MIDORI ADVENTURES

We started off this morning at 7:00 a.m. and travelled approximately 15 miles to the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River which is the end of the Okeechobee Waterway and the beginning of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The next stretch is also known as the "miserable mile" because of all the boat traffic coming and going. We thought it might not be so bad because it is only Thursday - wrong!

It is another beautiful, hot day and we are now getting a push from the tide. Our destination is the anchorage in Pelican Bay at Cayo Costa State Park - only 25 miles more,but our ETA is going to be 1:00 o'clock. The boatyard is another 30 miles away (5 hours). We decide that if the tide and the wind (SE) continue to be in our favour, we should press on and get as close as possible to the boatyard. We could easily anchor in the Myacca River.

We are just passing Cabbage Key when we get a radio call from GRATITUDE. They are already in Pelican Bay and thought they saw a catamaran coming in. When we respond that no, that is not us and although we are fairly close, we will be turning to go across Charlotte Harbour. A recent email told us that Van and Lauren were in Naples with a destination of Cayo Costa and our response told them of our location in the Okeechobee Waterway with plans to be in Cayo Costa around the same time, but we missed the email that invited us for dinner when we got there! We carry on because if we can get to the dock at our boatyard by Friday morning, there is a chance that we could get hauled out right away. We only have a week to put MIDORI away!

We have been motor sailing with the jib sail out, and we put the mainsail up to cross Charlotte Harbour. We are travelling at speeds of 6.8 and the tide is pushing us......all is in our favour today. We are through the lock and into the fresh water canal by 4:30 p.m. and arrive at the boatyard dock at 6:15 p.m. to be greeted and assisted by Lloyd, Brent and Billy.

This is the end of the SIXTH SEASON ADVENTURE!

I will do one more post before we head home to Canada once Brian and I have a chance to summarize this year's experience.

Stay tuned,

Co-Captain Lynn