# Charter in the Fla Keys in November?



## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

My wife and sister are coordinating a trip to DisneyWorld for a few days leading up to Thanksgiving.

Since I promised my wife our next sailing trip will be in water she can swim in, this might be the opportunity. I am looking for any information on a charter in the Keys in November. I see charter companies in Key Largo and Key West. My wife grew up spending summers in Key West and we went to a family reunion there 6 years ago but other than that I know very little about this area. I would appreciate suggestions on charter companies and sailing itinerary.


----------



## armandolio (Aug 7, 2011)

Try https://www.floridayachtandcharters.com/

My boat is in the Miami fleet. From Miami you are a glorious day sail from Key Largo.


----------



## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

armandolio said:


> Try https://www.floridayachtandcharters.com/
> 
> My boat is in the Miami fleet. From Miami you are a glorious day sail from Key Largo.


Thanks for that. So if you have one week to cruise from Miami where would you go?


----------



## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

Key West and back to Miami should take about a week.

Gary


----------



## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

travlin-easy said:


> Key West and back to Miami should take about a week.
> 
> Gary


That's what we are thinking but want to give 10 days so as not to rush it, I have a habit of pushing distances when sailing, which is not a vacation to my wife. We are also looking at BVI or Bahamas. I am letting my wife figure out airfare to the other two locations to see if we can get there with money still left over to charter a boat.

Gary did you mention in the past to have served in the Navy in Key West? When was that?


----------



## armandolio (Aug 7, 2011)

I would take my time snorkeling and day sailing down to Marathon. There is plenty between Miami and Marathon.


----------



## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

jephotog,

I went to Underwater Swimmers School there in 1958, long before Key West became a tourist attraction. There were lots of bars there that pretty much catered to the sailors from the Naval Base, but the high prices and tourist traps didn't exist back then.

Even after all those years I can still clearly remember being taking out in the ocean in a Motor Whale Boat and dumped in the water and told to swim back to the base, which was about 12 miles away. I thought I would drown before I got to shore, and fought the tide the entire way until I got near the Naval Piers. I was just 18 years old then and invincible, or at least that's the way I behaved. 

When I was about 35 years old, I took my young children out to the Marquesses Keys to fish for barracuda on the flats adjacent to the north beach. My son, who was about 12 at the time, could cast very, very well, but my daughter, who was only 9 had problems. Ironically, the cuda slammed her surgical hose lure as soon as it hit the water, while my son struggled to catch a fish. When my son finally caught his first, big cudda, he fought the fish for nearly an hour, and when it finally was brought to the boat, it was nearly dead. I ended up sacrificing the fish, lopping off it's massive head, and mounting it with it's jaws wide open, revealing its razor sharp teeth. It finally began to decompose so it went to the landfill, though I still have several 35mm slides of the catch. He was so very, very proud to have landed such a monster cuda.

During the time I was stationed there, I spent lots of hours SCUBA diving at Sand Key, which is a popular destination for local snorkeling boats running out of Key West. Back then, the underwater visibility was about 100 feet, sometimes more. Today, it's about 35 feet on a good day. 

You will find some great fishing near Key West, however, the best fishing I found was right next to Cosgrove Light, which is about 5 miles south of the Marquesses Keys. Huge number of mutton snapper congregate there and they'll slam a chunk of cut bait or shrimp dropped anywhere near them. The big trick here is to land them before the giant cuda nail them. Just a few hundred yards to the south, the reef drops off to more than 200 feet and some monster king mackerel, big mahi and an occasional sailfish congregate over this deepwater drop-off. 

From Cosgrove Light it's about a 50 mile run to the Dry Torgugas, where you will find incredibly clear waters, fantastic snorkeling, but fishing is no longer allowed there because the feds made it a marine sanctuary, which is clearly marked by buoys. Just outside the sanctuary, you can catch fish as fast as your line hits the water. 

The Dry Tortugas is a beautiful place to visit, but nothing there other than Fort Jefferson and the wonderful snorkeling opportunities. If the weather turns nasty, you can easily get stuck there for a week or more till things settle down and you can make your way back 75 miles to Key West, or at least the 50 miles to the Marquesses Keys, then take a leisurely sail back to Key West up Hawk Channel, or if you draw 4 feet or less, through the Lakes Passage to Mule Key Basin, then cross the Northwest Channel to Key West. 

I tried to get my wife to move here 45 years ago, but she refused. Now, I think she may have second thoughts, but at our age, it ain't gonna happen, though I still have hopes of sailing down there this coming October of my health allows. 

Gettin' old ain't fer wimps and sissies,

Gary


----------

