Last time I went three years ago I had a different
experience than some of the posters here. I left
Marquesas from the North and basically went in what I will call the North entrance way above the DTs, in part due to heavy thunderstorms over the fort. It was longer but more comfortable. When I left I was anchored just off the North Coal docks due to a light West wind and I went out using what I call the middle entrance. There is also a marked entrance to the South I never used. As others have said going on the lee side of the Quicksands results in an easier seaway and is safer in my opinion.
While the rangers will post the daily weather report if you request it the one time I did it I was invited into an air conditioned office while the
ranger brought up weather web sites on the
internet and then printed it out and posted it. As a
rule they are often a little behind in this since most folks are not really interested. If the truth be known I got what I thought was better up to date weather information from the capt of the fast
boat. While they seem to alternate between capts daily both I spoke to were very friendly and happy to provide information about the weather on their daily crossing.
The fastboat has a daily all you can eat buffet (was $US7 when I was there) in an air conditioned dining room on the
boat. You can also buy sodas and ice (expensive at $US7 when I was there). The capt will also bring you stuff from Key West the next day for a
price. The fastboat had fresh
water solar heated showers using recirculated showers free to use. Same for the
electric heads on the boat. The composting heads run by the park
service were closed while the fast boat was there.
Fishing was allowed with in one mile of the fort and quite good, but there may have been some restrictions to the East where the shark nursery is located. There is a small
dock where you can
dock your
inflatable, but
docking big
boats there is prohibited. There was a ball off Loggerhead where you can tie up but you can't use the dock there and you are not suppose to
anchor; in fact you are only suppose to
anchor with in one mile of the fort.
There were lots of
commercial fishing
boats that arrived around dusk, or later, and left at dawn or just before. They often would try and sell/trade
fish or shrimp for
money or alcohol; something the rangers say is prohibited. As a
rule the
commercial boats anchored closer to the Brick wreck.
There are often campers using the camp grounds and I was involved in several pot luck
meals where I supplied mutton snapper I had caught and the girls cooked it and side dishes as well. Here are some
pix. I was lucky to be there when
google earth had their street view
camera there and my boat was the only one anchored close enough to be in the street view pix. Definitely a fun trip.
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