Delayed Post: Everglades City to Middle Cape Sable

Carol takes a turn at the helm  on a pleasant day

2/18/14  Nice sunny day with temps early in the mid 70’s increasing to about 83 in the afternoon. Cruising now mostly south along the Everglades not much scenery or development in this area. The shores are lined with Mangroves this morning the water was quite calm and very aqua in color, the dolphins enjoy this area as well as the rest of the Gulf. Our destination is Middle Cape Point at Cape Sable an anchorage just along the beach with wind protection from the east and southeast. Not the normal fully enclosed and protected anchorage we prefer. But the forecast is for winds from the east with a little south component due to a high pressure located on the Atlantic side of the Pennisula. As we rounded Northwest Cape 10 miles from our destination the wind picked up considerably to 20 knots and had a significant south component for a while it looked like a southwest component, the waves built to 2 ½ feet and we were all concerned. However, we continued and found some protection from the wind and waves. Because of the location of this point the east wind blows around the tip of Florida up the southwest part of Cape Sable and then around the point. The wind waves follow this pattern as well, we were all surprised after anchoring to see our boats pointing directly towards shore while the waves were on our beam. So in fact the wind was from the east and the anchorage fairly well protected. The wind is now settling as the evening approaches, we hope to be on our way again due south early tomorrow morning.

Beachfront anchorage, Middle Sable

Marco Island to Russell Pass Anchorage, Everglades, FL

House shopping at Marco Island

Sunny and cool in the morning with a north wind, rolling waves from the northeast pushed the stern around until the third leg that headed ENE then seas calmed and the wind diminished after shifting to the east.

We arrived in the Russell Pass anchorage about 12:30 PM.  This is the edge of the Everglades National Park and is completely remote with mangroves and water as far as the eye can see.  We lowered the dinghy into the water and took a very interesting side trip to Everglades City, about a 40 minute trip by dinghy. Everglade City was larger than expected and seems to center around an active commercial fishing fleet. We also saw our first air boats that push through the glades. Lots of activity on the river and a continuous fast flow of water. We purchased some dinghy gas from an unattended credit card fuel pump on the water for $5.39 per gallon, a bit pricey.

Our main destination was a historic restaurant and hotel called the Everglades Rod and Gun Club. The hotel lobby is all dark wood with many trophy fish, birds and deer mounted on the walls.  Built in 1864 it has hosted Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, as well as Mick Jagger, Earnest Hemmingway, Sally Fields, Sean Connery, Burt Reynolds, Dennis and Carol Barkow, and a host of other celebrities.  It it was used several times for movie sets and still maintains its original character.  We had a late lunch of fresh seafood salad and some ‘gator bites’ that were really very good.  The rest of the town is made up of Florida/Key West style cottages and a few restaurants, a bank, and a school.

Beautiful old wood interior

We returned to our anchorage in time to join some other Loopers for a sunset visit.  These folks were both couples from Wisconsin and we enjoyed getting to know them.  All in all a very nice day, smooth ride, fun adventures and a lovely place to be.

 

Old Florida

Fleet Corporate Headquarters

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

Sanibel Island

Today we made the transition from vacation get-away to  “Loopers on-the-way”.

Kim, Scott and Autumn departed for the frozen tundra this afternoon and we put the boat back into traveling mode.  Dennis has been charting the next section of the journey, we got the laundry done, everything buttoned down and put away  so we are ready to start out again first thing in the morning.

We plan to go from here at Sanibel Marina down to Marco Island.  We will take the “outside” route down the Gulf of Mexico rather than the inside route of the old Intracoastal Waterway.  The inside route is more protected from wind and storm, but is frequently shallow and full of twists and turns.  Since the weather promises to be kind to us the next few days we will take the more direct route. 

Active Captain on our iPad

One of the tools that we use to chart our routes and check on anchorage locations is called “Active Captain” and it is a great web tool.  Every waterway is carefully charted and traveling boats post their reviews of locations, marinas, bays and harbors as they go along.  So we have up to the minute information if a bridge is out of order, or if the fuel prices are particularly good or bad at any given spot. 

Active Captain tells us Smokehouse Harbor will be a good place to anchor the boat overnight in Marco Island tomorrow night.

Our Planned Anchorage at Marco Is

Sanibel Beach

Sanibel Beach

Finally, a real vacation-worthy day for Kim and Scott to enjoy Sanibel Island.  After yesterday’s high stress, high weather crossing we awoke to a beautiful sunny day and decided to walk around the island and go to the beach.  Sanibel has a lighthouse on the eastern-most tip and we started there.  Lots of tourists were just standing looking out to sea because several dolphin were playing and fishing just a few feet off shore.  The dolphins we saw yesterday would take one quick peek above the rolling waves and dive back into calmer waters.

We walked and collected shells and walked some more.  Sanibel is a lovely place full of condos and inns and well-kept homes.   There are restaurants and tourist shops and a few other businesses, but it looks almost impossible to buy milk or do any of the errands of daily life.  Guess that’s why it’s a vacation destination – one can escape the errands of daily life.  We stopped at the Lazy Flamingo for a snack and thoroughly enjoyed the blue sky and kind temperatures as well as the town.

Lots of shells as the tide goes out

This evening we celebrated Valentines Day with steaks on the grill and a good salad.  Scott did the cooking and Dennis did the cleaning-up so Kim and I felt very loved.  Good guys – we were smart to bring them along.

Nice Smile

 

Autumn on a beach walk

Burnt Store Marina to Sanibel Marina

A good place to ride on a rough day

It’s about the weather!!! Last night the front that has dumped snow on the rest of the southeast made its debut in Florida. We learned tonight that Florida is the only state of the 50 states with no snow. So please do not hear this post a complaining, rather another lesson in making weather related decisions. Strong southwest winds follow by rain and a wind shift to the northwest. After the front rolled through, the cold northwest winds began to blow. We wanted to travel to Sanibel since Kim, Scott and Autumn will leave on Saturday, schedules can be a problem when the weather is less than great.

The first ten miles across Charlotte Harbor we faced beam seas that rocked the boat and sent water splashing up on the fly bridge. The balance of the trip was mostly downwind with less rocking but some swaying back and forth. The wind was to taper off in the afternoon, but when we landed two deck hands could not move the boat back to the dock pulling on the stern line. Scott and I jumped off and together with the deck hands we were able to secure the boat to the dock. Winds estimated to be 30 mph at times.  A hard day all around, you make the best decisions you can with the available information and some days are harder than others.

We had supper at Grandma Dots restaurant, right here at the marina a classic old Florida dining establishment. The weather should be better tomorrow and we hope to do some shelling on the famous Sanibel beach.

Autumn helping out on the bridge

A Burnt Store Pelican

Name that Palm, 3 people have given it three different names

Fisherman’s Village to Burnt Store Marina

Harpoon Harry's at Fisherman's Village

We had planned two days in Fisherman’s Village that turned into 5 days as we each dealt with the 24 hour flu in secession. Now all mostly well, although still not eating heartily. So finally today we are traveling again although not very far. We needed fuel and Burnt Store has the best prices on Charlotte Harbor. Interesting destination marina with 525 slips, dry storage, several large condo buildings, many single family homes, a nice restaurant, deli with ice cream, pool, hot tub the works. We expect the storm that is currently ravaging Atlanta to arrive this evening with thunderstorms, high winds and cooler temperatures, so rather than anchoring out this evening we will stay at Burnt Store.

Fisherman's Village Marina and Sick Bay, Slip B14

Autumn has decided she needs more teeth on her upper gums to match the two lower ones. Three new teeth are beginning to protrude and she is coping quite well. We cruised for a couple of hours, ate lunch and enjoyed Autumn antics. 

Autumn playing on the bridge

Lunch on the Fly Bridge

This guy was getting gas, he must be a great fisherman

Burnt Store Marina and golf community