The keys can be a relatively difficult place to sail. There is a lot of local knowledge that comes into play.
The thunderstorms can pop up very quickly and will be very unforgiving. They will create very steep waves with short periods in hawk channel of the gulf and can easily damage
gear. In
winter, the north winds can be strong and will be opposite the
current so they’ll create monster waves.
There are relatively few places to safely
anchor and there are also many potential dangers due to
reefs that an inappropriately anchored boat could damage and be damaged by. As far as
money goes it’s likely more costly to damage the reef than to be damaged by it...
You are also in a place where you will assuredly be beating into the winds most of the time (dominate from E-SE) unless you run down to the Tortugas (which are very far away and incredibly
remote and likely off limits).
You are also doing this in a relatively narrow area because if you venture outside of hawks channel you are competing against the
Gulf Stream.
The gulf side has many many shoals that are constantly changing and can be difficult to navigate.
This also doesn’t take into account the lobster pots which can be horrendous. Literally tens of thousands of them sometimes every 30-50 feet.
I can totally understand a company mandating a captain especially if you have little practical experience.
There aren’t thousands of shipwrecks there because it’s easy.
I also don’t think the northern keys are any easier contrary to what some have said. In fact I think they are a more difficult sail, especially around
key largo, as the
reefs tend to be shallower and more numerous.
The Keys can be an amazing place to sail when things are ideal but it can also be very unforgiving and can change from perfect to difficult quickly.
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