Rodriguez Key overnight to Vero Beach

When the weather is right... it's time to go!  We got into Rodriguez early (only one other boat), but by sunset there were 14 others waiting to go north, south or east.  We plotted the time it would take us to get to Ft. Pierce and decided we didn't have to leave early or we might arrive before daybreak, so we were almost the last to leave...

Rodriguez Key's mooring field...evening and the next morning as we head north.

We started out in Hawk's Channel which provides protection from the Atlantic with a series of reefs all along the eastern edge.  After a few hours we realized the  light SE winds were allowing for very calm seas outside the reefs so we threaded our way through and started angling out to pick up the Gulf Stream.  It was a very quiet day.  We sailed some and motorsailed when the wind was too light.  The most excitement we had was the 4 PM Miami departures of cruise ships followed by the 5 PM departure of same from Port Everglades.  We watched 4 behemoths leave each port.  Six of the eight are measured in miles (e.g. .194nm) instead of feet!  FYI the .194nm= 1.178.776 feet.

A Celebrity and Norwegian cruise leave Miami. Later another Celebrity left Port Everglades.

We were so busy watching the ships leaving port that we didn't realize a CG cutter arriving to see that they departed safely.  As soon as the Miami ships cleared the cutter hurried on up to Ft. Lauderdale to watch the next sailings.

Of course we got a sunset (somewhere north of Ft. Lauderdale) and a sunrise (somewhere south of Ft. Pierce inlet) picture to share.  The crescent moon gave us an amazing amount of light before it set a little after midnight... but not enough light for a picture.

We have become the masters of entering an inlet from the ocean against the current.  Ft. Pierce was no exception!  We were facing a 2+knot current against us as we entered the slop at the entrance.  Luckily it didn't remain that strong as we headed north on the ICW the 12 miles to Vero Beach.  We got in to Vero a little before noon, took on fuel and decided to take a berth at the dock instead of picking up a mooring.  We cleaned the boat and us, napped and then took a dinghy tour of the harbor to see if we knew anyone.  No luck there, but we did stop and talk to a couple from Lancaster, PA.  They live about two blocks from Grandma Bliss and a few houses down from Walt and Allison Carlson!!  They keep the boat in Rock Hall, so we may see them again as we are moving to Rock Hall ourselves when we return to the Chesapeake!  Julie and Michael are buying a getaway home within walking distance from Haven Harbour Marina and have convinced us to move Brunelle up there.  

Final business of the day was to re-assemble the BRUNELLE banner to hang off the stern to give power boats a chance to hail us and ask for a slow pass.  Dan sent me across to the neighboring dock to see that we hung it level.  

He got it right!
~~~_/)~~~M&D

A quick trip from Ft. Myers Beach to Boot Key Harbor in Marathon

We had been dealing with engine belt problems since January in Vero Beach, so with advice from several CCYC friends we ordered a new pulley system for the alternator and Dan installed it.  Unfortunately the pulleys came with the wrong size belts and it took time and several calls to get the right ones.  SO as we prepared to depart Ft. Myers Dan ordered two extra belts to have as spares.  They ended up back ordered!  We wanted to leave Snook Bight on a high tide Monday afternoon, and luckily the belts arrived at 3:15 pm and we shoved off at 3:20!  The forecast was for light winds, 5-10 knots from the NE.  It ended up being W for most of the night but it wasn't a problem and we made it to the Seven Mile Bridge/Moser Channel around 10:30 am and made it into Marathon by noon.  What would an overnight passage be without a sunset and sunrise picture!

There actually was a green flash in the picture on the left - - it's just hard to see.  Middle picture was 5 minutes later
and, of course, sunrise the next morning.

We picked up a mooring ball and were headed in to pay when we saw a Catalina 380 from Bethlehem, PA!  We hailed them as we went by and chatted a bit.  They told us the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association) was having a pot luck up next to the office so we had a short nap and joined about 40 sailors ashore for an enjoyable meal.  As Dan was putting potato packets on the grill he met Brian Mistrot who is the Technical Editor for the C-400 association.  We have been in correspondence with him for at least 9 years, so it was fun to meet him and exchange ideas. He and his wife Christie live aboard with their two sons (10 and 13) and are home schooling them.  We may see them in the Chesapeake this summer.

Originally we thought we'd spend just two nights here, but strong East winds have kept us here another day.  As we listen to the cruiser's net each morning we realize there is quite a community here. Lots of boats, some with lots of character...

Top is the world;s smallest dinghy, bottom is one with a lot of character
and middle is typical harbor.

Here's the harbor, day and night

Brunelle - one of many, but special to us.

Early departure tomorrow, so early to bed.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Where did March go??

I hope I remember how to do this!!  Too long away from it.  After Sam, Jess and the boys left we had a few more trips out to Picnic Island and the north side of Sanibel Island with Linda and Bill on Rampage.  John and Brandi joined us and Brandi brought her new toy, a SUP (Stand Up Paddleboard).  We played with all our little boats while anchored in Sanibel Bight while John hung out aboard Brunelle and worked!

Brandi and I followed Bill and Linda through the mangroves of Sanibel Bayou in J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  We were surprised by a pair of dolphins who surfaced right next to us.  Dan and Dory came to take pictures
as we came out of the Bayou and Dory was so excited to see all of us she jumped right in the water!

We continued to play the next day at Picnic Island.

That was the weekend of Daylight Savings, so when we returned to our spot at Snook Bight, morning light came an hour later and Dan caught sunrise over the mangroves from our cockpit.

We had been having a bit of trouble with our outboard motor and started wondering if it was time to switch to a 4 stroke inspite of the added weight.  We did a bit of research and were leaning toward a Tohatsu when we learned that the Mercury 9.9 was only 4 pounds more than the Tohatsu and 8 more than the old Johnson 15 AND Bass Pro Shops was selling them for $500 off retail!  You know I love a deal, so we went for it.  What a dream motor, hardly hear it at all.  We had fun breaking it in running around in the mangroves and islands across from the marina. 

 Scenes from the "outback"

Time for Julie, Michael and the girls to arrive:

They arrived at 9:15am but couldn't go to their condo on Sanibel until after 4 pm, so we went to our marina and swam in the pool and played at our beach while Julie and Michael did their grocery shopping in "our" Publix.

Lots of swimming - - - even tho the weather wasn't the best for their week.

Alice                                             Grace                                              Clare

We had Alice and Grace each spend a night with us and decided it would be almost as quick to deliver Alice back by boat rather than face the HORRENDOUS traffic between the marina and the mainland and then over to Sanibel.  Once again, the weather wasn't great, so we sailed over and only spent a few hours before heading back to Snook Bight Marina,

No motorized vessels are allowed on the beach, so we anchored the dinghy out and walked in.  It was cold and windy, so the beach was virtually deserted.

Wind howling and rain pelting down didn't hamper their departure on Saturday morning.  They drove off on their 20 hour trip in our van with our dog!  All arrived safely Sunday about 9 pm.  We miss them all.

Dory knew something was up!

Well, we are sitting here in Marathon and it's late, so I'll continue the tale next time!  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

The Hinckley visit was a great success.

The week before Sam, Jess, Ben and Oliver arrived was spent getting the boat ready for their visit and Ben's 6th birthday party.  Their plane touched down at the Ft. Myers/Naples (RSW) Airport at 6:30 pm and Grand Mar, Popov, John and Brandi were there to meet them.  Even though it was a Saturday night, we decided to brave one of the popular beach spots for dinner, Parrot Key Carribean Grill.  Needless to say, it was late when we finally got to the boat.  We thought the plan would be to put the boys to bed in the "V" berth and then when Sam and Jess were ready to go to sleep we'd move the boys out to the main salon and the parents could have the forward cabin.  Sam and Jess decided they didn't want to move the boys so they slept Sam on the settee and Jess next to the table!  That seemed to work well for everyone, but it meant no blogging as I usually do it when everyone is asleep...

We headed off Sunday around noon (waiting for the tide) and powered at idle speed (strictly enforced all long the waterfront here) and arrived at Picnic Island around 3:00 pm.  There were still a lot of weekenders on the island, but we ventured ashore and played a bit on the shore.  By sunset, everyone had cleared out and we had a peaceful night.  The next day, the island was ours and we took full use of it.

Ben got to dig, Oliver got to wrestle an alligator, Sam got to sail, Jess got to ride the alligator
and the boys did lots of adventuring.

Dory also got in a lot of romping, running and swimming and digging. 

Brandi and John took some time to be with everyone and spent time at the beach both across the street from our marina and a bit south of here on Barefoot Beach.   They all spent a day at the Shell Factory which has an animal park as well as a very large (and somewhat cheesy) gift shop. We hosted  Ben and Oliver for a night while the middle generation did some bar hopping.  Danny was able to join them as he was between assignments - one in Orlando and the next in Naples.  The weather was perfect all week and even got to enjoy the small pool here at the marina.

Try as they might, Ben and Oliver never got the hang of using our CCYC communicatiors, but had lots of fun trying.

It was hard to pull Ben and Oliver away from the beach, but they did enjoy a family adventure out on the Hobie Mirage Sport Kayaks.  We were sorry to be sending them back to another 8 inches or so of snow, but that's the way this winter has been treating the rest of the country this year.

We only had one medical interruption to their visit, Dan had an MRI of his back to see if that would answer the nagging question of his pain and nausea.  It did show some stress spots in his upper and lower back, and luckily time seems to be the solution to the situation as he is feeling much better - - - finally!  All in all Dan saw 10 different doctors in the past month!!  We're done with all of them at this point.      ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Cayo Costa State Park and Boca Grande

We never would have attempted either of the to anchorages we visited yesterday and today if we hadn't had Rampage leading the way!  The chart plotter showed depths of 4 and 5 feet as we skirted a long sandbar on our way into Pelican Bay off the Cayo Costa State Park but the depth sounder never went below 7.5 feet.  There was a brisk northwest breeze blowing and we had a beautiful sail up Pine Island Sound, arriving at Pelican Bay around 1 pm.

After lunch aboard we took dinghies ashore and walked across the island to the Gulf side of the island and saw how rough the Gulf could get when it blows 20 knots or so.

We followed Rampage  closely as we sailed up Pine Island Sound and into Pelican Bay - - - note the
pelicans that greeted us as we passed within 100 feet of the sand bar at the entrance.

We spent a pleasant night anchored in about 8 feet of water and were glad to see the wind had

quieted down a bit by morning.  We only had a short motor sail to get to Boca Grande and crept

out the entrance as the tide was lower than it was on our trip in.  Bill and Linda had been telling

us about the Bayou at Boca Grande and how quiet the anchorage is.  We followed them in and we were able to raft up for the night because it is so well protected

We skirted right by a beautiful golf course at the entrance to the Bayou and rafted up with Rampage.
What looks like an inner jib is actually their headsail.  Bottom left we are dropping our stern anchor near the shore.

John and Brandi went ashore as soon as we had settled and rented bikes, they came back aboard for Bloody Marys and then we all took bikes ashore to ride to the southern end of the island to have lunch at South Beach.  While waiting to be served John and Brandi decided to do a little "stunting" on the beach, very successfully I might add.  After lunch we rode to the lighthouse  and also took in some of the sights which included an interesting mural painted on someone's wall and also an exciting remote control laser race in one of the canals on the island.

The rented bikes were due back at 4 pm, so we were back aboard shortly thereafter and decide to take a "cocktail cruise" in the dinghy.  We saw more Hinckley boats in the space of half an hour than we've seen since being tied up in Southwest Harbor!  All of them were the powerboat variety... a sad commentary from our perspective.  We also spied lots of wildlife, that's a porpoise behind Bill's head, and a pelican and great blue behind Linda's.  The sun shining through the stars and stripes just looked so pretty, and Bill wanted a picture from this side of our raft to prove they were actually there!

Linda served up wonderful Gulf pink shrimp for dinner and we watched a bit of the Olympics before turning in. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

You'd think we were Rip Van Winkle we "slept" so long!!

There's a long explanation as to why we haven't posted anything in two weeks, but I'll just say we know the Lee County Medical Community WAY too well at this point.  Dan ended up in the hospital for three days while several doctors puzzled over what was causing his pain and nausea.  Final answer, his health is just fine, all tests show this and that, but nothing to write home about or do anything about at this time, so we are MOVING FORWARD!!

Here we are at our "slip" at Snook Bight Marina.  We've made one trip in the two weeks we've been here....150 feet along the face dock to the spot now occupied by a small runabout.  We walked the boat up to the fuel pump on Wednesday this week.

With great support from both John and Brandi and Linda and Bill Shenko, we have been able to enjoy ourselves while Dan has been dealing with ??? we're not sure what. Last week Linda drove me to Lakeland (the halfway spot between Ft. Myers and St. Augustine) to meet Jay and Pegg to retrieve our car.  

 This weekend we are off on our first real adventure.  John and Brandi are with us aboard Brunelle while we join Linda and Bill (they have a Cal 29) headed for Boca Grande and other spots north of Ft. Myers Beach. 

  

 We left the marina at 1:00 pm to take advantage of high tide and headed north along Estero Island (the home of Ft. Myers Beach),  and passed through the Matanzas Bridge to find that Nao Victoria followed us from St. Augustine!  She is still on her good will tour of Florida.  We also motored past the canal where Linda and Bill keep their boat, tied right in front of their house.  They have the great rooftop deck with the white railing.

We continued on to the north end of the island and tied up at the Bowditch Park dock to wait for John and Brandi.  Linda and Bill arrived first with their boat, Rampage, and rafted with us to wait.  We have a full crew and were ready to shove off a little after 5 pm and headed out the San Marco Pass and followed Rampage  to our anchorage off Pine Island.  Here's the crew being joined by Rampage just as the moon rose.

We celebrated Valentine's Day with dinner aboard Brunelle, and then Rampage broke away to anchor nearby.  A beautiful calm and moonlit night...a far cry from the scene back in PA.  All we hear is SNOW, SNOW, SNOW and throw in a little ICE!    ~~~_/)~~~ M&D 

Snook Bight Marina, Ft. Myers Beach

Finally!  More rain and wind on Thursday night, but Friday dawned warm and sunny and hardly a breath of air.  The trip around the bottom of the Keys and due north to Ft. Myers was going to be about 20 hours, so we didn't want to leave too early and get in before dark, so we moseyed away from the dock a little after 11 AM and headed out.  The seas were still a little sloppy due to the last few days of strong winds, so we put the main up to help steady us and kept the RPMs lower than usual to maintain between 5.5 and 6 knots of speed.

As we passed the southernmost point in the continental USA we saw several sails...it was no longer race week, but it seems there was a schooner race underway.  Unfortunately there was barely enough wind to keep all their sails full, but they still were a pretty sight.

We fought a fair amount of current through the Northwest Channel past Key West, but were finally in the Gulf of Mexico by around 1 PM.  Not much to see once we got through the channel and through the maze of pots.  In preparation for out nighttime run we started up the Radar and practiced picking out "targets" - - - mostly shrimp boats, and were confident we were ready for darkness.  It was a cloudy night without any moon and not many stars showed either.  Just after sunset (not worth a picture) Dan was zooming out on the chartplotter and saw an AIS coming up behind us.  When he checked on it's information he discovered it was the Key West/Ft. Myers Ferry - - - making 35 knots heading directly on the same course we were following.  Dan got on the VHF radio and called them, and after a pause the captain came back with "I see you, no problem."  We could see his lights as he whizzed by us about a half mile away.  That was it for the rest of the night!  One or two "targets" passed somewhere within 10 miles of us but mostly we were watching a blank radar screen.

Shortly after sunrise we noticed that our visibility was getting worse and worse and when we reached the San Carlos Bay light just off the entrance to Ft. Myers we were really socked in... like Maine like fog.  We crept along toward the next two marks which we had a hard time seeing and decided to slip out of the channel and just hover and wait for it to burn off a bit.

This is how the morning progressed!  Finally about 8:45, after waiting at least an hour, we started back in the channel.  Just before we reached the narrowest part of the channel the Key West/Ft. Myers Ferry headed out past us.  This time we had no trouble seeing her.

Our son John had been waiting patiently, first at the marina right next to the bridge out to Ft. Myers Beach and then at the Bowditch Park at the tip of Estero Island.  When he headed over to the Park he found that the free town dock in the park was empty and had ample water so we decided that would be a good place to wait for high tide.  We'd been told we would need at least mid tide or better to make it to our marina.  Here are John's pictures of our arrival, and two very pretty pictures of the fog!

Ever since we decided to head to Ft. Myers we've been in touch with one of my oldest friends (would you believe kindergarten buddies) who lives here.  Linda and her husband Bill Shenko also met us at the Bowditch Park dock and Bill offered to come with us as we headed down the channel around noon.  It was a great help to have him along and we made it to the marina easily.  We are now tied up, plugged in and ready to explore this new territory...oh yes, and get a good night's sleep!  ~~~_/)~~~M&D