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| We're underway-----but who's steering? |
And so my friends, the two reformed ski-bum-turned-salty-adventurers, began their new life away from the security of the nesting docks and headed south in search of warm waters. It was another new beginning, something this last year had been loaded with. No ruts, no reality, no regrets.
It was a year ago, March 4, that we sold the B&B and each day since then has been a new horizon with a new brain-twisting lesson and we were ready.
Our original course plans had us heading out to the Gulf of Mexico from Tampa Bay and sailing an overnighter to the Boca Grande Pass north of Pine Island, but da weatherman said,
"Patchy fog and deadly lightning", at least that's what we took to heart more than the perfect northerly-to-easterly winds and 2- 4 ft seas. We were exhausted from getting-outta-Dodge, so we opted to stay inland and motor on the Intercoastal Waterway instead of staying up all night undersail.
Our first night was in Sarasota Bay in an anchorage next to downtown (aka the Emerald City). It was perfect to de-stress. Day 2 on the ICW---30 miles, 8 more bridges in 7 hours
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| Swing bridge on the ICW |
and found us dropping our hook in about eight feet of water just off the ICW... again, perfect.
For our evening entertainment, we took a dinghy ride into the nearby mangroves where we spotted a bald eagle (but not before we ran aground in the dinghy. Oops, sorry Speedy....*tsk-tsk)
Day 3 on the ICW----we arrived at an anchorage we had decided on over a year ago, Pelican Bay just inside Boca Grande Pass next to Cayo Costa State Park. Ok, now breathe. This anchorage had about 30 boats of all kinds and we stayed for two nights.
Our good friends the Captain and the Mermaid (aka Bob and Susan) power-boated up from their Florida home to spend the afternoon with us.
Lunch on Cabbage Key Island with it's Gopher turtles and the famous dollar bar
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| Cabbage Key resident |
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| Chalie & Susan & Bob |
Our last night anchoring on the ICW was off of York Island on the south side of Pine Island, where we rode the dinghy up several canals to Chalie's & Denise's place (remember the crazy dude from the Upper Chesapeake in earlier blogs? Yeah, he's just as crazy in Florida too). Thanks, guys, for a great hamburger!
Our 5th night on the ICW---and the mosquitoes finally found us. It was a total assault, driving us inside the boat behind screens with DEET. A bloodbath ensued, but we won.
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| Into uncharted territory (for us anyway) |
On the morning of the 6th day we listened in to NWS weather service on the VHF. We also consulted with a couple of wind/weather apps on the cell phone: full moon, 15-knot winds, 2- 4 ft seas. We left the ICW behind and into truly new waters now. It looked good and we were going for it----120 miles---all day, all night and all the next day non-stop to reach Marathon in the Florida Keys. We passed under our last bridge, Sanibel Causeway, hoisted full sails and felt the wind in our face. It was good.
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| Overnight sail--happy but tired |
Good was the first day report as we passed Fort Myers Beach....Naples.....and the sunset off Marco Island and then into the dark night off the coast of the Everglades---alligators, tigers and bears, oh yeah. And for the next 12 hours, not a single light or buoy or boat was sighted. We recorded our position every hour on the paper charts, but we really love this age of electronic chart plotters. We sailed under a double-reefed mainsail- no jib and the winds were great, around 15 knots with gusts to 20 knots. But just to keep us alert, the seas got rough (for us newbies anyway) as we ran on a broad reach with the wind. We rode on wild waves (4-6 feet plus some) that we couldn't see, because the full moon hid behind the unpredictable storm clouds. In the darkness, we could see the darker outline of squalls around us. We donned our foul weather gear and tethered ourselves in, taking turns while trying to catch an hour's sleep here and there. The hours actually flew by and when morning came, as it always does, the winds had shifted from the east, giving us a more comfortable beam reach as we approached the turquoise waters of the Florida Bay off of Cape Sable.
The only casualty from being tossed around in the waves through the night was Otto, our autohelm. Otto is truly one of our more valuable crew members. He can hold a course when the rest of us look like drunken sailors on a pier. At this point in our journey, it was actually OK, because those shallow waters (6- 10 ft) in the Florida Bay between the mainland and the Keys are a minefield of crab and lobster pots and it takes the finesse of a slalom skier to dodge them. We did well; only a few thunks along the bottom of the hull told us we had hit one, but the beauty of a full keel is that there's a smaller chance of snagging and dragging one on the prop.
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| Only one crab pot of thousands to dodge |
We arrived at the boat haven harbor of Marathon on Vaca Key around 4pm on Saturday. We felt like it was another planet, as our less-than-alert minds were not in sync with this reality. All in all, it was a good passage with more lessons to add to our growing experience. Details of life in Marathon are coming soon.
We spent about six nights anchored outside Boot Key Harbor, waiting for the rowdy winds to die down (our new Rocna anchor held true blue for us) and for other boats to leave, with most heading to the Bahamas. We had slowly moved up the waiting list for a mooring ball, and finally on Friday the 13th our number came up. We got U2---a Bono ball! And thank goodness for the faithful PumpOut poop boats that come around----best $5 we've spent yet. But now that we're one of 226 assigned boats, it's included with the fee.
Our dinghy, Speedy, giving a pelican prime restaurant seating
