MIDORI ADVENTURES

We departed the anchorage in Pelican Bay, La Costa Island this morning and made our way along the ICW to Fort Myers Beach, approximately 26 nautical miles. A cool morning (53 F) which will warm up to the high 70's today and clear, sunny skies. Best of all, there seems to be very little boat traffic on the ICW today. We are motoring with the head sail up. No mainsail, as the channel is too narrow. Our journey takes us behind the barrier islands of La Costa, North Captiva, Captiva and Sanibel Islands which separate Pine Island Sound from the Gulf of Mexico.
We travel under the Punta Rassa bridge across San Carlos Bay to Matanzas Pass which is between Estero Island and San Carlos Island - under the bridge and into the mooring field.

I managed to pick up the mooring ball on the first try - yeah! Our system is to pick it up from the sugar scoop at the back: I cleat the end of a long line at the starboard bow, and take the line all the way to the back. Captain Brian has to pull in alongside the ball with some direction from me. I use a short boat hook, to grab the pennant and slip the line through the eye. He can then put the engines in neutral, pick up the line, and pull the ball up to the bow. I follow him to the bow and feed the starboard mooring line and the port mooring line into the eye. The two mooring lines are fastened to the respective cleats and the long line is removed. We've only screwed this procedure up once (a couple of years ago)- where we dropped the long line too soon and it got looped under the keel!

We have to lower the outboard motor down from the back mount and hook it on to the dinghy. We attach a pulley/rope system to the boom in order to do this, but if there is a lot of current, it can be tricky as the dinghy wants to float under the boat while Captain Brian is trying to attach the motor.

A quick trip to the dinghy dock, pay for the mooring and a 5 minute walk to The Beached Whale where we order our favourite Happy Hour special of mussels and a pitcher of beer....and an order of wings........shouldn't have had the wings too!

Back to the boat, look at the weather and realize that we could be stuck here for Christmas and New Year's. We would rather be in Boot Key Harbour, in Marathon. We are too tired (and full) to make a decision. Will take a look at the weather again tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned,

First Mate Lynn