There really is nothing quite so much fun as messing about in boats. Originally the boat in question was a wooden rowing boat, but for me the object of fun has transmogrified into a 14 foot (4 meter) fiberglass center console. A quick run down my canal and out into Newfound Harbor and I can park the boat somewhere smooth and out of the wind and take a swim in the turquoise waters. An hour of that, an outdoor shower when I get home and a leap into my uniform and I am relaxed and ready for a night of dealing with crises at work. Going swimming for me is the best release of tension, being on the water or in the water is my reason for living in the Keys, and having a dock on a canal is another reason why I like to live outside Key West proper. Twenty years of living on the freezing coastal waters of Central California will do that for you. And then there are days when you want to go for a boat ride as well as go for a swim.
Zipping down the south shore of Ramrod Key I headed out to Niles Channel, which is the deep water channel separating Ramrod from Summerland Keys. There is deepish water close in to the south shore of Ramrod, not too close in and you'll find several feet at low tide. My Dusky has no electronics and with a modest 25 horsepower outboard doesn't need much water to float so if I can barely see details on the bottom I've probably got three feet of water and that's plenty. But I still have to follow the bubba sticks to get out into deep water:
The first bubba stick you leave to port (the left side of the boat), and then there's another one to swing west to aim at Summerland in the distance, and then at the last one you are free to turn north:
Bubba sticks are the local name for homemade markers, usually made out of white PVC pipes planted somehow in the ground and sticking up above water. The trick is to know which side the bubba who planted them intended to find deep water. First approaches may need to be cautious but they are very handy. And then there it is: the tallest bridge between Big Pine Key and Key West, fully forty feet clearance above median high water:
I need much less to pass safely underneath:
That's the marker light hanging under the bridge to show the way at night. Beyond the bridge to the north Niles Channel stretches to the horizon and disappears beyond the mangroves that line either side of the deep water channel. On a calm day its a mirror of flat water and the boat flies along as though skimming an endless expanse of shimmering green sand. On a windy day its too much hassle in a small boat and one turns around to find a quiet spot to take a swim:
There are a bunch of boats anchored just south of the bridge and i see them everyday when I ride the Bonneville on my way to work:
And there's even one that's sunk at its anchor and the way it's lying in the water gives one some idea of how shallow it is around here:
People wonder why "they" don't remove these boats. The problem is what to do with them? It costs huge amounts of money to get the boats to the landfill, but even before that state officials have to carry out "due diligence" to seek out the owner and even if "they" get rid of these abandoned boats more appear. Constantly. Not so long ago a sailboat in this area broke loose and blew the fuse on the entire Lower Keys electrical supply when it's mast banged up against the wires that run alongside the highway. We were out of power for several hours in the Lower Keys, not least because the power company had no idea where the "break" was. They run trucks along the highway shining searchlights at the wires and that takes time.And then there's Flagler's old bridge which is used as a fishing pier alongside the new bridge. I took several views from my boat:
All original cement from the beginning of the 20th century, and you can see it took a fair bit of effort to blast the gap in the old bridge to make room for boats to pass through.
And then the State of Florida laid a roadway on top in 1938 after they bought the rights from the railroad company.Well, that was fun but its time to go back to the protected waters of Newfound Harbor and jump in the water.
This dude out fishing is doing a bit better than my 20 miles per hour, and he's through the bubba stick chicane before I even get close. That was a good day on the water.
