No Name Harbor

Our final stop before heading outside and up the coast to Ft Lauderdale was the southern tip of Key Biscayne in a little harbor without a name.  Well, technically the name is No Name Harbor.  The harbor is well protected from just about any wind direction and has water 10-12 feet deep right up to the shore.  The deep water makes for a bit of an anchoring challenge when you consider the number of boats that often anchor here.

We normally try to use a formula to determine how much anchor chain to put out.  This takes into account the depth of the water, the wind conditions, the type of material on the seabed (sand, mud, etc.), and the fact that we have chain instead of rope on the first 100 feet of our anchoring tackle.  In 12 feet of water, we would usually put out around 60 feet of chain, more if the wind was blowing and if we had room.  Some would say that is generous.  My feeling is that I like a good night's sleep and don't want to worry about a dragging anchor.  However, with boats all around us, that much chain would have put us on top of the boat behind us.  And, if the other boats have less chain/rope out and the wind direction changed, we might swing sideways into one of them.  Many of the boats in this harbor had fenders out on the sides of their boats, apparently anticipating that this might happen.  Since the wind was not so much a factor with protection from the trees on shore, and it was forecast to stay east for the next several days (and not change direction), we felt fairly comfortable with considerably less than 60 feet.

One of the bike trails

View of the beach as we were leaving.  Key Biscayne on the right. Miami in the background

After setting the anchor, we took our bikes to shore and rode into town for a few supplies.  The harbor is surrounded by Bill Baggs State Park where there are miles of really nice biking trails along lush natural areas.  There is a nice beach on the Atlantic side with a functioning lighthouse.  There are fishing piers and camping sites, all within a mile or so of the town of Key Biscayne.  We stayed one night here two years ago as we waited to make the crossing to Bimini.  It's a convenient harbor for those looking for a weather window to cross.

Boats came and went throughout the evening.  It is a short ride to Miami.  As far as I could tell, there were no anchors that dragged during the night.