Cruising The Great Loop: Feb 20th 2017: Key Largo, FL to Miami, FL

We raised anchor at Key Largo at 0845 and headed north for Miami. We had originally allowed three days to get from Marathon to Miami but were now doing it in two days. We didn't have a marina reservation in Miami and were having difficulty finding a slip because they were all booked because of the Miami Boat Show happening the upcoming week. We made note of some anchorages in Miami and had calls in to some marinas waiting for return calls. We kept retrying the marinas while we cruised north. Eventually, we learned that they were all full except for one on Miami Beach that could take us at $6/foot. I decided to take a mooring ball at Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Dinner Key Marina, Miami. Later, I would wish I had chosen the $6/ft marina.

The stout easterly breeze and choppy wave in the mooring field made picking up the mooring ball quite difficult. We started with Joan down at the bow with a boat hook. Once she snagged the mooring ball pennant she had a very difficult time hanging onto it as I had a difficult time keeping the boat on station. Eventually I quickly went down to the bow to help pull the pennant up and connect our bridle to it. Unfortunately, while I was leaning over the bow the wind knocked off my eyeglasses (prescription) and I watched them sink. A very costly mistake. We logged our arrival at 1500 after 49.5 miles.

Because the water was so choppy we didn't want to take the dingy into shore. The marina's water taxi only had one more run for the day so we didn't want to take it in. We decided to stay on-board and fix dinner on Red Pearl. We called the marina to register and pay for the mooring ball by phone but they couldn't do it then and said they would call us back. They didn't.

We had a beautiful view of the Miami skyline but couldn't really enjoy it. The wind and waves strengthened during the evening and the wave slap against our hull was so strong that we couldn't sleep in our cabins. So Joan slept on the salon sofa and I slept on the upper helm bench seat. It turned out to be our worst night so far. We felt hammered in the morning.