Lignumvitae Key

Trip Start Dec 01, 2007

Trip End May 31, 2008

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Flag of United States Lignumvitae Key, Florida, United States
Friday, February 8, 2008

We pulled out of Key West on heavy winds out of the south. Again, over twenty knots on the nose. The sky was bight and the water blue as we pass by a couple cruise ships docked at Key West. Heading into 5-6 foot seas with wind on the nose, First Forty goes way up then often crashes into what I call a "hole" or a deep trough...we break spray high into the air and the entire foredeck is covered with spray. It's not a fun ride, and I hoped we would find a better ride after we began to turn more south east. Soon we begin to fall off the wind slightly and we settle down into a more relaxed roll on our trip back.

We have not had a chance to go 'inside' on the entire trip to Key West from Miami. First Forty draws nearly 5 feet and much of the water on the inside of the keys us 4-6 feet making the trip too tight for comfort. There was one easy place to go inside and that is called "Channel 5"

Lignu Key

.   This is a place about 50 miles east of Key West where there is both a high bridge and also water in the 6-7 foot level. This would give us a chance to see what its like on the inside. I kept hoping we would find better water, some fish to see and perhaps a really beautiful, quiet anchorage. As it turned out, we got some of that.

So by mid afternoon, we made the turn into Channel 5 and got under the 65' bridge. Our destination was a place called Lignumvitae Key.   This was billed as a totally natural, preserved Key now operated as a botanical garden by the state of FL.   We make our way inside and transverse an very shallow cut through a rocky shoal and exit into sounder readings of 6 feet. As we move toward the green isle the sounder gets happier as we begin to see readings in the 8 foot range. The island looks very nice and as billed, it appears to be in its natural state. As we approach we see a 50 foot cruiser on a mooring supplied by the state.   What a bonus...I don't even have to set an anchor. We find another mooring 3 or 400' east and pick it up. Off goes the engine. Its totally quiet and aside from the aforementioned cruiser....no one is around. Now, this is what Ive been looking for.

So we drop the dink into the clear water and start to look for the access dock mentioned in our cruising guide. We head on the east side of the island.   The winds had slackened considerably and we were able to navigate the thin water with confidence. As we move around the island, we see a fellow standing on a surf board paddling around the island very close to shore.....must be going out for a gallon of milk. :)

We are now nearly halfway around the island and still see no dock

Lignum Key

.   In fact all we see are "no trespassing" signs and lots of trees. So we opt to go farther and see if we can land on another Key called "Indian Key". We had gone by here a couple weeks ago. It is also supposed to be state owned and has some ruins on it. Sounds cool. So we dink many another 2-3 miles ahead.   When we get there, we find a landing dock....but it has been destroyed by an apparent hurricane. Bummer....no go.

So now we head back around the other side and back toward Lignumvitae.   Many we can find the landing on the other side of the island. Yes...we can see it....a dock. Great. Some payback for our efforts in motoring the dink for nearly and hour. We made the approach and see the sign, "no landing...island closed". Well, close but not cigar. Its a nice dock and the sign says ranger tours at 10am. Ok, we will be back tomorrow.

We head back to the boat, climb aboard. I pop a cold beer and we have a chance to see a really nice sunset in the keys.