In Boot Key

We arrived in the morning on Jan. 26 and took the dinghy in to sign up.  We are 29th on the waiting list for a mooring ball.  Mooring are so much better for a number of reasons.  1. They are a known entity.  You know how much the other boats are going to swing and they aren't going to hit you.  Also, you know they will stay put, not so much for some of the sketchy arrangements in "budget" boaters with old line and undersized anchors. 2. They are much closer to the dinghy dock and all the facilities. This really matters when you have bags of groceries, laundry or other supplies.  In bouncy conditions, shorter rides are better. 3. People tend to socialize more on the balls.  Some of the anchorers can't comply with the requirements (running engine, holding tank, etc)so are out here in the hinterlands.  Living in the keys, especially on a day laborer salary, can be tough and expensive so people tend to find whatever place to lay their head that they can for the least cost.  Even a leaky boat with no rent beats a tent on shore, I guess.  The middle keys, and Marathon is right in the middle, are more working class with fishermen and people who commute to the more wealthy Key West and resorts to the North.  It makes it a more interesting and varied place to be and not so touristy.  Boaters are notorious cheapskates so nobody seems to feel like they need to impress anyone.  It's a much more laid back. Once the weather clears, we are looking forward to jumping in to the community and adding our bit of spice to the mix.  Two potlucks already on the calendar! 

Caught this guy munching away in the community garden.  There are quite a few permanent
members of the harbor community living here.  They take great pride in their bit of
paradise and doing what they can to make it nice.

We are about a 1/2 mile from the main building and dinghy dock and there are
hundreds of boats here.  At night, all the anchor lights make it look like the
Milky Way.  We pay a small fee to be able to use the marina facilities that include the dinghy dock,
bike rack, restrooms/showers and laundry.  There is also a large day room with a take one-leave one library.
There are some tvs hooked to cable and it's also where we'll pick up any mail forwarded.   

We had a few hours of no rain and made it to Mass at San Pablo's via our bikes.  It
was built as a gift about 50 years ago by a family.  It is all sea glass of varying colors, shells and
rocks.  So unique and beautiful.  The parish is a vibrant and active blend of locals and snow birds.

This is the back of our tachometer.  Boating really does involve fixing things in exotic places!!

On to the next stop

Fort Myers and the St. Charles YC were a great place to stop and catch up on chores and refill the pantry and fridge but a short weather window was open so off we went.  I know it is so odd for most folks to wrap their minds around how much weather dictates our lives.  Schedules are only "dream sheets" on a boat.  When you push the weather your outcomes range from merely uncomfortable to downright dangerous.  This particular instance we knew we risked some discomfort but not leaving meant another week of hanging around in rain and (to us) cold so off we went.  It was a real mixed bag of boating.  We needed to average 6 kts to arrive safely before dark the next day.  We couldn't leave the marina until in the afternoon due to waiting on a higher tide.  That incoming tide also meant a long, slow slog down the river against the tide.  We motor/sailed about 2-3 hours then the wind piped up from a reasonable direction and we enjoyed a quiet ride into the sunset.  It was a nice beam reach for a few hours then the predicted winds arrived in full force.  We were screaming down the path with low waves, initially.  You notice that initially part, right.  We actually were going way too fast and had to reduce sail.  First we furled the jib and dropped the mizzen.  Those were things we could do from in the cockpit since it was now very dark and going on deck in waves is not fun.  Even then we were still doing over 8 kts with occasional 9s.  If we had not needed to arrive in daylight, we would have loved the rare speed but alas, that wasn't the case. Eventually David clipped in to the jack line and dropped the main.  This went amazingly well from both our perspectives.  I had to control the boom from smacking him and he had to get the sail down in bumpy conditions.  Once we were sailing with only a small scarf of jib, the boat was much less stable and then it was an endurance ride.   We didn't sleep well but knew we'd catch up once anchored and cleaned up.   Ah, the vagaries of cruising.

It is Farewell for now and another bridge behind us.

The sunset was really amazing.  The colors of the clouds and water
kept us mesmerized for a long time.  The afterglow was just as great
but didn't photograph well.

The deep colors as the sun started to dip below the water.

The overhead cloud cover briefly cleared and the seas really lightened up.
We had a short period of time where we saw stars but the cover was complete by
9pm.  It was weird being off the Everglades with no towns but the glow from
Miami was on the far Eastern  horizon.

Pictures from the local canals

Like a lot of developments in Florida, the builder came in and dug canals all over the area to be able to increase the number of waterfront lots to sell.  This area is certainly no different.  David went out exploring by dinghy and got some great shots.  Hopefully the next post will be from Marathon!  Enjoy.

The canals are covered in mangrove trees.  The developer was smart enough to leave them.
There few bridges in this section but it did make a dramatic backdrop in the calm water.

Being man-made, the canals are arrow straight.

You can see just how protected the canals are from the wind.  It was blowing
a steady 15 kts. outside but the water was picture perfect calm.

Make sure and click to enlarge this one.  The ibises were all over.

How long these roots become is always a thing of beauty.

More mirror calm water.

Head to the light.......

A fitting end to a stormy day.

The Caloosahatchee River and St. Charles YC

We snugged up into the club with some of the friendliest people we've met. We topped off the fuel tank and emptied the poo tank so we're ready for the next phase.  I took advantage of the convenient washer and dryer and caught up on 10 days worth of stuff, even cleaning the rugs.  The second day was chore day.  We also hadn't done a major shopping trip in a while so we were out of all fresh fruits and veggies.  Canned stuff will keep you alive but....  On a boat, things always take much longer than at a land based domicile.  First, you have to see what you have room to buy.  You have to make sure that you can securely stow everything so it won't bang around in an unkind seaway.  I once had a case of sodas break a cabinet which held our only set of drawers. Lesson learned the hard way!  Second you have to gather all your bags and shopping list and then call for a ride.  Sometimes there is someone around with a car that offers and it is such a great thing!  From our experiences, we always try and make sure any guests at our club know we are available to trips to wherever they need to go.  If we only need a small amount, we either walk, ride bikes or take the bus with backpacks to the local store.  If the store is a far piece away or we need bulky (think beer, propane, etc.) we need a ride.   Right now, our choice is Uber but we noticed this time there were a lot of "fees" that couldn't be explained so I'll check into other options.  At the store, if you're alone, you go up every aisle trying to find stuff.  If there are two of you, you go into combat shopping mode.  That is each goes in search of their own stuff.  I'd rather he choose his beer and cookies anyway. Once you spend what seems like an eternity trying to find all the stuff on your list in an unfamiliar store you then call for another ride and hope there is a dock cart at  the end destination for all your treasure transportation needs.  Next, you have to pull everything out of the bags, look at it a while then figure out what the heck you were thinking 4 hours ago about where it will all fit.  Finally after all is done you treat yourself to a nice libation since the whole journey took up your entire afternoon and it is now Captain's Hour.  I told you all that as an excuse for the lack of pictures and I hope it worked!  We are currently experiencing the storm that we chose to avoid by sailing farther south.  Tomorrow, we'll leave about mid-day to head straight to Marathon and Boot Key Harbor.  We had wanted to visit other spots but weather says no.  Of course, we may get out there and find the seas bigger than we want and turn tail.  Who knows, we're cruising!

The passage from the sound to the river is not an easy one.  In fact, there is a stretch
called the Miserable Mile with good reason.  The channel is very
narrow, heavily traveled with wicked currents.

Oh, did I mention it's narrow?  There are sand bars like this as well as hundreds of
little islands all along the route.

Boaters with big engines are always in a hurry and apparently think it's
funny to watch sailboats, kayaks and paddle boards rock around in their wake.

Not a frequently observed restriction.  The manatee population continues
to decline due to death by turning prop.

You can see the weather was not really friendly for going out into the gulf.
Hopefully it won't be too many days before  we can be on the other side
of the San Carlos bridge.

This is the junction and turning point for the ICW.  It does not continue on south
from here but cuts across to the east coast via Lake Okeechobee.

David was troubleshooting an issue so he had to have the service panel
down.  It may look like pretty spaghetti to the untrained eye but this one
is a thing of beauty to a savvy boater.  All wires are color coded, correctly sized,
and actually go to something.  The previous owner of Blue Moon did a great job
of keeping wiring neat.  We spent a week on our last boat pulling all the extraneous
wiring out of the boat.  The panel looked like a rat's maze!

The one picture of the club I took while waiting to be picked up.

Our girls bought us a wonderful Christmas present.  A digital frame that they
can add to via the internet.  This way we can keep up with them and our grandkids
is a visual way.  We can't have it out all the time but when we do, it's fun.  This is our
oldest granddaughter, Evie  all the way in Australia.

Ding Darling and Conch Blowing

We motored on to the south planning to pick up a mooring ball and getting laundry and shopping done.  Of course, the world had other plans.  All the mooring balls filled since yesterday so we opted to anchor off the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge a usually quiet and remote anchorage and see what the morning brought.  What the night brought was a nice sunset with a shift in the winds making for a bumpy night but nothing we couldn't sort-of sleep through.  In the morning, the mooring field was still full but St. Charles YC could take us.  We hadn't planned on going that far up river but it is such a great club and the convenience to what we needed couldn't be beat so that is what we did.

The sunset was pretty and the water was so calm it gave a great reflection.  This was also the
night for the Super, wolf full moon with a total lunar eclipse.  It was very cloudy for several
hours but the winds blew the cover away and we were able to clearly see the eclipse and it was
spectacular.  Sadly, the boat was rocking too much to get a decent picture.

A tradition among boaters is to blow the conch at sunset.  Thanks to our friend CeCe,
David has this excellent conch and he has gotten quite good at it.

The man's got lungs!!!

This cute little boat was sailing across the way from us.  We have seen him and his buddy
on previous trips.

This is a lot of sail and masts to carry on a small boat.  It is a gaff rigged yawl.

The two boats frequently sail together and make a fun outing to watch.  They are
very quick with all the sail up and nimble as well.

Where to next

We're not sure exactly what we'll do from here.  The storm is supposed to blow through early in the morning and be gone by noon leaving only cold and wind behind.  Not our favorite conditions but at least there won't be thunderstorms so we'll move on.  We plan to pick up a mooring in Fort Meyers Beach and reprovision with fuel, water and fresh food.  After that, we tentatively plan to go to Naples, The 10,000 islands area along with a day visit to Everglades City then Little Shark River before jumping over to Marathon and Boot Key harbor.  As usual, it all depends on weather and, in the case of Naples, a place to either moor or tie up.  This is a popular time of year for travel so the clubs have had fulls docks.  It's good to have a plan to post the changes to!

We had this beautiful sunset last night.  Sort of a farewell to Cayo Costa and Pelican Bay.
We'll be staying inside tonight!

Plants from the area

I am an avid gardener back home and love the variety of plant life and the animals they attract.  The islands always have some unique plants brought in by early settlers.  I have identified some but not all in these photos due to lack of internet connection and limited gigs.

I believe this is a cardboard palm with full fruit.  You know the birds and small
animals love this stuff.

Another weird growth pattern,  This cabbage palm grew between the oak's branches.

Another view of the trees.

Not sure what kind of bush this is but it was full of berries and plentiful
in this one area of the state park.

The undergrowth off the trails is so dense.  You have to imagine the extreme
difficulty early visitors to the island trying to get around the area,

The gumbo limbo tree has bright red bark.  This tree is not dangerous but another
red barked tree, poisonwood, is just as bad as the name sounds.  Always good to
know which is which.

We came across this huge oak stump that had apparently been hit by lightning.
It was hollow to the ground.

This palm was long dead and hollow.  Would make a great drum, I'm sure.

This was a very handy tree.  It was so stark and along that we used it as a guide to get
back to the trail that  lead to our dingy.  The path was completely overgrown so we had
to blaze a new one.

In manatee cove, sadly no manatees seen, the roots from the  mangrove reach to the water.
Mangroves are essential parts of the ecosystem for many reasons.  They supply a safe
place for fingerlings to grow to maturity and they filter impurities from the water.

It was low tide when we went by these mangroves and the oysters clinging
to their roots were exposed.

Another variety of mangroves has roots that spread underground and surface for air.

This is a huge Sea Grape bush that had fallen over.  You would think with so
much of its root ball exposed it would have died but all those shoots are new
growth from the trunk.  Strong will to live, I suppose.

These little flowers were all over some of the paths in the park.  They were in
clusters of about 6-10 and they drooped down like bleeding hearts.  They didn't seem to have
anything but a stem and they came up in the middle of sticker  bushes, open fields and along the
path.  Just a bright bit of color at random.  

Cabbage Key

Cabbage Key is an historical and eclectic place on the ICW.  It has been a variety of things from a private retreat to its current collection of cottages to rent, a historic restaurant and a marina.  The island is home to sea otters, strange plants and the cheeseburger in paradise.  Many of it's structures are registered historical landmarks.  We make it a must-go spot whenever we are in the area.

Useppa Island is privately owned but there are quite a few houses and a marina so
I'm guessing it's own by some sort of association.  These houses look a lot like ones
all along the coast.

This is the old house which is now the restaurant.  It has outdoor seating, patio seating and
the interior.  The bar is really old school with lots of gorgeous wood.

The interior dining areas are papered with bills.  It is my understanding that once a year or so the
bills are taken down in a section and donated to a charity.  It is fun to read the comments and
see where folks are from.

One of the walls.

This is me in the top platform of the historic water tower.  There are no mains
running to the island so all water is caught rain water.  They have a huge underground
cistern and then pump it up to the tower for extra storage.  The house and tower date back to
the early 20th century and the original owners.

We both love banyan trees and this one is so old and massive.  They
have even adapted the back porch and ADA ramp to accommodate it.

The full tower.

There are whimsical details in the woodwork all over the house porches.

Believe it or not, this is a type of draping or hanging cactus.

You can see the needles, it really is cactus.  It also spreads all over the
ground so you have to be careful to keep on the trail.

View from the tower facing north.

View facing east and towards Useppa.

All along the path are boggy areas.  This one leads to the water between the islands.
The sign says that otters hang out there but they were out when we visited.

Spanish moss is everywhere!

These ferns are also all over the area. Lush and tropical.

The paths were sandy and interesting.

This tree, I think a buttonwood, decided to grow right next to this huge oak.
As they both matured they have grown together.