I ended the last installment suggesting that each day would be different. Well that is true. However the next day was not all that different. The water along Hawk Channel was still clear, allowing us to see the bottom as we traveled. The wind was a little lighter, but otherwise it was another beautiful day – our last in the Keys. We dropped the anchor at Key Biscayne at the very top of the Keys. For those with limited geographical knowledge of Florida, this is just south of Miami.
The next day we decided to make the long ocean run (75 miles) up to Lake Worth Inlet at Palm Beach. We were convinced that we could take advantage of the Gulf Stream, which runs close to shore in this stretch, to make it prior to sunset. The weather forecast sounded fair, a bit marginal, but we decided to go for it.
We left at daybreak to find conditions pretty reasonable – a bit better than the forecast had called for. I thought, perhaps the forecasters were suggesting that the weather would be worse than reality for once. It always seems that they are too generous with their forecasts, painting a pretty picture that never quite lives up to expectation. Well this didn't last. As we passed the Port of Miami, conditions went downhill a bit. The wind began to build enough to create some nasty chop. Add to this a steady flow of clouds overhead that brought intermittent showers and even more gusty winds. Sandra got seasick, so I needed to deal with the situation on my own.
I kept seeing the sun just ahead of the next shower and hoped we'd be through this into better conditions soon. But we could never quite get there. I eventually figured out that the storm track was following our course, so we got hit with one shower after another with gusty winds coming on a regular basis. The waves continued to be choppy but built to about six feet at times, creating a bit of a mess inside the boat as lots of things weren't secured quite well enough for current conditions. Fortunately nothing fell or got broken, but anything loose moved. These conditions remained with us for about eight hours. Sandra kept coming up to offer to help only to have to return to bed a short time later.
I had the marine VHF radio on as always, listening to random calls made by one boater to another along with the Coast Guard coming on to report some hazard. I also kept listening to the forecast on the radio, hoping it would change and give us something to look forward to. Then I caught a distress message from a boater sailing a boat of our size traveling north as we were just perhaps four or five miles from us. According to his description, he had been seasick for some time, throwing up several times, and was now having some difficulty staying awake. He was unable to control the boat and knew he'd become a hazard to others. The Coast Guard got him some help from the local police and a tow boat to bring his boat in. While they were waiting for the help to arrive, they kept asking questions to be sure he remained OK until the help arrived. He'd drop the mike every now and then to go puke over the side again.
All this reminded me of how things can go down hill and become dangerous out here. What if I had gotten sick too? How well would we do? Questions that will never be answered but at least let me know that we needed to be prudent if we were to remain safe out here. After hours of getting beat up, we finally headed into Lake Worth Inlet right behind the sailboat being towed in.
So when you read about glowing articles about how great cruising can be, just remember that it can be dangerous out there and is likely to be at least uncomfortable at times. We look forward to more of the easy comfortable passages ahead on the ICW. And we'll be more cautious about our offshore plans to do our best to avoid a day like yesterday.
Captain Bob
Carpe Diem
Check out Shiptrak.org for our most recent position. Add callsign: N1SFR.
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