Florida Keys
Ambler Isle
V and S
Thu 26 May 2011 00:47
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Wracked our brains for places we visited in prior
years. We first cruised Keys with pals Werner and Doris Schuette.
They bought their Sea Ray in Florida, and we came with them to pick it up and
ended up touring the Keys. We went to Holiday Isles, Hawk's Cay Marina,
Plantation Marina, and back through Gilbert's on that trip in 1997. None
of those fit our current itinerary, so we looked for new places. We were
touring the inside, Florida Bay route, so our old favorite outside spots
did not work. Finally we consulted the Southern Waterways Guide book,
and it directed us to The Hungry Tarpon Restaurant, just off mile marker
1175. Although it was a little early for our normal stop, we anchored at
the tip of Long Island, just in front of the Long Island Viaduct. Running
the dinghy into the nearby marina, we inquired about the restaurant. No
such place was known there. The nearest restaurant was 10 miles in either
direction. Back aboard the Amber Isle, we grilled filet mignon and red
skin potatoes. The night was a bit rolly due to be by the open
bridge. Next morning we opted to continue on inside the Florida Bay.
No sense getting rocked on the Hawk's Channel. The ride was uneventful til
we reached the Bahia Honda Bridge. Listed on the charts as having a 20'
vertical clearance, we searched for the marked bridge opening to cross over to
the Hawk's Channel. We went through the center section of the
bridge. Confusion reigned when we discovered a second old
bridge that was never removed. Was it also a 20' clearance? The only
signs on the derelict bridge were "Danger, falling or hanging debris."
Unsure of the clearance, we back tracked east to a section of the old bridge
that was remove to allow sailboats to pass. As soon as we entered the
Hawk's Channel, we remembered why we had been on the inside Florida Bay.
While the wind waves were only 2-3', the swells were another 4'. Traveling
the Channel for about 6 miles was enough. We were glad to turn off into
the Newfound Keys Harbour some 6 miles to the west. Past the Little Palm
Island Resort, we went another 5 miles to an anchorage in 10' water.
Little Palm Island is a very chic resort, visited by many celebrities who
want to conduct "private affairs". The harbour is full of women arriving
by boat or sea plane for rendezvous with their bosses or other famous,
influential men. Little Palm carefully guards their privacy by limiting
access to the island to only resort guests. We would skip Little
Palm with it's $100 lunches, and $200 dinners this trip. Instead we
dinghied over to the Parrotise Bar and Grill, formerly known as the Sand
Bar. It was located on Little Torch Island. We tied up on the
rickety wooden dock that was labeled, "No Mooring.". When we were here in
2000, it was much more "old Florida". But the newer version was still
fun. We dined on shrimp and burgers. In the old days, they threw
beer bottles into a chute in the bar that landed outside in trash bins.
Today they were much more civilized. Full and happy, we returned to the
Amber Isle, where we discovered no TV channels were available. We decided
to stay another day here, and catch up on some maintenance issues.
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