Caesar's Creek - A long day

The ranger station docks at Caesar's Creek 

We got off the mooring at 7:00 am and headed out. The winds were supposed to be 12 kts but we found 17 to 19 kts! That few extra kts of wind doubles the force (force = the square of the velocity, can't help it, I majored in Physics). As the day worn on, the wind at least did decrease as predicted and the seas smoothed out. We arrived at Caesar's Creek at 4:20 pm and got over the sand bar easily since it was high tide. At low tide you will have about 4.5 to 5.0 ft so anything above low tide gives you more clearance.

Once over the bar the depth quickly increases to 15 to 20 ft all the way to the anchorage. There are two places to anchor inside: By marker R20 or closer toward the ranger station docks, about several hundred feet off. The anchorage coordinates are: N25  23.768, W080  13.968. That position will put you about 170 feet away from 6 ft water depth. With 100 ft of anchor rode, that should provide plenty of swing room which will actually not be needed since you will swing with the tide anyway, parallel to the shore.

View from the cockpit

The reason we like the place is easy access to shore for Hoolie. The docks are low enough for access with a dinghy with easy tie up. You can walk your dog ashore in a mowed grassy area by the ranger station.  If you want to exit to the bay side you will need to leave at exactly high tide to find 5.0 ft of depth (not MLW, actual water depth at high tide). I've used the bay exit a half dozen times and never touched bottom with my 4 ft 9 in keel. Exiting to the ocean side is less nerve racking since you have 5 MLW. There is no charge for using the ranger station area. For us it's conveniently placed between Marathon and Miami. We sometimes go from Ft Lauderdale to Caesar's Creek and then Marathon, long days but quick traveling

We hope to make Marine Stadium Sunday and then Ft Lauderdale by Monday.