Monday, February 20, 2006

Pictures: Key Biscayne, Miami and Great Harbour Cay, Bahamas

Close to No Name Harbor in Bill Bagg Cape Florida State Park this iguana grazed calmly while we took his picture, more concerned about eating than being approached.








The gulls in Bill Bagg Cape Florida State Park were cautious but not frightened when we approached them as they foraged on the beach.










The nature trails around No Name Harbor were surrounded by trees, bushes and flowers much visited by bees and other insects, including this one.









No Name Harbor could get very crowded, especially when a possible weather window for crossing to the Bahamas combined with a long weekend. One weekend there were 35 boats in this small harbor, 25 powerboats and ten sailboats.









We spent time in and outside Hurricane Harbor on Key Biscayne. The scenery was dominated by large houses, each with its own style; orange seemed to be a popular colour, and the Spanish influence was everywhere.








Hurricane Harbor would probably have more boats anchored there if the entrance, between two shoals, seemed less intimidating. It provides good shelter, the holding is good (extra good if you pick up another anchor as well as your own, as we did) and it is surrounded by obviously upscale houses, some of them beautiful.





The weather at this time of the year in the Bahamas is a constant flow of cold fronts, bringing cool winds and unsettled weather. Here the sun sets over Great Harbour Cay on a blustery day when the fishing boats were sitting on the banks waiting for better weather.




The telephone company office on Great Harbour Cay. The whole premises consists of the office, another building and some telephone boots, and two transmission towers. On the left hand side of the picture is the island bus, which can be summoned on VHF 16.




This rooster crossed the street safely, hurrying across as if he knew it was wise. Not that traffic is particularly heavy, at least at the times we have been in the village. Perhaps it is different when the mail boat comes on Wednesdays, carrying mail and food supplies from Nassau - if the weather is bad the boat simply does not come until the next week - and the same thing for the weekly fuel barge!






In the Bullock Harbour Settlement on Great Harbour Cay (usually just called "the village") the school buildings lie on either side of the road, and motorists are reminded to slow down by two hand-made signs.

Biscayne Bay and Bahamas, the beginning

We spent an unexpectedly large portion of January around Miami, or rather around Key Biscayne. On January second we untied the boat from the berth in Matheson Hammock Marina, having spent most of that day and part of the previous day loading stores, and sailed across Biscayne Bay to No Name Harbour. No Name Harbour is a small man-made harbour in Bill Bagg Cape Florida State Park on the southern tip of Key Biscayne. It is a popular place for boats to gather whenever a weather window for crossing the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas seems about to appear. Before the last weather window in which we (finally) made our crossing we were told there were nineteen to twenty boats there, all waiting.

A word about the weather window: what everyone is looking for is relatively calm waters when crossing the Gulf Stream. Since the Gulf Stream runs north, winds out of the north oppose the flow of the current and raise steep high waves in it. The name of the game is finding a long enough period of time with a southern breeze to allow you to cross with some degree of comfort and without having to battle nasty seas. Then there are a few other things we learned:

1. If you are sailing, you have to try to make sure you have enough wind to go across before you get pushed too far north of the destination you are trying to reach. Our first try was for Bimini, on a south-east breeze that was supposed to turn south and never did. The sailing was pleasant, the seas were small, but we could not get across fast enough - we would have ended up well north of Bimini, reaching the Bahama Banks sometime after nightfall. We turned back.

2. If the winds are high enough out of the south, the Stream will be rough. Our second try was again on a south-east breeze, but this time higher - forecast fifteen to twenty knots, actually probably around twenty-five knots. At the edge of the Stream we were being tossed around, with water spraying over the dodger. This was supposed to be fun? We turned around and surfed back to Key Biscayne.

3. If the usual things are not working for you, try something else. Our something else was to take a little more than twenty four hours and aim to end our crossing further north at a point from which we could go down the North West Providence Channel then turn onto the Great Bahama Bank in daylight and sail to Great Harbour Cay Marina to clear customs and immigration.

Not that we did not enjoy our time in Key Biscayne. We anchored in No Name Harbour, Hurricane Harbour and out on Biscayne Bay. No Name Harbour proved to be a great place for meeting other cruisers, long- and short-term, and we had some interesting conversations and heard some great stories. And we now have a few or our own, like the time three rafts of powerboats dragged across the anchorage on a dark and very windy night. It was also a good spot from which to walk or cycle into town, for groceries or hardware or just for a treat. And there was a real beach, complete with real sunbathers perfecting their tans and beach showers. Very few people actually go into the water there at this time of year, except for children and a few crazy tourists. Hurricane Harbour is surrounded by huge houses, and some of them have docks with huge boats. Most are powerboats, though there were a few sailboats docked, and a few others moored; there was a beautiful two-masted wooden sailing boat shining in the sun in front of one house. Some of the houses were startling colours, like orange or purple, and none looked like any other. The entrance is narrow, with shoals on either side, and that might be why we only saw a few other cruising boats there. Anchoring out on the Bay is best done in calm weather, and gives a good view of the Key on one side, the skyline of Miami on the other, and if you are lucky sailboats racing in a regatta in between. The week we left the Rolex Regatta was taking place, with entrants from all over the world. Richard got to talk to a member of the Canadian Tornado racing team. If anyone knows how they did, please let us know.

A couple of nights before we left we moored in Crandon Park Marina, at the north end of Key Biscayne. There we tried out the outdoor laundry facilities, a washer and drier which still worked in spite of standing outside after the building they were in was destroyed in the hurricanes. We finished the laundry at Richard’s mother’s house, and had a Sunday dinner with family before heading out to the Bay to get ready to cross the Stream.

When we actually crossed the Gulf Stream the weather was good and the seas were calm. A lot of boats had been waiting, and they were bound for several different destinations: Bimini, Nassau, Chub Cay, South Cat Cay... There were two nets running to help cruisers crossing, and each had a total of about forty-five boats. Most cruisers were probably on both nets - even so, that makes for a large number all crossing on the same weather window. As well as all those cruising boats, there was a lot of ship traffic. This we kept our distance from, since ships travelling in the shipping lanes move fast, and even faster going north with the Gulf Stream. Overnight we could see lots of ships’ lights in the distance.

Travelling across the Great Bahama Bank we got our first taste of Bahamian aids to navigation. Some of them are in place; many of these were nothing more than poles sticking out of the water, sometimes with green or red painted on them. If you want to know what they should mean, it is best to consult the charts.

We knew we were in the islands when we went into Great Harbour Cay Marina. The dockmaster greeted us, took our lines, gave us forms to fill out and disappeared to call customs. We did not see him again; the next morning we went to the office to pay for our night’s stay, and dealt with the lady there. The customs officer had forgotten some forms, so Richard had a ride to the airport and back - all of about five minutes. We filled out the necessary forms, paid our cruising permit fee - and we were officially in the Bahamas.

Great Harbour Cay was a great place to start our explorations. We were introduced to the pleasures of home-made bread and bread puddings, were greeted with friendliness by all kinds of people, and rarely got to walk all the way to anywhere without being offered a drive. We had hoped to be able to buy Snapper, but the weather was too poor for the fishermen to go out; perhaps when we go back we’ll get the chance. The only real drawback we found was that there was no bank on the island. There is a credit union (in the green house beside the food store - no sign), but it only cashes cheques. We left at the end of January, but only because winds out of the south-west were predicted, and the anchorage off the Cay is not tenable in a south-west breeze.

And now we have the whole of February to look forward to...

Miami Pictures

This sign seems to be permanent, letting everyone know that when the road floods it is covered with salt water, not fresh. Wonder what that might do to the electronics of modern cars? There was also a sign warning of alligators in the nearby pond, and prohibiting fishing and pets...




Areas like this show the part of Miami which is not subdivisions and malls. These trees are still recovering from the hurricane, with less leafy growth than normal, but they arch gracefully over the roadway.






These trees are also still recovering from the hurricanes, which stripped leaves and small twigs from the branches as well as breaking branches off. In some places there are roots coming down from nothing, since the branches they were attached to are gone.






The birds were all around us at Matheson Hammocks Marina on Biscayne Bay in Miami. Here pelicans have taken over a hurricane damaged boat docked not far from us.








Here, a cormorant rests on the pulpit of a hurricane damaged sailboat. Cormorants, like pelicans, gulls and terns, were all around us, making a mess of the boats they favoured, usually those on which they were undisturbed. However the cormorants and gulls were willing to rest anywhere, given the chance.






We watched the Fort Lauderdale Christmas Boat Parade, complete with fireworks from a barge leading the parade as it moved along the ICW.









Each time we visited our boat in the marina we saw one or more of these Night Herons in the mangroves by the docks.

December in Miami

We arrived in Miami at the beginning of December, and docked in Matheson Hammock Marina for the month. We had to move off the boat while we were there, since the Marina was in a park which closed at sundown and did not allow anyone on the premises after that. So we had to move off the boat, and found that this was not easy. The best thing about being land based was that it allowed us to spend a lot more time with family than we had been able to in the past and did give us certain conveniences, such as access to cars, shopping and the internet. The biggest disadvantage was that we had to battle the birds, who considered any boat left alone for any period of time to be theirs. Into The Blue has never been cleaned so often and so thoroughly as it was over this month.

Being in Miami with a boat to care for gave us a different view of the city than we had in other visits. We drove through parts of Miami we had never seen before, and found our way to less expensive marine stores, the existence of which we learned about as we explored, searching for economical places to buy the things we needed. At Sailorman we learned about Sailing Services, at Sailing Services we learned about Shell Lumber (an unexpected source of marine hardware as well as lumber), driving to and from Shell Lumber we discovered Crook and Crook. We did pass West Marine from time to time, and realized that there were three stores very close to each other along US1. We met another Alberg sailor, who was waiting to have the hurricane damage to his boat fixed, and talked about racing on Biscayne Bay and the habits of birds.

Ah yes, the birds. There were pelicans, and cormorants and anhingas and starlings and terns and gulls. The pelicans had taken over one of the hurricane damaged boats sitting a couple of docks down from us, and roosted happily on its deck and superstructure. The cormorants were happy to roost on the pilings, plus any convenient mast, spreader or pulpits. The terns had taken over the bimini on one of the powerboats, and were resting there in groups. The gulls landed anywhere, including sailcovers and dodgers. The starlings went where the larger birds did not go, landing all over any boat. All the birds except the starlings were eagerly waiting for the arrival of boats returning from fishing expeditions to the launch ramps not far away. And they all left their calling cards behind wherever they roosted. After the first time we went back, we covered the sail cover and deck beneath with tarps. At least we did not care if they were damaged.

On this visit we were very aware of hurricane damage. From the blue-tarp covered roofs to the piles of debris still waiting to be removed to the trees just recovering their greenery, the evidence of what had happened was everywhere. It was odd to see some trees and houses seeminlgy completely untouched close beside others which were damaged. Some of our family members were in the process of repairing damaged fences and shoring up surviving trees, while others had more to deal with.

Christmas was a reason to celebrate, to finish up repair work and put up lights and decorations. The Fort Lauderdale Boat Parade was in this spirit, and a lot of people turned out to cheer and enjoy the spectacle - including us. By Christmas we had finished cleaning out residual mildew from damp, cold days, and the boat was presentable enough to take out those family members who were interested and had the time. Then it was time to re-provision and get ready for the next part of out trip...