Beautiful morning at Useppa. We slept in and got ready to weigh anchor. We ran up the Intercoastal to Cayo Costa and turned to show Art where I normally weekend.

Out of there and headed home. The wind was from the south and we managed to sail up Charlotte Harbor at 5.3 knots. We sailed up to Alligator Creek and motored home.

Karen came out to the dock as we got there. A total of 531 miles from start to finish. Of nineteen days on the water, only four days were spent under sail for the majority of the day. If you have to get from A to B and can't or don't want to wait for the right winds, it is motoring to do it.

Having Art along for half the trip was a ball. When two guys like and respect each other, have similar talents, and have absolute trust in each other, just sailing together is wonderful. When two old guys sit down and tell stories about their lives, their loves, and their families, it makes for a fantastic time.

Thank you Karen and Peggy for letting two kids from East Norwich get together again.

Weighed anchor in Smokehouse Bay and motored past the million dollar homes out to the Gulf. In the Gulf, the waves were low, the winds light, and wind direction was from the northwest Our course was north so it was 2,000 rpm on the "iron wind" and north we drove at 5.2 knots for most of the day.

Not much activity in the Gulf just a few folks headed along the coast under power. We past the rows of condos lining the beaches of Naples, North Naples, Bonita Beach and came to land at San Carlos Bay between Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island. Motored under the Sanibel Causeway bridge and into the Intercoastal Waterway heading up Pine Island Sound.

Traffic on the waterway was heavy with boats mostly heading south to Fort Myers and Cape Coral. This year the boats are bigger and have more engines. Could not count both the fishing and go-fast boats with three and four large outboards. Zoom, zoom and they went flying by at 40 to 50 miles per hour down the middle of a crowded channel.

Winds finally turned westerly and we ran out the jib and motorsailed at over six knots. That got us to Useppa Island about 5:30 where we dropped anchor just east of the channel. 51 miles for the day. After cleaning up a bit we took the dinghy in to Cabbage Key made famous by Jimmy Buffet's "Cheesburger in Paradise." The place is decorated by dollar bills taped to the rafters and walls. We added to their till at the bar before going back to Breeze where I cooked up steak and potatoes for our last dinner of the trip.

Up early, checked the engine and upped anchor. I dressed out in long pajamas, socks, hat, shoes, and bug spray. Out under the tent to the bow to pull up the anchor. The no-see-ums were terrible but my outfit helped a lot. We motored out into the gulf and let the tent dry out from the evening dew. When I took the tent down an hour later, we were swarmed by the little buggers and swatted them all day until about 2 pm.

The weather was clear but the winds were light and variable so it was motor the whole way. About 3:30 the winds finally picked up just as we arrived at Marco. You can see the photo of my first mate as I lowered the sailed and turned up the Marco channel. 48 miles.

We motored into Collier Bay and them along the condos and homes to Smokehouse Bay. Nice spot, well protected, but you are anchoring in someone’s backyard. Go under a little bridge and there is a Winn-Dixie store with a dinghy dock to tie up to for an hour. We restocked my wine cellar and went off to dinner at Cocomos. Great food and drinks.