Cape Florida Lighthouse

2004, Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Biscayne Bay, Miami
Outside, the lighthouse looks inviting. Its white walls glisten against the blue Florida sky. Biscayne Bay shimmers in the sun. A palm tree waves it’s fronds in the breeze, as if to say, come in, come in! “I love lighthouses, I say. “I can’t wait to see the view from the top!”

Ah, the top; only 109 stairs up. I step inside. It’s hot here; the walls guard against the sea breeze. A circular staircase! How charming. I climb a few stairs, lovely, lovely. Then the walls start closing in.  It’s exactly like a convection oven - the heat, the closeness of the walls, the stairs cast like a metal oven rack. Channel your inner frog, Lucy! The frog that doesn’t mind being boiled alive!

The stairway to heaven goes straight through hell. Or rather, round and round through hell.

Just another 102 stairs to go, no problem.

Just another 98 stairs up - but still 109 stairs down. Going up is easy, but going down this death spiral? It makes my head spin and my stomach churn. Why is it so hot? 96 stairs to go - why am I feeling sick and panicked? There’s nothing to be afraid of! It’s a state park! Nothing bad ever happens in an American park! There are laws against it!

93 stairs to go. I can’t look up or down. I can’t move. I can’t see. I want to be anywhere but here. I could push through and make it to the top, but how would I ever get back down? Airlift? Could I just live at the top? Will Papa Johns deliver? What if only Dominoes delivers? I have never felt more unwell! (What about frog legs? Are they available here?) So I retreat, carefully, one step at a time, trying not to look at the walls that are pressing in on me, trying to breathe in the impenetrable heat. Young kids skip by me, giggling and excited, hopping up the stairs like frogs. I hate them, I envy them, I applaud them.

The ground greets me. Oh, marvelous ground! Why would I ever leave you? Feel that glorious breeze! Check out the shadows created by the palm trees! How interesting! 

How many lighthouses have I climbed since that day, 12 years ago? None!

The view from the top. Am I missing out?

Do you relish the light from the top, or prefer studying shadows from below? 

Elliot Key, Biscayne Bay, Florida

After 2 years of owning Inde and 7 months of full time cruising, I have a series of top tens that I’ll be posting on Wednesdays. We’ll be talking about favorite upgrades, meals, destinations, and disasters. First, we enjoy a good anchorage more than anything else! Links to previous posts about each anchorage are included. 

Silver Lake, Ocracoke, Outer Banks of North Carolina

#1: Ocracoke: We came for a night and stayed for 3 weeks in the summer, returning for 2 nights in the fall. Home to great restaurants, coffee shops, beaches, clamming, crabbing, paddle boarding, watching sunsets and anchorage mates, watching storms and feeling fear. 
Arrival in Ocracoke, July 2016
Happy as Clams in Ocracoke, August 2016

Elliot Key, Biscayne Bay, Florida

Elliot Key sandbar

 #2: Elliot Key, home to: getting away from the city, dark night skies, a sandbar, cove beaches, clear water, swimming, paddle boarding, staring. Watch out for the bugs at sunset! 
Elliot Key Anchorage

Cape Lookout, Outer Banks of North Carolina

#3: Cape Lookout: Horses on the beach, beautiful shelling beach, peace and quiet, stars, lighthouse
Cape Lookout Arrival, July 2016
Hastings Goes on a Bad Dinghy Ride
Hastings stalks the horses at Cape Lookout

#4: Biscayne Bight, Biscayne Bay, Miami: People watching, sandbar, lights of Miami. We're always amazed that we can see police lights on land and star fish, rays, and crystal clear water under our feet. We love it! 
Cape Florida, November 2016
Maiden Voyage, December 2014

#5 Washington, D.C. What a thrill to moor under the lights of DC! Where else can you take the metro and stare at your favorite Monet painting all day for free? Incredible! 
Potomac River Cruise, August 2016
Crisis in D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Fear of the city: Escalators in D.C.

Goat Island, Pasquotank River, North Carolina

#6: Goat Island, Pasquotank River, N.C. Otherworldly anchorage to ourselves between Elizabeth City and the Dismal Swamp. Amazing stars. Scene of Hastings confusing mill weed and grass with very wet results. 
Pasqoutank River: Hastings gets wet!
Pasquotank River and the Dismal Swamp

Pungo River, 5 miles north of Belhaven, North Carolina

 #7: Pungo River, north of Belhaven, North Carolina: Quiet anchorage to ourselves to watch afternoon storms.
The Storm: Pungo River

Mill Creek, off Ingram Bay, Virginia

 #8: Mill Creek, Virginia: Great sunsets, quintessential Chesapeake Bay anchorage. Every boat can find their own cove and enjoy the peace. 
Ingram Bay Anchorages

Breton Bay, near Leonardtown, Maryland, off the Potomac

#9: Breton Bay, near Leonardtown, Maryland. It doesn’t seem like much in the photo, but we were awed by the hillside! We dinghyed to Leonardtown and enjoyed a delicious lunch. 
Sailing Potomac River

Fishing Bay, Deltaville, Virginia

Great sunsets in Fishing Bay!

#10: Fishing Bay. We spent three different stints here, for weeks at a time. We sweated, we froze, we dragged, we enjoyed wi-fi in the anchorage and the Fishing Bay Marina's courtesy car. 
Fear and Dragging in Deltaville, VA

Hastings LOVES land!

Cape Florida Lighthouse (1846)

Fun memory: Matt has made it to the top of this lighthouse (many years ago). Lucy made it about 1/4 of the way before crawling out on her hands and knees. The view from the bottom is much more charming! 

Cape Florida Lighthouse

After a lovely walk, we decided to put on a show and undock, re-dock at the pump-out, and un-dock again. Sadly for us the wind was pushing us on to the concrete dock and we scraped up our fiberglass both times despite my fendering attempts. Our pride at being accomplished passage makers and therefore awesome sailors was appropriately diminished and silence reigned as we motored the mile to our anchorage. 

No Name Harbor

Biscayne Bight Anchorage

 Biscayne Bight has a really lovely sandbar and on hot weekends, it is the place to be! As we motored in, a very fast powerboat was careening towards us. We kept trying to veer away, but the captain had his binoculars out and trained on a James Bond boat, featuring James Bond girls. Somehow, the captain avoided hitting us, and one of the many law enforcement boats sped off after the distracted driver. I can't give you an update on the confrontation as we were too busy with our own binoculars.

Party at the sandbar!

See the sailboat with blue mast lights? We don't have any!

Our pathetic attempt at fitting in

 In the Chesapeake Bay and on the ICW, we were often the only catamaran and felt a little "too bling". Here in Miami we are literally the most pathetic boat in the anchorage and people ask us if we really live "on that thing". The other boats are yachts with all sorts of crew, toys, and mega underwater lightage.  Ahh, we love you Miami! There is no other place like you on the eastern seaboard!

Beautiful Biscayne Bay

Yes, Lucy, that guy has more underwater lights than you!

What's your funniest "pride before a fall" moment? 

Final Passage Sunrise