We want to be up and out of Rodriguez Key fairly early. It's approximately 50 miles to No Name Harbor in Key Biscayne which is just around the corner from Miami. Today marks the official day of our northbound travel. We will no longer be travelling east through the Keys. We will be headed north. It's a bittersweet feeling.
It's a humid morning, the sky is blue to our stern (southwest) and dismal to our bow (east, northeast). Gord says when we head that way we won't likely hit the storm. The winds aren't forecasted to pick up, so it should be a reasonable run. The sky doesn't look overly welcoming in the direction we are headed. I'd like to stay anchored for another day, but we need to get moving. We pull anchor. I'm on the bow controlling the chain, Gord at the helm, and the kids at the anchor locker to make sure the chain doesn't bunch up and create an issue. It all goes smoothly..until it doesn't. The kids told us the other day that the tube the anchor chain feeds through had fallen off. Gord and I had forgotten to look at it, so now the chain is coiled up inside the tube and won't budge. I run down to see if I can help the situation. I can't. The chain is so tightly coiled in there it needs some power tools to resolve it. So a change of roles takes place. Jaxon heads to the helm to hold the boat in place while Gord and I fix the chain issue. Being mid anchor haul up is never a good time for something to go awry. After getting to the bin with his power tools and cutting the pipe to release the tension, Gord is able to tug the chain free. He jimmy's up the pipe so it's back in it's proper place and heads to the bow. I stay at the locker to make sure everything comes in smoothly. Gord directs Jaxon from the bow and Jaxon drives the boat to bring up the anchor. Success! We are off! I was thankful this situation happened under fairly calm circumstances.
We turn Holy Cow to the northeast and we drive off into the sunset. No we don't! We drive off into the ominous clouds with Gord saying "We won't run into it. It's heading directly East." The run to No Name Harbor is lit up with flashes of lightening. We get a small amount of rain and it's actually a nice change from the heat we've been having. We feel Holy Cow is getting a nice and much needed fresh water wash down. We are travelling about 10 knots as the rain starts to get heavier. The waves aren't terrible, but I don't love the constant flashes of lightening ahead. I look at my radar app and there's a weather warning for waterspouts in the area we are heading to. It starts to pour rain, the visibility is less, except for the continuous lightening ahead. I decide to go down below because I don't want to watch the light show we are cruising into. We are travelling about 10 knots. So is the storm. We aren't making any headway on it, we are just sitting under it, travelling with it, and the rain is teaming down.
When I'm inside, I get a text from my dad and I enlighten him on our situation. Just as he sends a text asking how the storm is, I feel Holy Cow start to surge forward and hear the engines start working. Gord is putting us up on plane to outrun the storm. It's not an aggressive storm with high winds, just a pounding rain storm with plenty of lightening and thunder that can be heard above the roar of Holy Cow's engines. As we pull away from the
storm, the sky starts to clear and we see Miami off in the hazy distance. Our destination is close.
On our way into the anchorage, there are some odd looking buildings in the water. We learn this is Stiltsville and dates back to the 1930s. Google that if you'd like. We putz past the odd buildings and into the quaint anchorage of No Name Harbor and set the Rocna for another night on the hook.
We don't need to hose Holy Cow down because of the earlier rain shower. This seems like a bonus prize to us. We settle in to our home for the night and get some school work and business done. We see some interesting fish in the bay that seem to skip across the top of the water in schools. It makes a loud noise and takes us by surprise, but it's interesting to watch. Gord also sees a hammerhead shark make its way along the starboard side of Holy Cow and continue on its way by. We decide there will be no swimming in this anchorage.
As night falls, we have a lovely dinner on the back deck and take the dogs to shore, as a family, for a walk around the grounds. Tomorrow our plan is to head to Fort Lauderdale up the ICW. It will be our first official day on the Intercoastal Waterway.
Looks like the Grinch is exhausted from all the action!