About 25 miles today, past Captiva & N Captiva. A very nice, slow pass fr m/v Andiamo, who hailed us & made his presence known; wish all captains were so courteous! At his 20 knot pace, no telling where they are headed. Past Sanibel, which we considered as a stop, but research re: depth & approach changed our mind. On to Ft. Myers Beach & the mooring field. Pauline assures us we can be there, even though info says moorings are a 48’ max.

It’s windy & very busy. Past St. James City & Matlacha (also too shallow for us!). Boats are coming out from every channel & direction! Quite a long way in, past a beautiful beach area, the Pink Sands Marina, hotels, houses, under a 65’ bridge (whew) and waaaaay into the back mooring field. Our instructions were to pick up mooring #51 or #54 and it was a challenge. We’ve never done that in this boat, whose bow is 6’ or so from the water. Extended boat hook, very windy, & 3 tries to get it done only to find that this is a yucky place. Liveaboards on some very questionable vessels, derelict & sunken boats, plus some really gross stuff floating in the water. After another boat picks up a mooring very close by, we decide to regroup. Ted takes the dinghy over to Salty Sam’s Marina for gas & they have a slip available – it’s even slack tide, so off we go! MUCH better, even with the bar, restaurant, and happy-hour-every-day live music not to mention the pirate ship cruise boat 2 slips over. Ted videos its departure for C&S…

Appt made w/diver for Saturday morning to clean prop & running gear. We didn’t make great time on this leg & suspect St. Pete barnacles are attached everywhere! We’ll hang here for 2 nights & decide where to go next; what a dilemma!