CLICK HERE PHOTO ALBUM –>>  Summer Adventure Part 1 

July 6^th we left for Fort Myers Beach and Aeeshah.

Our granddaughter Rhianna being with us. The first week we spent getting the boat readied, buying essentials, having the name put on and ordering necessary items for the boat.  Each day we took time off and did various activities with Rhianna. We visited the beach most often and checked out the local area.

Finally we set off for next adventure on July 13^th.

Our fist destination was to be Indian Key. We left at 10:00am and cruised out of the waterway. Rhianna on the lookout for dolphins.

Our course had us going south and as the winds were light we had to motor sail the majority of the way. By 4pm we had decided to stop for the night, no way would we make Indian Key that day.

Keewaydin Island

 

We anchored off the coast south of Naples at Keewaydin Island. There was a coastline as far as you could see of nothing but beach. It was beautiful! We were quite far from shore but as John didn’t want to put the dingy in we swam ashore.

There on the beach were shells galore, shells of every type. We set off along the shoreline and Rhianna and I pick up as many as was possible to carry. The bird life was prolific. There were waders, and sandpipers, herons and pelicans and in the trees hawks and osprey. We found where sea turtles had nested and the tracks were quite fresh leading to the nest and back to the sea. The sand was a bit quartz like and it crunched under your feet. It was a marvelous walk. Swimming back we put shells in John’s pockets, down my bottoms and top and made it back with out loosing any. That evening there was a lovely sunset and only a few mosquitoes, which meant we could sit in the cockpit and enjoy our barbequed steak dinner.

July 14^th we set off again for Indian Key,

John had been very impressed by the area in the spring when we had stopped there. We had to sail way off shore to avoid all of the shallows. It’s quite an amazing area as it can be 2 feet deep up to 5 -6 miles from shore. As usual we had many dolphin sitings along the way.

We arrived near 3:30 pm and anchored just ahead of Indian Key, out of the channel that leads to Everglades City. The tide was still dropping, John got the dingy in, Rhianna was all for a swim, despite it being dirty muddy green, river water, so off we set to find a “beach” to swim from.

We zoomed along the inside of a number of mangrove islands, cruised along looking at the thick mangrove islands, the birds were everywhere and of all types. Then we zoomed off with Rhianna at the bow pretending to fly like the birds that were flying along side us.

When WHAM, REOW! REOW! went the engine as we suddenly stopped. Rhianna screams “Are we gonna sink??!!”, “No we can’t sink as we have run aground on the bottom,” I explained.

Well the engine might be old but it sure is hardy. I pushed with the oars and we were off the rocks and in the mud. John got the engine back on its mounts and started her up, and then we proceeded to slowly try to find deeper water using the oar as a depth sounder. It took quite awhile to get back to Indian Key where we went to the little bar of “sand” I walked and sat in the shallows while hanging on to Rhianna so she could swim and not be swept away by the river’s current.

It is an area that the birds use to roost and the flies were plentiful, but there were shells in fact too many as they made walking in the water quite challenging. We headed back to the boat as it was getting dusk, later than planned. Dinner that night was a rushed affair as the mosquitoes were arriving. We got the screens up, John just about managed the barbeque before being eaten alive and we stayed below deck.

July 15^th there was no way we could stay at Indian Key any longer.

The mosquitoes were incredible we all got eaten and were glad to get away. There were however, dolphins everywhere feeding on the fish in the river. John had several come very close to him as he raised the dingy onto the davits. We headed to Cape Sable. We left by 9:00 and arrived with anchor down at 4:30, as Papa had promised Rhianna a swim.  The day had been nearly windless so it was a motor all the way day. We were about ½ mile off the Northern Cape. We had a quick swim and John dropped the dingy so we took a walk along the beach. Again the shells were everywhere, just miles and miles of beach, shells, birds and nobody about. I even found a horseshoe crab shell! The place is the middle of nowhere. This time Rhianna discovered her hate of flies….horseflies. I really think they were attracted to her screams. It was almost as if 1 came she would scream and then 5 more would land on her. The remedy for that she found was to run into the water with Papa.  Back at the boat we were amazed by the beautiful cloud formations; there was really no wind, which is very unusual. An osprey flew over head carrying a large fish in its claws. The sunset was unbelievable. However the mosquitoes still found use ½ a mile off. So we retreated below.

Cape Sable

July 16^th was a day spent at Cape Sable. During the morning I walked the beach. Collecting shells along the way. It was mighty hot on the beach, but very peaceful the only sound being the water on the beach. I am guessing that I walked about 4 to 5 miles. The shells were plentiful. John and Rere spent the time diving off the boat, he did chores while she swam and then they came to pick me up.

There were fishermen about heading towards Snake River in their skiffs. During the afternoon we moved the boat to Middle Cape and set about a walk along the beach. Rere was not impressed, as the horseflies again were just too friendly towards her. She spent most of her time swimming along the shore as we walked. I finally found out why there were so many horseflies….there were iguana’s burrows and they were hanging around them. We discovered more turtle nests. We could see their tracks from the water up to the top of the sand where they had dug a nest and then the tracks back to the sea. I thing overall we found 6 sea turtle nesting sites with tracks.

Back at the boat it was obvious that the weather was closing in. What had been thunderheads over the land and way inland from us seemed to be heading our way. The wind had really picked up; we were absolutely amazed to see an osprey land on our rigging, just above our heads. He looked down at us and then flew to shore. After watching the lighting for an hour or so it was just getting too close for comfort. So as John attended to the barbeque and Rhianna was hold up in the aft cabin, I steered the boat towards the Southern Cape. There we anchored for the night. Great night it was, no mosquitoes and we had dodged the electrical storm we could see just a bay away.

 

Marathon

July 17^th off to Marathon we went at 10:00 the next morning. The passage there was by motor all the way as there was virtually no wind. The day was beautiful but hot. Arriving in Marathon around 4:30 we arranged to pick up a mooring buoy from the City Marina.

We were placed quite close to the marina itself and also next to some interesting characters on their “boats”. They are referred to as gunk-holers. People that live aboard, never move, some work most don’t. Not long after we were set up one of our neighbours drew our attention. Firstly we could hear the shouts as she fought with the fellow whose boat she was tied to. Then she proceeded to lie down and talk to the cages she had on the deck. Very strange we thought. This lady’s boat was attached to another and behind her she had various boats attached. On her boat she had 3 large dogs, cages with what turned out to be iguanas inside and birds plus a cat box for a cat. This lady then got into a kayak with the 3 dogs in life vests and paddled off towards shore. It was an amazing sight. We headed out for dinner by dingy and enjoyed a restaurant meal.

July 18^th was a workday. Groceries bought, laundry done, boat tidied up, heads cleaned, odd jobs done. With the plan to head to Key West. That was until John discovered that the electricals were not charging. We needed to go to the boatyard. Arrangements were made and we enjoyed another restaurant meal, sushi at that!

July 19^th/20^th we were able to get into the same boatyard we had previously used in the spring. Once along side we plugged into the electricals and enjoyed the AC. Juan the mechanic we knew from before checked the charger and alternator. He found as John had suspected that the alternator had gone….was dead. So he set about ordering a new one. When the new one arrived early on the 20^th it turned out to be a reconditioned model and believe it or not it too was duff! Juan set off to get another and by the afternoon we were up and running.

Bahia Honda Key

 

We set off for an anchorage 8 miles away at Bahia Honda Key. This anchorage is between 2 bridges, one the old railway bridge and the other highway 1. There was an ugly current running between the 2 bridges which meant we needed a very secure holding, especially as the current’s direction would change with the tide. However this was not possible we tried numerous times and we just could not get a secure holding. Here it was 7:00pm and we needed an anchorage so what to do. There was only one thing for it….anchor on the outside. We traveled back aways from the bridge, found a spot off of Bahia Honda and dropped the hook. Luckily the Atlantic was relatively calm. Everyone went for a swim and we had a late dinner.

Key West

July 21^st the plan was to leave early and make our way to Key West. However we had an unexpected problem with the water pump impellor and poor John had to change the impellor in a very cramped engine room in very hot conditions. We therefore had a 10:30 start and finally made Key West about 4:30 after motor sailing in light winds as usual.

Once in Key West harbour we decided to head to the city mooring field at the Blight. It is a long way around Key West to reach the mooring field but we found it was worth the trouble. There we were able to swim, have dinner and enjoy the first real breeze we had had the whole trip. Plus an added bonus it was mosquito free!!

July 22^nd – July 28^th was spent in Key West. Our plans had been to venture on to the Marques and Dry Tortugas however the heat wave broke and with it so did the quiet weather. The trades moved in and made up for there absence. There was a strong easterly wind of 15 – 20 knots most days. This was great for boat ventilation.

Key West

Key West is a fantastic place to spend time. The place is very relaxed the people friendly and there are interesting characters everywhere.  On land we explored many of the quaint streets. Traveled the length of Duvall Street several times. Visited Mallory Square’s sunset carnival, had Rere’s hair braided, she held parrots and a large rooster called Henry. We ate marvelous seafood, enjoyed the performances of a number of bar entertainers, had a trolley tour, visited the aquarium, watched the tarpons being fed, game fish being cleaned and watched many a Key West character.

We walked the front most days enjoying the ambiance of the place. On the water we explored the shoreline and mangrove canals by dingy, saw dolphins up close and personal, snorkeled the shallow reef areas, swam everyday, Rere saw a nurse shark below our boat and we met other cruisers. Aboard Aeeshah we relaxed, read, did a few chores, had some wonderful sleep in the cool breeze, watched amazing lightning displays, enjoyed the hammock and watched the sunset. It is easy to see why the other cruisers we met went there some years ago and have yet to leave. It is a lovely place to chill out. You could easily get lost in Key West.

 

July 29^th we decided to set out for Cape Sable.  John had plotted a course that would take us from Key West across the Florida Gulf to Cape Sable. It would take about 12 hours. The winds were predicted to be 

10 – 15 knots. However it was a difficult sail angle just off the nose so we were very close to the wind. Then as we got further the weather became very blustery, the seas quite rough and it was not pleasant. The poor boat was being hammered. Rhianna was feeling quite sick. There was no alternative but to turn back. I was relieved as it was impossible to go below deck, everything was just upside down and thrown around and I couldn’t conceive another 10 -11 hours of this. Plus the wind went due east so our course would have been much further. Back we went and just as well as the seas increased and the wind increased to about 25 knots. Then as we were entering the Key West north channel a squall hit so we had heavy rain, you couldn’t see very far the wind was blowing the seas pounding and there were boats everywhere. Finally back at the Blight mooring field we cleaned up and went for a lovely swim.

July 30^th again was too windy so we had another Key West day. Infact we enjoyed exploring further in the dingy and snorkeling the shallow reef. John had 2 days previously bought a new dingy engine. The other died or rather decided it would only walk not run for us. The new engine gave us much more freedom to go further afield through the canals in the mangroves from the Gulf side to the Atlantic side of Key West.

July 31^st finally a day with wind 10 – 15 east-southeast. We had to motor sail to marathon. Not really a day to remember it was a boring slog, but we got there.

August 1^st we set of for Cape Sable, through 7 Mile Bridge again and across the Bay. The weather was clear and beautiful however when we arrived the Cape had its regular  thunderheads looming. We swam and had our usual evening.

August 2^nd the idea was to get as far as we could in the day. We sailed and motored about 60 miles and moored off Kice Island near Marco Island for the night. The shore looked very interesting however we only had time for a quick dip before dinner and screens up to keep out the mosquitoes.

August 3^rd we had wanted to explore the shore at Kice but headed out for a day at Keewaydin Island. We arrive by 10:00 and promptly dropped the dingy, headed ashore and explored. It is the most amazing beach. Completely untouched, sea birds of all types everywhere, turtle nests, shells, shells and more shells. John and Re swam every couple of hundred yards. We did spot sharks quite close to shore; they were brown and we believe they were bull sharks chasing fish. We walked till well into the afternoon and then headed back to the boat for a late lunch.  It was a wonderful last day. The wind did pick up that night and it wasn’t the best place to spend the night.

August 4^th the sail to Fort Myers was quickly over. The weather had deteriorated over night and continuing to turn. We had a wet passage back.

August 5^th till 19^th this was the end of our summer adventure. Kate and Ethan arrived to share it with us. We enjoyed activities around Fort Myers Beach and then spent a few days at Busch Gardens.

PHOTO LINK —->>   Summer 2011 #2