Day 265 May 18

Rodriguez Key to Miami (Virginia Key Anchorage)

Day 265  May 18, 2020

We ran “outside” in the bluewater all day. 40.6 NM,

A restful night at Rodriguez Key and we were off to Miami shortly after 7.  The forecast wasn’t quite what we hoped for, but by no means a show stopper.  Tropical Storm Arthur, first named storm of the year, did not affect us, since most of it was working its way up the Carolina’s coast today.  That said, the partly cloudy day turned to mostly cloudy, and we did get one of those widely scattered thunderstorms shortly after our departure.  But the seas were flat and most of the day was breezy enough to keep us from getting too sweaty. We left the open water and entered Key Biscayne, south of downtown Miami.  Our plan was to anchor at a place called Miami Stadium Anchorage, but it was packed out with boats.  All Talk II and the Honey Queen backtracked about a ½ mile to the south side of the Bay Bridge, where we still had a view of the Miami skyline.  This anchorage is much more exposed to southerly winds, but the storm we were watching was north of Miami, so we felt safe. However, feelings should always be verified with facts when it comes to boating. 

Steve and Susie asked us to join them for burgers on the grille (still my favorite meal choice).  So I splashed the dink and we puttered 100 yards to their 70’ Marlow mother ship, All Talk II. We ate on the flybridge and watched the clouds grow more and more ominous. We finished eating and decided the weather wasn’t going to be as kind to us as we had forecasted.  Steve and I both have come to the conclusion that meteorology is not in our future.  We made a joint decision it was in our best interest to get our _ _ _ back to the boat, or Steve and Susie would have guests for the night. The rain started as we secured the dinghy on our swim platform.  We secured the rest of the windows just as the bottom fell out.  Then the lightning came.  Then the hail. The winds picked up and our boat (and the 70 footer, too), did almost a 360 turn in the bay.  I dragged anchor at least 300 feet. Winds peaked at 43 knots on my wind meter (we spoke to friends the next day who were anchored around the corner, who said they saw 63 on their wind meter).  I was thinking that if it was raining cats and dogs right now, they would have hit the side of our boat, not landed on top. We were rocking and I was hoping that the mast on top of the boat (aka lightning rod) would not attract any high voltage from the air waves.  I mopped water the whole time that was blowing through the windows and doors and about 20 minutes later, the storm left us and we finally exhaled.

The worst behind us, we watched a few minutes of The Voice (my Admiral’s favorite show) before we went to bed.  We had experienced more than a widely scattered thunderstorm…it was severe. I’ll be happy to miss those in the future.