Month: January 2020

We left by 7am again today, planning on getting out and headed south while the wind was supposed to be reasonable. We pulled anchor and headed out toward our planned route. Like yesterday, the waves were building a bit the farther out we got, but it wasn’t as violent as the day before. I kept altering course, trying to skirt the shallow shoals and still get out far enough to turn so the waves were coming from behind us. Once we made the turn it started to become more comfortable, and as we continued for another few hours it got to be down right enjoyable, with the exception of those darn crab pots we had to continually dodge. We made it to the end of Key West and had to wrap around it, heading north. We passed a couple of islands- Wisteria Island, also known as Christmas Tree Island, is known for being uninhabited except for some homeless people who have taken over. There are also a ton of boats in every state of decay to some nicer ones anchored just off the island. This place is also known as where the ‘strange people’ of Key West live. It is free to anchor here and they have their own little community set up, so if you’re not a part of the group, you are an outsider. We bypassed that island and continued to wrap around to get to the north side of Key West. We were looking for a city mooring field which is on a first come, first serve basis. We called the city dock master and was told we could look for a spot, and if we find one to take it then come to the office to check in. They could not tell us if there was anything available or not. We came to the mooring field and saw about one hundred or more boats all in neat lines attached to moorings. We slowly went down the line and were searching for an empty ball. We saw one pretty soon as we came to the area, but it was toward the back of all these boats, so we decided to continue to the front and see if anything else was available. We got to the front and turned around to work our way back, then we noticed an empty ball! We made our way toward it and Lauren was on the front ready to reach out with the boat hook to snag it when we noticed someone had tied a bumper to it. This is a signal it is taken, and maybe they took their boat out for the day, or for fuel or water, but they will be returning. Shoot! We continued on and meandered our way through the rest of the boats when we spotted two open balls toward the middle of the pack. Since each ball is anchored to the ground, the boats stayed in a neat line, except when the odd person has out too much line, so it was easy to wind through them. We came upon the first ball and Lauren tried to snag it with the hook as I was driving. She hooked it on the second attempt, but the wind was blowing the boat sideways and I could see the her struggling to pull the ball up. Again, since it is anchored to the sea floor, there is not a lot of room to pull it up. We have to thread a line through the ‘eye’ of the loop that is attached to the top of the ball and get it back to our boat so we could tie it off. Easier said than done, especially sitting five feet above the water on our bow pulpit. I was watching the boat drift and I called out to Lauren “Let it go!” I didn’t want her to get yanked overboard! “I HAVE IT!” she yelled back, struggling to hold on. “Let it go!” I yelled again “the stick will float!”. She looked up and dropped the hook. “It floats!” I called to her “I didn’t want you going overboard!”. “I though you said ‘grab it!'” she explained as she came up to the flybridge. We laughed and I explained how I was concerned about her getting pulled over. In the mean time we were maneuvering toward the other open ball, as this was easier than trying to turn around in the wind that had again started gaining strength. I suggested we switch places and I would go to the bow to try to hook the mooring with our back up boat hook (and we have a third- just in case!), and she would drive. She angled us toward the mooring and I was able to reach out and snag the ball, pull it up and thread the line through. Whew! Lauren did an excellent job of keeping us steady and on course for me to do that. As I was securing the line to the bow cleat a small dinghy with a couple pulled up, asking if we needed help? They had watched the first attempt and hopped in their dinghy to come lend a hand. How nice! We were now secure, so I thanked them and they zipped over and grabbed our boat hook and returned it to us. After thanking them again I watched them return to their boat that was moored a few rows over. Now we were safely secured to the mooring and it was time to breathe a sigh of relief. We still had to go check in and wasn’t exactly sure where that was. I secured a second line to the mooring and we loaded into the dinghy to find the marina. We headed toward shore and turned right. We started going down a small canal and stopped to ask a couple of guys on shore. Good thing we did as we were headed in the wrong direction! We turned around and followed the path they told us. After finding the channel, we followed that for a bit until we came to the dinghy dock. There must have been seventy five dinghies tied up there! The place was packed, but we found a small opening and secured the dinghy. We then asked someone else where to check in? She actually had to let us out of the dinghy dock as it is secured with a locked gate. The trip was quite a ride- almost twenty minutes of motoring around, and we realized it will be a ten to fifteen minute ride back even knowing the way. We’ve never had this far to dinghy to land in all of our travels thus far. We got checked in and we also secured a dock for the week at the marina. The weekly rates are better than the daily rates, and looking at the forecast the winds are supposed to pick up again. At least since we will be at a marina Frank will have easy access to land and we won’t be tossed about like we are when on a mooring ball.

Now that the formalities were done, it was time to explore Key West! We had left the bikes on the boat for now and plan to bring them to shore once we get to the marina so for now we will be walking. We walked to a shuttle stop where a free shuttle makes rounds around the island. They run every half hour and we waited almost thirty minutes before a bus showed up- we must have just missed the last one… We exited around Duval Street. This is the main strip of bars, clubs and shops that reminds me of Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Also- you can carry your alcoholic beverages around town, so people were walking and drinking, and getting drunk which makes for good people watching. We stopped at The Conch Shack for some conch fritters as we needed something to eat right away. We continued on and walked around Mallory Square and caught a good sunset with lots of street entertainers around doing their shows. We were still hungry so we made our way to Pepe’s which is a famous place to eat around here. It has been around for more than 100 years. In the case of Pepe’s, they prefer to say that they’re “the oldest ‘joint’ in Key West. Ernest Hemingway himself has eaten here, or at least enjoyed some daiquiris here, as well as President Truman who had a house on the island dubbed “The Little White House”. Their “Employee of the Year” is a cat named Billy Bob who is present to greet everyone at the door, although he was sleeping in his Coca-Cola box when we entered, but Lauren got in a scratch on his head and he didn’t move an inch. We wondered if he was even alive until he got up to re-arrange positions in his box then close his eyes again. Tough life. Dinner was delicious, then we continued on and made our way back to the dinghy dock. We are used to biking, so this walking seems a lot slower. We wanted to get back to the boat to get Frank, but now it was dark. We turned on our lights on the dinghy and made our way to the mooring field. Everything looks so different at night and it was dark. We eventually found our boat and Lauren got soaked from the waves splashing up as we made our way. Once back, Frank was given his boat deck papers and told him he would have to wait until tomorrow morning to get to land, Sorry, Frank.

Day 2- The first order of business was to get Frank to land. I took him in the dinghy and went to Rat Island, which we pass on the way to the mainland. I figured it got its name from the rats that inhabit it. Yay. Luckily we didn’t see any rats, but we did meet a guy who had brought his kayak there to ‘chill’. He was an interesting character and had some stories! We chatted a while and Frank was happy to roam around. Eventually I realized I had been gone for a while so I needed to return before Lauren got too worried. Frank and I returned, we had our coffee then Lauren and I took off in the dinghy for shore. We were now back to the dinghy dock and secured the dinghy with a lock as we’ve heard about dinghies being ‘borrowed’ so we didn’t want to take a chance. Some others were locked as well, so it wasn’t odd we were doing it. Now we walked back to town and were sorely missing our bikes- oh well- tomorrow we will have them on shore, but today we will have to hoof it again. We wanted to check out a rum distillery: Papa’s Pilar Rum Distillery which works with Ernest Hemingway’s family. We did the tour then walked to another local distillery: Key West First Legal Rum Distillery which also did a little tour and tasting. This one is ‘chef driven’ and they do a lot of different flavors with their rum, whereas the Pilar focuses more on fine rum- no flavorings. Both were very different. Now that we had some rum in us, we were walking around and found a new place that had recently opened: Bad Boy Burrito. Now we were really feeling good with food and rum so onward we went. We ended up at the Green Parrot which had some awesome live music. We hung out and listened to them for a bit. As we were standing just outside the door, someone approached me and saw my Cleveland hat on and asked if we were from there? I responded yes and we got to talking. They were from Amherst area and of course I let them know how we got here. They had a ton of questions which we answered, then figured it was time to head back. The wind was picking up and rain was just starting to come down lightly, but we knew more was coming. We got to the dinghy and had a wet ride back as the waves were really starting to pick up and Lauren would get splashed from every wave we went over. I thought it was funny- her not so much. I switched out Lauren for Frank and took him to Rat island again for a quick business trip. We got back to the boat just as the rain was really starting to come down and the wind was really starting to pick up. I was happy we had secured another line to the mooring for backup safety and I checked everything once again to make sure all was secure. Now all we could do was ride out the storm. At one point I heard a loud noise and went out to see what was going on- the side gated door had somehow gotten ripped off and was now missing, having sunk to the bottom of the water. There was nothing I could do about it, so I did another check of lines and called it a night. The rain and wind continued through the night and we both woke up due to the rocking and rolling, checked our surroundings, and went back to bed hoping it would let up enough for us to get in to the marina tomorrow morning.

We got ready to depart and did our final checklist. Our neighbor friends came over to say good-bye and give a hand with the lines. They tossed flowers as we departed as a gesture of safe travel and good luck. We pulled out and headed out of Boot Key Harbor. We wound our way back through the mooring fields and out toward the ocean. Once we cleared the harbor, the waves really increased. We continued forward and were getting rocked by the large waves hitting us on the quarter beam. I could hear things sliding from side to side, as well as having to hold on myself during particular bad rolling. We should have turned around, but we didn’t. Soon the Coast Guard was on the radio advising of a small craft advisory for the area, but we sailed on. We continued on and soon had some relief when we saw where we were heading to. The anchorage is between two bridges, and there is a span of one bridge completely missing, which is where the entrance to the harbor is. There is a state park here too, which has beautiful beaches and a small marina. The marina has a dinghy dock we can land the dinghy at for Frank and us to enjoy the beach and it is free.

When we arrived there was one other boat- a sailboat that was anchored in front of the beach. We came in and skirted around them and moved to an area that is close to the active traffic bridge coming and going to Key West- US 1. The trick about anchoring here is the current- it will pull the boat in the direction it is running and that overpowers the wind. This can make for a very jerky/rocky rolling due to the boat pointing south, but the waves coming from the east- which it did. We made sure the anchor was secured and let out a lot of rode, more than normal both for the current and the winds that are now in the 20+mph and not slowing down much. We took the dinghy in to shore and explored the park and beach with Frank. He was happy to be on solid ground! We eventually made our way back to the boat and started the generator to make dinner. That was not easy with the rocking, but we ate well and watched another sailboat come into the harbor and anchor on the other side of the other sailboat. It was now time to retire, but it was a little difficult with the boat rolling, but we eventually drifted off to sleep. I was woken up by the motion and went outside to check on everything. As I stepped out, I felt rain starting to come down. I closed all of our windows and made sure everything was secure again and went back to sleep.

Day 2- Since the beach and park were right there, we went to shore. There is nothing else around either, so there wasn’t anything else to do but chill on the beach. This got us off the boat for a while and on terra firma. Frank was pleased as well. Lauren found a spot on the beach and I found a picnic table in the shade. Technically pets aren’t allowed ‘on the beach’ but no one bothered us about it the little bit he was on it. Otherwise he hung out with me in the shade. Our table was by the only channel coming into the marina, so I could see who was coming and going. I noticed the couple from the first sailboat coming in with their dog too. I wanted to chat with them, but they went to the other side of the marina. I also watched the other sailboat occupants come in on their dinghy and they came close to where we were hanging out. I walked over and chatted them up. They were coming from Key West and had bought the boat in St. Petersburg, Fla., and were just three friends on an adventure- how cool! We eventually met the other sailboat couple and chatted with them too. I also found a somewhat local boater- Bill from Punta Gorda, who was with his family on a boat they trailered from Indiana, and we talked a bit about out trip and he was very knowledgeable about areas we’ve been and he gave me some advice for the area around here. We plan on leaving tomorrow, but the weather is iffy…

Day 3-We looked at the weather almost hourly and woke up by 6am to get an early start. The winds looked a bit lighter in the morning so we thought that would be good for departure. We pulled anchor after taking Frank to shore and were underway by 7am, We went through the bridge and were met with good size swells. We followed our course to get out to deeper water, but the waves were now getting bigger and coming from different angles. The boat was healing and rocking back and forth a bit violently. I could again hear items sliding back and forth and Lauren was next to me on the flybridge so she could feel and hear this going on too. She had a tight grip on the seat and was trying to feel if this was going to get any better. “What do you think?” I asked, knowing this was not going to be a fun trip if we continued. “Turn around” was the quick reply. “Got it- hold on!” I had to quickly turn the boat around hopefully between the waves as they were rolling us. We got turned around and I upped the throttle to get us back in the relative safety of the anchorage we just left. There didn’t seem to be any movement yet from the other two boats there as we passed them on our return. We went close to where we were before and dropped anchor once again, letting out a lot of scope again to compensate for the current. Once secured, we watched as people started showing up to the beach and the day start to unfold. Lauren wanted to go to shore for a free guided tour of the park which I obliged and dinghied her in. I returned to the boat to run the generator some and sit on the back deck. I hung out for a couple of hours then made my way to shore. I took my usual spot at the shaded picnic table and Frank made himself comfortable. Lauren eventually returned and we hung out a bit between her beach time. Lunch was had from the park cafe and we continued to check the weather and possible anchorages if we decide to leave again and feel it is too rough to continue on. There is a forecast of more high winds, and we are almost afraid we may get stuck here, although it is not a bad place to be stuck- BUT with the forecast winds, if we do get stuck, we will have to try to get into the marina here, although the entrance is pretty shallow. We don’t want to be anchored in 30+mph winds- I’m still scarred from the Grand Haven, Michigan dragging of anchor in the storm and high winds we were caught in. The rest of the evening was another night in paradise with a new activity, fishing. I bought a fishing license for Florida a while ago, but I’ve never cast a line. I have never fished, so I don’t have a clue what to do or how to do it. Lauren’s brother Rich gave me a fishing pole to bring on the trip. Today we unwrapped it and bought some frozen squid bait at the ship’s store in the park. I baited the hook and tossed it overboard. I was down in the rudder room doing some maintenance when I heard a clatter; I knew it was the pole being pulled from a fish! I had secured it so it hopefully wouldn’t get pulled overboard if I got one on the line. I ran upstairs past Lauren who was wondering why I was in such a hurry. “I caught a fish!” I yelled to her. She came out and around to the back of the boat as I was reeling it in. It was at least a foot long (not exaggerating-well maybe, it depends on who you ask). I was quite proud of this fish, but now I had to get the hook out if its mouth and what was I going to do with it? “We can eat it” exclaimed Lauren, as I was struggling to get it unhooked. It started making grunting sounds and Lauren started to feel bad. “I can’t watch” she told me as she left to go back inside. “What should I do with it?” I called out after getting it unhooked and put in a bucket. “throw it back”. I tossed the fish back in the water and watched it swim away. I baited another hook and felt a pull, but the fish were getting good at eating my bait and swimming away- maybe I was using too much? Soon enough I had another pull on the rod. I reeled in another of the same looking fish- maybe a Snook?- and this one was smaller. Lauren came out to look at it and we tossed this one back too. Frank was scared of it as well. I tossed some more lines and after free meals for the fish, I caught yet another of the same looking fish! This one was even smaller! It too got tossed back. We ended up watching the sunset and calling it quits for fishing for the evening as we didn’t keep any of them the sun had now disappeared . We plan on leaving again around 7am, so it was an early night and our last look at the weather was promising for us to get to Key West…

We departed Black Fin a little later due to the fact we didn’t have too far to go and the winds looked to be decreasing in the afternoon. The day before the harbormaster had told us we could stay longer if we needed to which was a reverse of when we had arrived. I had inquired about a longer stay upon arrival due to the weather, but I was told there is someone else coming so it wasn’t possible at this time. Now they said we could stay, but we had already made reservations at Skipjack and put a deposit down, so we felt we should be going…

As we pulled out, it wasn’t so bad. We were on the north end of the island, so it protected us from the southeast winds. As soon as we cleared the island though it became clear that the wind was going to be a force to be reckoned with. We had to go almost two and a half miles down the ‘Seven Mile Bridge’ to reach a point where it has a sixty five foot clearance; Smaller boats can go under before that, but it is only a nineteen foot clearance, which we cannot fit under. Once we got to the point where it is only bridge separating the north and south sides of the island, the waves started picking up. Now, we didn’t have too far to go, but it was definitely uncomfortable. We came under the bridge and turned east toward Boot Key. The harbor was another two and a half miles back down the bridge and then our marina was another couple of miles in. It was great once we entered the harbor as the waves disappeared. We had to make our way through several mooring fields before getting to the marina. The mooring fields are quite a sight- there are boats of every kind, in every size and in different states of disrepair, as well as the occasional well kept and newer yachts.

We found the marina and there was someone there waiting for us to help with the lines. We docked without issue and went about our way securing the ship and getting plugged in to shore power. We met our neighbor, Bruce, and I had to go check in before starting a much needed boat scrub down. As I was checking in, the front desk manager was telling me and a few other guests that the Tiki Bar was going to be closed today as they had no bartender. I offered my assistance and experience, but they never got back to me. Oh well- I tried to do it for a free night stay. Upon return to Klondike another neighbor boat next to Bruce stopped by to say hello and introduce themselves- Deb and Carl. They invited us to the evening dock-tails that takes place in front of Bruce’s boat. I thanked them, but didn’t commit right away. Lauren had gone to the pool, so we had time to decided. By the time I finished with the boat cleaning, Lauren was returning. It was also getting to be about 5pm and we were both starving, but the neighbors were gathering out front on chairs, with beverages in hand, waiting for sunset. We decided we would join them for a bit before going to eat. We met a few other people, including Claudette- Bruce’s wife, and some others. We all enjoyed chatting about our trips as everyone else has come here by boat from up north. They spend a few months here, then go back home, some leaving their boats, some captaining them back. The sun set and Lauren and I departed down the dock to a local place called Dockside Tropical Cafe. Turns out a band was setting up too, so we decided to hang out here a bit longer. The band was good and they put on an enjoyable show. Afterward we made our way back to the boat and retired for the evening.

Day 2- We hung out at the pool all day. We decided we needed some items for dinner, so we biked to the Publix supermarket and picked up some supplies, as well as a movie to watch, and as a bonus- there were Girl Scouts selling cookies out front! Score! As soon as we got back Bruce handed me a thumb drive of all the charts we will need coming up the east coast! I couldn’t thank him enough! They were going to a friends birthday party, but Carl stopped by and said dock-tails are still on. Great! We all sat around again chatting while dinner was cooking. Eventually it was time to eat, so everyone went their separate ways. We had received some information about an anchorage half way to Key West which we decided we will stop at: Bahia Honda. It sounds somewhat protected although I did read about strong currents, so we will have to make sure the anchor is dug in tight. We researched the destination during dinner, then watched a movie. We do not have too far to go again, so we can take our time in the morning before we depart.

The morning came quickly and we were ready to depart by 7:15am as the winds were only going to increase throughout the day. I looked out the window as the coffee was working and saw our friends behind us pulling out. They were heading the opposite direction of us as they were going to Ft. Myers Beach. We were heading to Marathon today to try to beat the high extreme winds and possible rain expected in the next couple of days. The forecast is showing winds in the 22+mpg range for days and we don’t want to be caught trying to cross the Gulf in that! The coffee was ready and we pulled anchor and headed out. On the way out we passed by a few other boats that must have arrived last night and they had anchored with the other boat that was by itself at the mouth of the river- so much for their privacy! We slowly motored past everyone so not to cause a wake or wake them up if they were still sleeping and turned south toward the Keys. There was a brisk wind blowing south and the waves were pushing us. Our destination was about forty miles away, and with the help from Mother Nature we were averaging just over seven knots so it ended up being a five and a half hour trip.

Once we cleared the bottom of continental Florida, we could see no land. This didn’t last long, however, as about an hour later we could make out tall antennas and water towers on shore ahead of us. As we were crossing, the mine fields of lobster pots was a never ending game of dodge ’em. The lines of small buoys suspending traps underwater went for miles. There is no rhyme or reason to the direction as they are left to float once dispersed. The fishing boats will come back at some point and retrieve them and whatever they are catching, but for now they are hazards to travel for those going through them. You don’t want to get the lines wrapped around your propeller as that could do damage as well as bring you to a complete stop. The buoys are small, about the size of the floats in a swimming pool that separates the deep and shallow ends; and each have unique colors and/or markings to identify them but sometimes you don’t see them until they pop up out of waves when you’re about fifty feet from them. Once I see one, I can usually follow the line and see the long string of them. They are usually spaced out about thirty feet, sometimes more, sometime less; and there are the occasional ‘rogue’ single ones floating which makes me wonder where the rest are. You can go between them if they’re stringed together, but you don’t want to get too close to either side for fear of snagging the line that is holding them together- hopefully it has sunk far enough underwater you glide right over it. This isn’t the first we’ve encountered these but it does seem to be getting more dense the further south we travel. Once we got close enough to make out shore, the depths started to drop. Now we were in anywhere from six to nine feet of water. I asked Lauren to call the marina for some identifying land visual as we weren’t sure of exactly where it was. The woman on the phone passed us to the harbormaster and he gave us a location, then told us he would come to flag us down on the shore bank. We located him waving his arms and turned toward the marina. As we were approaching, it became apparent the entrance was very narrow- so narrow we couldn’t even tell it went back to a marina. Once in the channel the harbormaster was waiting at the end pointing to a dock where he wanted us. He had told us on the phone we would want to turn around to dock so we would have the starboard (right) side against the wall. As we came down the narrow channel it opened up a little, with boats sticking out on either side. This ought to be interesting- he wants us to turn around? The fairway is only about thirty feet wide and we’re almost forty feet long! I came down slowly and saw some other boat owners watching closely. The ones closest to where we were going were telling each other they had better get on their boat to protect it if something goes wrong! We executed a perfect maneuver and got turned around with little room to spare, and we had help from the harbormaster with the lines. Once secure, it was time to hook up power and give our batteries a well deserved charging, as well as marvel at how I did that- I was impressed with myself! Now that we had completed securing everything and getting Frank to shore, it was time to take the bikes for a ride to the beach. We found the beach and went swimming to cool off. It has been hot lately and we’re not complaining! This is a part of the reason for doing this trip- chasing the sun and avoiding snow. After cooling off in the ocean, we headed back to the marina. Instead of going right back, we kept going a little further to check out Keys Fisheries which is a marina, restaurant, fish market and they have a tiki bar upstairs overlooking the water. We checked it out and went upstairs where they have happy hour until 7pm. On the menu was $3 large stone crab claws and a few other items. We of course had a half dozen of claws as well as some peel and eat shrimp and a dip, all washed down with a local beer and fresh cocktail from the happy hour menu as well. once we were done stuffing our faces with crab, we figured it was time to get back and take Frank for a walk. The evening ended with some late night pizza from across the street and a double check of the lines to make sure we’re secured for the expected winds and adjusted for tides.

Day 2- Lauren asked me what I wanted to do today. “Nothing” was my answer. The wind had definitely picked up so the beach was not a great option. The marina we were at: Black Fin does have a heated pool. I just wanted to hang out and enjoy the heat, maybe swim, maybe not- but I didn’t want to have a plan today. Lauren took the opportunity to do some laundry and I set up our hammock between two trees by the pool. I tied Frank up to one of the trees on his long leash and I read a book I found in the laundry room library. Lauren hung out at the pool between loads of laundry and all was well in our world. Frank did have some cats come by and taunt him into barking, but otherwise I think he was pretty content too. Nothing else was done and it was wonderful.

Day 3- Not much more to talk about other than going to the beach again and hanging out. We stopped by a grocery store on the way back and got a few items, then made it back home to relax some more.

Day 4- The winds still continued but tomorrow is our planned departure day so we will keep a close eye on the weather. We did a bit more of nothing except filling our water tanks and preparing for tomorrows departure. We decided to hit happy hour at a close by restaurant: Florida Keys Steak and Lobster House. They had some great sushi on happy hour and some other items we enjoyed. From there we biked to Marathon Ale House . We were greeted with an Irish band and a ton of guys in kilts hanging around. There is a Celtic Festival going on tomorrow and they w ere obviously starting today! After this we headed back to the marina and stopped at the onsite bar/restaurant they have called Hurricane Bar and Grille. Apparently this bar dates back to the 1930’s and is still going, albeit the new name “Hurricanes” in the 1950’s. We made it back to the boat and dinner was had. Final plans were made for our departure- we are going to another marina on the island of Marathon, but we will have to go about fifteen miles, around the bridge and to the south side of the island. The only way to get there for us is to go west to where the bridge is sixty five feet tall, come under there, and turn east to head back to Boot Key.

So we departed Marco Island and were headed to Everglade City. On the way we called the marina we were hoping to go to and was told they had changed ownership and the fee was now a flat rate of $115 per night plus $8 for electric! This would be $123 for the night!? I called down to Lauren and asked her to come upstairs. I told her the rates and she looked at me like I was crazy. That’s how I felt when I heard the rates! Lauren got online immediately and started looking for another marina, but there are only two marinas listed as options there, and the other one seems to be closed. Hmmm…

Finally after discussing what we should do, we decided to continue on to an anchorage about thirty miles past our intended stop. This now made it a sixty mile trip today instead of an easy thirty miles. Since we had started fairly early we should still make it before dusk. We continued on our way and had to skirt around the Cape Romano Shoals. This is a know shallow area that extends about ten miles south of Marco Island and is as shallow as a foot or less in some places and some are above water. You want to stay far away from here if you’re in a boat like ours. After passing the shoals we continued south toward our new destination: Little Shark River

Once past the shoals the water depths change dramatically. We were about three miles off shore and the water depth was only about nine to ten feet deep. Picture that. You could look down and see the bottom clearly, and as we got closer to our destination we turned to head toward the mouth of the river. The depths kept dropping and I commented to Lauren how I wasn’t too comfortable with this. “Come on, if we saw six feet yesterday, we would have been jumping for joy!”- what a great perspective and she was right! We continued on getting closer to shore and more shallow waters, but it never went under five feet. We saw a couple of other boats approaching about the same time we were and we hoped there was room for a few boats to anchor in the river. We entered the river just behind two boats, and we slowed down a little to let them do their thing. One of the boats turned around and passed us on the way out and it made me curious to why. We watched the other boat pull close to shore and start dropping its anchor. There was already another sailboat in there anchored, but there was enough room for us between the two. I turned and saw the retreating boat drop anchor out in the Gulf, but somewhat close to shore- maybe they wanted privacy? We’ll never know.

As we were dropping our anchor, the boat that had entered before us came over the radio and advised us how much they had put out and thought we might be too close to them. Well this is awkward. I had already started dropping anchor, but relented to their request and pulled it back up. I advised them I would move further forward, and a little deeper than them. I arranged a new position and dropped anchor. Protocol is whoever gets there first has the ‘right’ to put out as much anchor line as they like and everyone else should follow suit, BUT you can do whatever you want, and if someone doesn’t like it, then they should move. As long as no one is going to collide with you or you to them, all is good per the official rules and regulation, but everyone is responsible for their own boat. Once the anchor was down and we were securely set, I took Frank in the dinghy in search of land.

The tides had gone down so there was a good amount of shoreline visible from where we were. Upon approach, it looked like it was going to be muddy. The water was shallow so I had to row the dinghy in closer to land as the motor was dragging in the mud so I propped it up out of the water. We got close enough and Frank jumped out, only to sink in the mud. Great. Now it was my turn- I stepped out and promptly sank all the way to my knees in the mud. I was stuck! I tried to pull my foot out and felt my flip flop get sucked off. Holy crap! I was still hanging on to the dinghy and Frank was looking at me like “Lets go!” I took a step back and my foot felt the flip flop that had become disengaged from me. I was able to pull it up with my toes and retrieve it. I tossed it in the dinghy along with the other and made another attempt to get to shore. I took one more step, still sinking up to my knees and stepped on a tree or something under the mud. Nope. This is not going to happen. “Sorry Frank- pee there!” I tried to get him to go, but he was too unsure of what to do, as he kept sinking too. I was able to get him back to the dinghy and lift him in. Now we were both covered in mud and the dinghy was too. I got us back to the boat and Lauren helped me wash Frank and myself up, as well as the dinghy. Unfortunately for Frank, this was the second time on this trip we haven’t been able to access shore. He can do his business on the boat, but he is not too keen on it. As we were going through this debacle, the people on the boat near us had taken their dinghy out for a cruise. It was starting to get to be dusk now and they were returning and stopped by to visit. They were on a trip from Virginia to Ft. Myers Beach in their boat and had some guests/friends with them. We all chatted a bit about our trips and then they had to get back as it was getting dark. Lauren made dinner and we sat on the deck looking at the stars and planning our next move. We will now get to Marathon, Florida tomorrow if all goes well. We are now racing the weather as rain and high winds are heading our way according to the Weather Channel. Marathon is only about forty miles away, and one step closer to Key West, which will be our southern most stop on this whole trip.

Marco Island from Naples is only about fifteen miles. I had mentioned we would be taking the ‘old’ ICW, as the only other option would be to go out in the Gulf and come back in at Big Marco Pass. We didn’t want to do this due to the winds, which were gusting around twenty mile per hour and creating large waves out in the Gulf. I had asked around and everyone told me if we were going to try the inside passage, make sure it is on a rising or high tide. I should have paid more attention to “if you’re going to TRY it”…

We left early in the morning at first light. High tide was expected to be around 10am, so we wanted to be on the way while the tide was rising and get there at high tide. The anchorage we were going for was in Smokehouse Bay. When we left Naples, we followed the chart and tried to make sure we were in the center of the channel. Almost immediately when we got to the ‘old’ part of the channel, the water depths dropped. We kept moving forward at a cautious pace, trying to maintain some depth under our keel. We would go along and watch the depth finder go from 4, 3, 2 feet! We would feel a slight scrape ion the bottom and hold our breaths. I turned to Lauren and asked “which way should I go?” “Just keep moving forward!” was her reply! We continued on with the depth now showing 1.9 feet, sometime less. UGHH! What could we do, but keep moving forward?! We continued on our stressful course and thought we were doing pretty good, until it happened. We were coming through a pass, we felt the bottom of the boat scraping the sand underneath us, then we came to complete stop. UGHH! We were now grounded. Again. In my conversation with another captain in Naples, we were talking about getting grounded, and he said the best thing to do is try to reverse off of it and not try to turn out of it. This came back to me as I was trying to throttle over it. A small fishing boat approached from around the corner and slowed down a bit to call out to me: “Are you ok?” he asked. “I’m grounded!” was my reply. “Yeah- there’s a big sand bar there- stay toward the green buoy” and off he went. What the what!?!? I KNOW there is a sand bar here because I’m stuck on it! A couple of more fishing boats came flying around the corner and passed us without stopping. I figured I would try to use their wakes and reverse to try to get us off, otherwise we would just have to wait for the tide to rise some more and/or call SeaTow again for help. In hindsight, I think the boats that came flying by us were actually trying to help with their wakes. I straightened out the rudder and continued to try to back us off. I noticed we were moving a little bit backwards, which was progress! I continued to go in reverse and soon we were moving! We eventually got moving pretty good, then I had to turn us around to avoid the sandbar we were just on. “Stick to the green side” was repeating in my head! We made it past this sandbar and continued on- only a few more miles to our destination! We continued on and touched bottom a couple more times. This was probably the most stressful short trip we’ve had. We eventually came to Capri Pass, which is the beginning of Marco Island. Almost there. We could see the Gulf just on the other side of the pass and breaking waves were crashing in. Could this get any worse? We skirted our way just outside of the breaking waves and turned toward our destination. Our research told us that the channel to Smokehouse Bay is shallow and to stay along the shore as close as possible. We followed the directions and only saw one spot where it was less that four feet, but it soon became much deeper. As we entered the bay, we saw other boats anchored about. We finally made it! We turned toward the other boats and found a spot to drop our anchor in about ten feet of water. Yay! A big sigh of relief was let out as we turned off the engine and I popped open my ‘anchor beer’ and I didn’t care that it was only 11am- this beer was being had, now.

Now that we were settled in, we let Tori know we were in Marco Island. She was going to meet us and show us around town a bit. First I had to take Frank to shore, and there was a Winn-Dixie grocery store around the corner which also has a dinghy dock for people to use for shopping while at anchor. What a nice touch from a chain grocery store; that really means a lot to people like us on a boat who need access to groceries. I found the dock and realized it was going to be difficult to get Frank up as the dock was at least eight feet above water. If I stood on the seat of the dinghy I still had to raise Frank about five feet up and on to the dock. Frank wasn’t too happy with this and the first attempt had him clawing at anything he could get a hold of, including me. After recovering from his clawing, I hoisted him again and this time got him up and on to the dock. I could then climb the ladder there up to the top. We walked around the grocery store and made our way to a small marina that is there also. I went to the dockmaster and asked if I could use their dinghy dock for shore access for the dog. He was nice and said yes we could as they were not busy due to the weather. All of the reviews I had read said this marina does NOT allow dinghy access if your anchored, only if you pay for a dock with them. Now that I had secured access, I still had to get Frank back on the dinghy where we tied up at the grocery store. I knew he would object, so I had to act swiftly. We got to the dock and I climbed down the ladder a few steps, then grabbed the back of his life jacket which has a handle. As soon as he braced to stop, I lifted him off his feet and over the side. His legs went straight out to catch something, anything I’m sure, but it was too late. I was already swinging him toward the boat as I took the final step down. We both made it safely inside the boat and I started the engine. As we were pulling out, Tori called out to me. She had come down to meet us and was here already! I told her I was taking Frank back and would pick up Lauren, and we would meet on the dock at the marina. We made the switch and off we went to explore Marco Island.

Tori took us around and we ended up at the Snook Inn for lunch. We had a nice time there and a short tour of the island. We finished our day at the Marriott Beach enjoying the sun and sand. Eventually we had to be dropped off and our day was coming to an end. Frank got another walk in, this time getting off and on at the marina dock, which was much more agreeable than the other dock. The evening was quiet and tomorrow we planned on going to Everglade City and finally stopping at a marina to recharge. We still haven’t been to a marina since Christmas, so it will be nice to let the batteries regroup and have some amenities for a day or two…

The trip to Naples was around forty miles. I have spoken about how shallow it is, and there is no ‘inside’ passage to get there, so we had to go out into the Gulf of Mexico. I turned south and stayed pretty much in a straight line. The way the coast curves, we were probably around five miles out into the Gulf at one point, yet we were still in only ten to fifteen feet of water. Our destination was the Naples City Marina, which also had mooring balls available. The charge here was $15/night with a four night maximum stay. The cost was great and we were told they had space available for us, but we had to come to the fuel dock first to check in and get a pump out. They even lock boat discharge valves to ensure no one is discharging waste into the waters. Since we are a ‘Great Lakes’ boat, we do not have the valve/ability to discharge if we wanted to, as it is illegal to do so in all of the Great Lakes. You may discharge three miles out in the oceans, or five miles out in the Gulf. Once we were pumped out and checked in, we made our way to the mooring ball. As we approached we saw another boat we had been meeting up with: Tide Therapy; This is a family traveling on their boat, but not doing the Loop, but this is our third time meeting them since Ft. Walton Beach.

Once we were tied up, our first order of business was to let Tori know we were there. She lives in Marco Island and works in Naples. We had been excited to visit her since we got to Florida. Once she was notified, we took the bikes around town and stopped for a slice of pizza at Napoli on the Bay. Afterward we continued on to the beach. This beach was crowded too, and we walked around and found a spot to sit and relax. We sat there until the sun set, then made our way back to the boat for dinner. We had to run the generator for dinner and to charge the batteries as mooring balls do not have power connections. We have not been tied up to a marina with power since Christmas day in Sarasota, so we have to make sure the batteries are charged.

Day 2- We left the bikes on shore, locked up of course, to make it easier to explore. We took a ride through town and ended up at Tin City. We walked around a bit and ended up going to a place we had passed for lunch: Captain and Krewe. After lunch, we rode to Baker Park which has an amazing bike path through all kinds of wildlife habitats and runs close to the Naples Airport. It was a fun ride around and we scoped out a dog park we might try to get Frank to, but we will need a car to get there with him. We headed back to the boat for dinner and saw a brewery- like I’ve said: they find us! We stopped at Riptide Brewing Company and had a pint on the back patio. We were watching them lay down some sod in the parking lot/ back patio so I inquired about this. Turns out they do it for “Yappy Hour”, where people bring their dogs in for socializing and drinking. We chatted a bit with one of the owners about the sod and if it would work on a boat. Finally we left and continued back. The generator was run and dinner was made, then we retired for the night.

Day 3- This was another beautiful day in paradise. We had made arrangement with Tori, who so graciously let us use her car while she went to work. We met in the morning and I dropped her off at the hospital and returned to the boat. We hung out awhile enjoying the sunshine, then around noon decided to go shopping and re-supply. We went to several stores for groceries and other items we wanted, then came back to unload everything. It took us two trip to get it all back to the boat! At this point it was close to 5pm, so we had to meet Tori to return the car. She dropped us off to the boat and we made plans to meet tomorrow. Since we had the bikes readily available, we decided to go explore some more. We were looking for a tiki bar we had passed a day ago, but couldn’t remember where it was. I had also asked the dock master about where the locals go and he told us about The Parrot Bar and Grill. This is a place where you could get a beverage without paying tourist prices. We had one there and continued on trying to find the tiki bar. We ended up at Shanes Cabana Bar overlooking the water. The prices here were good too, for the beer of the day, which was Founder’s Raspberry beer. Delicious, but we couldn’t drink more than one of them. So our search continued for the elusive tiki bar we had seen. We were trying to retrace our path and ended up finding it, but it was closed now. Oh well, we had a back up plan! Off we went to Tommy Bahama Restaurant and Bar for a nightcap. We found a spot at the bar and a nice couple next to us started up a conversation. Turns out they were from Brecksville, Ohio but were now living here in Naples. We acquainted them with our boats stories and had a good time, then figured it was time to head back for the night.

Day 4- We made plans to meet Tori in the afternoon. She picked us all up (including Frank) and we went to the dog park we had seen on our earlier bike travels. We hung out there for a while and let Frank run around. There were a few dogs there, but it was too hot for any of them to run around. They all just lounged around, trying to get pets from anyone who would pet them. We left and decided to get some lunch. We ended up at a cool spot Turcos Tacos. As we were eating, I saw the sky getting darker and darker. A storm was rolling in, and fast! We were done with lunch and tried to beat the rain- we were close, but it started to come down as we were driving back to the marina. Tori dropped us off and we ran to the dinghy, getting a little wet along the way, but we made it back to the boat just before the big downpour and wind hit. Since we were on a mooring ball, we weren’t worried about dragging. At this point we just hunkered down for the night and looked at the weather. Wind was coming tomorrow, but we had to leave per the marina rules. We felt we could make it to our next destination: Marco Island, via the old intracoastal waterway. This is called the ‘old intracoastal’ because it is no longer maintained to a minimum depth by the Army Corp of Engineers. Huh. NO longer maintained to a minimum depth. The charts show some low areas and everyone I’ve asked has said “I would only do it on a high tide”. So we will leave early tomorrow morning when the tide is rising and hope for the best…

The jump from Sanibel to Ft. Myers Beach was only five miles across the channel called Matanzas Pass. This is the opening from the Gulf into San Carlos Bay which has Sanibel on one side and Ft. Myers on the other side. We pulled anchor and headed over toward Ft. Myers. On the way there we called a marina that has mooring balls available to see if they had space for us. They did! It was going to cost us $18/ night, which is quite a deal for the area, also considering it was New Years Eve. We were to the mooring ball by mid morning and got settled in. As we were settling in, I noticed a sailboat come by going for another mooring ball a few boats down. I had noticed he looked to be by himself and he was having a hard time completing the maneuver of driving the boat and then running up to fish out the floating line attached to the ball. I yelled to Lauren I would be right back and jumped in the dinghy. Frank was mad I wasn’t taking him, so he started barking, but I took off to help if I could. I approached him as he was circling around again and called out to him I would assist. He was thankful and I basically hung on to the front of his sailboat while he turned us around, and when we got close, I reached out and grabbed the line to hand it up to him. Once he was secure and we were done chatting a bit, I returned to get Lauren. Now she and I headed in to the marina to check in and walk around the town a bit.

Ft. Myers was packed with tourists. We are in Florida ‘in season’. Everyone who wants to get away from the cold and snow is in Florida now. We went to the beach and it too was packed. It was fun to watch all the people. We soon found ourselves thirsty and saw a bar which we thought was a brewery. Smokin Oyster Brewery which we enjoyed some happy hour treats and found out they don’t brew anything there, but do have beers made for them. After this we walked back to the beach for a stroll along the water. Funny- Ft. Myers Beach is actually on Estero Island. The beach goes on for miles it seems and it is wide, with white sand and people everywhere! We found a spot to sit and hang out for a while while people watching. We continued to wander down and decided to stop at a beachside bar to wait for sunset. We ended up at Shuckers Cottage Bar and snagged a great table on the beach while we waited for the sun to set. We ate some snacks as well, and Lauren was starting to not feel too hot. She was coming down with the cold I had over Christmas, and it was coming fast. We made it to sunset and retreated back to the boat. I could see she was really not feeling well, and she was in bed and asleep by 9pm. I tried to stay up for the New Year, but ended up falling asleep as well. Happy New Year!

We started the day with a quick run to the island with Frank. Once that was taken care of, we took the dinghy over to Cabbage Key Restaurant. The island is only accessible by boat or helicopter. The restaurant is famous for the thousands of dollar bills hanging from every inch of the place, and the food. There are also a couple of trails through a wildlife sanctuary which we explored after lunch. Our lunch was tasty and once we finished the lunch and the small hike, we went back to prepare to leave.

The trip from Cabbage Key to Sanibel was only a little over twenty miles. We had looked at the weather and saw it looked pretty good the next couple of days, but this being Florida it could change quickly. Our anchorage we had picked out was at the end of the island, close to the lighthouse. The trip there was a bit rocky from all of the boats zipping by causing all kinds of wakes from every direction. Once we got close it started to become a bit more comfortable due to the fact it was close to getting dark and everyone was finishing their weekend and there were fewer boats zipping by. We made the last turn to come under the Sanibel Causeway and saw where we wanted to anchor. We made the approach just as a very large yacht came from the other direction and headed toward the same area. We got there first and dropped anchor. The large yacht stayed a little further out and then they dropped anchor too. We were fairly close to land, maybe thirty yards from shore, but sitting in almost twenty feet of water depth. They stayed a bit farther out than that. Once we were secure, we loaded into the dinghy to explore the island. We took Frank with us and admired the lighthouse close up. The island has a ton of shells on the beach and Lauren collected some cool ones. We returned to the boat and fired up the generator for dinner. While we were cooking, I noticed the large yacht had departed- that was strange to me. We had dinner and were treated to another great sunset before calling it a night.

Day 2- Lauren wanted to hang out on the beach for a while in the morning, so I took her into shore and dropped her off. I returned to the boat and put together her paddleboard we brought but had yet to inflate it. Once I was done with that, I loaded the bikes on the dinghy to bring to shore. This allows us to explore more and get out farther. We rode around the island and stopped for lunch at Island Cow and we found two seats at the bar instead of waiting for the forty five minutes we were quoted. Afterward we rode back on the only other street that runs the length of the island. I noticed parking at the park is $5/ hour and it costs $6 to cross the bridge to get here! They sure have the racket going on here. The island was beautiful though and there were tons of people everywhere including on the bike paths we were on. Once back to the beach we hung out a bit before getting Frank to land, then making dinner. We had left the bikes on shore in case we decided to take another ride, but in the end we didn’t feel like it so we just researched tomorrows destination: Ft. Meyers Beach, which was also New Years Eve.

We had decided to take the ‘outside’ Gulf route to our next anchorage. I wanted to get more ocean experience, and since the weather was so nice, why not? Let me tell you why not: the entrance/exit to the Gulf is a passage that tends to get shoaled in. What this means is there are sand bars that move around due to weather and currents, so unless you’re a ‘local’, you are going in blind. Charts cannot keep up with the movements of theses sand bars, so it doesn’t matter if you are in the ‘marked channel’. We left our mooring and were headed out the channel. I was listening to the radio and heard a constant call for SeaTow and TowBoat due to running aground in the Sarasota Pass. Hmmm…that’s where we’re heading… I figured I would watch for the boats aground and avoid them- solid plan in my mind. We were making our way out and the depth finder would start dropping, then it would come up some. I was zig-zagging around trying to keep deep water under our keel. We draw about four and a half feet, so I need at least that much to stay afloat. We were making our way out the channel when we came to a dead stop. Sssccrraappe….We had ‘bumped’ bottom a couple of times, but were able to keep forward progress- not this time. Dead stop. Oh shit. I tried powering through it, and nothing. I looked around and there were probably about a dozen small fishing boats around, but they kept on fishing. There was nothing they could really do for us anyway, so I don’t blame them. I was going back and forth with throttle trying to get us un-stuck every time a boat would pass- I was hoping the wake from them would give us enough lift to get us off. Lauren came out and was telling me to stop it! We’re stuck- let’s wait for higher tide! She didn’t want me to damage anything (like before) and we clearly were not getting off this sand bar without help, so I was just wasting gas. At least it is soft sand and not rocks! There we were, stuck in the sand, feeling helpless with nothing to do but wait. As we were waiting, I notice the SeaTow boat heading toward us. Since other boats had called them, they were coming to the rescue. The actual boat that had called them was now off and free, and the tow boat came up slowly. “You need help?” he called out. “Yes- I didn’t call you, but I think the guy who did is free- Can you get us off this?” He made a phone call and confirmed the previously stuck boat was free. “Do you have a membership?” he asked. “Yes” I replied and gave him the information. He tossed me a line and was able to drag us sideways off of the sandbar. He ran the information and prepared paperwork for me to sign for the tow. “You saved $1009 today having the membership” HOLY CRAP! The membership is a little less than $200 for the year- well worth it on the first use! I told him our plan to take the outside passage and he advised it would be best to use the intracoastal route due to the moving shoaling all around. The intracoastal waterway is kept dredged to a minimum of five feet, so that is the best route. Lesson learned (for now- you’ll see).

After getting pulled off and turning around, we made our way to the ICW (intracoastal waterway). We didn’t have too far to go, and since we got a late start due to the grounding we felt we would still make it in the daylight. We made our way there holding our breath in a few spots as we watched the depth finder decrease to an uncomfortable depth. Our destination was Pelican Bay, but we weren’t sure if we could make it in with our draft and the depths showing on the charts. Lauren had the idea to call the local Seatow (they are privately owned by location) and ask them for some advice. We had read about doing this, but this is the first time we actually did it; We were on the phone with a local towboat Captain and he advised us against our destination of Pelican Bay, saying the depths and changing shoals could make it difficult to enter. He advised us of an anchorage with plenty of water a little further south, across from Cabbage Key, We had researched and had a few places in mind to stop, but a lot of the spots were known shallow areas. We passed Pelican Bay- the reviews were good, but the charts show three feet or less on entry- not something we wanted to ‘try’ today and with the Captain’s advice we passed on by, but it was filled with boats. Probably a dozen easily As we passed it we wondered if we could make it in, but still being somewhat shy about depths we continued on further to the anchorage we thought would have more water depths and he had recommended.

We found our way to Useppa Island and the anchorage we were told about. Upon approach we saw there were two other boats anchored in the area, but spread out pretty far. On the chart I noticed there were underwater cables running under the space between them, but we took our chances and dropped anchor. We were directly across from Cabbage Key, and about a hundred yards from the marked channel. Boats were zooming up and down the channel, and some of the larger boats would rocks us a bit, but it wasn’t too uncomfortable. I eventually got in the dinghy to take Frank to shore, and noticed people on one of the boats closest to us outside on their back deck. I went over to them to say hello and we chatted a bit about the Loop. They had completed it a few years ago, and were still living on their boat with their children. I inquired about where to take Frank and they pointed me toward a marina that was not too far away. As I approached the marina, a guy came out and asked if I was there to let the dog out? I replied “yes” and he then told me I needed to take him to the island across the way, and if I go to the other side, there is a spot to land the dinghy. Hmmm…not too friendly, but what could I do? I turned toward the island and made my way around it. I did find the beach clearing to land the dinghy and Frank enjoyed roaming around and all the new smells. I got Frank loaded back in the dinghy and off we went back to Klondike. Lauren and I sat on the back deck enjoying a glass of wine while the sun set and we were treated to a spectacular display of colors as it went down. Dinner was made, and we decided we had to stay for lunch at Cabbage Key tomorrow since we weren’t going too far to the next anchorage.