GLORY DAYS ON THE GREAT LOOP: LITTLE SHARK RIVER

DAY 223 THURS. FEB. 23 2012

DEP. MARCO I. 07:05 ARR. LITTLE SHARK RIVER 2:30

AM 66* SUNNY AND WARM SEAS 1’-2’ W. SSWE AROUND 5K.

D. 61.8sm / 3634.7

This day didn’t start out very well. We were up and ready to go by 7AM, and our friend Dean from Kismet came over to see us off. We could have stayed another day, but I was anxious to go. As I was pulling out of the slip I didn’t realize the wheel was full over to port and the stern went to starboard and put a couple of scratches in Kismet. I didn’t see it happen because the enclosure was all fogged up on the sides. What could I say; I’m sorry and send me the bill. The cruise down the coast was uneventful, 65 miles of 1’ to 2’ seas dodging hundreds of crab pots. We had to stay about 15 miles off shore to avoid the shoals that extend out from Cape Romano. We entered the Little Shark R. about 2 o’clock and using the advice from my good friend Dean, anchored in the exact spot he told me about. He said, it is a good mud bottom, you are out of the current, and, the tide is 2 hours later than the closest station. Armed with that information, and the cruising guide which said the depth would be 12' in that spot, we dropped the anchor just north of the R4 day mark, inside the curve. It looked like a good spot to me, and the water depth was 7’ at 2PM. According to the tide chart, high tide would be 2PM plus the 2 hour adjustment making it 4PM at this location. I figured we had 7’ plus at least another 2’ until high tide giving me about 9’. The tidal range was 4’, so at low tide I should have 4’ to 5’, just enough to keep afloat. As it turns out, high tide was at 2PM, and 7’ was the max high tide. We found this out when the boat stopped rocking at about 6PM. At low tide, around 8PM, we were in 2.3 feet of water. We were sitting nicely upright in the mud and could see air between the chine and the water. On the positive side we didn’t have to worry about dragging the anchor. Now I had to worry about when we would be able to have enough water to leave at daylight. Since there was nothing to be done, and the next hide tide was 2:30 AM, we settled in (no pun intended). I decided to catch some dinner. I caught several small catfish, and then got lucky and caught a good size Sail Cat. I filleted it and baited the crab pot with the remains while Pat fried the fillets for dinner. When it got dark, it got really dark. So dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, but the stars were brilliant. I turned on the spotlight to check the water depth and apparently startled a dolphin because it took off like a shot when I turned the light on it. As I scanned the light over the water I could see hundreds of small bait fish jumping wildly about. I also saw why this is called Shark River. Lying perfectly still not more than 20’ from the boat was ….. a SHARK! I don’t know what kind it was, except that it looked brown and was about 6’ long.