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Today was the longest, on the water, day of our cruise. We covered 135 nautical miles in about 6 hours. This took us along Hawk Channel, which is the body of water between the outer reef of the Florida Keys and the Keys themselves. We then cut into Biscayne Bay by going through Biscayne Channel, which is the home of Stiltsville. Stiltsville is a group of homes, built on stilts on the sides of Biscayne Channel. The first ones, in the 1930's were actually boats that were intentionally run aground. Later people built actual homes. Today, now that those homes are within the Biscayne bay National Park, those homes are no longer privately owned but are run by a trust At the peak of Stiltsville there were 27 homes. Today there are only six left as others have been destroyed by hurricanes, storms and fires. The most recent loss was in January of this year when one caught fire. You can see the burned remains in the pictures below.
Acadia handled beautifully in the 3 foot broadside and then following seas. A few times, as we were approaching Biscayne Bay, Acadia would surf down a wave and was going fast enough to stuff the bow into the wave in front of us. Water would shoot out, off to the side, higher than roof of the salon, but the deck would stay dry with no water coming over it!
We anchored in South Basin on Key Biscayne (see the spot circled in red in the chart capture). Most people go to No Name harbor just to the south of were we anchored. It was full when we arrived and there were several boats anchored outside in wide open Biscayne Bay. Despite this we had South Basin entirely to ourselves! The holding was excellent and the protection qualified as a hurricane hole. One side was all mangroves of the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. The other three sides where multimillion dollar mansions with their large yachts. We were even visited by a pair of dolphins while we were relaxing in the cockpit with a glass of wine.
This video was my attempt to capture the surfing and water shooting high off the bow I mentioned above. Unfortunately I was unable to capture one of those surfs.
The next several pictures are of Stiltsville. I would have liked to get closer to them for better photos, but realize that they are in one to two feet of water on hard coral. Since Acadia draws 3.5 feet I just didn't want to risk running aground. The last thing I wanted was to turn Acadia into one of the original, grounded boats in Stiltsville!
This is the house that burned in January 2021. The smoke was seen from the mainland and by the time the fire department arrived (just ten minutes after the smoke was seen) the house was fully engulfed in flames.
The sky line of Miami peaking out of the mist. Unfortunately this was the most gray day, by far, which ruined the appearance of the water in Hawk Channel and Biscayne Bay, which are normally very turquoise in color.
The dolphins that visited us while were anchored in South Basin. I didn't react fast enough to get my phone/camera out when they were only three feet off the swim platform!
Dinner in the cockpit. Jackie decided that she was not going to smile for the photo, so she will probably be upset that I posted this photo of her with such a goofy expression. Oh, well, she chose to do it!
The sunset was very nice, over the mansions that dotted the shore of South Basin.
All set for the evening, with the anchor light on.
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