Another week down means another week closer to crossing our wake…and trust me, we are not ready for this amazing journey to be over. We reluctantly pushed off the dock at Hawks Cay Marina and continued northward, soaking in our final days in the Florida Keys before hitting the madness of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

One of the downsides of the Florida Keys is the lack of protected anchorage options. Don’t get me wrong, there are places to anchor, but when you have the entire Atlantic Ocean on one side and the entire Gulf on the other side, you want to be careful if any strong winds blow through. Because of this reason, we decided to head over to the Gulf side as the fetch continues to decrease the farther north you go.

From Hawks Cay Marina, we made a 22-nautical-mile jump up to Islamorada, and had a beautifully sunny day to do it. We started on the Atlantic with a slightly bumpy ride, but we eventually crossed underneath the Channel Five Bridge, where it calmed down on the Gulf side. We spent three gorgeous days in Islamorada, where the warm weather finally seemed to stay for good. 

Friday morning, we originally planned to make another short move up to Key Largo; however, another downside along the chain of keys is the lack of shore access with a dinghy. Many restaurants will allow you to leave your tender if you plan to dine there, but as much as we’d like, we can’t eat out every time we take Ripley in for a bathroom break! Instead, we continued up to Elliott Key, which is the northernmost of the true Florida Keys and is located entirely within Biscayne National Park. We chose this spot specifically because of the campground that has docks and allows dogs on a leash. 

The water was unbelievably clear heading up to Elliott Key. It was nearly impossible to keep focus on driving the boat when all we wanted to do was stare at the turquoise water! Once we set the anchor, Evan jumped in and gave our hull a much-needed clean after sitting stationary in Marathon for so long. 

Friday morning, we lifted anchor right at first light to find a spot in the popular No Name Harbor located within Key Biscayne. This is an incredibly popular anchorage due to its 360-degree protection and access to land for provisioning. Many cruisers find themselves here for days on end (or even weeks) when waiting for a weather window to cross to the Bahamas. On top of that, it’s a popular spot for dayboaters coming from Miami, making it somewhat hectic on the weekends. We only lasted one night in the harbor as we didn’t feel comfortable with how many boats were crammed into the already tight anchorage.

On Saturday, we decided at the last minute to attend the Miami Boat Show. Before starting the Great Loop, we found ourselves at boat shows, touring the boats to see what we liked and didn’t like. This time around, we were eager to visit all the booths and discuss possible upgrades to our own boat. 

Now that we are in Miami, we’re carefully planning our moves to avoid as much boat traffic as possible. Luckily, we’ve returned to the ICW, so the weather isn’t as much of a concern. Cheers to continuing the adventure!