Florida Keys, Winter 2013

J

joefish

New member
I read with considerable interest the five-page post "Floriday Keys in January" 2012 and plan on being in the Florida Keys the last week of January and first week of February, 2013. I know the area around Bahia Honda pretty well and that will be home for the first 5 days. Then I'd like to explore. The Marquesas or Dry Tortugas seem quite intriqueing. My wife will hopefully be down for part of the time (still have teenagers in school who need a bit of supervision). Would like to meet up with other C-Brats. I particularly like fishing and talking about boats and boating. A trip beyond Key West would be more likely if I/me and my wife had another boat to cruise with. Any like-minded C-Dory lovers heading to the Keys this winter? :smiled :thup :beer :star :note :D
 
We are not heading down till April. We will probably try to fish for some grouper. I think grouper opens in April. Last March we were down and it was too windy. We plan on staying in the Key West area a couple weeks and Marathon for a couple weeks. Good luck on your trip.
D.D.
 
Bob and Marie will be in Knight's Key (just N E of Bahia Honda) with the RV and Caracal from Jan 20 thru March 20. There are a number of other C Dorys who have indicated that they will in this area, during this time. I will be happy to co-ordinate any who wish to gather. The Caracal is a great "tender" going from boat to boat in Boot Key (Marathon)--which is adjacent to Knight's key.

I'll PM you some further information and our cell phones number.

You want a couple of good days without wind for the trip to the Dry Tortugas. Fishing and diving is good all along this area, as you already know.
 
SEA3PO is along with Dr. Bob....my plan in to be at Knights about January 20 and stay in the area for 3 months....

Joel and Roxy the dog......Sue will fly out for a week or so...

Joel
SEA3PO
 
Ive been to marathon a few times and rented a 22 parker,it was the best vacation to date. Great time fishing,would love to fish the dry tortugas some day,sounds like a great trip you have planned,send us winter bound folks some photos.
 
Bob, which RV park or marina do you recommend at Knights Key? One more year to retirement and I'm coming down, Lord willing.

Mark
 
Mark,
There is only one RV park at Knight's key. There are several options for the sites. We have a harbor site (usually have to reserve a year ahead of time--we got ours from some one who could not longer come down because of health--but they may become available at any time. The harbor sites come with a 22 foot boat slip it is a sea wall, so people are flexible for boat length the guy next to us has a 9 foot inflatable--so plant of room. We are in site 6.

There are ocean front sites (no dockage, but a great view), then interior sites, There are several options in each category:
http://knightskeyrvresortandmarina.com/ Note that there is a 22% discount with monthly stays,

There is a launching ramp, boat wash down, trailer parking, a casual restaurant and Tiki bar in the RV resort. A few hundred feet down the road (on the Key) is a very nice restaurant with swimming pool. There are also some motel/hotel type of rooms, as well as individual houses for rent.
 
I just tried to make a reservation for that period with my boat...and no deal....they would not let me live on the boat in their marina....said I would have to book with a marina....any thoughts ?

Thanks

Joel and dog Roxie
 
Joel,
The boat slips at Knight's Key are only for those who have RV's in the park, or rent houses. The slip rent is included in the RV space rent only for those who have waterfront RV sites.

There are several marinas in Boot Key--not sure if they have openings. There are also several other marinas near by--I'll have to take a look when I get more time. Several C Dorys got slips in the Key Largo area in the past.

Bahia Honda has side ties available, but don't know about the reservation system , if any, or allowed length of stay. The closer you get to Key West, the more expensive the marinas are.
 
Here are a couple places we have stayed at, Pilot House Marina in Key Largo 305 747 4359 good weekly rates nice place decent rest and bars close by,parking close to slip usually. Nice people.
Harbour Cay Club Marathon 305 743 5390 we did not stay here but we will our friend stayed here very nice place, must stay for 1 week minimum club house large shared kitchen and work shop close to everything. Good restaurrants close by
Marathon Marina and boatyard 305 743 5390 did a transcient slip here nice pool great facilities. Not floating docks, check on weekly or monthly rates Good resturants close by
Get on Active Captain and zoom in on the markers check reviews etc.
Have fun
D.D.
 
Joel,

Bahia Honda State Park is a real gem and only about 8 miles from Marathon, which is where Bob and Marie will be staying. It is at the southern end of Seven Mile Bridge.

The marina is really a very nice bulkheaded basin with side tie-ups. We were there for ten days a few years so. They do take reservations (305-872-3210), but they have a 14 day limit. Rates two years ago were about $45@night. Rest rooms are within walking distance and there are showers and a dump station where you can dump your porta-potty a few hundred yards away in the campground.

There is a small concession with snacks, bait and so on at the marina. If you stay there I recommend staying on the western wall which is more private and only a short walk to the Gulf for great sunsets, although somewhat obscured by the bridges. Speaking of which, the anchorage is accessible to sailboats because they cut out section of the old bridge. We got a GREAT shot of Valkyrie running at speed through the bridge taken by Marcia positioned on the bridge. That shot was on last year's C-Brats calendar and the highlight of our album. That alone is worth the trip.

Another possibility is to grab a mooring in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. I spent a winter on the hook on my sailboat years ago before the city took over the harbor and installed moorings. However, they do not allow porta-potties unless you sign an "intent to install" agreement which I believe allows you to stay for a week. The crazy thing is they had/have a dump station at the dinghy dock which they got rid of. Good figure.

Typically, marinas in the Keys are very expensive. Check out Mangrove Marina in Tavernier, one of the last mom-and-pop marinas in the Keys that I know of. Rates are very reasonable, they have a ramp and cheap storage for the trailer. There are also shower rooms, washing machines and so on. A nice shopping center with grocery store and movie theater is within walking distance. Two CD 25's have spent the winter there for the last two years. Maybe they will jump in here, too.

BTW: Marcia and I will be down for two weeks starting in late January, boatless, however. Actually, I'm driving down to visit some friends in FL and Marcia will fly in for ten days. We're staying at the small motel in Key Largo where we spent our honeymoon. Hopefully, we can get together for a cold beer.

Hope this helps,

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
I think our last stay at Bahia Honda which was last March was around $65 dollars for a 23' boat per night. It's long walk to the showers at the RV park. You can anchor out and come into the cove for the snack bar ice cream stand rest rooms etc. They run snorkle trips out of there also. The anchorage area outside the protected cove where the boat ramps are and the nearby channel is said to have a lot of sharks. Lots of fish havens in the near by Hawk Channel for some good fishing.
D.D.
 
Just reserved a slip for Skimmer at Boca Chica Marina on Naval Air Station Key West for the first two weeks in February. I'm a little anxious about towing all the way from No. Va. to Key West but looking forward to exploring the Lower Keys and to seeing some other C-Brats down there.
 
schiavolou":2exvy0q7 said:
I'm a little anxious about towing all the way from No. Va. to Key West but looking forward to exploring the Lower Keys and to seeing some other C-Brats down there.
Click to expand...

It's fun to see a casual group shaping up :thup I'm hoping to be there too, although not sure yet if I will be.

I hear you on being a bit nervous about the tow. When I picked up my boat, the very first tow I did was cross country :disgust I felt like I needed one of those gymnast chalk bags as I approached my first mountain passes; my palms were sweating enough that I was worried about losing my grip on the wheel! (It all went well though.)

One nice thing about your drive is that I-95 is pretty flat, and once you get past Richmond it's actually pretty mellow, traffic/town-wise, until you get down to southern Florida (by which time you'll be an old hand).

I don't know if you've driven down the Keys before (if you have then you know, so never mind!), but they can be a bit of a chore. Lots of traffic, lots of people turning off and pulling on, quite a bit of two-lane, etc. I think I'd try to do them really early if you can -- a couple of times I've driven down to Key West at around 5:30 a.m. (to catch ferry to the Dry Tortugas) and the traffic was *much* lighter than usual. Almost pleasant! (And pretty as the sun came up.)

One other note is that I've found it easiest just to take "Florida's Turnpike," (I usually pick up a friend at FLL airport so I cut over from I-95 at that point), and they have now eliminated the toll booths. So the choices are to buy a SunPass (at least I think you can do this), or to just drive through and then they bill you by mail. I did the latter but ended up with a snafu (I had driven down and back twice, and somehow the bills they sent were confusing so I thought I had paid them all but I had missed one) and .... well, as you can imagine, it was not all that fun getting it straightened out (although it turned out okay in the end). So if you do the toll-by-mail just watch the paperwork carefully. As I recall they do add a bit on for the "service," but it was not a huge amount. It IS nice not to have to stop every mile at a toll booth and pay $1.

Sunbeam
 
Lou,

We drove down last Christmas from Manassas, Va and stayed on Geiger Key. Definitely go turnpike and pay Sunpass. It's easy. It's kind of cool to see your picture in the mail when you get back home passing the toll station. There are some fantastic reefs right out from Geiger and NAS. Hope the wind is down for you.

Mike

Hey, if you ever want to cruise on the Potomac next Spring give us a shout. We love to cruise down to Colonial beach.
 
We have trailered our boat down to Florida for the last few years. Living about 25 miles north of Philadelphia we usually leave around 7:00pm to go down rt95 to rt301 in Delaware cross the Bay bridge and continue down 301 till we hit Ashland Va area where we climb back on rt 95. I usually just pull into the back of the Truck Stops of America in Ashland and crawl into the boat and sleep till 7 or 8 am. Then we head straight down Rt. 95 then we drive down to Brunswick Georgia and stay on the boat in a campground just off of Rt.95. The Coastal Campground is nice has a pool nice facilities. www.coastalgarvresort.com/
From there we make tracks for Key Largo. There is a particularly nice Hampton Inn which hidden on the right heading south where we can usually find room to park. It's right on the bay. If you wanted to hang out a few days in Key Largo the Pilot House Marina is a great spot. You can have them lift your boat to launch it there or just drive up to The John Pennycamp park and launch there it's only about a four mile trip over to the Pilot House Marina from the park. Great snorkling and fishing nearby. From there I guess you have about a hundred of so miles to Key West. The Marina at Garrison Bight in Key West has a nice ramp and parking for your trailer. www.garrisonbightmarina.net It's also nice as you have access to your tow vehicle for trips around town etc. Try a meal at a place called Seven Fish while The drive is beautiful driving down thru the keys. Relax and don't be in a hurry, avoid the rush hours and it will be a beautiful thing. You'd be Keysin :)
D.D.
 
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