“Wheels up” at 6:40 am leaving Key Largo Fisheries Marina.  Our plan was to get to Le Tub Saloon in Hollywood by 5:00 pm.   Steve and Robin, Le Tub owners and friends, invited us to join there group for a Christmas-light-viewing-by-boat cruise on their boat!  Sounds like fun!!  After we cleared the canal from Lake Largo we were treated to a beautiful sunrise and almost flat seas, a great day to cruise Hawk Channel!

As we passed Miami we came close to a large dredging operation in Government Cut.  Government Cut is a Class A big ship inlet and we see several big ships.  Whenever cruise ships are at the docks, the inlet is closed and an alternate route used by cruisers is Fishermans Channel.  Our plan was to avoid the congestion of Miami and keep cruising north using Bakers Haulover Inlet to connect to the Intracoastal Waterway.

Bakers Haulover Inlet, North Miami Beach is a busy and popular inlet with the locals for access to/from the ICW and Atlantic Ocean.  We entered the inlet with swells and a STRONG incoming current pushing us toward the fixed bridge with a reported 32 foot vertical clearance!  If the tide was already too high, we wouldn’t clear the bridge due to the large swells!  It was my job to yell out the current clearance indicated on the scale before the point of no return!!  There were several small boats going in and out and if we got too far into the inlet there was no turning back!

I had the binoculars trained to the bridge clearance scale, wishing for a stronger pair, and anxiously waited for the scale to come into focus.  Once we were close enough to see the scale I had to wait for a couple swells to get the exact clearance…28 feet!!! and not a moment too soon!  A few minutes later we swooshed under the bridge and due to serious shoaling problems just past the inlet on route to the ICW channel, we had to make a hard turn to starboard to stay in deep water.  Nailed it!  Yay Captain Steve!

The rest of the trip was entertaining enough yet uneventful and we arrived at Steve and Robin’s dock at Le Tub Saloon at 4:40 pm.

Leaving Lake Largo at dawn. The canal is up there somewhere!

Key Largo Fisheries Marina, Key Largo

Abby on lookout

Here comes the sun!

Great water on the outside today! Almost flat!

Almost flat outside!

Serious dredging operation in Government Cut, Miami

Arriving at Le Tub Saloon, Hollywood