MIDORI ADVENTURES

We did not get an early start this morning, as we had to get gasoline. It seems that the marina gas pumps close early at this time of year, like at 4:30 p.m. We opted to go for mussels yesterday before getting this little chore done!

We are underway at 8:30 a.m. with a push from the outgoing tide. Once in San Carlos Bay, with both sails up, we are motor sailing at 6.5 - 6.8 knots, then transition to the Gulf of Mexico. It is another beautiful sunny day with the wind NNE 10 - 15 knots. As we travel along, the landscape consists of tall and short square buildings along the shore on our port side which would be the S. Fort Myers area, Naples, and Marco Island.

We have decided to take the Inland Passage through the Big Marco River past the south end of Marco Island, rather than the Outside Passage which would take us around the shoals of Cape Romano and well offshore of the cape itself, at least three to four miles. We reach Capri Pass, the entrance to the Big Marco River at around 1:15 p.m., and again, the tide is with us ….we are getting a push.

We have made this journey several times now, so know that when we are moving upriver, we are to keep the red navigation aids to starboard and the green to port (red, right, return), however, once past the 55 foot fixed vertical bridge, between Marco Island and Bear Point, the rules shift to red to port and green to starboard for the balance of the trip to Coon Key Pass. We are following a previous track as well as “using our eyes”, because this route is quite shallow with shifting shoals, although markers are supposedly moved when necessary! As we meander through this shallow river with a shoreline of mangroves, several fishing boats pass us, but we do not see any other sailboats. It takes us about an hour to come to the 55 foot fixed vertical Goodland Bridge and then we start fighting the tide. Another hour and we have passed the fishing village of Goodland and have passed through Coon Key Pass into Gullivan Bay and the start of the Ten Thousand Islands. Primitive, remote and uninhabited, these islands form the coastline of the Everglades National Park, with many shoal-draft channels leading to remote anchorages and good fishing.

Our destination is Pavillion Key, which, at 3:30 p.m., is still 14.6 nautical miles away with an ETA of 6:21 p.m. The sunset is forecast to be at 6:44 p.m. With the winds forecast to be NE at 5 - 10 knots, we plan on pulling in as close as we can and dropping our anchor for the night. The wind does pick up between 4:00 and 5:00 when a big dark cloud passes over us, but thankfully, no rain!

We reach our destination at 6:45 p.m., having travelled 62.4 nautical miles in 10 1/4 hours with a maximum speed of 7.8 knots!

Stay tuned,

First Mate Lynn and,
Captain Brian