Dreamcatcher of Key West
Located about 30 miles west of Key West, the Marquesas Keys are a group of mangrove islands and flats that make up part of the Key West National Wildlife Refuge. Up until about 1980 the area was used as a bombing range by the USN (and an occasional wreck or underwater shell can still be found). Except for one privately owned island called Ballast Key, the area is uninhabited – and teeming with fish. It is truly one of the untouched jewels of the Florida Keys and a saltwater fisherman’s paradise.
Ballast Key
I spent 3 days motoring and sailing the Marquesas in mid-November with my old friends from Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Grove, Florida: Capt. John Duke and travel writer Charles Greenfield. John’s friend and cohort from the Keys, Capt. Dave Dlugitch came along too. Capt. Dave had a fishing kayak business for years in the lower Keys and is an excellent guide and fisherman in his own right. We traveled in John’s magnificent 70+ ft. steel-hulled schooner (with a retractable centerboard for easy access to shallow water) named the Dreamcatcher.
The first day out I caught a barracuda with a bonefish jig while standing on the rocks off Ballast Key. Unlike my old days in Belize, the barracuda in these waters can’t be eaten because of ciguatera disease, but it was still a thrill to land. He took out a good 20 yards on my ultralite, and I knew I wasn’t in Maryland anymore!
Vic on Ballast Key
That night we were doing some bait fishing with pinfish off the back of the boat, and Charles pulled in 10 yellowtail snapper. We kept 4 of them for a fine fried fish meal with Cuban rice & beans. Slept like a log that night with the quiet rocking of the Dreamcatcher.
Charles Greenfield and Dinner
Day two of the trip to follow shortly….
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