Sunday morning dawned sunny and breezy - still 20+ knots from the Northeast - we headed out of the channel and south down Biscayne Bay on a broad reach under full main and genoa. This is really the first time we have truly sailed since leaving the Chesapeake in October. What a delightful day it was! A steady 15-20 knot breeze shot us straight down the Bay. We anchored off the Northwest tip of Key Largo and enjoyed a quiet night protected from the East wind.
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| Sailing Biscayne Bay |
We had great wind, without the big seas due to the reef, and enjoyed a brisk sail all day past Key Largo, Plantation Key, Islamorada, and Lower Matecumbe Key where we turned Northwest and motored under the Channel Five Bridge (to the west side of the Keys), and then anchored on the West side of Long Key in the lee of the island for a comfortable evening.
Tuesday morning, we continued west across the very shallow Florida Bay. We saw as little as .6 feet of water below our keel along the way and avaraged only 2-3 feet under our keel all day. But, we didn't hit bottom and as the day went by, the water depth increased a bit. We passed banks, grassy wetlands and poked along just south of the Everglades National Park. The chart shows all kinds of land or sand banks, plus little creeks and canals that would be deep enough for the dingy or a kayak. What a wonderland it must be - if you are brave enough to face the gators! A "bank" as defined in navigational or nautical terms is a large area of elevated sea floor. Often these banks are not navigable by us, other times they may be only 10-12 feet deep. When you are transiting an area, you spend a lot of time looking at the chart and determining what is ahead, what route to take, when to alter your course, etc. As we were investigating the chart, we found a bank that was named First National Bank. It made us laugh that even the cartographers have a sense of humor!
By the time we reached the Southwest tip of Florida our cell coverage disappeared and would not return until the following day when we were about 15 miles south of Marco Island - the first sign of civilization on the southwestern tip of Florida. There was nothing except water and remote shoreline around on this beautiful day.
We rounded the tip of Florida and found the Little Shark River where we planned to anchor for the night. The weather was so calm that we decided to anchor in the lee of the land about a mile south of the river to avoid being near another three boats that were anchored in the mouth of the river two miles away. It was a beautiful anchorage. SO, SO quiet, many, many stars and very still water. We hope to return to that area on our trip back around and maybe drop the dingy and explore some of the little waterways.
It is at times like these that you feel really remote from civilization and a bit closer to nature. Lovely!
The next morning, we headed out early and with no wind, it was a motor day. Another sailboat from the anchorage in the Little Shark River was heading south as we were heading north. We called each other on the radio and had a little chat. They have been living on their 40 year old Pearson sailboat for 14 years, happy as clams. While we were chatting on the radio, a dolphin jumped up out of the water and dove back in, right in front of his bow! It was like the movies!
Finally, navigating the channel into Marco Island around 4pm, we poked our way into Factory Bay and dropped the hook. Though we weren't all alone, it was quiet enough and an enjoyable night. The next morning, we were off on another motor day, past the town of Naples, Florida and on up into Fort Myers Beach. Talk about "different" from our last four days, Ft Myers Beach was busy! But, we were able to hook up with Sharon's high school friend and family members, Peg, Pam and Betty for a yummy dinner at Doc Ford's, ending with a dingy ride out to the boat to show off our home to these friends. As they were headed out early the next morning to escape bad weather on their drive back to Missouri, we were really happy we could connect.
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| Sharon, Pam, Peg and Greg |
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| Cayo Costa State Park and beach |
We knew we wanted to be out of the weather by Saturday afternoon. There were heavy North winds and 14 foot waves predicted to come across the Gulf by Sunday afternoon and we wanted to be tucked in somewhere safe and secure. We had a reservation at Marina Jack in Sarasota, so we headed out of the anchorage, out Boca Grande Pass into the Gulf, then north to Venice Inlet. This brought us back into the ICW (protected from the Gulf by barrier islands) which was very busy on this sunny Saturday afternoon. The wind had increased from 10 knots to 15 by the time we entered the inlet channel and we were happy to be in protected waters. A couple hours later, we were tied up neatly and securely at Marina Jack's. We grabbed a nice hot shower and headed off to find dinner in town.
While in Sarasota, we were fortunate enough to be visited by our friends from Cutter Loose, Pat and Eric. It was so great to share time together. Since they are from Pittsburgh and we are from New England, we carefully put our obnoxious fan personalities aside as we watched the AFC Championship game Steelers vs. Patriots. If you don't know the outcome of the game, you obviously don't care, so we won't mention it here.
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| Dear friends Pat and Eric |
We enjoyed some yummy food at C'est LaVie! a wonderful local french bakery, the Mattison Grille, and Bijou Cafe', another French-inspired restaurant in town. We got our bicycles out for the week in Sarasota and tooled all over the place - a beach trip to Lido Beach netted a nice haul of shells.
Two days at the Ringling Museum left us fascinated by this family of five brothers who started the Circus. The amount of wealth gained during John Ringling's life is amazing! The museum had the original wagons that hauled animals and equipment, a huge miniature display of a full circus that took a man's entire adult life to build, an amazing collection of art and the house that John and Mable Ringling built together call Ca' d Zan ("House of John" in a Venetian dialect). It is a worthwhile visit if you are ever in Sarasota.
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| These wagons are all made of wood and weigh about 8 tons and used 40 horses to haul them |
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| This is a large room in the art museum that had this opening in the ceiling where you can sit and watch the clouds go by |
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| These photos are all of the house that cost $1.5 million to build from 1924 to 1926 |
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| The ballroom ceiling - anything that looks gold, is gold! |
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| The marble patio, the Bay was behind the photographer |
By Saturday, it was time to move on. We had a reservation in St Petersburg for the next several weeks. So, we pulled out of our slip and made our way up Sarasota Bay (passing the Ca' d Zan along the way). It was a chilly day with brisk north winds and we quickly deployed our plastic cockpit enclosure to shield us from the cold. The sun disappeared behind rain clouds and we were still cool as we made our way across Tampa Bay with the iron genny (that would be the diesel engine for you landlubbers). We pulled into St Petersburg at 5pm, well before nightfall. It rained most of the night and we were happy to be in a marina and able to turn on the heat while it was in the 50's outside!
Today we are making our list of what to explore while here in St Petersburg. The list is long! We'll let you know what we find.
'Til next time -
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