We're fully stocked with gas, ice, water and food. Laundry and dishes are done. We're ready to go, but sort of dreading another 87 degree day with wind from the exact wrong direction. We'll see what the park rangers day before deciding on our departure time and route. Yesterday was 6.60 NM of short tracking up the channel to Everglades City. Total odo 198.13 NM
We're anchored near the approach channel to Everglades City, which is just north of the northern boundary of Everglades Park. Development is getting pretty sparse, so the stargazing is quite good on a clear night, like last night. There's no way to capture that with a mobile phone, but here is this morning's sunrise instead.
Yesterday's log: 23.25 NM under sail through Coon Key Pass and most of Gullivan Bay until the wind died off Tiger Key. 3.6 KT over 6:29 hr under just about every sail combination. Total odo 192.13
With all the improvements we did over winter, we assumed it would take a while to get all the kinks worked out. For example, the engine still wouldn't idle reliably, but "The Boat Guy" fixed that in Venice.
The most stubborn of the non-working items has been the depth sounder. Thanks to a helpful call to tech support, we bought some petroleum jelly and moved the transducer around the hull until it worked. Now we just need to mount it permanently in the new location.
Whew, is nice to have everything working the way it should! We'll see how long that lasts until the next thing needs fixing. Of course there's still that stubborn leak near the companionway slide....
There are only a couple small, and therefore tricky, inlets between Sanibel Inlet and Gordon Pass, just below Naples. Luckily, we had a good weather window and put in a 32.43 NM day without
Incident. It was a nice introduction to sailing in the Gulf and even larger Gordon Pass was pretty lumpy. There was also a little time to explore Naples and see the pier during golden hour. No I've cream for us in this upper crust town; it was gelato! 3.9 KT average over 8:13 for a total odo of 154.07 NM.
Had a delightful broad reach and run from Cayo Costa to Sanibel island in mostly picture perfect weather. Near the Sanibel inlet, a freak spitting rain caused us to don our foulies for the first time under way. After docking, we stocked up on gas, Ice, water, did a load of laundry and provisioned up the larder. After all that work, we treated ourselves to fish dinners at Gramma Dot's dockside restaurant. Very yummy!! 22.70 NM at an average of 4.0 KT over 5:40. Total odo 131.64
Monday 2/20
The forecast promised a light north wind; perfect for a downwind run from Punta Gorda. Indeed, the passage started out with a splendid few miles out the Peace River wing on wing with the drifter. Soon the wind died and we had to motor. When it finally did build again a couple hours later, it was right on the nose out of the west. With daylight waning, we ended up motoring the rest of the way to our Anchorage in Cayo Costa's Pelican Bay. 22.10 NM, total odo 92.23 NM.
Tuesday 2/21
Spent the bulk of the day enjoying the beach, sea shell hunting, and hiking the trails at the state park. Splurged on some ice cream at the camp store. After rowing around Manatee Hole and seeing two of the"sea cows", we went in search of a protected hidey hole in preparation for the rain that was forecast for Wednesday. Motored a total of 3.0 NM and ended up a half mile away from our previous anchorage on the opposite side of pelican bay.
Wednesday 2/22
After hard rain overnight and into the morning, it mostly cleared up by 15:00. We decided on a change of scenery to give as a head start for Thursday's longish sail to Punta Rassa near Sanibel Inlet. Sailed 3.70 NM to the south of the Broken Islands and another private anchorage. Total odo 98.94 NM.
The bridge tenders on the ICW are super nice. But this was our first bridge that was tall enough we didn't need to hale.
It's a little taste of New England for me this Monday morning, as long as I overlook the palm trees. It's nice to have a cool morning after getting baked and overheated yesterday. We did 29.01 NM over 7:26 for an average of 3.9 KT. Only 8 NM was under motor until the perfect breeze sprang up that allowed us to sail up Charlotte harbor without ever having to beat to weather. Total odo is 70.14 NM. Off to much anticipated Cayo Costa SP this morning.
on it. Note the companion way cover makes a cute awning.
We faced headwinds in the canals and narrow channels today, so we never got to raise the sails. Made good progress until the USCG warned everyone via the VHF to take shelter with thunderstorms approaching. We found a protected spot in Knight Pass near Rotunda and had a relaxing PM reading and perusing the charts. 20.66 NM today for a total odo of 47.33
We have inaugurated our gas grill! (Thanks Ellen) Looks like temps will go below 60 degrees tonight for the first time since we arrived in Florida. No worries, our blood hasn't thinned out yet and and we have plenty of warm stuff to wear.
Anchored near the swing bridge at Osprey. 17.84 NM over 4:06 for an average speed of 4.2 KT. Odo = 19.84 NM.
This is really just a test to see if I can take a photo and post it through my phone. I have not been able to attach a previously taken photo to a blog post. If anyone can explain why that doesn't work on a Motorola X running Android, please let me know
Unfortunately, we bent one of the turnbuckles while raising the mast on Monday evening. Ordered the replacement part Tuesday and it should arrive tomorrow (Thursday). That meant we got an extra day at the marina in Sarasota and had a leisurely day finishing a few small tasks that we couldn't do in chilly Maryland.
Mid afternoon we embarked on a quick motor across the inter coastal to a quiet anchorage near the Sarasota Sailing Squadron. 2.50 nautical miles, 45 minutes, 2.5 NM odometer.
The first highway billboard didn't grab our attention. Nor did the second, or the tenth. But after the 142nd sign, we decided to stop for breakfast burritos.
