The sail from Marco Island to Little Shark River was exciting and fairly quick. The wind was blowing from the North at 10 to 15 knots so we were going downwind yet the seas were from the NW so the boat rocked a lot causing the sails to slap a lot. So I pulled in the jib and just used the mainsail tightly tied to prevent slapping. We kept up 5 to 6 knots but the seas caused Serenity to surge right and left which defeated Otto (the autopilot). I had to hand steer most of the day and when used Otto made a very bad cracking sound.

We got to Little Shark River about 7 pm after a 57 mile trip and I started taking apart Otto. The pieces came out easily because the clutch plate assembly had broken loose. I thought it would be an easy fix to drill out the broken screws and replace with bolts. However when I turned the assembly over, I had parts and ball bearings all over the cockpit. Three hours later it was fixed but still not great. Guess 5 years is about all it was good for. Got to sleep after a quick dinner at 11:30.

Up at 6:30 to hoist the dinghy on the foredeck and underway at 7:10. Otto working fine but groaning when turning right. The course to Key West is 67 miles and the wind was light so I had planned to motor the whole way. About noon the wind picked up and we were doing over 6 knots. About then a small finch (or something) flew aboard. After resting on the rail he flew away but came back a few minutes later.

I tried feeding him and gave him water but he took nothing. He flew away and came back and landed on my arm. I gave him bread up still nothing. Finally he flew to the cupholder on the wheel and watched me. At Key West he saw land and flew off to Duval Street or a cruise ship.

During the trip we had to continually dodge fish trap floats. So all day it was stare out to sea and look for floats. Only ran over one and it did not catch the prop. This trip is as long as the one to the Bahamas, only the water is shallower.

Think I’ll finally get some sleep. Need to figure out the autopilot issue and a few other things that go drip while underway. Nothing like a long trip to bring out problems.