Sometimes local knowledge is a wonderful thing! One thing that I have learned in the years that I have lived in the Lower Keys is how to play the tides to get through the shallow places.
We left the house dock at about 0700, ran out the neighborhood channel, and through a shortcut to the Newfound Harbor entrance, and across to Niles Channel.
The bridge under the Summerland Key bridge at Niles Channel has a vertical clearance of 40' at the "new" bridge (the one the traffic has used for decades.)
Some notes about the "old" bridge... it used to be a drawbridge, and the draw was removed when the bridge was abandoned, leaving an open pass. In the years that I have lived here, the locals used to jump off the "old" bridge into the deep water, and the teenagers would put up a rope swing about every day, only to be removed by sheriff's deputies about once a week. A couple of years back, during the night, a section probably forty feet long fell off on the the southeast side, alarming the powers that be. As a result, this bridge, and many others in the Keys were closed to foot traffic, fishing, bicycles, etc. Danger signs were posted all over the old bridge, warning boaters to stay away from the bridge, due to the potential huge cement slabs that could fall.
During the months that the fallen cement was in the water, it made one of the easiest places to scoop up lobster, who loved their new habitat, but, unfortunately, right before lobster season opened back the following year, a company was hired to remove the debris, and the lobsters were scattered again.
Immediately after passing under the Niles Channel bridge, headed north, turn to the west, parallelling US1 for long enough to dodge the sandbar that makes up to the south of the island. There are good anchorages, out of the seas in Niles Channel.
There is no way I could explain how to get through to the Gulf, that somebody wouldn't run aground and blame me. Suffice it to say, you can get through with a 4'4" draft if you know the narrow track, and play the tide right, when the wind is right.
We went out into the Gulf through Cudjoe Channel, and cruised east, crossing north of Content Keys, and through the deep channel through the sand flats south of Harbor Key Bank, and across TurtleCrawl Bank into Big Spanish Channel.
We spent the day meandering, enjoying exploring some potential anchorages, and watching birds and marine life.
Eventually, we went out Bahia Honda Channel, under the old Bahia Honda bridge, which has been closed longer than the other Keys bridges, with accompanying danger signs due to rusted metal pieces falling. The vertical clearance on the US1 bridge claims to be 20', though that measurement is towards the middle of the bridge, and regardless of where you cross under the highway, you need to pass to the east to get under the opening of the "old" historic railroad bridge.
The area between the two bridges is often full of boats fishing, as there are lots of big critters in the channel; sharks, tarpon, goliath grouper, and a miriad of large mangrove (gray) snapper.
After we cleared the second bridge, we cruised down Hawk's Channel to the west, until we reached Newfound Harbor, and headed for the house again.
We were home by 1500, having travelled 52.3nm.
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