The trip home: Ft. Meyers Beach to Book Key Harbor
Blog 10
Its anchor up at 7AM with a stop at Moss Marine’s fuel dock to take on more fuel and get a pump-out and backtrack…first to Marco Island, then Little Shark River and finally Boot Key.
As I left Ft. Meyers Beach I left hoping it’s not too long before I return. The fuel stop at Moss Marine went well. I slid next to the fuel dock right behind the huge casino boat. I recognized the young lady in the office to collect my money from my trip here last year.
This day would be a relaxed day of great weather, great sailing and an easy course to steer back to Marco Island.
I made good time getting to Marco and decided this time to put the outboard on the dinghy and drive over to the dinghy dock for dinner at Snook Inn. Marco Island has a full time population (I’m told) of 15,000 that doubles during the winter vacation season. The island consists of many..and I do mean many, huge condo complexes. Some of these have beautiful architecture and you can tell are very expensive . The private homes are huge and you can’t help but notice the apparent wealth that exists here.
I’m sorry to say however, that the sense a boater gets is that you are below the group here on the socio-economic ladder. It was not a welcoming or friendly feeling. I’ve discussed this with other boaters and the feeling I came away with was shared by everyone I spoke with about it. It’s a beautiful place, with beautiful homes, but not a particularly welcoming community…at least for boaters.
After having an overpriced and not very good dinner at “Snook Inn”, it was lights out for an early start in the morning back to Little Shark River.
Once again, this is the longest segment of my cruise. Once again the weather was great, as was the sailing. Upon leaving Factory Bay at Marco Island you head out a long ways to get around Cape Romano with its shoals extending out for miles. The one navigation error I made on the entire trip…and not really an error…but the one thing I did that I didn’t need to do was head as far off shore as I did. Before I realized it I was about twelve miles off-shore. Once I realized this I adjusted my heading to work my way back in to the 3 to 6 mile range. The reason I called it an error is that my path would have taken me longer to reach my destination otherwise. But aside from that, my navigation was right on…
Upon entering Little Shark River (now my third time here in a 12 month period) I saw very few boats. There was one anchored in the first cove and perhaps only four in the larger cove further in the river. Excellent!
This time the anchor actually hooked onto the rock bottom below. This is a good thing because I won’t have to worry about dragging. This could be a bad thing if come morning I couldn’t get the anchor up. I’ll deal with that problem if and when it happens.
The usual cocktail followed while enjoying the view, the animals and the quiet while basking in a warm sun. The little “snapping shrimp” were already crackling away cleaning the bottom of the boat. Once again I’ll have to go to sleep imagining I’m listening to a roaring fire in Sunriver, Oregon; and I won’t worry about that grinding noise of the chain dragging over the rock.
As I sat and sipped my cocktail enjoying myself, I thought about lowering the dinghy and rowing around the Everglades and explore some of the offshoot canals.
It was about that time I saw…..a freakin’ alligator swim about 20 feet from my boat. “Holy shit”, I exclaimed. As I stumbled down the companion way to get my camera I was still mumbling out loud….”a freaking alligator……don’t think I’ll be dropping the freakin’ dinghy.”
For the next two hours I watched the waters around my boat and the birds along the shore. About six times I saw an alligator…or alligators….swimming within 20 or thirty feet of my boat. A couple of times I saw their entire body come out of the water…they were large…at least six feet if not longer. Once I saw it attacking something and its white belly came out of the water. I kept trying to snap pictures but he was up and under too fast. The only picture I did get was one when the very top of his head was out of the water as he coasted by the boat. This was the highlight of my trip…. Imagine sitting on your boat…in the Everglades…no one around…and alligators swimming around your boat. An amazing experience.
The sail home the next day was uneventful. It was a little colder than it had been, but still comfortable. By this time I was looking forward to pulling into my slip at Burdines Marina in Marathon and plugging in for electricity so I wouldn’t have to worry about my batteries, and I’d have a great shower at the marina facilities. Although I will say the shower in the boat works really well and felt great each day allowing me to have a comfortable sleep each night.
As I approached the Florida Bay and the first little cay’s before entering Moser Channel and going under the 7-mile bridge back to Boot Key, I got a radio call from a motor vessel behind me. He informed me he had been following me all day from Little Shark River even though I could not see him. He had tracked me on his radar. He told me he wasn’t familiar with the area and going to Burdines. He asked if I knew where Burdines was and could he follow me through the cays and into Moser Channel.
I told him I too was going to Burdines and he was welcome to follow me in, albeit, at a much slower speed then he was use too. He didn’t mind since he was new to the area and fearful of running aground.
About 4PM I was tied up and secure back in my slip, plugged into electricity with the air conditioning on and relaxing in the cockpit thinking of my adventure…my accomplishments and the great learning experience it’s been. This has been an excellent, confidence building trip.
Until next time, may the winds be at your back with following seas.
Ciao’