Living On the Hook Near Marathon for a Week

[dohcdelsol93]

So a little back ground

We took our first trip to the keys this past June and love it. There was a 3 car pile up on 7 mile bridge, we had been snorkeling at the horse shoe and were headed back to marathon when we got stuck in traffic for nearly two hours while emergency crews took care of a burning car on the 7 mile bridge.

While parked on the south end of the bridge (north bound) we saw two small islands, flat with plenty of sand. One swimming distance from the bridge the other kayaking distance and every day people with boats would gather at that bridge. Im not talking about piedgon key.


Our first trip the little lady required us to rent a house and just get a feel for the islands. We will be returning next spring. We have three dogs we cruise and vacation with so accsss to islands or land where they can be walked (and cleaned up after) is important.

There is little shelter from storms or wind at these islands. Which should not be an issue in June. We currently own a 26 footer but will be upgrading to a 30 footer shoal draft. Neither boat is considered a trailer sailor unless you own a huge diesel tow rig. With less than 3 ft draft we can get in some tight ancorages.

The plan is to use the boat ramp at the end of 7 mile bridge to launch (over night parking allowed?) Or pay the closest marina to that location to launch there and park for the week or 10 days we will be down.

Is Florida wild life ok with anchoring near these islanda over night so we can walk our dogs easily? Being we are familiar with the areas between 7 mile bridge and is it the Ohio channel? Small parking area at the end of the bridge to go snorkeling and a camp ground on the opposite side, south of veteran's park. There is a reef area out there.

The only large boats i saw in this area were anchored at the horse shoe. Which is another location we would consider anchoring for a week.

We are trying to stick with areas we are familiar with. Being that we are lake sailors from the upstate of sc we want to make sure we don't violate any local rules on cruising and anchoring. Seems you guys down there have a hard enough time with land dwelling locals you don't need tourists giving counties and cities any more reason to push out live aboards.


We will be doing a few excursions from these areas but for our first time cruising with open ocean at our side and dealing with currents/tides we are going to take it slow. Maybe find a local who's bored and wants to get out for a day and have them show us around.