Captiva Island and Surrounding area

 Despite the short time at Captiva, we walked into "town" a few times.  Town is really a misnomer in that it consists of a few restaurants, real estate offices and houses.  It was still good to get out and walk and see things.

This sign post was fun to read.  There is only one

main road and this was on it.

We took the dinghy out exploring and went to the

end of Captiva Island.  This short waterway is 

all that separate it from Sanibel Island.

Low tide reveals a lot of growth on the mangrove roots.

This mermaid was in the middle of a succulent garden.

We found a magrove trail to explore.

The chart would have you believe we were

hard aground!

Old Captiva house.

New Captiva house.

I guess like a lot of Florida, boats are the only affordable

housing for workers.  The derelict on the far right of the

picture was hauled off before we left.

Next Stop Captiva Island YC

 From St. Charles we headed up the ICW to Captiva Island YC.  We have not visited the club since 2011 on our previous boat, Sanctuary so we were looking forward to another visit.  We had also hoped to go to Mass on Sanibel for Palm Sunday but who knew that all taxis would be booked to take tourists to the airport.  Oh well, there is always Mass on-line and we still had a great time .  We had planned to be there 3 nights but as we were leaving St. Charles,  our fuel pump went out.  Fortunately, there were two mechanics at the club working on another boat and they were highly recommended by the club's dockmaster.  They confirmed David's diagnosis and returned the next morning with part in hand and installed in no time.  Despite the abbreviated visit it was great.  The club is beautiful and the area has changed quite a bit.  The past few years have been hard on the area due to direct hits my massive hurricanes.  Evidence of repair and reconstruction are every where.  I can't conceive of the expense of building or maintaining property on such a remote location but obviously it's worth it for some people.

                                             Sunset at the anchorage between St. Charles and Captiva. 
                                                            The decks are soooo clean. 

The barback at the club is a work of art.

The square footage of the club is small but

packed with elegant design.

The dining room seems so spacious due to 

the dramatic ceiling and lighting.

This beautiful and functional server's pantry was

in the dining room so convenient for staff and patron.

The sign on the road.

The club is compact and welcoming.

The club has a gulf front beach across the road and

we took full advantage to walk and view the sunset.

The long stretch of deserted beach away from any resorts.

                                                 

                                                     And the beach in front of the resorts!

My favorite guy!

And the sun sets on another wonderful day.

The full moon was spectacular behind the boat.
It was an amazing color of orange as it first came 

up over the horizon.

                                          We found this on the beach.  It's called a mermaid's necklace.
                                            It is really the egg casing for a whelk.

 

 

Saying Good-bye to the Keys and Hello to South Florida

 All good things eventually come to an end and the time for us to leave had finally arrived.  We stayed put longer than we ever had and settled into a comfortable, most days, routine.  But we missed our friends back in Fort Walton Beach and I wanted to work in the yard to get my flowerbeds and yard ready for summer so we bade farewell to Bocce Ball, potlucks, dinghy drifts, San Pablo, the gym and so many great people and jumped on an acceptable weather window to cross to Fort Myers.

We had one last dolphin show in the mooring field.

This juvenile dolphin and his pod were hunting all around the boat.

This was too funny not to include and since I was taking the
 picture and I write the blog, I get to choose what is included.

  Some of our storage is really deep and it takes a lot of effort to

find the spare that was needed.

This manatee was right in the middle of the dinghy channel and 

required rowing around so the outboard prop wouldn't hit him.

Posed for a closeup.

And off we go with the keys in our wake.

Back to one of our favorite clubs to visit,

St. Charles YC.  Always friendly and convenient

for resupply.  Several other boats were visiting at the

same time so new folks to meet.

The neighborhood around the club is blooming with

 such artful plantings.

This pelican was hoping for a handout.

It was wonderful to give Blue Moon a much needed bath.

Water is too precious on a mooring ball to spend on washing

the boat so we rely on rain to clean the decks and hull.

Crane Point Hammock

 Whenever we come to the keys, we make a special effort to visit one of Marathon's best features, Crane Point.  If you look at their website, you'll see that it's a green oasis in the midst of development.  Like Central Park in Manhattan, a spot of respite for people, plants and animals alike.  Also, like Central Park, folks have wanted to develop the land and make a buck off of it.  I'm grateful that both places have been preserved for us.  The Crane Point is a unique place and one of the last remaining untouched stands of thatch palms and a variety of other plants.  It is home to the oldest homestead in the keys and my favorite, a fish pedicure.  If we were locals, we'd definitely have a season pass to this bit of heaven.

All the things to do and see.  We always spend several hours visiting.

The oldest house in the keys was the home of George Adderley, an

immigrant from the Bahamas as the turn of the last century. Several

placards in and around the house describe the life back then.  Mr. Adderley

was prescient enough to negotiate a stop for his little village on the Overseas Railroad

built by Flagler.  This became Marathon Station.

Black mangrove roots reaching up from the water for air.

White mangrove roots grow down to the water.

A cute couple in the butterfly garden

What a treat!!

Every time we've been there is a line to have the little 

fish nibble all around your feet.  Well worth the wait.

A view of Florida Bay from the trail.

A relaxed man waiting his turn for a pedicure.

Gumbo Limbo tree.

One of the inland, brackish ponds of the point.

What early settlers had for their travel.

Absolutely gorgeous orchids everywhere.

Whimsical art was strategically placed throughout

the park.  This one seemed extra cute.

A Cuban chug made entirely of Styrofoam blocks.

Can you imagine how desperate they were to escape?

The Backcountry

 I finally have the sweet combination of time to blog and power to run the Starlink and computer so getting caught up on what we've been up to on Blue Moon.  Years ago when we sailed up the East Coast, we went up Florida Bay from Marathon to Miami.  We always wanted to explore more of the area and this was the trip we made it happen.  We went to Lignumvitae State Park.  This is a unique island covered with all the hard wood trees that used to cover the keys before some were logged almost to extinction.   The park can only be reached by water and there are many restrictions to keep it protected.  Despite this, it was worth the visit.  The park has several mooring balls for staying overnight and we took advantage of the hospitality.  After visiting the park, we went farther north and visited a  restaurant we had been to years ago by road and made it back by boat.  Lorelei's is mainly a tourist spot during the season but still fun.

The park had several stands of cactus.  We saw new blooms just

in the few hours we were visiting.

The caretakers cottage from 1919.  It has withstood many hurricanes.

No source of fresh water so all water was stored in this

cistern for the inhabitants and the animals.  Those are drain pipes leading 

from the massive rain gutters on the eaves of the house.

A Gumbo Limbo tree.  So pretty with its distinctive

red bark.  There is another red barked tree called

Poison Wood.  We're careful to know the difference!

This is a hurricane shelter.  It was dank and dark

inside but looked safe.

The vast front lawn.

The leaves of the Lignum Vitae tree.  It is a very

slow growing but has extremely hard wood.  It

was a favorite of sailors for making the wooden blocks

and other fittings.

An old saw.

Just in case you didn't recognize the tree,

they kindly labeled it.

The park has no idea what or who these ruins 

belonged to or when.  There have been teams of

archeologists over the decades trying to determine just

who made them but nothing definitive, yet.

A really old pickup truck.  Salt air has not been kind.

The anchorage off of Islamorada.

The entrance from the road to the restaurant.

And Lorelei herself.

This sunset was just unreal.  There were fires burning

in Miami and the particulates made the sky a very eerie

hue.  The sun seemed as if from another planet.

Just cats and dogs pictures here.  This is the

old bridge to Boot Key.  It once was a drawbridge

but the span was taken away years ago and so was

the cable the sign warns about.

A sunrise I was up to see.

Showoff David just had to climb this tree.

Sadly, his good shorts were ruined by the sap

from the tree.  Oh well, he had fun and it is a good picture.