Finally some sailing on this sailing trip. After cowering on a mooring in Ft Myers Beach for two days, it felt good to hoist sails and head south. Tuesday the 30th, was clear and chilly with NW winds 10-15 with gusts to 25kts. This blew Serenity on past Naples and Marco.

The seas were 4-6 ft but from the stern quarter which made the trip fast and safe even with the waves. The autopilot didn't do real well with the waves but we made good time until the winds died about 6 pm and we started the diesel. Our destination was Indian Key Pass which is the entrance to Everglades City and I wanted to get there before dark. Just made it and anchored a mile up the pass in the dark. We made 64 nautical miles in 12 hours.

Wednesday morning dawned clear with lighter winds and 1-2 ft waves. In fact we had to motor a bit in the morning and in the afternoon to make the 34 miles to Little Shark River at 4:30. The tall mangroves at the entrance to the river never recovered after Hurricane Wilma. Naked trunks are still standing until you get ¼ mile up the river where the winds got tamed a bit. It is a beautiful place if the bugs aren't out.

Thursday will be an early day to make the 43 miles to Boot Harbor at Marathon Key. Hope to spend a few days there depending on availability of moorings or places to anchor. The City of Marathon took the majority of the harbor and put in moorings in an attempt to limit the folks living on derelict boats and polluting the harbor.

A note on my WiFi connection. I put together a system based on an Alfa High Power Wireless USB Adapter. It gets power from the USB connection and is attached to a coax cable that runs to an antenna mounted on the stern rail. In Ft Myers Beach I had a choice of 10 to 12 wifi connections of which about half were useable since they were not encrypted. I even picked up a signal good enough to send an email while sailing 2 ½ miles off Bonita Beach. Must have been someone's wireless router in a high rise beach condo. Sure beats carrying the laptop into McDonalds or a library as I did the last trip.

Nice calm seas to Marathon. Had to motor until the last two hours as the wind picked up from the East, As soon as we passed under the Seven Mile Bridge, the wind started blasting at 15 to 20. Picked up a mooring and went ashore to do laundry and take a real shower. Another night here and then toward Key West.