December 26-31, 2019 – (OK, so I have recently been shamed for having my most recent post with a Christmas tree… We took our Christmas lights down, but sorry that the post makes us look like ‘that guy’ on your block who leaves his up until Easter. It’s just that after arriving in the Keys, the ‘laid back vibe’ caught us in its clutches…..herewith my catch-up begins)
We had stayed in Cape Coral for a spell, tied up at a dock right behind our TxAu friends’ house. The best conditions for wind and tide happened to coincide on Christmas Day, so we pulled out of the canal in late afternoon, and went a short distance back to an anchorage we had been to before.
We then went over to Pink Shell Resort Marina, on Fort Myers Beach; originally, we had planned to spend four days there, leading up to and including Christmas, but the weather conditions were just too unsuitable. We enjoyed the pools, which were just a short walk from the beach, and gave the boat a good washing. There was quite a lot of traffic, on the day after Christmas, and we were surprised to see the Key West Express ferry pass right by our slip. This high-speed catamaran ferry runs a couple times a day between Ft Myers Beach and Key West, and sports inside and outside areas, on-board bar, and a much quicker transit (3.5 hours) than by car (5.5 hrs).
When we left Ft Myers Beach, we went out Matanzas Pass into the Gulf of Mexico. Travel from here to the Keys would be ‘on the outside’, not in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. That means no navigation markers and much greater exposure to wind and swells. The first day was terrific, with sunny skies and nice seas. We headed back in toward Marco Island, at xx Pass, where the holiday weekend boating frenzy was in full force. We had planned to work our way up a couple interior canals to an interior anchorage, but found a giant work barge moored against a bulkhead there, leaving just a tiny open channel to pass. Ummm, nope. Time for Plan B.
We had noted another anchorage up around the corner, named Factory Bay, so on we went. It turned out to be quite a nice anchorage, looking at some pricey waterfront homes, and a convenient spot to dinghy to a restaurant, the beach, and the grocery store (that had a dinghy dock, to tie up at while shopping)
The next day, we took the dinghy around to the beach, going up the cut between Coconut Island and the beach on the main part of the island. There were some areas closed off as bird nesting areas, but Chantale found a good place to lay out, while Ben walked the beach to see what shells could be found.
We saw some cigarette boats come roaring by, complete with helicopter flying low and sideways filming the action. They all turned into the pass, and as it turns out, all to a marina/restaurant near the grocery store that we went to later. As we finished up, and were making our way back out (from Point A, on the satellite shot above) they were all leaving the marina, and were were in the middle of a literal boat parade. As it was a no-wake zone, we were all going slow, but here’s a shot of a couple that were nearest us – that’s 1200 hp on our left (4×400 outboards) and who knows how many HP in the red boat on our right. And us with 15 hp on the dinghy, feeling just a bit out of place…
We enjoyed another fabulous sunset, showing a sailboat anchored near us, and some of the waterfront buildings.
The next day we headed onward, for the long 101 miles to Marathon, in the lower keys. As that would have made a long day, and put us entering a strange harbor in fading light, we decided instead to use a common anchorage about 60 miles on, in the Little Shark River. The whole of the trip past the Florida mainland after Marco Island is the Everglades, with little to no civilization evident along the shoreline. Our cellular coverage faded to nil, and we were really out in the boonies as we pulled up the river to find a spot to safely anchor. There were actually a few other boats there, and as we circled the sailboat in the drizzly afternoon, the people were waving their arms and yelling. (What the…???)
It turns out it was Polaris, a sailboat doing the Loop that we had first met in Grand Haven, MI, and then crossed paths with again in Saugatuck, Chicago, the Florida Panhandle, during the Gulf Cossing, and in Pelican Bay at Coya Costa.
We headed out at first light the next day, to make the last 45 miles to the Keys. We had a nice escort a few times, as we weaved our way through thousands of crab-trap floats on the way to the 7-Mile Bridge.
All the way from Little Shark River, we never saw depths of more than 15 feet, and much of it was single digit. We had to be attentive as we made our way down the Moser Channel to cross under the 7-mile bridge, and saw some of our shallowest water of the trip as we followed the markers.
The color, and complexion, of the water changed as soon as we cross under the bridge. A bit more rolly, and lots of fisherman transiting the entrance to Boot Key Harbor. It was quite a scene to pull in and see the number of boats moored here (almost 300 city-administered moorings, plus people anchored around the fringes. Not to mention the marinas…)
We got situated in our slip at Sombrero Marina; from our front deck, facing a mangrove island and looking out into Boot Key Harbor, and off the sundeck, palm trees and a golf course. This will be home for the next two months, and we look forward to settling in to some relaxation at the start of the new year.
