Newfound Harbor

View Larger Map As you may have guessed, I wasn’t too happy about my anchorage and decided that I shall stay there no longer. I took my time waking up, and I drank coffee and tea to keep me awake, but I still had to be out by 9AM or the tide would shift again and I wouldn’t be anchored properly. Last night the winds had increased to a soulful moaning, but conveniently by daybreak had subsided to something a bit more easygoing. Furthermore, they had shifted to be more out of the south and hence it was one upwind sail all the way to my designated anchorage in Big Pine Key, called Newfound harbor. The sail was positively lovely, and the boat did well. Part of my rosy feelings towards today’s sail emanated from the fact that it would be no more than 2.5 hours long, unlike the past several days of sail jail. After countless hours poring over the charts I now understand that there really aren’t any ‘good’ anchorages between Key West and Marathon, and this is also why the unwashed masses congregate at both locales. All the same I am determined to snorkel Looe Key, a beautiful reef complex directly south of the Newfound Harbor Entrance. After a nice, refreshing sail through Hawk’s channel I managed to maintain my tack and sail all the way to the top of the anchorage where I saw about 5 other sailboats. An interesting note that I read in the NOAA Coast Pilots on the trip down here, is that the best part of Newfound harbor is off limits to masted vessels due to several sailboats dragging anchor into the power lines that feed all the surrounding keys, causing a series of power outages as well as the boats catching fire and sinking. I presume the vessels were unattended. Anyway, due to a few oopsies I have to anchor in a VERY shallow region just outside of the prohibited zone. Conveniently, I entered the area at lowest tide, but this was only slightly reassuring as at times I only has 6” underneath my keel. All the same I managed to get in without bumping, dropped the hook and was ready to relax. Well, not quite. The boat is covered with thick salt crystals from all the spray taken on while sailing, and it was very dirty because of a very dirty boy. I closed up all the ports and gave the boat a front-to-back saltwater bath with a cloth “Better Bucket” I had manufactured on a previous trip. You wouldn’t think that salt would wash away salt, but it actually worked very well and brought the deck to a more walkable condition. The cockpit was particularly dirty, so it was nice to get an important portion of my living space clean. Still having nervous energy somehow, I went swimming to inspect the bottom. I don’t know what I was expecting, but there wasn’t any new growth of buggers since I left Niceville. I did confirm that there is no more than 14” of free space beneath the keel. The tide is only supposed to go down 6” more tonight, so hopefully the boat will remain floating. I also checked the anchor, out on 65’ of chain in this 6.7’ deep water. It seems ridiculous but I don’t want to be “that guy” that kills the power to this part of the keys. Ok, so now I’m tired, and I had enough time and energy to cook myself a decent meal before sunset. I think tomorrow I’m going to be lazy. No sailing, nothing adventurous. Just sit on the boat and read and maybe go on a tour of the area in the dinghy. Also, I’m going to attempt to do much of my laundry, and I have plenty of water after so many days at sea. That might be a bit of an adventure, as I’ve never done laundry by hand, ever. I still haven’t emptied the starboard 50 gallon water tank that I’ve been pulling from this whole trip, and I expect to go to Marathon before Christmas which will give me a chance to top up.