6/4/14 Wednesday on leaving West Palm Beach and heading south to home. The winds were light but the waves in the Atlantic after 4 days of strong SE winds were more than I wanted to face, especially with no good entrance back from the Atlantic until Ft Lauderdale. So it was down the InterCoastal Waterway (ICW) with all the bridges.

We rushed to the first bridge at West Palm to get the 7:15 opening which was the only one until 9:00. But then the next bridge had no openings until 9:30. So I took a nap and did exercises. Then it was bridge every 2-3 miles. The worst part is that to make the schedule, you have to maintain over 5.5 knots. So poor Serenity has really had a workout today. More hours at 90% throttle than I have ever asked of her. And she did great.

The ICW is a place of conspicuous wealth. The boats are hard to believe and the houses are even worse. There were very few places I would like to live in. Just too big and too gaudy. Did see a place or two that would be fun but I think Punta Gorda is more my style. Didn't see one sailboat I would want to replace Serenity with.

6/5/14 Got up early at Lake Sylvia to get fuel and water before heading into the ocean for Miami. Shared the Ft Lauderdale channel with a beautiful yacht, a freighter, the fast ferry to the Bahamas and fishing boats. Once off shore we headed south staying about a half mile off shore to be in about 50 feet of water. The wind picked up and we shutdown the engine and sailed to Miami.

At the Miami shipping channel there were freighters, tugs, barges, and fishing boats so we motored across the channel and then shut her down again. We entered Biscayne Bay at the Florida Point Lighthouse and then took the Stiltsville Channel. Stiltsville is were a lot of houses/fishing shacks were built on the shallows between the ocean and the bay. These have figured in many novels about Miami and TV shows. Now they are part of the State Park system.

We sailed the length of Biscayne Bay and at the end of it there is a channel through the shoals. As we were sailing through, we passed a small, old, steel sailboat with at young couple aboard. We shouted back and forth and I asked if they needed a beer. They did and with some fancy maneuvers, we managed to lob beers across without touching boats or going out of the channel. Later, after we anchored, they stopped over to ask if I wanted to join them ashore. I declined but told them to come back for a wine.

We anchored off the high end of Key Largo at Ocean Reef. It is also the north end but it is the high end by dollars. The club and housing is known for the price. They have their own jet strip. Tomorrow we will go out Angelfish Creek into the ocean and sail down the keys to get around the end of Florida.

6/6/14 A quiet Friday at Angelfish Creek, Key Largo, no wind and flat water. Went out through the creek to the Ocean and turned right down the keys. There was no wind to start and then it finally picked up but was almost directly astern. So 5 knots of wind and us going 4.5 knots means no wind to speak of. About 10:00 it got to 7-8 knots so I put out the jib. It jumped our speed to 5 knots. As the day progressed the wind kept picking up and so did our speed. Finally got to 6 knots when we turned to go under the bridge for the night.

Today's run used about 6 gallons to go about 60 miles. The forecast is for light winds and the next fueling stop is Marco Island about 110 miles. So we needed to get fuel before heading off. Only problem was that the fuel dock closed at 4 PM and we weren't going to get there until 4:15 or 4:30. I couldn't as the dockmaster to stay open when I'd only need about 10 gallons. So we will make dinghy runs in the morning and get a late start for Little Shark River and the mainland of Southwest Florida. It is a 40 mile run of shallow water and a lot of fish traps.

I did dinghy in to the Scout Port here at Lower Matecumbe Key. They have about 10 old Morgan Out Island 40 footers that folks donate their boats and time to the scouting cause. They have a whole marina and campgrounds. Very neat.

Little Shark River is just a river in the Everglades Park so there is no phone service until Marco Island or maybe off Everglades City (about half way to Marco).

6/7/14 Got up early and dinghied in to get fuel twice. Left at 09:00 and headed out on to Florida Bay. It really is a large, shallow area with many sandbars and small islands between the Keys and the Everglades. It looks deep until you look straight down and see the bottom everywhere. There are routes you must take to get across the bay if you don't want to go aground. There was no wind to start with and then it picked up and we did some nice motor-sailing, getting 5 to 6 knots at 1/3rd throttle. By the time the sea breezes came up, we were close to Little Shark River. Had dinner and went to bed.

6/8/14 Up and underway at 7:00 from Little Shark River. No wind or waves. The best part was no fish traps. There were very few in Florida Bay and only saw 4 traps all 57 miles to Marco Island. There is a period where all the traps are required to be pulled and cleaned up. If any are found still in the water, they are up for grabs. Can't believe how great it was to sail all day without having to swerve around traps every ¼ mile.

Did get some motor-sailing in with some morning easterly winds and afternoon westerly sea breezes. In the middle of the day it was just hot and sunny. Glad I have shades I can attach to the bimini to block the sun. Got to Marco and went by the fuel dock and it was still open so I fueled up with 9.8 gallons for almost 100 miles.

6/9/14 Monday and another calm day on the Gulf. Left Marco Island at 7:00 and did a straight shot to the West end of Sanibel and then up the islands to Cayo Costa. So 60 miles and 12 hours later, Serenity is in her home waters. Spending the night at Cayo Costa State Park before heading home tomorrow.

Didn't see much in the Gulf. A few turtles, some very big and birds. No porpoise or other swimming animals. Now a couple of "beautiful swimmers" just arrived on a beautiful catamaran from Marco Island. I saw it in the marina last night but didn't see them leave. They were ahead of me all day until turning into Boca Grande. I cut inside them and got anchored first. They were towing a cute used Precision 26 sailboat.

On home tomorrow.

6/10/14 Tuesday. Woke up at Cayo Costa with not a breath of wind. Totally calm like on a mirror. The tide was in and the water green. Straightened up the boat a bit before upping anchor and motoring up the harbor. We finally had a bit of wind and rolled out the jib about halfway home.

Then a thunderstorm popped up over Pirate Harbor and it decided to go to Punta Gorda also. So Serenity turned around and went back down the harbor for a half hour while the storm rolled across home. At 14:00 Serenity entered Alligator Creek and we docked at 14:40. Fifty four days, 1,241.5 miles, 99 gallons of diesel, 1/2 pint of oil, 3 gallons of dinghy fuel, and an unspecified liters of wine, beer, and rum.

Home at last with my lovely lady Karen.