"Ft. Jefferson Trip -Sailing down- Jan. 25-26, 2001" Marquesas Keys Travelogue by grandmaR

Cruise ship dock leaving Key West

Got underway this morning and motored around Fleming Key to Key West Bight where we got more water in the tanks (up to 320 gallons from 200 - which took awhile), filled up with fuel, dumped the trash, and had a pumpout.

Sunset off the Marquesas

Left Key West about 11 and went down south of the Keys - light winds. We got to the Marquesas about 4, and approached Mooney Harbor where the chart and guidebooks said there was a passage inside the atoll, but we couldn't find a channel. So we anchored south of the little islands. The ground was a bit hard, and we had some swells to deal with, but wasn't bad. We'd were 25.4 nm from Key West.

Channel marker looking toward west side of fort

Pulled the anchor and got underway for the longest section of the trip. The wind had picked up and we sailed with a fairly substantial wind on the starboard quarter. I saw a patch of something that I thought might be seaweed, but it picked up it's head -it was a sea turtle. Saw another one later. Also saw a Portuguese Man of War. They look like a partly collapsed blue soda bottle on the surface.

The seas weren't too bad until we got to Rebecca Shoals. At this point the Gulf Stream from the gulf meets the Gulf Stream from the ocean, and the seas are confused and choppy. We had about 8 foot swells which were rocking the boat quite a bit- she would heel 20 deg to either side.. We reached this point just after mid morning. Bob was having to hand steer. I became queasy and did not want to go below to make lunch, nor did I want to steer. Eventually I got peanut butter and saltines, and something to drink. We saw the ferries on their way back, and also a couple of seaplanes.

Channel markers on the west side(without shoaling)

We came into sight of the Tortugas about 4 pm, and I called the rangers to check in. The guide book said that the SE passage was closed due to shoaling. I did not understand what that meant and I thought we'd be OK if we came in from the north.

But in addition the entrance from the north between Bush Key and Garden Key also had shoaled in during the Valentines Day storm of 1998. It was almost open again until Xmas eve of 1998 and there is now a substantial sand bar connecting the two Keys which is not shown on any chart or on most pictures including the official pictures of the park taken from the air.

Land bridge that closed the channel

As we came around the north side, we were intending to go down the channel and anchor in front of the fort, but the channel markers all said "Danger - shoaling".

So we went all the way around the fort on the west (above is channel from the top of the fort) and came in on the west side and anchored just ahead of GEMINI.

Fort, lighthouse, old fueling piers & landing dock

There were several work boats there, and about 6 other sailboats - ARTEMIS who was a friend of Pete and Cathy on GEMINI and came down with them, PURPLE FOX, TONGA (black topsides and yellow sail covers), and a Macintosh.

Another view of the fort with anchored boat

There was a big catamaran anchored south of the channel. We could see the lighthouse on Loggerhead Key. Several more workboats came in at dusk, and one anchored right next to us.

Next Day 2