The morning was overcast today as we lifted anchor around 7:15AM. It had rained during most of the night, but the sun popped from behind the clouds as we were sailing out of our anchorage at Little Shark River.
We had planned a long run for today..almost 90 nautical miles (102 statute miles). The good news is that there were NO bridges, and the seas were very manageable at about 2'. Our first leg took us from the mouth of the river up to the shoals at Cape Romano, just south of Marco Island. Here is how things looked on the chartplotter. Our final destination for the day is about 2/3 of the way up the screen, where there is a bit of a "fish hook" in the coast line. This is where Sanibel Island curves in towards Fort Myers.
As we approached Marco, we could see this building for almost two hours. It is at the southern end of Marco Island, which is pretty much the southern end of civilization on the west coast of Florida.
Along the way we crossed paths with a bunch of sail boats, but these two boats were both sailing on a run with their spinnakers flying..it was quite a sight!
Heading north, the next town that we passed was Naples...more high rises!
Other than looking over at the coast line, there was just not much going on for this very long leg..but these two guys flew across our bow..besides, I needed my bird picture for the day, so they are it!
As we approached Fort Myers / Sanibel, this bridge is the first thing that pops out. It is one of three bridges that make up the Sanibel Causeway from Fort Myers, out to Sanibel/Captive Islands. We did not go under this bridge today, but turned right just prior and entered Matanzas Pass which runs south behind Fort Myers Beach.
As we were making the turn at the pass, There was a wedding getting started on the beach as we made our turn. It was a beautiful afternoon for this event.
We tied up about 5 minutes later at Moss Marina. The winds were blowing across our path as we were trying to back into our slip, plus we had a pretty good tidal current to deal with. It was not pretty, but we got the boat tied up without breaking anything!
The folks at the Marina pointed us to a nice restaurant down the street. Vic and I had a nice meal at the Matanzas Inn, but I can report that their idea of "Maryland Crabcakes" isn't even close.
Although we have had an 85 degree day, the humidity has disappeared with a cold front that moved through last evening. The winds were out of the northwest to north most of the day, but will turn to the southeast tomorrow and the humidity will be with us again.
We are back on the boat and I am finishing this up around 11PM. Tomorrow should be a fairly straight forward trip. The plan is to top off our fuel tanks and be away by 7:45AM. We will go outside once again for a 70 nautical mile run in the Gulf of Mexico.
We have now traveled about 1516 statute miles..about 81 more to go...FINALLY!
Paul and Vikki what a wonderful journey. Neal forwarded your blog to me and I have read with great interest.The building at King's Bay Georgia is part of the Navy's SSBN base there. I believe it is the dagaussing/deperming facility for the submarines. Have a fine winter and look forward to seeing you on Pastime next Summer.
Best,
Alex Viessmann
Posted by: Alex Viessmann | 10/26/2009 at 10:51 AM
Still catching up Paul and enjoying every word and photo. IIRC, the huge condo building at the south end of Marco Island, which you saw for 2 hours, is where Mason and Mary Holland have a place. You will remember them from COPA. What a memorable trip!!
Posted by: Dave B | 11/08/2009 at 05:33 PM