Boca Grande Key is located within the Key West National Wildlife Refuge archipelago about 15 nautical miles west of Key West. A good stop to break up the passage from Key West to Dry Tortugas if the weather is right.
As we approached Boca Grande Key from the south, here is what we encountered.
We arrived in the mid afternoon, and there were a few motorboats pulled up on the beach and a catamaran anchored off the beach. We anchored without problems in the channel on the northwest side of the key. From the charts we expected mudflats or land outside the channel, but in fact we were surrounded by very shallow, open water on three sides. So the anchorage is wide open to winds from all directions except the southeast, but it is protected from swell from most directions. We had been warned that there is a significant amount of current here, but it was not an issue for us.
We explored with the dinghy after getting settled. All the other boats had left by then. We first visited the beach, but we were immediately swarmed by no-see-ums. Perhaps that is why the other boats had left. We retreated and then dinghied a few hundred yards further northeast in the channel, where we spied the skeleton of a shipwreck protruding above the water. It was completely calm, and we had a perfect view of vast numbers of reef fish at the wreck site. It was a good opportunity to see whether any of our new fishing lures were effective. The answer was generally no, but we did catch a few small barracuda. If you visit Boca Grande Key, be sure to check out the wreck.
We were treated to a glorious sunset.
We rose at dawn and witnessed a sunrise in the eastern sky at the same time as a moon set in the west on a glassy sea.
Boca Grande Key is definitely a destination to put on your cruising list if the weather is right and if nature and isolation appeal to you.
