Sanibel Marina to Smokehouse Bay, Marco Island

Stern is floating, bow not so much!

Great day for a boat ride, northwest wind 10-15, 2 ft waves with a 7 second duration(gentle roll) and lots of sunshine, high temperature about 68 degrees. We wanted to leave this morning at 9:00, however, there was a very low tide last night and we found our bow 6” out of the water at low tide 8:38 AM. So we waited until 9:00 to begin preparations, as the tide rose the boat began to level and we were able to pull ourselves out of the slip about 9:35. Next was the very narrow channel leading directly to the Gulf, the channel is quite badly shoaled in on the west side and a bit shallow in any condition but especially with our low tide. At one point the depth sounder showed 1 ft of water, since I believe our keel is 18” below the depth sounder pickup point we probably disturbed a bit of sand.

A pink hibiscus at Sanibel Marina

Once clear of the channel we were on our way. We planned to meet up with another  boat “Beach Quest” about 9:30 at the entrance to the Gulf as it turned out they were about three miles behind us as we traveled the 35 miles to Capri Pass the entrance to Marco Island. We read all the available material on anchorages along with their directions and point of interest, we follow our charts both electronic and paper and still there are some surprises along the way. In this case a pleasant surprise the channel was better marked and deeper than the charts suggested and the anchorage is large, deep, well maintained and surrounded by 1000+ condos.

We were able to attend our home church Mount Pleasant Lutheran via a one week delayed pod cast this morning. As much as we are enjoying our new adventures and all the sights, it is wonderful to retain the connection with our faith community at home. Thanks to Pastors Dave and Christine for providing these sound tracks.

Just a Note: Our current plans put us out of cell phone range the the next two days as we move toward Marathon Key

A deep channel with lots of Sunday traffic

A really pretty, well protected anchorage