SOUTHERNMOST POINT

DAY 224, FRI. FEB. 24, 2012

DEP. LITTLE SHARK RIVER 06:25  ARR. MARATHON 12:30

AM WARM, HUMID.  WIND 5-10K SSE.  PM HOT, HUMID, WIND CALM

D. 45.3sm / 3650

Today we are as far south on this journey as we expect to be. From here on every mile we travel will bring us closer to home. The day started out very well considering our dilemma yesterday. I didn’t sleep very well worrying about what time we would have enough water to leave our anchorage.   At 5:30 I checked and we were still floating but there wasn’t enough light to leave. Sunrise was at 06:51 and low tide was at 09:51. Would we still have enough water to leave when we had enough light to see????   At 06:15 I could just make out the red day mark across the entrance channel, I stuck the boat hook in the bottom, it measured 4’ and falling fast. If we didn’t leave right now we would be literally stuck here until at least 1:00pm. I started the engine, took the flashlight up to the bow, pulled the crab trap, was disappointed, but not surprised to find it empty, and started to raise the anchor. As the chain came up I could see something on it.   At first I thought it was a branch, but when I shone the light on it, it was a huge blue claw crab. I rushed aft to get the net hoping he would still be there when I got back.   Not only was he there, but he was hanging on with both claws and rode the chain out of the water up to the anchor roller. It took a great deal of effort to get him to let go and drop into the net.   I considered that a good sign, my reward for a restless night.   At 06:25 we were on our way out of the river with the markers barely visible in the dim light of dawn. The rest of the trip down FL Bay was easy until we got to Marathon.   Pat & I took turns at the wheel dodging literally hundreds of crab pots for the 6 hours it took us to get there. At the 7 mile bridge we had to make a decision. Go through the narrow eastern Knight Key Channel, or the much wider Moser Channel. The Moser channel would take about 40 mins. longer as it was further west, so we decided to take Knights Key.   The bridge clearance shows 19’ on the chart, but there is no bridge gauge there.   As we approached I felt uneasy about the clearance and made a quick u-turn, lowered the mast, and went for it.  The width of the opening is 67’, which may seem like plenty of room to drive a 14’ wide boat thru, but with the current running and wanting to turn you sideways, you have to go thru much faster than you would normally want to. Once thru we entered Boot Key Harbor, found our assigned mooring, and now sit at our southern most destination. After lunch we were getting ready to go ashore when we heard a knocking on the hull.   It was Pat and Ken from “20 Bucks,” whom we haven’t seen since Nov.19 in Fairhope AL.  It was great to catch up on where we’ve been and what’s new. The rest of the day was spent trying to find a hairdresser for Pat.

SEVEN MILE BRIDGE

KNIGHT CHANNEL

CHART SAID 19' CLEARANCE, BUT I DIDN'T BELIEVE IT

ENTERING BOOT KEY HARBOR

CITY OF MARATHON MOORING FIELD

 

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.  

ENTERING LITTLE SHARK R. FROM THE GULF

30 MILES FROM EVERYWHERE

SUNRISE FROM OUR ANCHORAGE, 6:52AM

THE CRAB THAT CAME UP ON THE ANCHOR CHAIN

MARCO ISLAND

ONE OF MANY DOLPHIN WE SAW AND DIFFICULT TO PHOTOGRAPH

DAY 218 TUES. DAY 219 WED, FEB, 21, 22, 2012
DEP. NAPLES 10:00 ARR. MARCO I. 12:00
WEATHER BEAUTIFUL!
D. 11.9 sm / 3572.9

There is an inland waterway route to Marco from Naples and it is much like all of the GICW. Shallow bays, connected by dredged channels between mangrove islands with areas of beautiful homes, and areas of nothing but natural beauty. We arrived at Rose Marina at 12:25, had lunch ,did laundry and went to the ships store, which is truly amazing. It was more like a small department store, with something for everyone, from jewelry to Tommy Bahama. They even had bait. Joe spent the rest of the day fishing and set the crab trap. The next day our looper friends Beth and Dean on Kismet pulled in next to us. We had a lovely time catching up over happy hour, then went to dinner, via a complementary cab ride to Snooks.

THESE OSPREY POSED FOR US AS WE WENT BY

NATURAL BEAUTY BETWEEN DEVELOPED AREAS 

ENTERING MARCO I.

SHORE SIDE DEVELOPMENT

THE SNOOK INN

SANIBEL TO NAPLES

DAYS 214-217  FRI. FEB 17 - MON. FEB 20, 2012
DEP SANIBEL 09:10  ARR NAPLES 3:00
D. 36 sm / 3561
We left Sanibel in fair weather and took a detour to Ballards Oil in Ft Meyers Beach for a good price on diesel fuel. We paid $3.81 a gal. tax incl, which was about $0.75 a gal. cheaper than elsewhere. When you take a hundred gal. that's a good savings. We left Ballards at 10:30, and for the first time since we crossed the Gulf in Dec, we had to run outside as there is no inside route between Sanibel and Naples. The weather was excellent and the seas were less than a foot. We entered Gordon Pass, which is the entrance channel to Naples, turned north and were immediately welcomed by not one, but two bald eagles. As we prodeeded up the channel we were astounded by the beautiful homes on the western shore of Naples Bay. Naples truly is high end. These homes were magnificent and worth severals of millions of dollars each. We pulled into the Naples City Marina and requested a mooring ball for our stay, and in spite of the fact that there were only six moorings in the harbor, four of them were available. After a mandatory pump out and a topping off of the water tanks we settled in on our mooring and took the dinghy ashore. As we were walking the docks checking out the catch of the charter fleet, we literally ran into Chuck Vining, a friend and fishing buddy who summers in Falmouth. Unfortunately Chuck was in Naples alone as his wife was ill, but fortunately, for us, he offered to show us around. He took us to West Marine, shopping, sightseeing, and to dinner. We enjoyed his company as much as we hope he enjoyed ours. We also ran into Rusty and Bette Hughs, fellow Loopers on their 36' Monk, The Cooper. Naples is their home and they were getting their boat ready for another trip up the east coast. On Sat we got together with Peggy Morse, my former bookeeper, for cocktails aboard and dinner with Chuck at a restaurant called Boston. On Sun. we met friends from Falmouth, Mary Ann and Joe Lucas, who took us to their beautiful Assoc. beach and Condo, and then out for dinner. We had a great time getting together with friends, and spent a very busy four days in Naples.

PAT WITH PEGGY MORSE

MARYANN AND JOE LUCAS

A FEW OF THE "COTTAGES" IN NAPLES BAY

THERE'S SOMETHING MAJESTIC ABOUT BALD EAGLES

EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL IN FLIGHT

ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE WELCOMING COMMITTEE

WELCOME TO GORDON PASS

SANIBEL ISLAND, FL

DAY 209, SUN. FEB 12 TO DAY 213 THURS FEB 16, 2012

SANIBEL I.

We left Fort Myers Beach at 2:10 P.M. to take advantage of the high tide.  High tide is a big asset when coming into Sanibel as the Sanibel inlet is shoaled in on the port side, also the wind had calmed down since the morning.  We had spent a restless night on the mooring ball with the strong winds making our mooring line groan.  Upon waking up to fierce winds, we wondered if we would be able to make the short trip around the corner to Sanibel. Our friends, Peter & Betti West called to say that they had decided not to go with us.  Thankfully by 1:00PM the winds calmed down and we were able to get under way.  We arrived at 3;10 PM to a sleepy little marina next to Grandma Dot’s restaurant.  The marina staff was there to help us with our lines and electric.  They also told us that they would be delivering the newspaper and warm blueberry muffins each morning.  What a nice welcome.  Pat's sister Barbara and brother in law Joe arrived at 6:00PM.  We had dinner on the boat and walked around the marina catching up on the news. On Monday we went to the Ding Darling Refuge and toured with a naturalist on their tram.  We spent the day exploring the ground and museum. This is one of our favorite things to do on Sanibel.  That evening we were all invited to dinner at the home of our good friends Dick and Paula Sette.  Our friends Evelyn and Bob Barker were invited also.  It was so nice to see friends from home again.  We had a lovely evening, with good conversation and sumptuous food.  On Tuesday we set off for Captiva.  We roamed the beach, and had lunch at the Mucky Duck.  Joe being Joe, told the waitress that he was from New England and expected his fish not to be over cooked and dried out.  The waitress didn’t say a thing, but 5 minutes later she came rolling out a window that was mounted on wheels, announcing a window seat for the table from New England.  What a hoot.  We wandered around Captiva and hit all the beaches on the way home.  Wednesday Barbara and Pat took the bikes and went to the Light House beach for some sister time.  That evening we went to a new restaurant The Lazy Flamingo.  It was packed and the food was good.  Our last day, Barbara and Pat went on the kayak tour.  This was a wonderful guided tour through the preserve in Sanibel.  If you love kayaking and being out in nature, with all of the birds, fish and wild life, this is the trip for you.  You are guided out and then have the rest of the day with the kayak.  It was a wonderful experience.  We all had cocktails on the bridge that night with our  friends Bob and Christine Davis, the former owners of Glory days.  We then went to Doc Ford’s, for a delicious dinner.  Doc Ford’s was our favorite restaurant for this trip to Sanibel.  What makes Sanibel so special is that 70% of the island is set aside as a natural preserve.  This severely limits growth, makes property scarce, and keeps the RE prices very high.

L to R  BARB, EVELYN BARKER, GRACIOUS HOSTS PAULA & DICK SETTE,
BOB BARKER, PAT, JOE CUTRY

BIRDS IN DING DARLING PARK

THAT TINY BLACK THING ON THE CENTER BRANCH IS A TREE CRAB

FUN ON CAPTIVA

A "WINDOW SEAT" AT MUCKY DUCK, CAPTIVA I.

YELLOW CROWNED NIGHT HERON, DING DARLING

SANIBEL FAREWELL

AT FT MEYERS BEACH

PAT, JAN CLARK & MARLESE

DAY 205, 206, 207, 208 WED, FEB 8, Thur. 9, FRI. 10, SAT. 11

We really enjoy being on a mooring. We have the feeling of being anchored securely and the pleasure of being off land. No people gawking, just nice and quiet. The down side is we have to dinghy ashore for everything, and be careful not to run out of fresh water. We also have no electricity so we have to run the generator to cook and recharge the batteries for a couple of hours each day.

Wednesday- We dinghied to town and explored the 4 corners, which had a beachy honky tonk feel. We then walked the pier and the beach which was wide and white and beautiful. That afternoon we prepared for our overnight guests, Jan Clark, my college roommate and her friend Marlise from Germany. After dinner we sat on the bridge and enjoyed the quiet and the sights of the harbor.

Thursday- After a leisurely breakfast, we attempted to walk to Jan’s car for a trip to Targets. After walking a mile on the beach and a mile and a half on the street, Jan realized that we were walking in the wrong direction. We turned around and walked back another mile to her car. At this point my head was pounding and after saying goodbye to Jan and Marlise we went back to the boat for Advil and a nap. Things were looking up though, as that night we planned on hosting a cocktail party for the West’s and the Barker’s on the boat. We were then all going out for a night on the town beginning with dinner at Nervous Nellie’s. A good time was had by all.

Friday- We met Bette and Peter at 1:00 and went to their condo to do laundry. We then all went to super Target. This was followed by a dip and lounge at the pool. After a relaxing afternoon we had hot showers with plenty of water and a huge shower head. This must be what heaven is like. Bette and Peter invited Joan and John Dwyer and the Barker’s to join us for cocktails and dinner. What a wonderful day.
Saturday- 4:30 met Mike and Twyla of Nauti Nell, to go to Bonita Bills for Happy Hour. This was a swinging bar with live music. We met other Loopers Carl and Glenda of Goldleaf, and Jeff and Dorene of 30 Below. We all had a great time. This was a perfect way to end our stay at Fort Myers Beach.

BETTE & PETER WEST



THE BARKERS, BOB & EVELYN

HAPPY HOUR AT BONITO BILLS

BONITO BILLS