The Trifecta

No Name Harbor to Key Largo

Well we made it to the Keys, but just barely. We left No Name Harbor at the top of Key Biscayne very early in the morning with an amazing sunrise to see us off. The sea was a little more choppy then the previous two days, but still very beautiful. The water was starting to look much more clear too, which can be a little spooky. All of a sudden we can see the bottom and it doesn’t look all that far beneath the boat.

Unfortunately our engine was acting up even more than normal and we were attempting to solve the problem by changing filter after filter. In the beginning of the day a filter bought us a couple of hours before the vacuum gauge started creeping into the red. By 5p, Jacob was changing the fuel filter every 10 minutes trying to solve the problem. Then, our halyard at the top of our main sail snapped and the main sail came crashing down! Then the cabin started filling with black smoke. It was the trifecta. 

We decided that our engine needed more help than we could give it at sea, so we anchored in Hawk Channel about a mile offshore and called TowBoat. Thankfully we were only about 4 miles east of Key Largo and they were happy to come help. We found a spot in Key Largo Harbor Marina which is also a full service boat yard, should we need it, and tied up. It was pretty nice to hook up to shore power again for a little air conditioning after a hot, stressful day! The funny thing is, that I didn’t miss the air conditioning at all when we were at anchor. I guess there is just more breeze.

We are planning to stay a few days, maybe more and try to get some work done on our fuel filter, running rigging, and we are suspecting our air filter. This voyage is really breaking us in on the variety of things that can happen while cruising! Key Largo seems like it will be a really fun place to explore. There are tons of canals to explore with our dinghy, and a cool community pool with a pirate ship that the girls and I can’t wait to go check out.