We left home in Punta Gorda at 1200 on the 17th of April and headed down to Burnt Store Marina to fill up with diesel. Forty-six gallons and $150 later we headed off to the Keys.
The Goose holds 175 gallons of diesel so we were just topping her off.

We ran down the Matlacha Pass to Sanibel Island. The pass was fine but looked like a snake on the GPS. At one point we touched bottom and it was high tide. So we won't go back that way. It saved us about two hours over going out to the intercoastal waterway.

We anchored off the Sanibel Causeway near the Sanibel light house. Blinky Blinky all night.

Up and moving about 8:00 on the 18th. Down past Ft Myers Beach, Bonita, Naples, and Marco Island. At the end of the Romano Shoals at the end of Marco we turned east and anchored near Indian Key which is the entrance to Everglades City.

Up at 7:00 and moving before dressing to get a start toward Key West. A straight 74 miles to the NW approach to Key West. The only problem was a S wind that made 3 ft rollers that had us doing a dance.

Bounce, bounce, swerve, swerve, rock, roll, rock really roll, bounce bounce, etc. Seven hours of that was enough.

Also a pain were some kind of bug that looked like a large love bug or lighting bug (no glow) that landed on the boat at Indian Key. They were thick on the outside of the boat and once we got started rocking and rolling they hide in every crack they could find. Even after 7 hours of salt spray hosing the boat, they were thick in the hatches. Had to use a brush to get the out of the cracks and on the deck. They then tried to crawl back. After hours of attacking them I thought the boat was clean until I hooked up the wifi antenna and 10 more came out of the hatch seal.

We had a good dinner at anchor off Tank Island. Santa Maria Chicken, macaroni and cheese and once dropped black beans. Don't ask. The beans tasted fine but the clean up was hell.

Where we anchored is across the channel from Mallory Pier and is the home of many liveaboards and folks who work in Key
West. It is a rough anchorage due to passing boats and loud partying.

Needless to say when we found an open slip at Boca Chica Naval Marina, we moved there on the 20th. Spend 3 hours cleaning the boat after the salt spray and black bean drop from last night. Posted a few photos on the blog gallery. Nothing too exciting. Should have taken a video of the rocking and rolling. Nope just would have been a reminder for Karen.