April 21-22, 2020 – We’ve been in the Keys a lot longer than we’d planned, and our month at Skipjack was coming to a close. We’d watched the weather, and at least from a wind and wave standpoint, it looked like we had a couple good days for the 112 miles from our marina in Marathon up to Miami’s Marine Stadium.
There was a mention of chance of morning showers. But if they’d said ‘chance of morning water spouts’, we probably wouldn’t have gone.
Well, a squall line popped up along the Keys, and basically moving from West to East, we began to see some heavy rain ahead, so we slowed and did a couple slow 360s, to let it move on ahead. We noticed quite a few rotational clouds that dipped down from the bottom of the rain clouds, so we hung back further, eventually just anchoring out for 45 minutes and eating lunch, to let the storm subside.
We were able to follow the remnants of the storm line, although we did get just close enough to actually catch a little rain.
The rest of the afternoon was drama-free, and we anchored along with about a dozen other boats in the lee behind Rodriguez Key, south of Key Largo.
We were up early the next day, and enjoyed a nice ride up to Miami. We began to see some distinctly different kinds of boat up here.
We entered Biscayne Bay, and approached Miami from the south, anchoring in the area called Marina Stadium. We counted four dozen boats at one point – some were a bit derelict looking, some were high end. Some were cruisers, on their way to somewhere else, but a lot were day boats, partying like coronavirus wasn’t a thing.
Based on the action, with motor boats and jet skis zipping through the anchorage, dance tunes thumping (on a Wednesday in the middle of a pandemic, mind you), it’s hard to fathom what it must look like on a regular weekend.
But for us, a nice stop after a couple ocean days, and a transition to the long Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Nice views!
