- Local News for Southern Sailors - August 2002 Next Story
FEATURE - Cruising Florida
GUNKHOLING IN THE FLORIDA KEYS
By Claiborne Young & Morgan Stinemetz
There are two sides to the Florida Keys, the Florida Bay side
and the Hawk Channel side. Both have their strong points and both have their drawbacks. The Florida Bay side is much the shallower of the two. Hawk Channel offers deeper water but also more exposure to winds with a southerly component to them.
Gunkholing actually starts west of Marathon in most cases, because it is west of the middle point in the Keys that things start to spread out a bit. There is always an exception to the rule, however.
One of those exceptions is a great place to anchor (24.44.59N/080.58.86W) that is accessible only from the Hawk Channel side. This particular anchorage, which we will call Valhalla, for a nearby resort of no pretension, is west of Duck Key and the lavish Hawk's Cay Marina. The anchorage lies between Crawl Key (to the east) and Little Crawl Key (to the west). The water in the anchorage is deep — nine feet — and the protection just short of magnificent. There's a state park, Long Key State Park, on Long Point Key, to the west of the anchorage, and there are campers there, too. You will not feel crowded.
If you'd like not to stay on the boat, you can check into the Valhalla Beach Motel (305-298-0616). The channel into this anchorage is marked, but the marks are not displayed on the NOAA chart. They are, however, there. One thing that one does not want to do is to take the first right turn into the first eastward running canal. That's shoal. The best place to drop the hook is mid bay about at the second canal. Farther north it gets shallower.
Farther down Hawk Channel from Valhalla, you'll come upon Moser Channel, which connects the Atlantic with the Gulf of Mexico — or, more to the point, Hawk Channel with Florida Bay. Moser Channel is well-marked and deep. But because of a lack of flashing beacons, this channel is best navigated in daylight.
If one were to continue west on the Hawk Channel side from this Moser Channel intersection, the next nice place to stop and hook up is at Bahia Honda State Park (24.39.40N/081.16.84W). This anchorage is accessed via a cut in the old Bahia Honda bridge. The state park's beaches on the Atlantic side are said to be the finest in the Keys. You can anchor off the state park and dinghy in. There is nothing fancy inside, but you can get some sandwich fare food and put your feet down on dry land for a spell. There is also a marina in here, with lots of places to tie up, but the beauty of the anchorage beats anything in the marina by a huge margin. If there are high winds around, use the marina to be on the safe side, though.
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If you are staying on the Hawk Channel side, then the next stop would have to be one of the many great anchorages in Newfound Harbor and Newfound Harbor Channel or up in Niles Channel — between Summerland Key and Ramrod Key. There are too many to count. All offer some protection from varying winds. You just have to pick the one which is right for you at the time.
Looe Key Marine Sanctuary is about an hour's sail from Little Palm Island, which is where the millionaires hang out, right at the start of Newfound Harbor Channel.
Now, let's skip to the Florida Bay side, west of Marathon.
The north side of the Keys from Marathon on down is dotted with some cool places to spend a night on the hook, fishing for your dinner or snagging a lobster in season. The anchorages here are a bit more remote than on the Hawk Channel side, because the Keys sort of spread out on the Florida Bay side. The ICW bifurcates at Moser Channel west of Marathon. It has two sides, is what we mean, kind of like that cutie you dated in high school before you understood much about the opposite sex. Not only that, but the northern section of the bifurcation has two routes also, so for about 10 miles you can choose the southern northern route or the northern, northern route; they join again at St. M (statute mile) 1205 in Big Spanish Channel. Along the way there are places to stop off — the west end of Water Key, or off the west side of Porpoise Key.
Having taken this route, also look for out of the way places to stop in Harbor Channel. If you go to the end of the line here, you can anchor in deep water with flats aplenty on either side.
It's about 27 miles from Harbor Key Bank and Marker 57 to Key West, but along this stretch of the Keys are some great places to gunkhole. Cudjoe Channel is one. You will get to see the government's blimps sent up to keep an eye over the horizon to the south and to send TV signals to Cuba, where they are routinely jammed. If you draw little enough, it is possible to navigate from Cudjoe Channel to Johnston Key Channel and do more exploring. This is eyeball navigation kind of stuff, not for the faint of heart. A call to Sea Tow from out here would send the guy who got the call to the nearest Aston Martin dealer to get something really hot before he came to get you.
The next stop is Jewfish Basin. This has been described as the place where you can go in the Keys that is about as far from humanity as you'll ever get. Jewfish Basin has a plethora of anchorages for about any occasion or wind direction. Take a close look at your chart, quantify your preferences and pick a spot. Because you are but miles from the Boca Chica Naval Air Station, you could also see all kinds of exotic military aircraft overhead.
So that's it, a selection of places to drop the hook and be off the beaten path. Bring your fishing gear, diving gear, solar cell and a quest for adventure. It doesn't get any better than this.
Excerpted from Cruising the Florida Keys available by calling (800) 803-0809 or at marine stores. |