The so-called (and charted) “Yacht Channel” is one of three (at least) routes that cruisers might choose to journey from Southwestern Florida to the Florida Keys, or the other way around. The “Yacht Channel” is the shortest and easternmost of the three possible passages, but it is also the shallowest, and it does not lead directly from or to Moser Channel and Marathon, but rather to or from Channel Five.

Our last stop on Florida’s west coast was the Little Shark River, where we anchored out of the wind and current just opposite the “R4” marker. The forecast was for increasing wind and surf over the next several days, so we took the chance and crossed Florida Bay in 15-20 kt. winds, cruising the so called “Yacht Channel” in relatively shallow water from the marker off East Cape to Long Key, instead of taking the more exposed route to Marathon.
This worked fine except for having to dodge thousands of crab traps the entire way with the sun’s reflection on the water in front of us making it difficult to see them. Then we ducked behind Old Dan Bank and anchored at Jewfish Hole for protection from the east wind provided by Long Key and
Fiesta
Key.