Marco to Ft. Myers to Captiva...can you believa our next stop is HOME ?

A sign at Snooks Inn on Marco Island....loved it!!!

 

We had a nice afternoon biking around Marco Island. Snooks Inn had live music playing and a nice size crowd. This was Easter Sunday and lots of people were out enjoying the sunshine and the great atmosphere.

The band playing island music favorites like Jimmy Buffett

We lived aboard our boat over 10 1/2 years and we still want a water view when we go out!

After we left Will and I dropped our dinghy in the water and went cruising about.  We see a lot of boats cruising with their dinghys on deck however, we never see them drop them into the water and go out exploring.

The next morning we headed to Ft. Myers and checked out the newest marina in town. the Pink Shell Resort and Marina.

Ft. Myers is approximately 40 minutes south of our home by land and has alot of history including Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's Museum and their summer homes.

The Pink Shell has the beach on one side of the resort and the gulf on the other for the small marina.

Nikki LOVES the beach. She loves digging in the sand literally!

Most public beaches do not allow dogs.This is a private beach so she was allowed to play to hearts content. She got a bath 2 days in a row....she wondered why??

 







 This marina had floating docks like we have in California. It was so refreshing to tie to cleats and not mooring poles. Supposedly floating docks do not fare as well in a hurricane....hhmmmm(???)





 

After 2 days in Ft. Myers we headed to South Seas Resort and Marina which is located on the north end of Captiva Island which is closely connected to Sanibel Island.

We were greeted by 4 Manatees whom hung out by our dock.  They come up for air and quickly submerge not hanging out for photos.

 





A German Man taking photos said to us "Do you know dees animals have only 2% percent body fat? We vould kill for 2% body fat....or at least I vould hahaha!" I guess you would have to be there to understand the accent. Will and I are both half German and do not sprechin sie Duetch.  I would love to give a BIG HUG and HELLO though to my uncle and sister whom live in Germany and are following this web page.  Mother tells me my uncle copies and pastes and then turns on a modern day translation software program to understand what I am saying. How cool is that?

One of the 3 pools at the resort.  We wished they had an adult only pool.

 

Please don't misunderstand, I love kids however, the parents let each kid have their own pool chair.  They put their towels on them and they are in the pool the WHOLE TIME!  We had to sit literally on the cement on the side of the pool waiting to get a couple of chairs.  Will ran to finally get two and the man leaving said these guys are next for these chairs.  Two approximately 13 year old boys through their towels down....and guess where they headed? Yep...you got it....the POOL!

When you pay the obscene amount that is required to stay in these resort marinas it would be nice to be able to enjoy them. Oh well LIFE IS STILL GOOD!!

After about an hour we actually scored the BEST 2 chairs.  They were located at the far end of the pool and overlooked the gulf.  You see good things do come to those whom wait.....or like we choose to believe....with PERSEVERANCE anything is possible!! We left early this morning and are currently on our way home. LATERS!!!

 





 



Marathon to Marco Island By Sail-- Whoa!!

View from our bow in Marathon 4 days

 

For starters today is my mother's birthday and I first and foremost want to say Happy Birthday Mother- I love you and don't worry we are almost home!  Also, today is Easter and we should all give thanks to God for our Saviour Jesus Christ.  All things are possible with the love of One's Mother and the Great Divine! YEAH....And for those of you whom don't believe ENJOY your CHOCOLATE BUNNIES!

 

Will and I left Hawk's Cay on Monday morning 3/25/13. I believe I told you in my last post we had to wait for a thunder storm and then head down to Marathon.  That was a rough ride for 2 1/2 hours.  UNFORTUNATELY, gadget girl - I lovingly refer to as MYSELF....screwed up the view on the camera in Marathon.  And trying to prove I could fix it accidentally deleted over 100+ photos.  The camera now works and my husband of course just shakes his head and forgets that I can read his mind. Oh well.

 

The majority of this trip thus far has entailed a lot of bad weather. We have gone from winds, storms and cold temperatures to an occasional 83 degree day or two. Marathon was 4 days of  "nothing to write home about." The first night it stormed hard and gusts were over 20 knots.  The second night was pure wind storm.  We had gusts in some instances over 40 knots.  When you are tied up with fenders (rubber bumpers) you heard a lot of rubbing, squeaking and water slapping the hulls(lower bottom boat).

We left Marathon early Friday Morning

Seven Mile Bridge we have to cross under to head to Gulf of Mexico

 The top of our mast going under the bridge. Do you FEEL IT? I guess you have to be there! SUCH  an indescribable feeling of greatness and smallness. This has 65 ft clearance. We require 53 ish. A couple of bridges were only 56 on the Inter Coastal Waterway.  You literally go slow and hold your breath!



Little Shark Harbor- Everglades

 

We can not go the distance power boaters go due to the fact our boat on the average moves about 6 knots.  We had the worst crossing from Marathon to Little Shark Harbor.  It took us from 7:30 am to approximately 3:30 pm to achieve this 36 +  mile distance.  The winds were blowing North to Northeast on our bow and causing white caps. We had 2 and 3 feet waves breaking. (White caps are waves breaking causing white splashes everywhere. Kinda like when you are at the beach and a wave rolls in the front of it is white foamy looking.) There were lobster pots everywhere. LITERALLY EVERYWHERE!!! The hard part is the colors  of the buoys on the top of these traps in addition to the location.  With the white caps on the water the white small buoys on top of the lobster traps made it even more challenging. Some of the traps have different colored buoys like orange thank goodness however, with the boat going up on down hard it was a BASHING, STRESSFUL EVENT. Will had to hand steer the whole time. (Boaters often like to set a course and let the auto pilot steer the boat and just keep an eye out.)  Our speed dropped down to 5 knots and at times even lower. THIS WAS HELL forgive me everyone...I did not think I would be so happy to see the Everglades....land of the mosquitoes and any other creature that bites.

There were six boats in the small anchorage. Five were sailboats and this one power boat.

 

We have screens on our boat's cockpit.  Dusk is when the bugs come out.

 

As soon as it was light outside in the morning, about 6:55 am, we pulled the anchor up and began our route to Marco Island. What a difference a day makes, the waters were calm the wind was 10 - 15 knots and we were able to hoist our sails. Our speed increased to 6.7 knots for the first couple of hours.  There were lobster pots of course, but not as horribly bad as our prior day.  Captain Will was able to set the auto pilot for our new course. Several times we had to put it on standby to sail around lobster pots however, we were able to sit on the bow and let the boat do most of the work.YEAH!!

The star is our Island Packet Emblem (boat builder). Great boats for anybody looking to buy a sailboat.











Captain Hayes enjoying the view underway.  I was busy applying sunscreen.

Heading into the beautiful Marco Island

View from the back of our boat in our slip here in Marco.

Nikki is always on Watch Duty. (Still a Swab tho!)

 

We are going to take our bikes out today and do some provisioning for the boat (water, food etc...) get some fuel and then go exploring. We are going to head to Ft. Myers tomorrow morning. LATERS!!





 













Hawks Cay on Duck Key $$$$

Hawk's Cay Resort and Marina- Duck Key

 

Will and I had decided last year that we wanted to visit this resort as a celebration of sorts when we arrive in the middle keys. It has 4 or 5 pools, restaurants and the dolphin experience all there on site. WOW we thought this will be great! People had mentioned to us in passing it is Spring Break time.  My thoughts were hhmmm...we are not in Daytona Beach where things get crazy so no biggee. WELL what a surprise to me children have Spring Break, not just college students, and that is exactly what had filled this resort! The resort was packed with parents entertaining their children in all the pools except the small all adult pool at the farthermost corner of the resort. This was not exactly what we had in mind however, we did decide that when we have grandchildren this is a place we will take them as well. There are jet ski rentals, kayaks, paddle boards, a swiming pool with a pirate theme, tennis courts, basketball courts, commercial fishing boats, sunset cruises and of course an ice cream parlor.

 

Tio's was the only restaurant we visited. It was conveniently located behind our boat, allowed dogs and the only one that offered a happy hour.

I was surprised at the size of the Tarpon Fish swimming right up between the boats literally 3 to 4 feet long. Will and I took our dinghy out at sunset and went exploring endlessly. I was shocked at the size of the dolphin retreat. I thought it would be huge. it was the size of a back yard (not in California)  about a half an acre. I felt sorry for the couple of dolphins swimming around. We could get 10 feet from their fence from the canal side (boaters only approach not the general public.) We were in our dinghy (rubber boat) when we took this photo.

We left Hawk's Cay this morning around 10 am.  We awoke to thunder storms and decided to wait for them to pass.  We headed to Marathon Marina. What a ride....the winds were coming from the north up to 20 knots and we had 2 and 3 feet swells from the south. It was like we were sandwiched on our port side from the swells and the winds hitting our starboard side and of course  the whole time Will was steering around those delightful lobster pots.

It started storming here in Marathon about 2 hours ago and it hasn't really let up.  The weather is not supposed to be any better tomorrow. :(  We are planning to try and start our route home or to the north through the Everglades on Wednesday.  We are going to anchor there in Little Shark River.  There are not alot of marinas when you leave the keys heading to the southwest side of Florida.  It is a protected area the Everglades.  I told Will if that anchor gets stuck we are cutting it off,  NO ONE is swimming with the alligators. We will keep you posted.   LATERS!!!

 



Welcome to the KEYS!

We made it to the Keys and had a lobster pot line to greet our prop!

 

We were excited to make it to Key Largo and finally be in the entrance to the Keys.  We were cruising in the normal shallow waters of 6 feet and they were dropping to 4 ft here and there. Our 6 knots of speed dropped to 5 knots and Will and I thought we grabbed something however, even in the clear water we did not see that we had snagged a lobster pot line that had previously been cut but parts of it were semi floating.  After our arrival to Gilberts in Key Largo Will dove into the water to remove a line that was floating from our props when we had tied up in the marina.

You are side tied outside the hotel  in Gilberts Marina right on the ICW> (Kinda odd feeling for us!)

We left Gilberts today after staying one night and headed to Plantation Yacht Marina in Islamorada. It is a nice city park marina with alot of amenities however, there is no grocery or restaurants within even biking range. Our dock master advised us to rent a car it is cheaper than a taxi so that we can provision and see some the sights. So we did.

 

 

 

 

We are gonna stay one more night here in Islamorada and make our move down to Marathon, Florida.



LATERS!!!

 

 

 

 

 



Changing Lattitudes Does Change Attitudes

 

Bye Bye Harbour Towne

Our First Bridge - Dania Beach Blvd.



After returning to Harbour Towne Marina the weather continued to forecast small craft advisories and winds from 12 - 20 knots and we had a storm blow through on Tuesday 3/12/13.  We decided to revise our travel plans and to head down the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway)which is located more on the inside instead of going on the outer coast way. We were excited to leave on 3/14/13 and began our approach to the first bridge at approximately 8:30 ish AM.  The bridge operator has to be hailed on Channel 9 and your vessel name, direction of your approach must be given as you request an opening. We were promptly told by the bridge operator that the bridge does not open until 9 am.  This is when we found out that most bridges have a set time of opening.  Most of the bridges were on the half hour some open straight up on the hour and then the thirty and others at 15 minutes after the hour and then 45 more minutes past the hour. We went through approximately 12 bridges - 8 had to be opened and 4 were fixed.  We require about 53 feet so you have hope for the best on the tide level and look for the markings on the bridge to tell you the feet available at your approach.

 

Bridge Operator instructs whom goes first if there are more than 1 of you in an opposing approach and too wide to squeeze through together.



Hellooooo  Miami !

We stayed in Dinner Key Marina also known as Coconut Grove Miami for two nights.  We met another couple Alan and Martha that own the same boat as ours. (An Island Packet Catamaran- only 40 were built and they had Hull #40 ours is Hull #7) We agreed that we will put together and Island Packet Cat Rendezvous.

The water is so shallow 6-10 feet on the average...it's freaky to see the bottom.

Have no fear Captain Hayes is here !

 

We headed to Black Point Marina yesterday and plan to stay 2 days before heading to Gilbert's Marina in Key Largo tomorrow.  The water on the average was about 7 feet on this 3 hour cruise from Dinner Key.  When you look into the water and you see the bottom it is a bit shocking because it looks like you are 2 feet from the bottom. (Beautiful though!)

 

Blackpoint Marina/Loggerhead Club

This marina is located in a National Park and dogs are not allowed. Boaters can technically bring them to shore for there walks however,  absolutely no restaurant attendance for dogs.

And of course, Miss Nikki is having a relaxing time.  She loves crusing and does not get sea sick. She does have a couple of life jackets when she is out on the bow. We have pulled into the slip bow forward and are able to drop our dinghy in this marina. We have a  restricted manatee area behind the marina. We will try to take a few more photos today as we go out exploring today via bikes and dinghy cruising. LATERS!!