you can go by dinghy. The Bass Proshop World Wide Sportsman is very cool.
I love this place, but what I found puzzling is that there’s no official dinghy dock that I could find on the Bay side. There’s no issue if you go to the shop or a restaurant, they all have their private docks. But, if you just want to go and explore on shore and bring your bikes, there isn’t a dedicated dinghy dock for cruisers. For this reason, we decided to explore by dinghy instead of go on the bikes. In the way, that’s why we have fast dinghy.
Having kids with us, the primary attraction for the day was “Theater of the Sea”, which has 4.5 stars rating on trip advisor. This by all means not the Animal Kingdom in Orlando, but it’s very decent size, very cozy and well organized park, which the whole family enjoyed.
This was the port where planned to have a company of friends (“Miss Melina” and “Next Friday” crews) from Northeast, who flew/drove down for the holidays. I got to tell you, it very cool meeting up with friends in the Keys. It’s time for the feast at Lorelei…
Leg 4: Islamorada to Duck Key (Hawk’s Cay Resort)
Our original plan was going from Islamorada to Marathon. But, after talking to Randy, Mark and others we decided switching it to Hawk’s Cay Resort. After Mark told me that he’ll be there on 28th-29[SUP]th[/SUP], that perfectly fit our plan, so we didn’t wait much longer and booked the slip for one night.
As we entered the Hawk’s Cay channel, we were greeted by beautiful views. BTW, for those who’s new to the area, before you enter the Hawk’s Cay Channel, make sure you make a SECURETE call on CH16. State your boat name, location and direction. This is just a common practice for this very narrow dogleg channel. The last thing you want to see an 80’er come out of the blind corner taking up the whole channel. This is busy channel, so listening to others and letting everyone know before entering the channel, makes things much easier. Another local tip, as soon as you get to the marina basin take sharp turn to PORT and stay close to the slips for deeper water. If you look at the AC, you’ll see my hazard marker.
So, before we even tie the lines my wife goes “It doesn’t look like one night will be enough here. I think we need to ask for another night ASAP”. It was very good plan change. When we went to check in we paid for two nights right away.
As you may read from online reviews, there’s a mix, especially AC reviews. In a way I get why people would give somewhat lower star rating. From purely marina standpoint, you don’t get a lot. The docks are very small and narrow, and in a need of remodeling, pilings looked chewed up. The fingers are shorts.
However, we didn’t come there to seat at the dock all day long and watch people walk by. We came for the whole experience. IMO, the overall resort setup is excellent. Being in the marina you get a feel you’re part of the resort. Coming from Northeast, we felt that the price of $3 p/f was very reasonable, even with $29 per day resort fee. The property is very nice and clean. You get tons of activities to choose from. The location and setup is great. The largest pool had temp close to 90s. They have salt pond for those who’s not a big fan of chlorine pools. But, being there for the holidays, we felt that the beach personnel was under staffed.
After chilling in the salt pond kids went to the pool and played in there for hours. There was a soccer tournament, where kids had a lot of fun kicking the ball. We didn’t waste too much time and after awesome “beach day” we took the bikes to tour the Duck Key Island.
Not too long after we arrived, we had the opportunity to meet Mark and Debra and their guests John and Judy. While having pleasant and chilled wine we shared good stories and enjoyed each other’s company. We’ve seen 470DB few years ago and liked very much many great and unique features SR put in the model. But, Mark didn’t hesitate to give us a refresher tour of his beautiful yacht.
After a fool day of activities on the island, it was a great pleasure to just relax at the bow, watching the clear and beautiful skies along with surrounding views.
If you’ll be coming here with no bikes, bring your dinghy as you’ll enjoy touring the canals and local villas. Depending on the slip assignment, most likely you’ll need to unload the dinghy prior docking. But, there’s plenty of room to comfortably do that right near the slips.
We were very happy and thankful to our friends for suggesting this stop. We would comeback here in a heartbeat.
Leg 5: Hawk’s Cay to Key West
We took off just at first light and enjoyed watching the nature waking up in the early hours. The ride was beautiful. The lobster pots encounter wasn’t as bad as on the ICW side, but there were sections of Hawk’s Channel with lots of them as well.
Hello Stock Island marina….
Few words about the marina. It looks like the place was recently renovated. Everything looks fresh, nice concrete floating docks. The property is pretty big and there’s tons of room for parking cars, bikes and anything you need. The marina staff is professional and friendly, dock hands are very helpful. They have complimentary shuttle van taking you to town. In comparison, the marina is priced very reasonable.
Here comes the negative part. The area outside the marina is rural. Without a good means of transportation you feel isolated. We took the bikes to local restaurant, which was very good, but the ride was nothing to brag about. The shuttle van (only 15 passengers) runs on a schedule, but somehow it wasn’t conveniently working with our plans. The culprit is that you have to call and reserve every trip you make, going to town and coming back. If you don’t reserve a spot for everyone in your crew, you’re not going. There’s no pool. WiFi is totally useless. It’s overloaded to the point that you can’t even login. But, when you do, it’s so slow that we just gave up on it within minutes. Our hotspot was the only way to get connected. Transportation for New Years, you better make reservations way in advance (I mean previous day) and BTW, there’s no shuttle coming back after midnight. The last shuttle is at 10:30pm from the town to the marina. So, you have to arrange something on your own.
Alright, forget the negative. We’re here in Key West on our boat, we’re happy. The weather is awesome, the people are great. The rest of the stuff are just minor details we’ll work out one way or the other. Vacation is on full swing.
When we came back from a bike trip to local restaurant for lunch, Devotion was already tied in her slip right across from us. Mark and his crew had plans to take their dinghy to a restaurant close to marina, but my crew was anxious to see the town. So, we booked our shuttle ride and went to town for the evening.
Steve and I were in contact for a while, so we arranged meeting at a waterfront tiki-bar after strolling the streets (of course famous Duval street as well).
My crew just loves KW, so we planned on return here the following day. While driving here in the van (previous evening) we could see that it’s too far for a bike ride, especially on smaller bike our son was using. So, I proposed an idea to take the dinghy. This way we would see the island from land and water. There was a cut just south SIM to jump on ICW, so I figured we’ll be in protected water most of the way.
While in town near waterfront, I wanted to check out few other marinas we had in mind but couldn’t get to since they were booked. So, we checked out A&B, Galleon and Westin marinas. As we walked the docks by A&B marina we couldn’t miss a scene where about 4-5’er tarpons were just swimming around the fish cleaning dock.
The port plaza brought some nice memories. We were here on a cruise ship few years ago.
While touring around, my wife started telling me how she loves it here and asked if there’s a chance to extend our stay. I had some time planned in “reserve” and we reviewed how it would fit in our schedule. I glanced at the weather and explained to her that based on what I see we’ll have a bumpy ride (3’ers with SE winds @15-20kts gusting to 25kts), but nothing we haven’t seen before. I knew it would be really bumpy as the wind was blowing in the same direction for few days. Anyway, we checked with Galleon Marina and they had opening on the day we were scheduled to take off from SIM. The decision was made and we’re booked for extra night at Galleon. No question, it was a great move and being at the most Southern part of US, we just wanted to maximize our enjoyable experience.
On our way back to the marina, I decided to take the Atlantic side. It looked a bit sorter and it would be cool to complete a small loop in. So, we did it. Can I claim that I crossed from Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic on my dinghy?....LOL….
It’s New Years eve…. It’s time to get ready for the feast with my CSR friends. The town is glowing with holiday spirit.
The dinner at Michael’s was great. Everyone had a lot of fun and we didn’t realize that the time flew so fast that we had to run out of the restaurant to see Sushi (the shoe drop). This town is packed and hopping. Everywhere you look there’s a party going on, a true holiday feel, just as we like it.
I have to say that I was actually impressed. With this amount of people I had zero concerns having my kids there. The Duval Street was completely closed to any traffic except pedestrians. Police was present on every corner and everything was well organized.
The following day was a beach day. We decided to take a bike ride to Smather’s Beach.
As I’m taking pics before we’re wrapping up to head back, I looked at the sun and saw something I’ve never seen before.
It was time to change the marina and head to Galleon. As I’m cruising along who do I see? It looks like a SR, it looks like 500DB, oh man, this is Steve…..haha, this place is just too small. Apparently, Steve and Kris were heading to Little Palm Island at the same time we were on the way to Galleon.
Few words about Galleon Marina. Location is awesome, docks are in very good shape and they’re floating. It’s a resort type facility. It’s not like Hawk’s Cay (primarily due to lack of real estate) but you still feel like you’re in a resort. The have very nice pool, there’s also a section with small beach facing the ocean. Definitely a great place to dock. However, docking here is like docking in a middle of 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Ave in Manhattan. The fairway is narrower than my boat’s LOA. This means that I can’t just stop, pivot and back in to my slip. I need to bury my bow between two boats across from my slip in order to swing the stern and fit it to the slip. Did I mention it’s been blowing 15-20+ kts for the past few days? The bottom line, these are the times where any means of additional thrusters (bow, stern or better yet both) will be your best friend, especially when you have a tender on a lift and you can’t touch anything with it.
Leg 6: Key West to Boca Chita
Yeah, it sad but it’s time to start heading back north. On the bright side, I still have about 200nm of cruising back to my dock. Bye-bye Key West, until next time.
I checked the forecast and NOAA shows the same 3’ers ESE winds @20kts. I checked another couple of sources and they showed the same report as before, except for WeatherBug. It showed winds 25+kts. I listened to VHF and they announced small craft advisory. Oh well, we got to go. I woke up a bit earlier and made sure all items were secured, the dinghy, bikes at the bow, bikes in the ER, etc.
Leaving the slip we could feel that the wind was blowing already about 15+kts. As we made the turn out of the harbor, we saw Disney cruise ship docked in the port.
As we cleared the port and made 90degrees turn to port we got a good taste of what kind of ride this will be. Shortly after 3’ers were to be desired. The seas were very close together and they were easily 3-5’ers with wind and seas directly on the nose. The CSR bargee was whipping like it wanted to take off on me. I could only cruise at around 14-15kts to make the ride as comfortable as possible. In anticipation of this kind of a ride, I planned my route to jump in to the Moser Channel (by 7 mile bridge). This means that my shortest leg in the ocean will be 40NM, until I can jump inside. Oh well, it’s part of boating, so we take it as norm.
Knowing that Mark had few days extra, I gave him the seas report and suggested that he might be better off to wait for better seas. I knew that we wanted to go back to Hawk’s Cay, which is about 50NM run.
The minute we made the turn to Moser Channel the washing machine ride was over and we were heading to ICW, where the islands will provide shelter. As we cruising along (it was not far passed the part where we joined ICW after the bridge) all of a sudden I see the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen on water. There was a line that looked like a gigantic sand bar with no end in site.
I didn’t see this on the way south, as I came on the outside from Hawk’s Cay. Oh well, all I could do is play conservative and treat it as non-navigable sand bar. I came to it at 1.5-2kts slowly feeling the seabed and having my eyes glued to the depth sounder. Surprisingly enough, there was no difference in depth when I was on top of this line. That was huge relief as I didn’t feel like going all the way back and out.
As we were getting closer north we were reviewing our options on the spot for the night. Since it was windy and not very enjoyable ride, we decided to press on to Boca Chita. It made sense to hit another new port and be much closer to FTL.
As we pulled in to the BC basin we got caught by surprise. The place was totally packed, you couldn’t find a spot to tie a dinghy, never mind any big boat. Some yahoos had music blasting, we had no idea how people even on another end could carry a conversation.
As we idled in the basin and observed the situation, while making 180 degree turn to head back out, we hear a bang on the hull and few seconds later STBD engine dies. These are familiar symptoms, so right away I suspected that I must have grabbed a line form the bottom with something at the end. I place the shifters back to neutral and fired up STBD side. I observed normal engine operation, which was confirmation that the issue is with running gear. In anticipation of another stole, I gave the STBD side extra 50-100 RPMs and wanted to see what will happen next. It felt that the worst was over as I did the “dance” FWD/Reverse few times while turning the boat around and heading for the inlet to leave the basin.
We could have dropped a hook and waited for some smaller boat to clear the room as they would most likely head back to main land for the night. But, we decided to head to Sandy Cay anchorage instead. The island provided decent cover from the ESE wind and closer to the evening hours the wind subsided making a comfortable and pleasant night.
Leg 7: Boca Chita to FTL
Ahhh, the last overnight of the trip is over and it’s time to complete the last leg. Sad, but still happy as I’m about to pass most beautiful cities on water along the way.
Here’s Miami in site.
What a contrast! On the way south we passed Miami port when there was not a single cruise ship in port. But today, they were all back in. If I’m not mistaken, Disney Cruise ship from Key West made back to port as well.
Continue on northbound I noticed something in the distance what looked like a huge marina. But, then I’m asking myself, how could I not see it on the way south? As I got close and got better view I’ve realized that this is sand bar, a weekend hangout place for locals.
As we’re passing Port Everglades I get call from Larry. “Are you coming back to FTL, passed the inlet? I think I see you”. What are the odds, Miss Melina’s crew are taking the ICW tour on a local tour boat and meet us as we’re returning back to the dock.
We’re back at the dock. I immediately pull my diving gear out and go check what was I dragging on my shafts. All the way from Boca Chita I was going at displacement speed, the vibration was almost none to minor. I knew for sure I picked up some lines, but I felt that there was no emergency and it could wait until I get back to the dock. So, I dove and saw a line wrapped on my port side. I did notice minor vibration on the port side, when running fast to BC. This line was the proof why. But, when I got to the STBD side there was a WOW factor. There was a ton of line and some metal object at the end. I didn’t think I’ll be able to free it. I have very sharp knife with teeth on the blade, which makes cutting much easier. I worked really hard cutting in all directions and unwrapping in all directions. When I was almost out of air in the tank I made my last attempt and luckily it was successful one. I was able to get the rest of the line off, just before the air was gone.
I hope that everyone who joined us along the way enjoyed their trip and would like to do more of this. I also hope that those that couldn’t make it, at least enjoyed participating virtually and found some of the provided detailed info helpful for the time you’re ready to do the trip to the Keys.
Cheers to all. It’s time to start planning our Bahamas trip.
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Odyssey
Active Member
great report and terrific pictures! a trip to remember.
sdarc
Well-Known Member
Thanks Alex... as I sit here in 7* temps.
trit21
Active Member
The 'sand bar' you saw is common in the Bahamas and is called a Fish Mud if my memory is correct. Basically it is fish feeding on the bottom stirring up sand, lots of it. You can tell fish muds from sand bars by the edges, if they seem blurry it is a fish mud. If they seem to disappear quickly or in focus, sand bar. Very very common in the Bahamas across the north bank or any bank I assume and freak you out the first couple of time you see them. Nice report as well.
