Indian River Osprey surveying his domain

The sail from Long Key to the Indian River was one of the best of this trip. That is, it would have been if we hadn't stopped at Cape Sable. We left Long Key early yesterday with two options in mind: option 1, sail all the way to the Little Shark River about 45 nm away if the wind was favorable, or, option 2, stop for the night at Cape Sable which is about half way to the Little Shark. We hadn't stopped at Cape Sable before, but one of the guide books spoke highly of an anchorage next to a shoal called the Middle Ground just east of the Cape. It said the spot was well protected by the shoals and had good access to a great beach.

The morning winds turned out to be just perfect for a fast, comfortable sail all the way to the Little Shark River. The winds were in the 7 to 13 kt range just aft of the beam and the seas were only lightly choppy. I can't remember when Jascat was moving so efficiently and smoothly through the water. However, as we approached Cape Sable just after noon, the conditions also appeared to be good for a pleasant afternoon swimming off the boat and exploring the beach. We often berate ourselves for not stopping to smell the roses, so we decided we deserved an afternoon of play. After a little discussion, we ran on over to the Middle Ground shoal and dropped the anchor.

Settling down to lunch around 1pm, we noticed that the lightly choppy seas of the morning seemed to be a building into small waves. And worse still, the Middle Ground shoal didn't appear to attenuate the waves in the least. At that point, we should have pulled up the anchor and headed back on course for the Little Shark. The weather forecast had the winds dying down as the day went on, however, so we decided to wait. Later in the afternoon, long after the opportunity to continue to the Little Shark had passed, the winds increased to a high of 18 kts and pretty much stayed there. The so called protected anchorage was swept with two to three foot waves. We rocked and rolled all afternoon and through most of the night. It was far too rough to consider taking the dinghy to the beach or do anything but lying in our bunk.

Setting out at dawn the next morning (today), the sailing conditions started out just as good as the previous day. As we rounded Cape Sable, we were making such good time that we decided to bypass the Little Shark River and go on to the Indian River. After yesterday's experience we weren't about to let good sailing conditions get away from us. At midmorning we were averaging about 5 kts in light winds which would have us arriving at the River in the late afternoon. Starting around noon, however, the winds picked up into the high teen's as we began to encounter rain showers. That upped our speed into the 6 to 8 kt range which allowed us to reach the Indian River a little after 3pm with the anchor going down at 3:55pm.

The early arrival left us with plenty of time for an afternoon swim but unfortunately we could't get in the water. The Indian River is part of the Everglades National Park and there are supposedly alligators in these waters. Unlike the Keys where the water is clear, the Indian River water is nearly opaque and we wouldn't want a splashing foot to be mistaken for a fish.