The name of this place is just fun to chant. If you do it the right way, you want to start singing the 1974 remake hit "I can't stop this feeling (ooga shaka, ooga shaka)." Anyway, Boca Chita is an enchanting little island in the northern keys, straight across the Biscayne Bay from Homestead, FL. The cruising guide mentioned that this was a good spot to get out of an easterly wind, and we badly needed to do that - it had been blowing 20 to 25 out of the E-NE for three straight days. We had an exciting, wet sail from Key Biscayne, splashing along at 6 knots under a reefed Genoa only. We touched bottom in the shallow water just before getting to the island and I initially had a sinking feeling we were going to spend a sleepless night aground in a near gale just 100 yards from our safe haven. Fortunately we were able to back off the white mud and re-route. We almost cheered when we came around an old lighthouse and into a deep little protected harbor area with wooden bulkheads to tie to. HA immediately started exploring the island, I chatted with a few other boaters who found refuge there, and I started noticing a few incongruous details. The lighthouse was short. There were a couple of abandoned buildings built from the same coral rock as the lighthouse, and a foundation with no building. But there was also a public restroom, informational signs, a group of teens trying to tent-camp in the wind, and a walking trail; not to mention the well done bulkheads with perfectly spaced cleats surrounding the boat basin. Turns out, this island used to be privately owned by Mark Honeywell who developed it into his own little retreat in the 1950s. Before final completion, his wife "died tragically" on the island, so he abandoned it. The lighthouse was just decoration and the buildings were for various personal uses. Many hurricanes later, the Florida Park Service took over. We had a restful (and still) night's sleep in this surprise port of refuge.
The next morning, looking out of the Boca Chita basin toward Biscayne Bay.
HA and two palms that decided to grow vertical again after hurricane Andrew.
There are a few more comments that I (HA) would like to make about Boca Chita. firstly and most importantly, mom and dad desperately need a new cuising guide. I guess that comment isn't really about Boca Chita on the surface, but it does relate, sort of. Normally my mom navigates and does a little research on the next destination while dad sails. To do this she uses different cruising guides for different parts of the coast. The southern coast criusing guide got soaked on thier second week of the trip. Now this is a 300 page spiral ringed book. It wasn't a little wet around the edges, but every page had absorbed as much water as possible. I wasn't there to see the water-logged version of the book, but I got the pleasure of ripping apart pages that were dried together only to find the page I needed quite unreadable. When the book was first destroyed due to broken water tank vent, dad was ready to go buy another book. A readable version. But no, mom said no, it was unneccessary, she would be the main one to use it anyway. MOM, YOU NEED A NEW BOOK. This little tidbit of life aboard should also explain why we were so surprised by what we found on both Key Biscayne and Boca Chita Key. My second comment is that coral rock is really cool. I want to build a house out of coral rock. My third comment is about the chanting. Right after we tied up, we started fixing lunch. I have a very clear image of my father standing at the sing washing his hands, when he started bouncing up and down chanting "Boca Chita Boca Chita". I then have a very clear memory of opening my mouth and proceeding to make fun of him. Now two days later, I find myself walking around my aunt's house chanting it to myself. I'm just saying, give it a chance, it's addicting.
My mask is leaking! We tried snorkeling for a while in the lee of the island.
Come explore the enchanted island with a history......
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