M/Y Salty Lady Blog

We spent today at anchor exploring the water around Rodriguez Key. First we took the dinghy toward the small island only to discover that no motors are allowed (the water is very shallow and lots of marine wildlife). Also the island is completely surrounded with mangroves, which are beautiful, but means we can’t actually get on shore.

So we returned to the boat and got the paddle boards instead. It was a short trip back to the Island and with no wind, we were able to easily navigate the shallow waters. We saw lots of fish, birds and even a stingray.

It was so warm that we swam around the boat for a bit and I took the opportunity to dive down and check the anchor.

We capped off another beautiful day with a gorgeous sunset and cocktails. Tomorrow we head to Marathon to complete this leg of our trip!

Last night, we enjoyed an amazing sunset at our anchorage in Key Biscayne. After the weekend party-goers finally left, it was a calm, peaceful night.

This morning, we said goodbye to Miami’s beautiful skyline and headed down Hawk Channel to the Keys. Almost immediately the water was crystal clear. Crusing in 15 to 20 feet of water we swore it looked only 5 feet deep.

We pulled into our anchorage at Rodriguez Key, next to Key Largo, and found a nice spot. We immediately went for a swim and took advantage of the clear water to check out the underside of our boat. Everything checked out ok (just wanted to make sure we didn’t accidently catch a fish trap line or anything wrapped around the shafts).

We will spend 2 nights here before heading to Marathon, which will be our “home away from home” for the next 3 months.

With a short cruise planned, we hung around Fort Lauderdale for a little sunrise walk along the ocean front before we headed down to Key Biscayne. It was another beautiful day with light winds and no waves, making for a pleasant arrival into our anchorage.

Being the weekend, the anchorage was packed with small boats and a few bigger boats, hanging out at the sand bar. The water was a beautiful turquoise and a balmy 87 degrees.

We grabbed a few drinks and took the dinghy over to the sand bar and hung out in the water to relax.

Tomorrow we head to Rodriguez key, where we expect to hang out for a couple nights.

Wow! Another calm day on the Atlantic as we headed South from Lake Worth to Fort Lauderdale. This time we had a nice breeze (many sailboats out today) but the water was still pretty calm, making for a beautiful day for everyone. That’s probably why we must have passed well over a couple hundred boats, either fishing or dive charters, in this short stretch offshore.

When we arrived in Fort Lauderdale, holy cow was it congested! A container ship, a super yacht, several fishing boats and tons of recreational small boats all going in or out at the same time.

After docking at our marina (Bahia Mar) we headed across the street to Bo’s Beach for some food and drinks, before taking a nice stroll along the beach. We even saw a cruise ship leaving port.

Tomorrow we have a short day planned, heading offshore to Biscayne Bay where we will anchor for one night (change of plans due to nice weather; we will anchor out 2 nights at Rodriguez key instead of Key Biscayne).

We left Fort Pierce this morning and headed outside, about 3 miles offshore. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Atlantic this calm. It was almost like glass. The water is getting more and more blue with every mile.

During the trip South we saw dolphins, but unlike their ICW cousins, these ones didn’t seem to want to get close to our boat. They played in our wake, but only 1 felt brave enough to be right next to us. We also saw a lone sea turtle drifting along, but he disappeared quickly after we spotted him.

As we approached the Lake Worth inlet, we heard a call that 70 small sail boats, taking part in a regatta would be exiting the inlet as we entered. It was quite the spectacle!

Lake Worth is a very popular anchorage, maybe the most popular on the East coast? Literally hundreds of boats anchored here, some temporary, like us, some permanent. There are a ton of mega yachts here as well, and we even watched a cruise ship depart.

Tomorrow we will continue South, outside, to Fort Lauderdale where we will spend the night at a marina.

Another beautiful day on the ICW down to Fort Pierce, where we are docked at the City Marina.

Once again we had dolphins escorting us most of the way. I swear that when they look up at us, they are just as excited to see us looking down at them as we are to see them!

After a lunch at Crabby’s (the fish dip was awesome!) we did a little walking tour of the downtown area and saw lots of cute shops and restaurants. Might be worth a weekend getaway some time to come down here for a longer visit.

Tomorrow we head outside, hugging the coast South to Lake Worth inlet, where we will come inside and anchor for the night.

The first day of our trip to the Keys couldn’t have been better. The weather was gorgeous, the water in the ICW was like glass, and very light vessel traffic. We had several pods of dolphins that gave us a show, jumping out of the water and looking at us. I wonder what they think of us?

We anchored in the Indian River, by the spoil islands near Malabar, FL. The sunset made a fantastic backdrop for a drone pic of our girl. Tomorrow we continue South down the ICW to Ft Pierce where we will spend the night at the City Marina, before heading offshore for the rest of the trip.

Everything is ready to go, the weather forecast looks good and so tomorrow, Wednesday, Feb 22, we will start heading South toward the Florida Keys.

We will spend 3 months in Marathon and the surrounding area, with short trips to Key West and the Dry Tortugas planned as well. Salty Lady will return to Titusville the first week of June.

On Wednesday we plan to leave Titusville on our 300 nautical mile trip to Marathon key. The plan might change a bit depending on weather and any other issues that come up. On the way down, we are planning for fairly short cruises (~5 hours) and leave some room for flexibility (our slip reservation in Marathon starts 1 March) as well as to leave plenty of time to enjoy the places we stop at along the way. Here’s how far we plan to go each day and where we plan to spend each night.

• Wednesday, 2/22: 42NM, Anchor out in Indian River near Malabar
• Thursday, 2/23: 35NM, City Marina, Fort Pierce
• Friday, 2/24: 48NM, Anchor out in Lake Worth
• Saturday, 2/25: 45NM, Bahia Mar Marina, Ft. Lauderdale
• Sunday, 2/26: 30NM, Anchor near Biscayne Bay
• Monday, 2/27: 10NM, Anchor near Biscayne Bay
• Tuesday, 2/28: 48NM, Anchor near Rodriguez Key
• Wednesday, 3/1: 48NM, Arrive Faro Blanco Marina, Marathon

In the summer of 2022 we took Salty Lady to Georgia to visit Cumberland Island, Jekyl Island and St Simons Island.

Georgia Trip Photos